Note: This article was published in August of 2020.

What does it mean to be a contributor for a stock website?

Stock websites are a popular means for photographers to provide images for content creators. With copyright infringement carrying heavy penalties, taking an image off the web and adding it to your website is not the best idea. Stock websites fill a void by allowing buyers to enter contract deals with sellers (photographers) to legally acquire needed content (photographs).

Images, illustrations and videos really make any post or ad sing because people enjoy visual representation. Markets and brands look for stock images. Magazines look for stock images. Bloggers often need stock images if they are not decent photographers. Stock contributors upload their material for consideration to be purchased by large and small entities alike.

Stock images are often sold on a royalty-free basis, used and reused for commercial purposes. Terms of service differ with each stock company. Generally a contributor offers nonexclusive selling rights of their material, meaning the contributor has the ability to sell the same work on more than one platform.

If you were to snag a high paying deal with Coca Cola or Nike, odds are your nonexclusive selling right would change to exclusive, but your monetary gain would likely surpass the earnings of the nonexclusive rights. Exclusive rights should cost and offer more money.

Things to keep in mind if you do pursue being a stock photography contributor:

• Waivers for images taken of people are necessary and important. It will be your responsibility to acquire signatures.

• Usually images are judged prior to being accepted. Sometimes the stock company will ask for an image to be edited and resubmitted, allowing for the chance of approval. At other times, they simply reject photographs for various reasons. If given a reason, use it as a learning tool and do not grow disheartened.

• Will need to routinely submit many images for best financial results, unless an image should really speak to the masses acquiring popularity. Be prepared for this kind of work as a stock contributor.

• Read the fine print of each contract for specifics.

Which stock website did I like best?

To be a contributor for iStock or Shutterstock, you submit a portfolio of a specified amount of images and await approval. I was accepted by both on the first round, which I guess could constitute as bragging rights. If you do not get accepted but still desire to be a stock contributor, try again with different content.

Each stock website differs, so do not assume they are going to be the same. Over the span of a couple months, Shutterstock appealed to me more. Shutterstock sold more of my images and the website was easier for me to navigate. Both are relatively easy to use for submitting content.

Would I recommend being a stock contributor?

If you are able to produce many photographs with current popular content, sure. Shutterstock sometimes gave calls for needed material by well known brands. If accepted, higher payouts are given.

To broaden your horizon as a photographer if you are at a stagnant point in your career, maybe. The education is valuable, and having your work routinely judged does not hurt. I would not jump in for the purpose of expecting a lot of income, but you can always use stock photography as a stepping stone to hone skills and learn something new in the photography world.

If it takes you awhile to capture and edit photographs that are not current popular content, I would recommend looking elsewhere as a fit for your material.

Things I enjoyed about being a stock contributor:

• Adding it to my resume.

• Seeing which countries or cities bought my images. Watching purchases from Los Angeles, California, USA, to China was fun.

• Learning.

Tips for being a stock contributor:

• Keep up with what Shutterstock or iStock say they are looking for each month. Shutterstock has “the shot list”, which is a monthly guide to most requested content. Stock websites keep up with analytics and trends knowing current popular content. They want to succeed, which means photographers need to succeed. Take their advice seriously. If you want to be a prolific stock contributor, provide what is in demand.

• Color photographs seem more popular. Even a specific color may be popular for a month, season, or year.

• Images of people and still life content are very popular. I assumed flowers would be my more popular content. Animal images, like the snake photograph shown above, were my most popular sales.

• Keep track of your more popular images. This process may help with creating future material and making more sales.

Earnings?

How much you might earn is an important question. Earnings vary according to the contract and which type of contract a seller signs. Shutterstock has an earnings level giving a higher percentage to those who sell more stock photographs. Getty’s iStock allows sellers who are exclusive to make more money. After reading a standard earnings graph from each site you should have an idea of how much money can be made. Each graph can be found when signing up as a contributor.

How much did I make being a stock contributor? In the two years I uploaded images which were approved and passed by each stock website, I made less money than entering and winning a high placement (first or second place) in a national or international competition.

Admittedly, I was not able to contribute a good amount of images. Those on the web claiming you need to upload hundreds and thousands of images with new content each month are not lying. At most, a hundred images was all I uploaded. Total. Per site. But I did change the images given to each stock site, so around two hundred images were uploaded. Some contributors submit two hundred a month. It took me several months.

Conclusion:

Could have theoretically left up my stock portfolio indefinitely, or until the stock websites closed. When searching for my name on the web, my Shutterstock portfolio usually came up on the first page of results, leading to exposure of my work. But overtime I found stock photography was not for me. The essence of my experience as a stock contributor was learning. Learning what sells in a commercial market is valuable. Two years after being accepted, I submitted requests to both stock companies asking they terminate my account.

Many would tell me to leave up my portfolio for possible monetary gain, but I am closing the chapter of being a “stock contributor”. Actually, I quit being a stock contributor about six to eight months after being accepted. It was not a fit and I have long pursued other avenues.

Hopefully this article of my experience will give others an idea of being a stock contributor. Prior to signing up on any stock website I read many articles with honest advice, so I too recommend researching the advice and experience of others prior to signing up. Some of the authors might make you very hopeful for better or easier results so it is important to weigh everything. Best of luck to everyone.

* All images in this article, including thumbnail image, were from stock portfolio to give an idea of accepted images. No, you may not take my images and use at your disposal.