Shooting long exposure photography

 

Which micro stock agencies are worth it?

I have a portfolio on a few micro stock agencies.  There are small, medium and large agencies.  Here is my list of all my portfolios:

• Canstockphoto.com
• Bigstockphoto.com
• Depositphoto.com
• Dreamstime.com
• Pond5.com
• Shutterstock.com
• Storyblocks.com

Are they all the same?  Do all perform the same way?  The answer is of course no.  The first four on my list are not worth your time.  I make 90%+ of my sales on Pond5, Shutterstock and Storyblocks.  Shutterstock also has a referral program where if in this case I sign up a photographer or a videographer, I get a bit of a payback from Shutterstock.  Granted, it's not a whole lot but could turn into a bigger paycheque if I sign up a lot of people.

Photography and using my camcorder to crate footage is an awesome hobby for me.  I also make a few bucks with it every month.  I really, really enjoy doing it and I wish I could do it full time.  With 4 plus years experience with microstock agencies I'm only uploading to 3 agencies now where the return is half descent.  With Pond5, I'm able to set my own price where with the others it's a set price set by the agencies.  I may say 1-4 videos a month on Pond5 and generally it's a good return.  Currently I sell my videos for $299US per clip.  I get half of that.  With Shutterstock, I sell my photos starting at $0.36US a photo and videos start anywhere from $12US to $120US.  The clips are generally 5-60 seconds in length.  I only shoot 1080p/60fps so it takes a few minutes to edit my footage and about 10-20 minutes to upload my videos to each agency.  Of course this depends on how many clips I have and how fast my internet speed is.

Overall it's a really good passive income for me.  It's something I enjoy and wish I could do full time.  So if you're looking for a photographer who does photos and videos, hit me up.  I'm sure we can work well together.