Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hello I'm curious i'm gonna ask question How much photographer can make for a month what is the lowest and how much is the highest income,I am single mom and because i am sad to leave my kid to the baby sitter,if i can make like $500 to 700 a month i will focus on here.I do have an interview at a A&w restaurant that i applied and let say the income for fulltime is $1200 and my baby sitter is $950 she make money than i do and i stay away from my child i make nothing so if i can make better here?please help me 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Anna

 

Unfortunately I don't think that you will find the money that you need on Alamy.  A few people are probably making $1200 a month and more, but I get the impression that most of us lag well behind  -  I come nowhere near, despite uploading and keywording the best part of 10,000 images over a number of years.

 

Virtually all of my photo income comes from Alamy, but I suspect that you would need to do commissioned photography to make real cash. As to how you break into that market, I'll leave to others to suggest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been at this for 10 years, and now with 5000 plus images, the figures you mention are unattainable for me. It's more like $200-300 a month, on a very good month.

There's been a huge influx of new contributors that compete, causing many of us old-timers to watch our sales erode.

 

If you could get 10,000 images up in a relatively short time, and those images aren't run of the mill but desireable subjects, wanted by buyers, exposed and processed well and taken with a decent camera, then those figures you desire might be attainable.

 

I understand your desperation. Back when my family was low income, I stayed home with my three children but developed a poodle-grooming business that was done at home. If you have a talent, or can develop a talent for a service the public desires that could be done at home, you'd make more money than at stock photography in the near term. Since your babysitter makes more than you clear, think about doing that yourself. A couple of children you watch every day would bring in more than you're making now.

 

Meanwhile, you could study the kind of images that sell here and develop your skills in your spare time. Upload them, and eventually if you follow the above advice, you'll begin to sell a few. Only after you build a few thousand of "desirable" images, will you begin to see more sales.

That said, the way things are going, who knows how well any of us will do by then.

Good luck.

Betty

Edited to add. I took a look at your images, and you do have a decent camera, your images are well exposed, so you have a plus there. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anna

 

I think Bryan has given some good advice above, especially when you consider the ever falling fee for stock photography

 

A classic example being just today with a front cover on a major magazine that gave me a gross income of $30 

 

You will need a lot of magazine covers to reach your targets!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a-mouse-in-the-mouse-trap-sticky-pad-try

 

Sorry to say, but do you know a more cruel way to kill mice?  :angry: Only sadists use sticky pads. What's wrong with a traditional mousetrap that kills them INSTANTLY. Shame on you!!!

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

We're not a very nice species. Makes you wonder who the real "pests" are on this planet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this mice is annoying you dont know how this mouses are so annoying n my bedroom making a mess poop and sneaky in our snacky food even destroying my kid clothes how is that huh you don't suffer that's why arterra

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello I'm curious i'm gonna ask question How much photographer can make for a month what is the lowest and how much is the highest income,I am single mom and because i am sad to leave my kid to the baby sitter,if i can make like $500 to 700 a month i will focus on here.I do have an interview at a A&w restaurant that i applied and let say the income for fulltime is $1200 and my baby sitter is $950 she make money than i do and i stay away from my child i make nothing so if i can make better here?please help me 

 

If you want to make money, and don't already have an extensive library of desirable images that you have already keyworded, then look elsewhere.

 

The hours of effort required to establish a collection of good keyworded images is substantial. Suppose, as an example, it takes at least 5 minutes to shoot a picture, 5 minutes to edit it ready for Alamy, and then 5 minutes to keyword it, so 15 minutes/picture. In my case those are absolute minimums, most of my images take much, much longer then this. Now realise that, unless you're very clever with what you shoot, that the average sales rate is around 1 sale per 1,000 images per month at perhaps £20 per sale. Using the above rates indicates that to get 1,000 new images on Alamy will take a minimum of 250 hours. These 1,000 images could generate an income of £20 per month. So initially, it's really, really hard work for little return. As your collection grows, the return gets better (assuming your images don't date). But against this, the fees paid per stock image are falling.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he eventually escape didn't kill the mouse i can't kill animal because i am a good person i let him escape outside home 

 

 

If you don't want to kill it, then get a good non-lethal mouse trap which just catches it without harm, so you can release it afterwards.

 

Sticky pads are indeed cruel as the mouse suffers since the more it moves to free itself, the more it gets trapped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he eventually escape didn't kill the mouse i can't kill animal because i am a good person i let him escape outside home 

 

Good for you. Some people would have just let the mouse suffer. Your images clearly show how cruel these sticky traps are, which might prove to be a good thing in the long run.

 

Back to your question, it's possible to make a little extra income at stock photography but very difficult to make a living at it these days. Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been a professional photographer for a really long time, and to be honest with you, it's harder and harder every year to make a living.  Most of what I provide for Alamy are out-takes from my commercial and newspaper work.  Basically, to make any money, you need experience, thousands of dollars in equipment, and time to build experience and a client base.

 

As for stock photography, unless you have a library of tens of thousands of images (and those have to be professional quality), it probably works out a to few hundred bucks, every couple of months.  It took me eight years to build up +/- 2,300 images, and that brings in about $100 to $200 per month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been a professional photographer for a really long time, and to be honest with you, it's harder and harder every year to make a living. Most of what I provide for Alamy are out-takes from my commercial and newspaper work. Basically, to make any money, you need experience, thousands of dollars in equipment, and time to build experience and a client base.

 

As for stock photography, unless you have a library of tens of thousands of images (and those have to be professional quality), it probably works out a to few hundred bucks, every couple of months. It took me eight years to build up +/- 2,300 images, and that brings in about $100 to $200 per month.

I don't think that -- for general photography, anyway -- you need to spend a fortune on equipment. Last year, I averaged about $275 net per month (10 sales per month on average) with pretty basic equipment. However, I did considerably better than that a few years ago with far fewer images in my collection. It's a jungle out there now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all lets get the mouse thing out of the way. When field mice come into my home and eat through containers to get to my dogs food I use baited traps to capture them unharmed and release them the next day in parkland. I can not bring myself to euthanase a creature just doing it's best to survive.

 

Now for the constructive stuff.

 

The advice you have been given above is solid. It would rarely be possible to come straight into stock and earn a sustainable income. Don't give up the day job yet. For stock expensive equipment is not necessary unless you intend to specialise for example in wildlife (which I somehow doubt) or architecture. Perhaps you could look to other areas of photography such as portraiture or weddings whilst building a stock portfolio.

 

Your existing photos show that you have stock potential but competition is fierce and attention to detail such as correcting verticals etc. would help your photos to stand out. Also, where are the photos of your offspring? Pics of children doing things will sell as will lifestyle shots of family life.

 

These are just some thoughts and you are welcome to treat them with the preverbial pinch of salt.

 

Good luck

Joe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anna -- it is still possible to make money from photography. As example, have a look at this:

 

http://www.nagelphotography.com/blog/2017/3/microstock-earnings-through-february

 

I don't know if this is legit of course, but I looked at his portfolio and it is very high quality.  Thing to note is that these amounts are from micro-stock which pays significantly less (but sells comparatively more) than Alamy.  I also believe he sells through his own website as well.

 

Bottom line is:  You have to find a way to stand above the crowd, which is not easy in this age of "smartphone photographers".  It is best done through quality, not quantity as many would suggest.  It is also hard and time consuming work.  Good thing is that once portfolio (and skills!) are developed,  it becomes passive income.

 

In your place I'd suggest keeping day job and treating photography as hobby initially, trying through different agencies (not only Alamy where you are not likely to sell anything first 6-12 months) and then make your own decisions.  At each case, good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anna -- it is still possible to make money from photography. As example, have a look at this:

 

http://www.nagelphotography.com/blog/2017/3/microstock-earnings-through-february

 

I don't know if this is legit of course, but I looked at his portfolio and it is very high quality.  Thing to note is that these amounts are from micro-stock which pays significantly less (but sells comparatively more) than Alamy.  I also believe he sells through his own website as well.

 

Bottom line is:  You have to find a way to stand above the crowd, which is not easy in this age of "smartphone photographers".  It is best done through quality, not quantity as many would suggest.  It is also hard and time consuming work.  Good thing is that once portfolio (and skills!) are developed,  it becomes passive income.

 

In your place I'd suggest keeping day job and treating photography as hobby initially, trying through different agencies (not only Alamy where you are not likely to sell anything first 6-12 months) and then make your own decisions.  At each case, good luck!

 

And this is the quality that earns him these $1000 a month. (I assume it is net, but before taxes. He may have a day job or a working spouse.)

From >>5,500 photos with Shutterstock and 2,500 photos with iStock<<

He started around 2010 with stock.

 

Anna,

 

What to do if you do not have that quality (yet)?

Practice practice practice. Those infamous 10.000 hours is no myth.

 

In the mean time: have a look at All of Alamy where all the searches by all the clients are being logged.

You can go back a whole year. (You have to be logged in.) There's a help section on the right hand side.

 

Now I assume you're based in or close to Vancouver.

Set AoA as far back as possible. This month that's May 1st 2016. As a search term choose %vancouver%. (Include the %% - it's a database thing.)

You can click on sales and zooms, but however interesting those are, for the moment you will be looking for views. More precisely the search terms with the least views (just click on it - maybe twice). Everything up to 99 views is a good subject to shoot. 100 views will only tell you the client did only look at the first page of the results.

If you click on the search term, you get to see what there's already there.

Now only go out and shoot if you can do better or at least as good. No strike that: do go out and shoot it, but only upload when your images as good or better.

- Learn how to judge that.

 

Also shoot what you have access to. Your child is an obvious subject. Trawl All of Alamy for what to shoot in the same way as with %vancouver%.

Sign releases.

Access can be things; buildings but also knowledge.

Being a local shooting locally means you can wait for the best opportunity. Like the best weather; the best season; the best light.

 

Maybe also apply with some of those microstock agencies. They do judge your images for quality and saleability. Alamy only judges the technical quality.

Do you use Instagram? If not start now.

Look for photo critique sites online.

 

Don't expect any income the first year. Coffee money would be nice.

However there's always that lottery aspect as well.

For that it's important that your images can be used commercially. So they should be model and or property released.

Canada is a special case when people photography is concerned. This is a overview of property and (commercial or editorial) photography.

 

Oh and your yellow tulip is a daffodil.

Captions and keywords are maybe at least as important as the images, because this is how your images can be seen in the first place. Not the exact good keyword: no view. No views: no sales. Here the wrong views will lead to a lower ranking. putting your images at the back of those 80.000 images that are daily added.

This is why you at first will be concentrating on subjects with less than 100 views.

 

good luck!

wim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

And this is the quality that earns him these $1000 a month.

 

 

 

yes, quite amazing isn't it!

 

Excellent advice wiskerke for Anna btw.  I'd add, because I know Vancouver well,  there are many spots to shoot stuff that has sales potential.  Granville Island and Market.  Kits beach has beautiful sunsets, Maritime Museum, Burrard Bridge.  Then over to Pacific Spirit; on a misty day that are plentiful in Vancouver you can make terrific rainforest shots.  Stanley Park has tons of spots that are not photographed that much, if you know where to go!  Or head over to Port Moody for some unique perspective of Mt Seymour or over to Buntzen.   Head up Grouse and there are some terrific photo-ops there, bear den, wood carvings etc.  Horseshoe Bay,   Point Atkinson/Lighthouse Park,  etc etc.   Aim for quality and uniqueness. That sells, not quantity/tons of boring shots that show same thing over and over but people keep uploading because "others have 1000s of images, so should I".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anna,

 

You may also want to check out Alamy's blog on Keith Morris  :   http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos

 

And take a look at his portfolio and posts here on the forum.

 

I'll second Wim's comment about money received in the first year.  Payment isn't fast even if you're lucky enough get sales early on.  Typically the time from first viewing to actual payment is measured in months.  For certain seasonal photos, the delay can be longer.  Spring photos taken this year probably won't be used until next spring for print publications, which means they'll be looked at perhaps in October, maybe purchased in December, and payment received after it goes to press next April.

 

As to your goal of $500 - $700 per month.  Getting there won't be easy, but not impossible.  You will need to put some real effort into learning the business side  -- not just the photography part.  For some images, other agencies may be a better choice once you've developed the necessary skill.  And some of them may give you feedback on the salability of the images and not just the technical quality.

 

As in any business, keeping your costs under control is important.  You need good equipment, but not necessarily the best.  Most of Alamy's sales are editorial, and the print ( or web display ) doesn't require top quality.  That is, something like the Sony RX100 series will produce perfectly useable photos for most purposes.  Justifying a Canon 5d Mk IV (or the Nikon or other equivalent) is tough.  Since you've had a reasonable number accepted, you probably already have everything you need to get started. 

 

Good luck.

 

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.