post your favorite image, or let's see your best cat photo, etc.). The world's busiest stock photo forum mostly post photo chains (e.g. Everyone is absolutely positive, enthusiastic, Dreamstime is a super company - though it's true that many don't even reach the $100 payout limit. At first, the familiar, friendly forum seemed a bit "simple" after a while. the names of competitors) to be starred automatically, it is not advisable to make a critical remark. Second, browsing the forum daily, I realized it was highly moderated. There are some of them who photographed their baby a lot, too. I realized that at Dreamstime, whoever sells a ton has a lot of set-up, edited images (Christmas mood, little girl with an open book - a fancy fairy atmosphere) and, above all, plenty of digital artwork uploaded as illustrations (abstract). Why did I decide to leave? There are several reasons.įirst of all, I barely had a sale. I have deactivated all my photos (you cannot remove them completely). This had to be preceded by half a year of inactivity (no upload, no selling, no forum post, etc.). He reached the $100 payout limit in two years or so, which he was very happy with (photographers at Dreamstime will not be paid out under $100, even if they terminate their user account), however, it made me think if it was worth being exclusive at all.Īfter a few months of deliberation, I finally decided to get rid of them. He decided to become an exclusive photographer. Why do I say that only in principle? There is a very kind, persistent but less talented photographer who writes regularly on the Dreamstime forum (Message board, as they call it). You get a little more for exclusive photos (available only at Dreamstime), and if you’re an exclusive contributor (photographer) - that is, you only have photos with them, you work exclusively for them - then in principle you have a better chance of selling. I was almost thinking about becoming an exclusive photographer at Dreamstime, and I uploaded a few hundred of my pictures to them exclusively when I found an agency that was much more suitable for me, it was Alamy (see below).
#Ea5w7t alamy stock photo free#
If you don’t understand something or have a problem, even with image rejection, feel free to write to customer service! Agencies can also make a mistake, which they will correct, but only if you tell them. I guess a flesh-and-blood wo/man took a look at my photos and s/he soon realized that the images were nowhere near similar, only the subject was the same (Matchbox models).
#Ea5w7t alamy stock photo series#
Sometimes a whole series was rejected, saying "the image is very similar to an already uploaded one". Shutterstock) competitors within a tight deadline, at least in terms of the number of photos in their portfolio. This is probably due to a well-conceived reason for the company to catch up with its larger (e.g. It turned out that AI was used, and virtually no one even saw the uploaded images before they were out in front of the customers. It had become suspicious that while elsewhere you have to wait days for your photos to be accepted or rejected, this interval is often only minutes here. All my pictures were accepted, even my Matchbox photo series, which was rejected elsewhere. I would like to emphasize that below I express my personal experiences and opinions, others may have other experiences!ĭreamstime is originally a Romanian company that is now based in the United States. Artificial Intelligence, is spreading to analyze submitted photos / images, which I personally really hate. Not to mention the different needs of customers. In my opinion, it is not possible to learn the whims of 10 agencies. However, I prefer the practice when the photographer selects one or two agencies and digs deeply into their operation and expectations. All this, of course, depends on the composition of the portfolio (theme, media - photo, video, vector image, illustration). I note there are many who upload their photos on an “everything everywhere” principle, but they also find that there are high performing agencies and there are ones that are not at all worth mentioning. By the time you get to the end of reading this article, you will have a picture of the stock photography business as a phenomenon, and I hope you will be able to place yourself and your images in one or another agency's portfolio before you upload tons of photos to every site, waiting for your fortune.
![ea5w7t alamy stock photo ea5w7t alamy stock photo](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/P791R8/berkheya-purpurea-silver-spike-P791R8.jpg)
Here and there I also use the interesting experiences of the photographers present on the forums. That’s why I thought I’d describe my experience for each agency separately.
![ea5w7t alamy stock photo ea5w7t alamy stock photo](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2F1N828/silver-easter-eggs-easter-decoration-top-view-2F1N828.jpg)
Each has some oddities and works practically completely differently, different themes or different types of media do better, and the money you get for your sold images may be vastly different. I tried all the stock photographer sites below.
![ea5w7t alamy stock photo ea5w7t alamy stock photo](https://l450v.alamy.com/450v/dyn2mb/al009b-079-cessna-aw-cn-140-nc7107-dyn2mb.jpg)
Why does it matter which photo agency you choose as a photographer?