Hi everybody!

I have always enjoyed photography and have been thinking about getting involved in Micro Stock for quite a while now, but just haven't had the time (upto now). Hopefully I will at long last get chance to do this, and am starting to do some research into it.

When I used to read these forums in 2006, there always used to be a very interesting monthly thread on what the best microstock sites were for everybody, and how they had changed from the previous month.

I've just had a look, and cannot see a similar thread on there now.

Are people willing to share their most successful microstock sites?
Any tips on which ones a beginner should try first?

Many thanks,
Phil.

istock, shutterstock, dreamstime. If they take you in, though.

I think almost everyone would list iStock and ShutterStock as two of the top three.

iStock is relatively harder to get into. I'd recommend ShutterStock as a starting place since it more or less has the sweet-spot of probability of being accepted and the probability of actually making some money.

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ShutterStock • Dreamstime • StockXpert

I think it depends on your photographic experience. Sure iStock and Shutterstock are the two biggest and best, but if you don't have much of an idea about the Microstock market they'll make you jump through hoops to get accepted.

That said it's an idea to get started with Shutterstock ASAP because you have to wait 30 days between each application if you don't get 7 out of 10 through first time.

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JK

www.microstockphotography.info

Ditto from me. In just that order.

In my case I started with istock with a pretty good 50% acceptance rate. That got much better once I saw how picky they were about noise, artifacts, composition, and stock-worthiness. That learning then carried over to Shutterstock, Dreamstime, then a bunch more.

Until you have a few dozen accepted at those sites I wouldn't even think about any other sites. You can determine what other sites you want to be on through reading this site and your own experience at the top three.

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istockPhoto
Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Stockxpert
SnapVillage
Fotolia
BigStockP
FeaturePics
YayMicro
TheNextMicroWannaBe

In fact that is my order of satisfaction with them. I am glad to see someone agrees with me, from time to time.

Hi Phil,

I cannot argue with the suggestions so far, both Shutterstock and iStock are the top micro sites and because of that they are becoming more selective on the quality and content they accept.

When I started all those years ago (3 1/2 years), seems like a lifetime. I found a site just by googling, I had not found any forums, or any other sites. The first site I submitted to was a smaller site with lower sales, the point being it was a great way to learn the business, subject matter, quality standards etc.

I would recommend trying Bigstockphoto and Dreamstime, both produce sales and I personally find they do not get hung up on the rejection reasons of the other two sites suggested.

If you feel so inclined here are two referral links to my suggestions

my referral link to Bigstockphoto

my referral link to Dreamstime

Best of luck

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MySpace

Shutterstock
iStock
Dreamstime
BigStock
Fotolia
Albumo
NewDarkRoom
PantherMedia

Hi!

Many thanks for the quick and useful replies.

Phil.

Here is my list in order of download

Dreamstime
123RF
Big Stock Photo
IStockPhoto
SnapVillage
MostPhotos

But in when in comes to money then MostPhoto is probably on top of the list. They just pay a lot more per download.

Two news sites that I think may do well in the future (at least I hope so) are:

Yay Micro
Cutcaster

You can find larger list here H.Lehnerer Photography - Resources

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HL Photo Resources
Blog: Photo Infos
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SS - IS - BSP - DT - SX - Fotolia - 123RF - CSP - YAYM - SR
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