Ricardo's Blog

One interesting opportunity that is available for professional photographers and serious amateurs is to sell their pictures online at the Microstock sites.  Microstock sites are sites of stock photographies who are very popular for advertising and design agencies.  They usually charge a very small fee ($1-$5 dollars) for each picture that a customer downloads.  Beyond the small fee, microstock photos are usually royalty-free, which means that the photos purchased can be used many times and are not limited to just a period of time.  Traditionally, stock photos were "leased" for a fixed time and for a fixed use and usage beyond the limits was charged via a royalty fee.

But what is the business for the photographer, if the final cost for the agency buying the picture is let's say, $1 dollar?  Well, the interesting thing is that microstock, given its small prices becomes a strong incentive for agencies to buy and use more images.  A very good image can attract thousands of downloads and if each download is pay at let's say 50 cents that one image can make an income of thousands of dollars.