How to Sell Stock Photography Online
- 1). Create commercial-grade images for submission to stock agencies. Stock photography differs from personal photography in two aspects, the content and technical aspects. You will need to produce images with the needs of the end-user in mind. The content will need to convey a single emotion, action, product or lifestyle clearly. In addition, your images will also need to be exacting in regards to the technical aspects of photography, such as exposure, focus, color and noise.
- 2). Submit applications to stock photography agencies. Once you have created a small portfolio of commercial-grade images you can now apply to one of the many stock photo agencies. Be sure to note the requirements for each one before applying, as each may want a differing number and type of images for the application. The application is typically handled directly through the website of the agency. Here you will fill out your personal information, employment information and upload your sample images. After a specified period of time, usually no more than several weeks, you will receive a response to your application.
- 3). Research the market and develop suitable new material. To increase the size of your stock photo library you will have to develop more and more images over time. Most stock photographers choose to focus on a handful or markets such as sports, fashion, lifestyle, food and niche markets they find themselves. You will need to keep an eye on what is happening in your market by looking at what types of images publishers in your market are using, what types of stories they are covering and other market trends that will create a demand for images you can provide.
- 4). Submit new images to your agency. Most agencies handle this process online, and while convenient, it can also be time consuming. Upload your images through the agency's website or upload tool. Before the file is finished and ready for the inspection process you must also tag the image with keywords that will help buyers find your images amongst the other images in the collection. Lastly, you will need to determine the licensing of the image; this will vary from agency to agency, but the two choices are usually between rights-managed and royalty free licensing. Although, some agencies only deal with one type of licensing, that is, some stock photography agencies only sell images under right-managed licenses while others, are royalty-free only agencies.
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