Shutterstock
Well, I should be celebrating today having finally reached 1000 images on Shutterstock. However it is tinged with some disappointment as the squirrel photo was not accepted as it was very slightly out of focus. Anyone following the blog may remember I saved that photo (Wildlife photography post) to celebrate reaching the 1000 target. That only goes to show how difficult it is to get images accepted.
For anyone interested in stock image photography here are a few of my observations. I has taken me six months of hard work getting to this point and yesterday two more images were sold (25 cents each) pushing my earning into the 40$ range.
Yes, you heard right, six months work + 1000 images = 40$
Not really a great way to earn a living. On the plus side the copyright on my images remains with me for the next 50 years, so providing Shutterstock don't go bust in the meantime my images should still be earning long after I am gone. It has helped improve my photography and made me more critical of my work but it also has a downside in that there is not much call for artistic or wildlife photos. Products and people seem to be the most popular subjects and they all require release forms, which adds to the hassle and is not always possible or even something I am interested in.
Shutterstock are also obsessed with focus, noise and copyright infringement. They will reject a perfectly good image if it is slightly out of focus or contains too much noise. If they see a tiny blurred Nike logo on someone's shoe in a crowd photo that is also rejected for copyright reasons or more likely to prevent photographers from using Shutterstock as a cheap and devious way of advertising. 300 of my images were rejected. It is not just a simple matter of taking a photo. First you need a descent subject and once you have a good photo there is also time spent editing it and uploading it. Shutterstock were very good at processing work quickly and responding to complaints promptly unlike several other platforms I tried.
Shutterstock are also obsessed with focus, noise and copyright infringement. They will reject a perfectly good image if it is slightly out of focus or contains too much noise. If they see a tiny blurred Nike logo on someone's shoe in a crowd photo that is also rejected for copyright reasons or more likely to prevent photographers from using Shutterstock as a cheap and devious way of advertising. 300 of my images were rejected. It is not just a simple matter of taking a photo. First you need a descent subject and once you have a good photo there is also time spent editing it and uploading it. Shutterstock were very good at processing work quickly and responding to complaints promptly unlike several other platforms I tried.
So in conclusion, I will limit my uploads to Shutterstock, if I upload any at all in future. Strangely enough I was also unable to upload a photo to this blog post today for some reason. As I never get any feedback on this blog I am also questioning whether it is worth continuing to make posts. Does anyone follow this blog? Does anyone care? Probably not, so don't be surprised if this is the last post.
As for my photography, I will continue to take photos of course but now I want to concentrate more on creating some videos, maybe for YouTube, I will have to see how it goes.
As for my photography, I will continue to take photos of course but now I want to concentrate more on creating some videos, maybe for YouTube, I will have to see how it goes.
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