Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic

piskota76 · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 58

well i am thinking if it is worth the effort that i made for shooting my pictures. average gear, average photos- regarding quality and ideas(however, great models:) )- but with 350 photos is my gallery i made 35$ at average in a month. this is tiny sum. i wonder if it is well below the average or what is the situation? this is an acceptable result?
for western countries where the peoples income are much higher, how it is possible to worth the huge effort for creating some great photos for that money?....
or still is it worth it to invest a lot of money and a great amount of time to improve your photos quality to reach lets say 1000 photos and 100$? every week are uploaded ap. 90000 photos...
or should i change my pentax k-x and my 40mm limited lens for a canon pro gear? :( to improve my results?
please give me some reasons for carrying-on.
however a learned a lot in this two years:)))
sorry for my English. thank you.

pwrmc · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 53 Location: Fryslan

Hi,

yes i Think that is about average, i have the same but the average goes up because the ED and OD downloads.

and some of my photo's here made with a Nikon 6MP D50 !! so the gear is not that important , the one handling the camera is.

Now working with a Pentax K-7 and Nikon D80 both i sell as soon the Nikon D600 comes out :-)

me myself i am still learning also from al the FREE advice the cracks/pro's give here and make my port better and better the coming years

just keep up the good work your port looks nice,

grtz Hans

hhltdave5 · Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:35 am

It all comes down to how much you want to put into it. Don't get all into what gear you have. Switching up a camera level is not going to make that much difference. People who know what they are doing can produce amazing shots with a point and shoot while those with little knowledge cannot get a good shot with a $45,000.00 Hassleblad.

Sales in stock can be difficult if you do not follow some basic rules.

First shoot good quality images.

Have a varied portfolio. Cover as many types of shots as you can. Include people, food, heath, family life, travel and so on.

Shoot seasonally or for special days. Do shots that cover the major holidays and make sure you start submitting 5 months before the actual time of the event or holiday. Buyers purchase their images this way to make sure the publications are done in time for the holiday or special event.

Try to be different than the others. Too many stock photographers shoot the same thing the same way as so many others. A shot of a strawberry or a blonde on the cell phone will get buried in a heartbeat. Do it different and do it better.

Keyword effectively. Buyers will not find your shots if you have bad keywords.

Get your image count up to at least 800. But never let quantity outshine quality.

When Laurin and I did our first book on stock photography we found that the majority of people involved in stock did about what you are doing money wise. You are making a few bucks but that is about it. By doing some simple changes you can up that amount as long as you follow a program like I mentioned.

If you start making more money then you can go on a buy other equipment remembering that good quality lenses will beat out a new camera body any day of the week. Cameras come and go but good glass stays around.

Do all of this on a consistent and regular basis.

royster · Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 279 Location: England/Greece

I have looked at your photos and they are very good but they are all very similar.
I think for you to get more sales you will need to add more variety to give buyers more choice.

piskota76 · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 58

thanks a lot for the answers. i am not here to earn money and nothing else, so if i ask you this questions please ask for me> in case of a 500 pictures gallery what you are considering a reasonable sum to win each month? supposing there are uploads each month... and what sum could be the target for an average stock photographer with 50-60 uploads each month?
if the stock business still producing substantial incomes in the next 2-3 years or the market is already oversaturated? meanwhile i re-read your answers. thanks.

hhltdave5 · Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:06 am

mattgibson · Joined: 11 Nov 2009 Posts: 601 Location: London

Looked at your port and very quickly....

Top selling image is an illustration
Lots of shots of young boy
Four out of top five are not pictures of young boy

Without knowing the numbers for your top sellers it is difficult to analyse accurately but I would say maybe concentrate more on illustrations, produce some more concept images and maybe images of young boy in a more natural environment and not just isolated all the time.

mj007 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008 Posts: 57

For me once I climbed over 500 images in my portfolio sales started making fun money .I now make about 200 dollars a month. Before 500 images I made 40 0r 50 bucks a month.

piskota76 · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 58

thanks a lot for your comments. any observation are welcome. this numbers, suggestions are great help to me to form an opinion about this site. so i wait any further comments. thanks!