stock photo tips Archives - Infrared Conversions, IR Modifications & Photography Tutorials

Stock photography is not an easy way to make money from your photos. There is so much competition these days that prices have steadily dropped in the last 10 to 15 years. Once upon a time, you could make a lot of money from being a stock photographer. While those days are gone, there are still opportunities out there to make money from your photos if you know how to. That goes beyond just supplying some images and sitting around waiting for sales to come in. So if you have found that your stock images are not selling, these could be some of the reasons why.

It’s not the photos, it’s the subject

One of the biggest mistakes that those new to stock photography make is to treat it the same way as when they are photographing for personal projects. The first and most important lesson to learn before wanting to become a stock photographer is that stock photography requires a completely different approach to say commercial photography or when you are photographing as a hobby. This includes everything from your subject to the style and treatment of the photo in post-production.

For example, you may love venturing far away to off the beaten path places. But they will never be big sellers in stock photography as there just isn’t the demand for it. A small village in Africa is never going to sell as many photos as a village in Southern France. This is simply to do with demand. This also extends to the look and style of the photo. For example, a moody or muted landscape scene might look better than beautiful blue skies, but they just don’t sell as well for say newsstand magazines. Or those Instagram type shot might look great on social media, but would a calendar company use them?

So if your photos are not selling, it might simply be because they are not right for stock photography. It doesn’t mean they are bad photos, it just means they are not right for that market.

You don’t have enough variety

Stock photography is about numbers. The more images you have on sale the more chance you will have of selling photos. Obviously, the photos have to be good enough to sell, but the more variety you have there more options potential buyers will have in finding and licensing your image. This variety comes in two forms. First, there is the simple variety in the crop and orientation of the image. In other words, make sure you have covered both verticle and horizontal versions with for example your point of interest on the left side of the image, right side, centre and so on. The reason for this is that a potential client will then have a variety of options for their needs.

But you should also ensure that you cover a variety of subject. Let’s pretend that you are photographing fruit. If you only have photographs of apples than that will clearly limit your market. But if you take photos of every fruit you can find, then your chances increase. This is the same regardless of your genre. For example, if you are a travel photographer and only have photos of one place, it will limit your sales more than someone who has a wider variety of shots.

Different crops of the same composition ensure that you cover any version a potential client may need.

Not unique enough

We live in a world of photos these days with more and more being taken and shared every day. This does in part make things more difficult for anyone wanting to sell stock photos in that capturing unique shots becomes more difficult (not impossible). The key to stock photography is to try and find new ways of being able to capture a subject that may have been photographed thousands of times. This might mean having to wait for unique conditions to occur like a lightning storm or a rainbow. Or it might mean having to invest in new equipment such as a drone. Sometimes you can just look at changing your angle of view like getting low to the ground to capture a unique perspective of something.

Not keyworded well

Even the best photos won’t sell if they are not keyworded well because potential clients won’t find them. As a writer, I often also have purchase stock photos for my articles. No one will have the time to trawl through thousands of photos to find one image that they need. So like others, I rely on typing in specific keywords to narrow down the images I need. If the keywords I’m looking for are not in an image, I won’t ever see it let alone purchase it. So even though it’s incredibly laborious and boring keywording your photos correctly, it is really important. I say “correctly” because keywording well doesn’t mean just adding every keyword to every photo. It means keywording relevant information and phrases so that image buyers can find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Too small in size

Stock site vary greatly in what they accept. Some stock sites have a minimum resolution size of 300 dpi for photos and a minimum size which can only be achieved with DSLR or Mirrorless cameras. Other stock sites might accept smartphone photos. The problem with just having smartphone photos or rather low resolution and file size photos is that they can only be used online. So immediately your photos might be ruled out of printed products. Always try to take photos at the highest resolution and size. You can always reduce it if needed.

You are with the wrong stock site

Sometimes if your images are not selling, it might be because you are with the wrong stock site. I’m not saying that one stock site is better than another, but rather is it right for your type of photography? For example, if you specialise in underwater photography, find a stock site that specialises in that type of photography. Because they are more likely to have the clients who are looking for those types of shots.

You also need to consider if your photos are going to be lost in amongst all the other photos. For example, one stock site might have 100,000 photos of Paris whereas another might have 5,000. Which gives you a better chance of your Paris photos being seen? Be selective about your work and which stock sites you send different types of photos to.

There are of course no hard and fast reasons as to why your images might not be selling. Keep in mind that seasonality and the general state of the market will also have an impact on sales. But if you can ensure you tackle some of the issues above you may see an uplift in your sales.

Anyone who has an interest in photography will probably also have a ton of photos sitting on their hard-drives from their travels. Selling these as stock photos can be a great way to earn a few extra dollars from photos which would otherwise just sit on your computer. But make no mistakes about it, stock photography is not easy and won’t make you rich. So here are some things to think about and be aware of before you decide to sell your stock photos.

It might take years

Unless you have a huge collection of photos from a wide variety of subjects and destinations, you may not see many sales from your photos. Stock photography is about numbers and the more images you have on sale the more chance you have of earning money from them. Think of it like this. If you have a few photos from one destination, then you have to wait until someone wants a photo from that place. But if you have photos from 100 places, then your chances increase greatly.

The most important thing is to ensure you are not relying on stock sales as your only source of income as it can fluctuate and vary hugely. Think of it as an additional income rather than your main source.

Your “bucket list” won’t sell

Most people’s travel bucket list includes exotic faraway places. But those places won’t necessarily sell as stock photos. For example, one place that was always on my bucket list was Bhutan. It’s somewhere that I always wanted to go to. But to date (a year after submitting photos for stock sales) I have yet to make a sale from those photos. I’m sure over time I will sell some photos but they will never be as popular as say, the USA, France or Italy photos. It’s purely to do with tourism and the countries with the most number of tourist (during COVID free period) are always going to sell more photos as there will be more written and featured about them.

This doesn’t mean you should never go anywhere on your bucket list. But separate the two and think of your bucket list as a holiday and places you expect to sell stock photos from as work.

Shoot your location

The key to a successful stock photography business is to keep your costs as low as possible. Unfortunately, the whole photography industry has taken a huge beating over the last 10 years. This has been even more destructive to the stock photo industry where prices have dropped and competition has increased. By shooting in and around your location you can keep costs low which means you ROI increases when you make sales. Obviously, if you are lucky enough to live in or near a tourist destination like New York, London or Paris that can be even more advantageous. But even if you don’t, you will still find that taking photos of your local area will probably have a better ROI over the years than splashing out on trips to places.

The other advantage of shooting where you live is that you have a far better opportunity to plan your shoots when the weather will be right. This gives you a huge advantage over someone who has to book flights and accommodation in advance.

Learn what sells from your sales

You should treat stock photography like any other business. This includes analysing trends, looking at magazines and newspapers and studying your sales. By knowing which types of photos are appearing in publications you will be more likely to be able to capture the type of photo that is going to sell. keep a spreadsheet of your sales and over time look at the type of photos you have taken that are selling the best. Is there a common trend? Is there a reason that those are selling more than others? You’ll be amazed at what you will discover when you delve a little deeper into your sales.

Some of my published work. I often study my sold photos to try and take more of the ones that sell.

Take photos of everything

As mentioned earlier, stock photography is a numbers game. The more sellable photos you have the better your chances are of making a sale. But that also includes covering as many different locations, scenarios and types of shots. So try to get into the habit of photographing as many things as possible from every location you are in. For example, if you are in a local park, take photos of the statues, flowers, people sitting or playing sport as well as the big beautiful wide-angle shots. This also includes covering off different crops and both horizontal and verticle versions. This is why a shot list is so valuable for stock photography. The reason for all of these different shots is because you never know when someone might be looking for a photo of a specific statue. If you have that photo, you have the potential of a sale.

Revisit old collections

I have lost count at the number of times that I have looked through a collection of photos I took a few years ago and found a whole host of photos that I missed off sending to stock sites the first time around. The reason is that when you have spent time working on a collection you can become a bit tired of looking at the same photos over and over again. By giving it some time you will be able to look at things with fresh eyes. This often allows you to find some more images that you can supply for stock sales. As long as they are not duplicates of previously submitted work you can put them on sale and increase your chances of making sales from a location.

One that I missed off from my original submission but then re-submitted a couple of years later. This photo sold multiple times.

Choose your stock site carefully

This is a really important aspect of stock photography and one that you shouldn’t take lightly. There are lots of different stock sites out there. So don’t just choose the first one you come across. Instead, spend a bit of time learning about them and where they sell to. Is it to the publications that you want to see your photos in? But also what are their rates? There are many microstock sites out there that will pay you a few cents for each photo sold. So that means you have to sell thousands of photos to earn any sort of meaningful amount. That might be ok for you, but it’s worth knowing before you sign up.

Stock photography is a good way to supplement your income. But to make it work takes more than just heading off to places you want to visit and supplying a few shots to stock sites. Use the tips above to set yourself a clear plan and work toward specific goals and targets and over time you’ll find that you are making a reasonable amount from stock photo sales.

Your Stock Photos Not Selling? These Could Be The Reasons