How to Make Money with Microstock Photography

There are many aspiring photographers in the world who are looking to profit from their photos. In the past, photographers would go to an agency and try to sell their pictures there. However, thanks to the Internet, a new type of photography called microstock photography has emerged. In this article, I will describe how the microstock industry works and review one of these microstock companies.

What exactly is microstock photography, you ask? Microstock photography is a new way to earn money from your pictures online(you must have an Internet connection). At a large agency, a photographer is often times turned away. However, with microstock photography, the photographer has a much better chance of having their pictures selected.

Of course, there is a catch. The photos that you sell through a microstock agency will often only sell for a quarter to a dollar per image. It's actually a little more than that, but the microstock agencies will take a commission for each of your sales. You're getting free web hosting and advertising, so it's a fair deal. So while a microstock agency may accept more of your pictures, they will sell for much less. Fortunately, the photographer keeps all of the rights to each photo so the pictures can sell again and again.

The goal is to sell hundreds of photos a day, which would give the photographer a nice income. For example, if you sell five hundred photos in one day for a quarter, you will have made one hundred and twenty five dollars. Don't expect to make that much right away, though. In fact, you may never make it past a few dollars per day. But you will have a nice side income, at the very least.

Some microstock agencies will allow you to sell the rights to your photos for a lot more money. You could make hundreds or even thousands of dollars from one sale! However, this is fairly rare. I've found that many people would rather just sell their images for a quarter or so, which can be almost as profitable in the long run.

One example of a microstock agency would be Fotolia. Fotolia has its good sides and bad sides. The nice thing about Fotolia is that it's fairly easy to have your images accepted, which can be a major ego boost to many photographers. Fotolia is a good place for a beginner to start learning about microstock photography.

The pay is fairly standard in comparison to other major microstock agencies; the images are sold at different sizes, with the larger images being the most expensive. The pricing structure will also vary depending on the number of images you sell, the type of image, and whether or not you are exclusive with Fotolia. Click here for an example of Fotolia's pricing structure.

My main problem with Fotolia is that you have to provide them with a social security number if you want your money. If you're making more than six hundred dollars a year at a given company, then I can understand the company's need for my social security number because the IRS will require the company to send them a form about my earnings.

Thus, the company would need my social security number for the IRS form. But if it's anything less than that, the company doesn't have to report that income to the IRS. It will be dependent on the individual to report that income but not the company itself. So, there is no real need for the company to ask for such personal information.

Fotolia is also the only microstock company that I have come across that specifically says you have to provide them with your social security number. Some of the other microstock companies require you to upload a driver's license but not a social security number. What's worse is the fact that there is no apparent encryption for transmitting your social security number to Fotolia. This means that anyone could possibly see your social security number and steal your identity. In this day and age, I don't want to take that risk. Fotolia has said that they will work on this issue, but that's really something that should have been perfected in the very beginning.

Another problem with Fotolia is the slow speed. In the past, Fotolia has bee extremely slow at times. Fotolia recently upgraded their site, which was supposed to improve the speed. And it has, at least somewhat, improved the speed. But it still has a long way to go. There is also plenty of new glitches that have plagued the site since the new release. So while Fotolia is a good place to learn about microstock photography, it does have problems. Until these problems are rectified, you may wish to use an alternative microstock company such as BigStockPhoto.

Microstock companies give new hope to those amateur and professional photographers who want to sell their images. It's now easier than ever to earn money from your photos. Just remember that it takes time and a fair amount of work before you see any real money. Good luck.