Stock Photographer
People use stock photography every single day — students, educators, marketers, business owners, etc. People are always in need of high-quality photos to use in presentations, advertising materials, websites, and more. But not everyone has the skills or the resources to go out and capture these images themselves.
For a quick and cost-effective solution, image seekers often turn to stock photography. Stock Photographers differ from "real world" photographers because they don’t take on typical photography clients for weddings, events, and photoshoots. Instead, they take pictures of the places, items, and people around them, and they post their images online for public use. The demand for stock photography remains high, making it a great opportunity for digital photographers. If you know your way around a DSLR, becoming Stock Photographer VBO could be a great fit for you!
DESCRIPTION
If you have a quality camera and equipment and an artistic eye, you should consider becoming a Stock Photographer VBO. Stock photographers take images of their choosing and upload them to stock image sites such as Flickr, Pixabay, Unsplash, Shutterstock, or Adobe Stock. People around the world can view photos on these sites and purchase the rights to use their images.
As a successful Stock Photographer VBO, you should obviously have an eye for aesthetics and be able to use digital cameras. You need to understand foundational photography principles and know how to manipulate aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to create high-quality images that are free of grain. Knowledge of photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom is also very important. You should have accounts on a number of stock image sites as well as a website with a portfolio of your work.
Here are just a few reasons you should consider becoming a Stock Photographer VBO:
Here is an example of a VBO Niche for a Stock Photographer
To learn more about creating your VBO Niche - CLICK HERE!
Primary Niche
Stock Photographer
SUB Niche
Stock Photographer For Natural Landscapes
VBO Niche
Stock Photographer For Beach Scenes
In the other tabs featuring Blogs and Courses, we provide some great resources to help you get up and running as a Stock Photographer. If you have questions about becoming a Stock Photographer VBO, feel free to head over to our Groups and ask there!
TASKS
PAY
As a Stock Photographer, pay rates will generally depend on where you're submitting photos. Ideally, the more photos you submit, the more you increase the chance of your photos being purchased. Staying on-trend by monitoring types and frequency of purchases can also increase your chances. You can make anywhere between $5-$50 by selling a photo on 500px. Higher-end stock photography websites like Getty offer higher payouts ranging between $75-$125. Other microstock websites will vary between $0.25 cents to $5.00 for each sale. |
BLOGS
Microstockman
Microstockman is a blog for those that sell or buy stock photos. In addition to blogs, inspiration, and tips, there’s also a four-part beginner's guide for buying or selling stock images.
Alamy
The Alamy blog is an often-updated blog for contributors to Alamy. There’s plenty of information about stock photography and stock image trends, which are always changing. This is a great place to get ideas for new stock photos.
Stock Photo Secrets
Stock Photo Secrets keeps readers up to date with the latest stock photo news. They cover all new developments and announcements in the industry.
COURSES
Udemy
Udemy is a great site for VBOs to sharpen their skills. Their classes typically range from $10.00 - $200.00. However, they are known to have frequent sales with virtually all lessons available for as low as $10.00.
Skillshare
Skillshare is an online learning community with classes in that are often helpful for VBOs focused on design, business, tech, and more.
Lynda
Lynda has been around a long time and might just be one of the granddaddies of online training. Pretty much all courses are well-vetted and professionally done. While their courses may be a little more expensive, they are top quality. Since they were recently acquired by LinkedIn, some premium accounts get access to Lynda at no additional charge, which is a great deal.
Coursera
Coursera offers courses from many of the top universities including Stanford, Duke, and Penn. As a result, their courses are probably a bit more like what you would imagine getting in higher education.
