Why Photographers Should Avoid Stock Photography Sites

Stock photography sites generally encourage photographers to upload photos and in return offer payouts from 20 to 50 cents every time one of their photos is downloaded. Some offer referral fees for new clients or new photographers. Some even apply network marketing principles and pay a small amount for referred photographer and client photo downloads.

I began to discover these sites a few months ago. It seemed like an interesting prospect. I figured I had the chance to make at least a small passive income stream. So I posted an ad on my Web site to get referral income and began uploading.

My first batch was almost completely accepted and it was quite a large batch. Then for some reason all of my photos in a very large subsequent batch were rejected after I had spent hours getting signed model releases, uploading, and putting in keywords.

It seemed that they had suddenly become very picky about ‘noise’ at full resolution. So I began taking photos at 100 ISO, again my photos were still getting rejected because of ‘hazing’ or noise. Then I downloaded a nice little program to smooth out the noise on my negatives scans for clarity at maximum resolution. I though, “Ok, problem solved, back to uploading!”

So I uploaded away (a bit more conservatively this time). Apparently now there was a new problem, many of the pictures were rejected for ‘soft focus’.

It amazed me to see that there were so many problems with my photos. When I browsed through the catalogue of photos I could see hundreds of terribly un-professional pictures. Many pictures look like they were taken of the family barbecue with an old Polaroid. (This may not be the case with other stock-sites but it was with the one in particular.) It seemed they were more concerned with certain rules and technical specifications than displaying professional or semi-professional, well composed photos. As for the photos that did make it on the site, a few were downloaded, so I received a few pennies into my ‘account’.

Through all the troubles and effort I began to think about the value of my work. Why should I have my photos thrown into a site mixed in with so many other photos? I devalued my work as an artist and in compensation for some pocket change. That does not intend to mean I am better than any of the other photographers that upload their photos to these sites. I just feel my work is worth more than what these sites offer in compensation. If someone wants to buy my photos, they should pay a fair price, not download it on a subscription or for less than a dollar.

Even for photography that is considered stock, not art, the compensation offered from these sites in not acceptable.

This article is not intended to criticize any Web site or company. It is just my own personal thoughts and experience. Other people may feel differently and experience more success with these types of sites than I did.