Many people wonder how a stock photograph is defined. The answer to that is that it is not. Every business needs photographs for reports, projects, publicity and so on. They place they go to get them is stock photo agencies who have a huge amount (maybe millions) of photographs in their stock. The stocks could be of nearly anything and are submitted to them by photographers. As and when the agencies sells a photo, the photographer who took it will be paid a percentage of the sale income.

To make money from selling stock photographs, the first thing to do is visit the websites of various agencies and check out the categories and sub categories of photos they carry. Have a look at the various types of pictures in each and find the categories that you are comfortable with and will have opportunities to shoot. Many agencies will also give information on what they are not looking for.

Carry your camera with you everywhere – you never know when a photo opportunity will arise – perhaps in a category you had not considered. Be prepared to take hundreds and even thousands of photos. This is not something you can do for a few months and stop. You need to have a large number of photographs with the agencies. The more you give them, the greater your chances of some of them selling.

Remember that the quality of the photograph counts as much as the subject in terms of agency acceptance and eventual sale. Among the things to keep in mind are:
•    Use a high megapixel camera for the best results
•    Enlarge your photos to 100% and examine them on a high resolution screen to spot any imperfections.
•    Use a good photo editing programs to correct the flaws.
•    Also use the program to adjust color, contrast and brightness as well as crop unnecessary material.
•    Avoid trying to be artistic and using elaborate light and shadow effects. Simple direct images have the best chance of selling.
•    If you take posed pictures of people you must get a model release form signed by them before sending your photographs to an agency or you could be looking at serious legal problems.

When submitting your photos attach as many keywords as you can. This will ensure they turn up more frequently during searches. Also give a nice title and accurate description of the photos.

Before sending anything to a stock photo agency, read their terms and conditions carefully and avoid those agencies whose terms seem unfair or one sided.

Another option is to set up your own website and sell your pictures yourself. This may work if you specialize in certain types of pictures or subjects with a specific market, but by and large people looking for stock photos go to established agencies.

And remember, you will need a lot of patience. It may be months, or even longer, before your first photo is sold. Don’t loose heart and keep on sending in as many photos as you can. Sooner or later the sales will start and you should have a good regular cash flow.

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