Free Images

Did you know that most stock photography sites give away free images? Most will have a "free images" section or "free images of the day."

Being the cheapskate that I am, I download all the free images, all the time and save them in a folder in case I should need them one day. Sort of like a virtual pack rat!

Fotolia has a great collection, which they change daily. Check them out. It's on the bottom of the page under Search Index. Click on "Free Images."

The image seen here is taken from Fotolia's free images.

Stock Photography Sites To Get Your Started

This article is take from http://cashbypo.blogspot.com.

I compiled a list of my top stock photography sites.  They all vary in different features.  I recommend checking each one out, however I suggest maximizing your profits by joins more than one if possible.  Good Luck!

ShutterStock

ShutterStock is one of the bigger microstock photography sites and has a high sell rate.  They do have a very rigid photo review process however, but once accepted you're photos will be well marketed to a large number of buyer.

iStockphoto

iStockphoto is another one of the big sites which has its upside and downside.  Thousands of potential buyers browse big sites like this, however they tend to be more picky than the smaller sites.  The registration process may take slightly longer than other sites, but once you're in and get some photos accepted you'll see the money start rolling in quickly.

Fotolia

Fotolia is a relatively new site that is causing quite a stir in the stock photography community.  They are well organized and have a quick registration process.  Although they have a moderately rigid photo review process, they do not penalize you for submitting photos that don't get approved.  Fotolia is growing and has a good customer base which translates to a high number of sales.

FeaturePics

FeaturePics has the least rigid photo review process and is your best bet for getting photos accepted.  The also have a fairly high commission rate.  FeaturePics frequently tried new ways to sell your photos and offer you the option to participate in new projects they have.  I recommend taking advantage of their new ideas, it will just boost your revenue.

123rf

123rf is right in the middle when it come to their image review process.  They accept more than most other sites on this list, but do reject a good amount as well.  I'm not too familiar with their sales volume as I just joined this site, but it won't hurt to give it a try.

These are not all of the sits out there.  I will put on a more comprehensive list in the future.  Thanks for stopping by.

Image Piracy and Severe Consequences

Those unfamiliar with stock photography sites may be wondering why anyone would choose to buy an image, when they can just search for one in Google's Image Search and just take one of those.

I recently read an extensive and well written article at StockPhotography.com. Here they explain in great details the reason buying images from stock photography sites will make your life so much easier. Furthermore, you will avoid diminishing the creative work of another artist and you will avoid the stiff penalties that can arise from what basically amounts to stealing another person's work.

Here are some of the main points the article makes:

• Pictures and images are property of their creator. Therefore, it cannot be taken or used without permission (even if it is so easy to do so in today's computer world).
• Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights were setup to encourage artist to be creative and continue to do their work knowing that it will be protected. Without these protections, artist would have little incentive to create new works of art.
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides greater protection to digital images. An important part of the act criminalizes removal of digital elements (such as a digital watermark) added to an image to protect copyright.
• The maximum penalty for copyright infringement has recently been raised from $100,000 to $150,000 per infringement

They also list what they consider to be "4 Incredibly Painful Mistakes."

1. "Thinking that the worst thing that can happen to you if you "steal" an image is that you can be forced to pay what you would have had to pay anyway..."
2. "Thinking, hey, let THEM prove I DIDN'T pay for the picture."
3. "Thinking to yourself, 'Hey, I'll just use Photoshop to remove all these pesky little copyright identifiers on this picture. Who's gonna know?' "
4. "Thinking, hey, I'm too "small potatoes" for anyone to care.

Check out the entire article at StockPhotgoraphy.com.

Welcome to Stock Photographer Resources!

It is our hope, with this blog we can share useful tips on the ever growing online stock photography business and how you can benefit from the increased accessibility to stock images. We invite you to join in our discussions and hopefully share some of your own tips.

Online stock photography sites are making it easy for amateur photographers to make a few extra bucks by uploading and offering their photos for sale. If you have a large number of high quality images, the potential to make substantial income is there. However, most amateur photographers will find that supplemental income is more realistic. Nonetheless, if you love photography, this is a great way to up support your hobby.

There is also the other side, buying stock photography. With the explosion of online video and blogs (such as this one), there is a great need to find relevant images that can legally be used to enhance our own work. Stock photography sites not only make finding these images relatively simple, but they keep the prices very affordable, with some offering images for as low at 30 cents!

The every growing world of stock photography is ever changing, which makes it even that much more exciting. We hope you'll continue to visit us! Thank you for stopping by!