How to Become a Stock Photographer Selling Stock Photos Through a Picture Agency

Do you like to take pictures and do you regard youronly buy the full right to a picture in very seldom
photography as a serious activity you try to improveoccasions.
all the time? - Then to become a stock photographerIn the stock photography world the payment to the
might be a challenging engagement for your futurepicture agency and finally to the photographer is
photography.called the royalty. This is the classic model for use of
To become a stock photographer you need to bestock photography.
capable of producing a continuous flow of salableParallel to this model of so-called licensed stock
pictures of professional quality. It isn't enough thatphotos or rights managed model is the model called
you have taken 10 photos you regard as saleablethe model of royalty-free stock photos. In this case
and of professional quality.the customer buys the right to use the picture to
When you start to engage in stock photography youwhatever purpose he or she wants. With
need to have hundreds of really good pictures - asroyalty-free pictures there isn't any reporting to the
good as the ones you see published in magazines ofpicture agency about the actual use of the picture
many kinds. In fact you will need thousands ofand it can be used many times. The drawback of this
saleable photos to do well in stock photography - butmodel for the customer is that a lot of customers
all coming stock photographers have to start frommight have bought the same picture and used it
somewhere - so don't feel turned down by thisendless times for different publications. Viewers of
statement.the final publications might accordingly not find the
The most important is that you are capable ofpictures as attractive as if they were looking at a
shooting some kinds of photos that are ofpublication with new 'fresh' pictures.
commercial use and of a competitive quality andThe stock photo industry has become a more and
creativity.more competitive business in the recent decade. Due
Saleable photos are the kind that can be used as anto Internet and globalization everyone can offer
illustration for something. It can be very concretestock photos to everyone.
things, but illustrations of conceptual character orBeing accepted by a picture agency
moods are often doing better. Lifestyle stock photosYour first big challenge will be to be accepted by a
are in high demand these years, too.stock photo agency. Some picture agencies are
Each photo should be describable with a rather fewgeneral picture agencies - covering all kinds of
labels or keywords to be found in a picture searchcommercial valuable pictures. Other agencies are
engine that picks the photos from the picturespecialist agencies - from regional agencies, e.g.
database and display the results to customers.Antarctica, to highly specific agencies covering just
When you feel sure you have the right kind ofone topic like car race, birds, wine or business.
pictures you need to find one or more pictureTake your time to investigate different options. Be
agencies.aware of the potential threat to the stock
An alternative would be that you start your ownphotographers - is the picture agency an economic
picture agency and start selling your pictures as stocksuccess? Do photographers complain about not
photos online from your own photo website. Thisgetting their money on time etc.
isn't the focus of this article as that will demand thatBe also aware of aspects of exclusivity. Do you have
you change your efforts form being a photographerto be 'married' to the picture agency or can you
to be a marketer of your pictures - at least partly -engage in other agencies with other pictures? In all
and want to cope with the full competition in thecases you should expect to have each photo (and
stock photo world.your similar shots) only at one picture agency.
Nowadays there exist a lot of smaller pictureConcentrate your efforts on one picture agency at a
agencies and rather few really big agencies. Intime. Be very, very careful with your first submission
addition to the professional picture agencies you willof a selection of your photography to be accepted.
find a growing number of so-called micro-stockRead the submission guidelines very careful and
agencies or micro-stock websites. These are offeringfollow ALL specifications. Let other give you critique
photos for very small fees and most of the peopleon your choice of pictures before sending the final
who offer their photos through micro stock sites areedited selection. Response from potential users of
amateur photographers, though some are verystock pictures might be more useful than response
capable photographers.from other photographers.
How stock photography worksSome types of stock photography are flooded with
The mechanism in stock photography is to deliversubmissions from photographers, like the fields of
your best and most salable photos to be stored in anature photography and travel photography. Other
picture database at a picture agency. You will keepfields of photography are higher in demand and often
your copyright to your pictures, but you commissionbetter paid like lifestyle stock photography and
the picture agency to give their customers the rightbusiness photography.
to use the pictures after some specific conditions,Model release and property release should be in place
including paying a fee to the picture agency.before the submission, if needed.
A typical agreement between the photographer andUse the links below to get into the field of stock
the picture agency will imply that the photographerphotography on your way to become a real stock
receives 50% of each 'sold' picture. A better wordingphotographer.
would be 'each rented picture ' as the customer will