Dear microstock agencies that I love working for,

I need microstock t shirts. Please send me some? I make you guys a decent amount of money. Pretty please? It’s not easy being naked.  I’ve been selling stock photography for 5 years now, and never got a free t-shirt. I get a lot of mosquito bites and sunburn when I go outside.  Sometimes random people pinch my hairy nipples.  Purple nurples hurt. My dog also jumps on me and scratches me.  I promise to wear it a lot and tell people about what the company is all about.  I promise not to resell it on ebay or craigslist. Think of it as free advertising!

Love,
Todd

I hear this a lot from those looking into microstock to earn a full time living.  Questions like this come up frequently on microstock forums, twitter and facebook.  How many images will I need?  What can I make hourly?  Is building up a sizable microstock portfolio even worth the effort? Read the rest of this entry »

Shutterstock now guarantees its entire library of more than 8.5 million images and 140,000 footage clips.

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 20, 2009 — Shutterstock, the world’s largest subscription-based stock photoagency, announced today that it will legally guarantee every file in its vast library by providing up to $10,000 to cover legal costs and direct damages for claims arising from the use of an image or footage clip licensed through Shutterstock.

Thanks to Shutterstock’s thorough and selective review process, the agency has become a global leader in providing affordable, high quality images that comply with the highest legal and ethical standards in the industry.

Shutterstock has now gone a step further by covering key areas of liability, including copyrights, trademarks and rights of privacy and publicity. Under the new plan, which begins today, every file in Shutterstock’s expansive library – which consists of more than 8.5million images and 140,000 footage clips – will be guaranteed.

“We’ve become an industry leader by earning the trust of stock imageand footage buyers worldwide,” said Jon Oringer, CEO and founder of Shutterstock. “Although claims involving our content are extremely rare, we wanted to give our customers an even higher level of comfort by providing up to $10,000 in indemnification.”

Shutterstock’s protection plan, along with its uncompromising commitment to the integrity and quality of its images, solidifies the company’s reputation as a trusted resource for image and footage buyers worldwide.  Please see Shutterstock’s Terms of Service for complete details.

About Shutterstock®

Founded in 2003, Shutterstock is the largest subscription-based stockphoto agency in the world. Its outstanding collection of premium photos, illustrations, and vectors combined with a selection of innovative, user-friendly subscription plans has made Shutterstock a trusted resource for an expanding global customer base. An industrypioneer in selling royalty-free stock by subscription, Shutterstock was also the first online photo agency to offer editorial photos and launch a video library. Shutterstock Footage offers a comprehensive library ofroyalty-free video clips available on a per-clip basis or by subscription. For more information, visit Shutterstock.com.

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/image/indemnification/prweb3071764.htm

I find this very interesting.  Which agency will do this next?  Recently istock made a similar claim, just after Vivo zoom tried to claim the legal aspect their main difference from the rest of the micros.  Will this mean tighter standards on grey area photos for photographers?  It’s definitely a great idea, as long as it doesn’t push the limits so far that we need to submit releases for things shot in a generic manner.  Is it worth even trying to shoot architecture or automobiles for stock anymore?  I’ve given up in those departments.  The way things are moving, contributors are probably all better off keeping stock as generic as can be, unless you can cover yourself with enough signed releases to choke a cow.

Which stock photo agencies are worthwhile?

Trying to see which site sells more images than the next is tricky.  There are a lot of elements involved, and it seems like sales figures fluctuate from month to month amongst the micro sites.  Factors like portfolio size, photo types, site search engines, and even categorization all play a part.  All I can do is give you my best sites – the ones that I personally think are worth my time to upload to. Below are the links to my top-selling sites – sign up, and try them out. Then you can make your own conclusions.    Here are my personal recommendations:

The All-Stars

Shutterstock

iStockPhoto

BigStockPhoto

Dreamstime

Fotolia

123 Royalty Free

CanStockPhoto

Slower Earners

Featurepics

Crestock

PantherMedia

MostPhotos

YAYmicro

ScanStockPhoto

Zazzle

Newer Promising Agencies:

GraphicLeftovers

Stockfresh

Veer Marketplace

DepositPhotos

The3DStudio

Pond5 Stock Footage

The above links are also excellent places to buy stock images.  I also sell images from my own portfolio and other select artists here at ArenaCreative.com at budget prices.  At present, we have thousands of images to choose from, ranging everywhere from graphics, to vector art, to lifestyle photography.

Everyone creates different types of art, and some of it is very marketable.  Some has high commercial value, while a lot does not.  It might look great, and you might want to make a print of it for your grandmother, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to make enough money to make a living.  How do you know how well you’ll do?  You have to try it for yourself.  Then make your own conclusions. This is definitely not a get rich quick scheme.  You will “get back” out of stock photography, what you “put into it”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog at the upper right of this page. I’ve consulted so many for free on how to get started over the years, only to find that I have less and less time for it.  Especially when the majority of people I’ve spent hours helping, never ended up going through with regularly submitting images Like I said, stock is definitely not for everyone.  Lots of people give it a shot and then realize how much work is involved.  My time is  valuable, as is yours, but if you are interested in one-on-one consulting regarding your microstock efforts, feel free to contact me for further info.  I highly recommend the Expanded Microstock Photographer’s guide – a really affordable ebook by Rasmus Rasmussen, a 10 year veteran in the world of microstock photography.

There was recently a discussion regarding different pricing of the same images on through different websites at Microstock Diaries.

Many of the industry’s best have posted their viewpoints.  Here is how I personally feel…

It’s a proven fact that when products or services are priced higher, some buyers think they are getting something “better” or of “higher quality”. Many times this isn’t even the case. A generic product could even be identical, only in different packaging. Is Tylenol going out of business, just because CVS sells the same thing in a generic form? It doesn’t seem like they are. The product could probably even be manufactured in the same plant. Many times, manufacturers only want you to think you’re getting less when you purchase the same product for a lesser price. In actuality, many are identical – even if the product is packaged or marketed in a different way. Paul Mitchell hair care products come to mind. The CEO gets on TV and in commercials he testifies that it isn’t genuine Paul Mitchell, if you find the product being sold in a grocery store. In fact, it is – and I know many professional hairdressers that will attest to that. Want to know the difference? About $10-20 per bottle, depending on what salon is selling it.

If a buyer wants to be choosy and shop around, they will. If they are willing to spend extra money on photos from agencies that offer better guarantees, or a different user experience, then let them. I don’t see anything unethical about that. Product pricing is the same in all markets, it’s just all about the brand label many times that determines the pricing. Even if it’s the same exact product. Designer clothes are sold at outrageous prices, and sometimes the quality is even lower than that of the cheaper department stores’ clothing lines.