Microstock photography

Microstock photography or Micro Stock Photography is an offshoot of traditional stock photography. What defines a company as a microstock photography company is that they (1) source their images almost exclusively via the Internet, (2) do so from a wider range of photographers than the traditional stock agencies (including a willingness to accept images from "amateurs" and hobbyists), and (3) sell their images at a very low rate (anywhere from $.20 - $10) for a royalty-free image.

A number of microstock sites also sell vector art, and some sell Flash animations and video, as well as images.

History and competitors

The pioneer of microstock photography was Bruce Livingstone, who created iStockPhoto, originally a free stock photo site that quickly became an industry phenomenon. Livingstone sold iStockphoto to Getty Images in February 2006 for $50 million USD.

In December 2006, Jupiterimages' followed suit by acquiring controlling ownership of Hungary-based microstock site Stockxpert.

In June 2007, Corbis launched its own a microstock website, Snapvillage.com. It said it intended to use its microstock site as a farm club to find photographers who could also sell their photographs on the main Corbis Web site.

In July 2007, moodboard launched with what they called Quality Microstock which they stated is a hybrid of of both traditional royalty free stock images and the current trend of microstock images.

There are many different micro stock resources out there to help photographers get into the world of microstock. Some of the most useful are the micro stock forums, TalkMicro, MicroStockForum and MicroStockGroup to name a few.

There have also been many new micro stock websites appear in 2006 and 2007, all trying to compete with the big 5: iStockphoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime, StockXpert and Fotolia. They may be new and might not provide you with as many sales as some of the big 5 would, but they do tend to give you much higher commissions on each sale and a much more personal and friendly service as they do not have tens of thousands of members to cope with. An example of some of the smaller agencies to appear over the last year are LuckyOliver, GeckoStock, Albumo and Feature Pics, just to name a few.

Tools to help support the micro stock photographer have also started to emerge, including the Micro Stock Monitor tool which is a plugin for Firefox browsers and reports on your sales and viewing statistics from a range of different micro stock websites. Another tool, ProStockMaster, automates the uploading process to eight of the top microstock agencies.

Practices and controversy

Each microstock company uses a different pricing and payment scheme. Photographers can upload the same pictures on multiple sites or, with some agencies, become an exclusive supplier and receive an increased commission.

There is no fee to post photos on a microstock site. However, microstock companies do not accept everyone or all photographs. Each employs a team of reviewers who check every picture submitted for technical quality, as well as artistic and commercial merit. Photographers add keywords that help potential buyers filter and find pictures of interest.

The mindset of microstock supporters is that quantity will prevail and photographers will end up making as much from many small sales as they would from a few large sales on a traditional stock photography site. But some professional photographers believe microstock devalues the practice of photography, since most pictures on microstock sites have been taken by non-professional photographers. Professional photographers see the growth of microstock sites as reducing their own incomes.

See also

• Stock photography
• What is Microstock?
• Short guide to Micro Stock