The more serious you are about photography, the more important it is that you have a monitor that can accurately display and represent your pictures. A monitor that cannot accurately represent your pictures will cause you to adjust your colors or levels incorrectly, which then means that what you see on your computer monitor will not match what you see in the printed photograph. Also, if the monitor cannot properly display your picture, you will waste a lot of time editing your pictures and need to re-edit them at some point to correct the problems. If you are not yet this serious and rarely do more with your pictures than a bit of cropping and an exposure adjustment, then most monitors might be adequate.

Continue reading this post…

As far as the mechanics of getting started in microstock, it is easy. This is the good and bad thing about microstock photography: it is easy for you to get started and it is easy for anyone else with a camera to get started. There is a lot of competition, but there are also a lot of pictures that are needed, so if you can take good pictures, you can make money. Continue reading this post…

Some microstock photographers estimate that you can make one dollar per photo per year per site. This means if you have 5 photos on three sites, you can expect to make 15 dollars a year on them. Of course, this can vary greatly based on the microstock site, the type of photos you submit, the size of the photos, the quality of the photos, the popularity of the subject, the number of other similar photos available, and other factors. In fact, some report numbers much higher than $1. I have heard numbers as high as $15. Continue reading this post…

One of the best ways to make more money with microstock, traditional stock, or any kind of photography is to improve your photography skills. Maybe this sound incredibly obvious, but sometimes people just dive in and start taking pictures and never look back of consider how they might improve their skill. When you improve your skills, each picture you take is better and more likely to be accepted by microstock agencies. This also means less wasted time editing pictures that are rejected by the agencies. After your pictures are accepted, better pictures mean more sales, which means more money. Continue reading this post…

Some microstock sites allow you to submit a picture and designate it as exclusive to that site. This lets users know that you can’t get this picture anywhere else. The photographer might even get a higher commission on the picture because it is exclusive. The other exclusive is where a photographer only sells his or her pictures on one site. This type of exclusivity is the subject of this article. Continue reading this post…

The best pictures in the world will make you no money unless people can find them. And how are pictures found on microstock sites? One method is by category. One can go to a site and look through the categories, but by far the most common method of finding pictures is be searching. When someone searches a micrstock site, the search terms they enter are compared to the keywords associated with a picture. The pictures that have keywords that match he search words are displayed for the user to review. So, for your pictures to have a chance at being purchased, they have to be properly keyworded. When keywording, ask your self these questions: Continue reading this post…