How to Get Started in Stock Photography

The Ultimate PhotoGuide caught up with a few professional stock photographers to gather some tips and a bit of advice on how one might get started in Stock Photography. If you’re not entirely sure what stock photography is? Basically it’s a platform where you sell the right to use images.

For example, let’s say a company needed an image for their website. They could visit a stock photography site (also known as an agency), look for the type of image they want to use and pay for the right to use it. Needless to say you (the photographer) gets paid for that. So you can have an entire portfolio of images on a stock photography site and essentially this could become a form of passive income. Having said that, building a substantial portfolio doesn’t come easy. It’s about knowing what sells, constantly working towards building that portfolio and it certainly takes time. That said, once the image is up it can be sold over and over, so it keeps working for you.

Sounds great, but how do you get started?

Professional stock photographers; Alvis Upitis, Steve Neidorf and Peter Beck introduce some expert tips and techniques for getting started in the stock photography business. They first talk about finding your niche and determining how invested you want to be in stock, which you can do by checking out micro-stock photography blogs and visiting agency websites. They also discuss the best methods for signing on with an agency, including creating a solid body of work made up of images that you’ve shot and own.

Ok, so now you need a few examples of Stock Photography websites? Try:

• iStock
• Shutterstock
• Getty Images

Those should be a good start, they are all massive. But try searching the web because you certainly get smaller sites that are worth a visit.

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