Best stock sites?
 

Hi,

I am really interested in trying to make some money from my photos and have thought of stock sites, but am not sure which ones are the best? I have heard to stay away from some, but not sure and can't remember which, as there as so many. :confused: I also have the book 'The freelance photgrapher's market handbook 2009', so may try that too.

Any ideas please? :)

Anyone? :(

I'm not sure as i have never tried any but here is a link to some.......

http://cameras.about.com/od/professi...stockphoto.htm


Plus this is an interesting read....

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009...photos-part-1/

The best advice I could give is to read very, very carefully the full terms and conditions associated with the agency you are thinking of using. Make sure you retain the copyright on any photos that you submit.

Thanks both for your replies!

How do I copyright my photos? Does it cost a lot of money??

Hi Sally, here is a Link to the UK copyright Service which will help you
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/pr...aphy_copyright
Best of luck.

http://www.dreamstime.com/ are good. But they didn't accept any of my images :(

Thanks for the link Andy, though I can't find out how much copyright actually costs! :confused:

GFinch, I'm sorry your images didn't get accepted! :( That's exactly what I'm worried about! :( I also have the book 'The Freelance Photgrapher's Market Handbook' (which I got last November), but haven't had the confidence to contact any of the companies! :o Think I may sell it!

BTW: GFinch, I have just looked at your website and your photos are excellent!!

If you took the photo, not under contract to anybody else, then, as far as I'm aware, you own the copyright automatically, free, it's yours. Some stock agencies, when you sign up to their terms and conditions, will as part of those conditions, take the copyright from you. This is bad. Once you give the copyright to someone else, they can make far more money from a good image than you would if you'd kept hold of your rights. It's this sort of condition that you need to be aware of.

Apparently someone will pay you more for a photo if they have exclusive usage right for a period of time, then if the same can be popping up elsewhere. So stock photo companies will want exclusive rights to your images. IOW they don't want you hawking the same photo on a dozen different outlets.

That said there are a number of sites getty, istockphoto, alamy, etc. Alamy has a neat calculator which will give you an industry standard price per photo usage:
http://www.alamy.com/price-calc.asp?...A-CF3207FF0DEB