This Canadian photography community is just that, meant to
bring photogs together. It also happens to host some stock photos for licensing
in its marketplace. It sells images for as little as $35 per image for the web
from its Core Collection, which is royalty-free for the purchaser.
To submit, you must be part of the 500px community, then
upload images with the site's Photo
Manager. In fact, any image you share could be listed on Marketplace unless
you opt out, but no one can get a high-res version without buying it. You get
60 percent of net sales on a photo used as stock, assuming it's exclusively on
500px; 30 percent for non-exclusives.
Sweden-based Foap wants your smartphone photos. While it'll
sell to anyone, even big enterprises, the goal is to use the Foap apps for iOS and Android to
get you to become a contributor earning some of that passive cash moolah. The
commission is 50 percent for each photo licensed.
Naturally, Adobe would have a home for stock photos—that's
good ammo for the weapon that is Photoshop! In fact, if you have an Adobe ID,
you can upload images to the Stock site directly from products like Adobe
Lightroom, Bridge, and Premiere, not to mention via the website. It's also open
to vector images and illustrations and even video.
You get a 33 percent commission on each sale; 35 percent for
videos, and can request a payout via PayPal when your account hits $50
or more; but it's substantially smaller
if the customer buying the image has a subscription. Anything you
contribute to Adobe Stock is also found at Fotolia.
Alamy offers over 122 million images, videos, and vector art,
with prices starting at $19.99 for a license. It also offers great terms to
stock photogs: you get 50 percent of a sale, even for non-exclusive images.
Alamy says it has paid out $180 million to contributors around the globe. It
also says it "want(s) everything you've got" as it tries to keep the
catalog very broad for customers—but it does claim to prefer DSLR
camera images or the "equivalent." That equivalent has
become at least an iPhone; it does accept iPhone image via its Stockimo app. It won't reject your images
based on content (within reason). Once an image is sent to Alamy and processed,
you put in captions and keywords, and people can start buying.
Another site with a nice commission, Can Stock Photo will
give you 50 percent on licenses sold, with a breakdown of lots of other payment options for
different sized images (and different resolutions of video),
and depending if the buyer has a subscription. You have to sign up
and apply to be approved as a contributor first—that means sending your three
best images as an audition. Once your account hits $50, you can request a
payout to PayPal. All images also show up on Fotosearch; a sale there shows up in your
Can Stock Photo account.
An international photo community, EyeEm (pronounced "I
am") uses artificial intelligence to pick imagery for sale—it has about 70
million images. Since its launch, it has embraced smartphone photography, and
it has apps for iOS
and Android to be used for inspiration and uploads. Submissions have
to be reviewed, which reportedly could take as long as a few weeks; the AI
looks for the shots with the most commercial potential to grab first. You
always get 50 percent of the revenue on a photo, which sells for
anywhere from $20 to $250 depending on the license needed. Payouts come to you
via PayPal.
This site is another that's actively pushing to increase its
stock catalog, now at 71 million images, with your shots from smartphones.
Dreamstime also offers apps for iOS and
Android for both uploading (Companion) and for licensing
photos (and videos) for use. You can earn up to $12 per license of a
shot—that's with a royalty that can vary from 25 to 50 percent. You get an
extra for exclusives on Dreamstime only: 60 percent plus $0.20 for the first
100 submissions accepted.
This site uses a bit of a reward program—after getting
approved, you get ratings and the higher the rating (from 1 to 5) the more of
your shots get promoted. Payouts are made when your account accrues $100.
Dreamstime is also the provider
of images for Google Ads; if your art is used there, you get $2 per
non-exclusive image and $2.20 for exclusive photos.
The little-known Crestock couldn't make it any easier. Create
an account, upload your images via the web or FTP, submit them, and await
approval to become part of the market. There's a limit of 10 submissions per
week for new contributors. The royalty rate varies depending on how many
downloads you're earning. If you're under 249 downloads, you get 20 percent for
a single image license, or $0.25 if sold to a Crestock subscriber. It can go as
high as 40 percent and $0.40, respectively, if you manage to get over 10,000
downloads. Payment is via PayPal once your account is over $50—it's pretty much
the standard.
Shutterstock is big with about 180 million images, clips,
vectors, even musical tracks licensees can use royalty-free. It's paid out $500
million to contributors since it opened. However, it's hard to get in
with Shuttershock, with supposedly only about 20 percent of those who try
getting past the reviewers manning the gates. Those who do can upload via a
browser (for images under 50 megapixels) or FTP, tag the image with metadata
and keywords and attach release forms (definitely required for nudity/R-rated content,
which is allowed), then wait for approval of each image and sales. Earnings are
a little
complicated, but the more you earn for lifetime earnings on the service,
the more your royalty payment is.
This stock photo/vector/video/sound site makes it pretty easy
to start earning 30 to 60 percent commissions (it depends on your level, from 1 to 10,
with 1s being the newbies), without being exclusive. The more you add, the
higher your level could go. Payment comes out via PayPal and some other
services.
Stocksy wasn't always open to submissions of pictures and
video, and only takes on a few new contributors a year. But if you're in,
Stocksy is happy to claim what might be the highest royalty for photographers:
50 to 75 percent—but that does require exclusivity. And it's pushing to get
more art from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, not so much from the Americas.
Apply with a minimum of 25 images or 10 videos with all keywords and model releases
in place to get started.
You get a pretty fair shake at Pond5, with a 50 percent
commission. And a good chance at a sale since they're available in 150
countries. And the site is more than just stock photos; there are stock sound
effects, music, video, templates, even 3D objects. Uploads happen over the
browser or via FTP—and if you have a lot of media, you can mail them a hard
drive. All media does have to be accepted and curated even after you do
descriptions and keywords/metadata. The payout can only happen when you hit at
least $25 via sites like PayPal and Payoneer, or $100 if you want a check
mailed.
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