After being on flickr for a little more than a year now, I started selling my images on various stock images sites. Why? Because you can make real money there and if you are seriously into photography, you need to make some money to afford all the equipment.
How does it work? You need sign up and take a short test to prove that your photos are ready for stock. This means that you can't sell your snapshots on stock-photo sites. It's all about pictures that sell. And only things that will be used can also be sold.
Just take a local newspaper or magazine and browse through the pages and read where the photos come from (e.g. ©iStockphoto / Photographer). I hardly see any newspaper that does not use stock photos. They are a lot cheaper than paying a photographer take the images on demand. But they give you only some idea what it means for an image to be a good stock image.
Once you've started uploaded your first image, you will need to wait for 7 to 10 days until it has been reviewed. This means that some woman or guy somewhere in the world will have to look at your photo and check if that picture is compliant to the rules. This means no noise, no company names or logos, no artifacts and loads of other reasons that would make your image not useable. Don't be disappointed if your images get rejected. I have not yet exceeded the 50% approval rate so far which means I still need to learn and improve.
So, if you like to enter the world of stock photography the doors are open. Everyone is accepted and there is a fair competition with those already in the business. The only thing that counts is that your image can be used by someone out there!
Of course, if you like to buy on of my images, just use the following link and license your copy...
