Work Abroad

Stock photography probably represents the most serious chance a traveler with a camera has of making money. Stock photography refers to libraries (online and in the real world) that licence images to publishers. You retain the copyright and get paid each time the image is used. Its use is very popular with designers, graphic artists, art directors, advertising agencies, marketing professionals, in magazine ads, websites, and marketing brochures. Instead of hiring a professional photographer to create an image, a publisher can just scan from a catalogue.

Might end up everywhere http://www.flickr.com/photos/trodel/

Agencies that specialize in recruiting seasoned photographers and selling their images for a hefty commission date back to the 1920s, but the last decade has seen nearly all the traditional agencies moving online . In addition a new off shoot in the field called Micro stock photography has come into the equation.

Micro Stock photography companies are defined by the fact that they concentrate solely on internet sales, their willingness to accept images from nearly anyone and the modest prices that they charge customers (starting at less than a dollar). Istockphoto.com was a pioneer in this field and today it still leads the field, alamy.com (which only accepts photos taken with a digicam that has at least 6 megapixel sensor) or bigstockphoto.com are a couple of other sites worth looking at if you think your photos will be in demand.

The general rule of thumb with Micro Stock sites is to upload as many photos as possible on as many different sites as possible (most Micro Stock sites allow you this option as they don’t ask for exclusive rights to an image). Which photos will sell is anyone’s guess but if you can capture say, Paris at night, in a photo or Mardi Gras, then who knows, it might end up everywhere.

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