Stock Photography:How to Sell Your Photographs Online?
There are Many Buyers for Your Photographs
If you are a good photographer, have an increasing collection of quality photographs, then there are many buyers for your photographs. Now in this online era, it is easy to sell your photographs online to your buyers. This article tells you about selling your photographs online. This includes who are the buyers, what type and quality of photographs the buyers want, how much they pay for your photographs. In addition, I have given submission guidelines.
Who Buy Your Digital Photographs?
The main buyers of digital photographs include Print Media, Online Media and Advertising Agencies. You can find direct buyers for your photographs, or can sell the photographs through online stock photo agencies. Of course, you can use both the methods for selling your photographs.
What Type of Photographs Stock Photo Agencies Want?
What is a stock photo agency?
There are many online stock photo agencies. The agencies invite quality photographs from the photographers and sell them to the buyers. All the accepted photographs are displayed on the website of the stock agency. To protect unauthorized use, every photograph is watermarked by the agency, generally by using its logo. The agencies pay a handsome commission to the photographers on each sell. The commission varies between 30% to 85%. Each photograph can be sold for many times, and every time the photographer gets a commission. You can upload a digital photograph to many stock photo agencies or exclusively to a single stock photo agency. If you want, you can choose an option of selling a photograph with all rights.
The stock photo agencies require photographs of various subjects. Here is a small list of the subjects:
Nature: Animals, Birds, Pets & Wild Animals, Flowers, Trees and Plants, Rivers, Lakes, Sky, Clouds, Forest, etc.
Architecture: Buildings, Houses, Monuments, Structures, Historical, Streets, Railway Lines, etc.
Industries: Machinery, People at work, Production, Vehicles, etc.
Editorial: Photographs having news or editorial value.
Celebrities: Photographs of famous personalities in various fields.
Science and Technology: Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Computers, Electronics............Zoology.
Many other subjects.....
Required Quality of the Photographs
Stock photo agencies accept only high quality photographs. If your photographs do not match their quality criteria, they will be rejected. The important quality requirements of your photographs are as following:
Usage Value of the Photographs: The photographs must have a selling value. They must be of commercial or editorial value.
Size of the Photographs: The photographs must be of higher Mega Pixels. Generally they want 6+ Mega Pixels photographs.
Photographic Quality: The photographs must be of high photographic value, i.e. well composed, having proper sharpness, proper brightness and contrast, without color caste, without noise, not over manipulated and without spots and scratches on it.
Permissions: If the photograph is of a person, a model release is required. If the photograph is of a property, a property release is required. There are some exemptions for this rule, specially in case of editorial photographs.
Selling Photographs to Print and Online Media
Besides selling through stock photo agencies, you can sell your digital photographs directly to print and online media. This media market includes newspapers, news magazines, magazines, book publishers, web designers etc. At first step, you should start selling photographs to such buyers in your local area. In this market, the requirement of photographs varies. Newspapers and news magazines generally require news related photographs, Web designers and book publishers want photographs on specific subjects.
Although you are going to sell photographs online, developing a personal relationship with the editors and web designers is a must thing for selling in this field.
Selling Photographs to Advertisement Agencies
Advertisement agencies are one of the major buyers of photographs. You can work on assignment with them.
Try These Photo Agencies
You can try this photo agency:
Click on the link, a page Sell your images will appear. Read it and then click on the Register Now Button. An easy sign up form will appear, just fill in it.
Click on it, then go to the bottom of the page. On the right hand there is a column For Photographers. Click on the link Sell Images. A new page with the name 'Contributor's Dashboard' will appear. Now Sign Up for a Contributor Account by clicking on Sign Up link.
Please feel free to ask for any assistance by sending an email to me at: samdolian@gmail.com
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