Urweb © 2010

This Domain  “urweb.co.uk” is for sale, and can be purchased at www.sedo.co.uk by clicking here or alternatively email us at admin@urweb.co.uk

 

What is Microstock?

 

It was always inevitable that the Internet would change the world we live in, and none more so than it has in the world of Photography, digital media and cameras, mean that photographers can take a picture in Australia today, download it onto PC and email it within seconds for it to appear on the front page of a UK newspaper.
Whilst all this has many advantages for professional photographers, it is widely believed that Microstock Photography is killing the career of many who of those that have built a career upon their camera.
The other side of the coin is that Microstock opens up new and endless opportunities for amateur photographers, those that could not get a break, now have a way of making an income.
So what exactly is Microstock, well the best way to describe it is to look around you, in newspapers, magazines, advertisments, websites, etc etc. Basically it is a branch of Photography that involves taking shots of something, that someone (most likely from some form of media) would like to buy. Now instead of paying £1000’s of pounds to hire a photographer, they got a stock agency, where lots of people like you and I upload all their pictures to, these are pictures of everything and anything, they can then pick from millions of photos, select what size they require, pay a fraction of the cost of hiring someone, and you then get your cut from the agency. Some agency’s have a subscription program, these sell more of your pictures but for a much reduced price.

So to recap, microstock is photography sold online by agency’s with huge libraries, enabling amateurs to sell their photos and publishers / media folk to buy pictures for a fraction of the usual costs. Win win situation for most, however many making a living from photography are apparently now suffering as a result.

Not all good photos make good stock. As a rule, holiday, family, day out and pet snaps 99% will be rejected. Flowers 99.9% will be rejected, they are shot to death and stock sites have seen enough of them, Think outside the box, a concept, an idea, or an unusual view of an everyday or popular subject all seem to do well. Something different, think what sells, look through magazines and leaflets for ideas.

Rejection is part of the large learning curve that is stock photography, even the best photographers get their shots refused. It can be for anything from poor composition,  lighting, not focusing where the site feels its best, or just because the plain don’’t like it. I have had lots of rejections and it is hard to get yourself motivated again. Currently my acceptance rates are about 35%, that’s one in three pictures rejected. Some sites will accept photos that have been rejected by others.

Above was one of my early pictures, it took an age to set up, and out of 30 odd snaps this one was the best, it was rejected by every site. Putting in a lot of effort and being rejected is one thing that stock photographers need to get used to.

Taking ordinary pictures and putting an artist twist on them using software also seems to be popular.