Is it Difficult to Get Started?

It’s not hard to get started, but it’s a lot to learn when it comes to quality. You basically have to stick to shooting at ISO 100/200 to avoid too much noise, and still have to noise filter all of your images most of the time with noise filtering software.  If you’re fortunate enough to own a full frame sensor, you can sometimes get away with shooting ISO 800 and up, but you will still need to learn how to clean up noise in defocused and darker areas.  Stock standards are way higher than print or wedding/event photography standards.  At this point in the game, it’s getting pretty competitive.  Shutterstock alone adds 10,000+ new images each week to their collection.  Even if 100 of those are yours, you’re doing pretty well if you’re selling any of those in that first week when it comes to the odds you’re up against.

What Kind of Camera Do I Really Need?
I’d recommend definitely using a DSLR at least 6-8mp despite what I’ve stated earlier about only needing a 3mp point and shoot.  Microstock is becoming highly competitive, and as point and shoots have come a long way, they are nothing in comparison to a DSLR with a larger sensor (I’m not talking megapixels, I’m talking the actual sensor size.)  The larger the sensor is, the better the quality of the image is going to be.  Don’t be fooled by the “15 megpixels is better than 10″ line of reasoning that the Best Buy sales kid is going to feed you.  IQ (image quality) all depends on the camera.

How Much Money Will You Make Right Off the Bat?

Some of the more successful photogs make about $1 per approved image per month on average.  Others make much less…it all depends on whether or not what you have is of any value to a designer or ad agency.  Shooting stock is an entirely different mindset than most of standard portrait or glamory stuff, if you know what I mean.  Don’t feel bad if you make peanuts your first month.  We all shoot differently, and all of us are on different skill levels.  Don’t try and compare yourself to others.

What About Shooting Models?
I don’t mess around with charging people for prints or shoot, as everything I do is just TFCD (Time for CD) shoots and the images pay for it in the long run. That’s the cool thing about stock.  You do the work and then you continue to make money off your past work.  It just builds and builds and then later on snowballs into a nice income.  Don’t forget that you need signed model release of all recognizable people in your images in order to legally sell them.  The agencies won’t even look twice at them without this.  Yuri Arcurs has an awesome blog site with some universal model releases that are accepted on every agency.

What Sells the Best?

You really never know what will sell – you just have to experiment.  There are all sorts of subjects, theme, styles that sell like crazy.  Just about anything and everything will eventually sell.  I have a shot of a chicken isolated over white that sells like crazy.  Just get ideas from other people, and then do your own thing – try searching some of the sites and sort by most popular.  Look at magazine ads, even TV commercials or the menus on your video games.  You can get ideas about what a buyer is looking for everywhere you look.  Media is all around us.  Don’t forget to try and research what hasn’t been over-done to death.  Find some nice niches that other contributors haven’t capitalized on yet.

Want to Thank Me?

People thank me a lot in emails and comments for all of the helpful information in a simple and easy to follow format.  I really appreciate that, and I’m glad to help.  I was once in your same shoes!  I believe in sharing helpful information like this with fellow artists, just as many have shared tips and tricks with myself.  If you want to show your appreciation for the time that went into this site, make sure you sign up to the micros through the links on the Learn the Trade page.