Shoot Your Shot: Start Making Money with Stock Photography

The world of stock photography has evolved past cheesy, overly posed images. These days it’s all about wanderlust-inspiring landscapes, lifestyle images of modern work environments, candid moments between family and friends, and diverse imagery that’s driving the demand of this billion-dollar industry. 

As a contributor, providing stock photography to these agencies gives you the opportunity to earn a passive income from your unused images. And with very few barriers to entry, anyone can become a stock photographer.

What is stock photography?

The term stock photography refers to a type of photograph that is sold under license to multiple buyers. It’s popular because stock photography is usually really high quality and much cheaper than hiring a photographer to create bespoke imagery.

There are two types of stock photography: commercial and editorial. If you produce commercial stock photography you allow the buyer to use it anywhere, including in adverts, on their website or social media, and beyond. Editorial stock photography is more restricted and can only be used in specified situations, but this type isn’t accepted by all agencies. 

Free stock photography vs. royalty-free stock photography sites

You can split stock photography websites into two categories: those offering free photography, and those that trade images under a license. 

Most paid-for stock photography sites will sell royalty-free stock photography, which means that buyers can use the photo as often as they want without paying additional royalties. As a stock photographer, you’ll sell the image to the client once, regardless of how often they use it.

Free stock photography, on the other hand, describes images that have been labeled as free to use. Most commonly you’ll see these images fall under a type of Creative Commons license that outlines the conditions under which you can use it. 

The most popular free stock photography websites are:

• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Pixabay
• The Creative Commons search

What are the top stock photography sites?

If you’re getting started with stock photography, the best stock photography websites to work with are:

• Dreamstime: anyone can register to sell their photos and you can request payment once your balance reaches $100.
• Adobe Stock: earn 33% royalties on images you sell.
• Depositphotos: once you’ve passed a brief quality test, you’ll be able to earn between 30% and 38% royalties. 
• Canva: currently closed to new creators, but you can register your interest in becoming a contributor. They have a more complicated royalties scheme that you should review first. 
• 123RF: earn between 30% and 60% and get paid when you reach $50. 

How to sell stock photography

The very first thing to understand when you start selling your photography is that each agency will have its own policies. As well as outlining things you can’t do—like submitting offensive or explicit imagery—these guidelines will tell you what paperwork you need to include with your images. 

For example, if you’re taking stock photography of people that can be recognized in the image, you’ll probably need them to sign a model release form. There are lots of rules that can vary by agency, so make sure you read the policies before you begin arranging your shoots. 

1. Choosing a stock photography agency

Some of the best-known agencies are hard to work with if you’re just starting out. When you’re choosing a stock photography agency you should focus on how they work with contributors: pick ones that pay you fairly and promptly for your work and are recommended by other photographers. 

Don’t forget to browse their website so you can check that they display the kinds of stock photography photos you’re trying to sell and that you can meet their requirements. 

2. Taking stock photography images

Since the goal is to sell your stock photos, it’s always a good idea to take a look at what kinds of images are most popular. Often this means using models to create authentic-feeling posed scenes. 

Your greatest chance of success will come from taking stock photography images that are as unique as possible. The market for stock photos of flowers is saturated, for example, so you’d be better served picking an altogether different topic—or only capturing the rarest flowers in the world. 

To get started, stick with a subject you’re comfortable with and start to create your own niche. This will not only help you to improve over time, it’ll also build your reputation as a great stock photographer on that topic. 

3. Editing your stock photos

You’ll have to edit your stock photos before you submit them. Some of the things to focus on first include the light, contrast, shadows, highlights and temperature of your shots. When you’re happy with the coloring of the photo, you can start to edit out anything distracting, like objects spilling into the background or removing logos or other small features.   

4. Creating stock photography keywords

One of the secrets to successfully selling stock photography is to make sure they’re discoverable. You can achieve this by adding killer keywords for your stock footage. 

Take a look at your photo and think about the key questions: 

• Who/what is the subject? 
• What is happening in the scene? What is the concept or mood that you’ve captured?
• When was it taken?
• Where is the photo set?

List the keywords that answer these questions and think of variations for each one. When you’re ready to start writing your keywords, put the most important ones first. Don’t waste any keywords by repeating terms or using words that are overly generic or irrelevant. 

Sense check your list by asking yourself whether someone who typed those stock photography keywords would be interested in viewing your image, or if they’d be disappointed because it’s not relevant enough. If the latter is the case, you should reconsider your word choice. 

Don’t forget to use keywords in the title and caption of your file, and make sure you follow the rules of the agency to avoid your files being rejected for poor practice. 

5. Exporting stock photography files

Correctly exporting your files will prevent you from losing any important data. Usually, you’ll need to make sure it’s a JPEG and choose RGB for the color space. Export it at 100% quality, don’t limit the size of the file or its proportions, and set the resolution to 300. Make sure the metadata will be included so that the title, captions, keywords and more can be extracted. And as always, check what the stock agency requires as they may have different policies. 

Looking for stock photography jobs?

Most people who sell stock photography do this to support their freelance photography career. The typical pathway is to register with an agency, submit your stock photography and then sit back and earn royalties each time they’re sold. While you won’t get paid for the effort you put in, and you can’t guarantee a steady paycheck, the opportunity to work when you want and make money from stock photography is an attractive prospect. 

It may be possible to find staff stock photography jobs, but those advertised tend to be for one-off gigs, rather than regular work.  

Stock photography income 

The beauty of selling stock photography is that it generates a passive income: once you’ve done the work to take the photos, you could be selling them for years to come without any extra effort. 

Most freelance stock photographers get paid royalties by the agencies. How much stock photographers make varies greatly, depending on whether your image is exclusively traded by the agency and the type of customer that buys it. 

For example, stock photographer Jarmo Piironen reports that in 2021 he earned $550 a month working with agencies. His portfolio consists of 2,200 images and videos, and it’s taken him five years to get to this point, working alongside his full-time job. Jarmo sells to a range of agencies, submitting the most to Shutterstock, Alamy and Adobe Stock.

Custom stock photography

One potentially lucrative gig is to get hired by a brand or organization to shoot and edit a library of custom stock photos that they can use. This kind of custom stock photography job is usually a relatively short-term project that could see you spend a day or two arranging shoots at their premises and submitting folders of edited files. 

Sell stock photography directly

You could also give your stock photography income a boost by selling your images directly. This cuts out the agency and means you’ll retain the entire value of the sale—but you’ll need to do your own marketing and customer service. Maintaining your own website that’s secure and capable of processing payments or delivering files to the client means less time shooting and more time on admin, which may not appeal to your creative side. 

Dust off your portfolio and start making some money

You’ve probably got an abundance of imagery that you’ve shot and edited that sits on your storage system and never gets seen. Instead of letting all that effort go to waste, why not review your best photos and try to sell them as stock photographs? 

The beauty of modern stock photography is that nothing is off-topic. Next time you go out, take your camera with you and start snapping away. You may be surprised at how sellable those photos are.