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Shutterstock is Tops
"Shutterstock®, already the world's largest subscription-based stock photo agency, today announced another milestone: Shutterstock has the largest photo collection in the microstock industry."
Microstock refers to the newest wave of stock photo agencies: web-based companies that obtain their photographs from a diverse pool of talent and sell royalty-free images at rates lower than traditional "macro" agencies.
With nearly 1.5 million images in its inventory, Shutterstock provides an excellent inventory for magazines, webmasters, advertising agencies and others seeking high quality photos and, trust me, Shutterstock is all about quality.
Shutterstock currently pays $.25 per photo download. That's $1.00 for every four downloads. You must have at least $75.00 in commissions in order to receive a check.
Shutterstock Photo Requirements
Please Note: Photo requirements can change at any time. Those presented below were accurate as of January 2007, and we'll do our best to keep them updated. Be sure to always read the latest requirements before submitting photos.
- Photos must be at least 4.0MP (4.0 Megapixels/4.0 Million Pixels). To calculate the number of pixels in a photo - multiply the width by the height. For example - a photo that's 2400 x 1675 is 4.02 million pixels.
- Photos may not be upsized more than 5%.
- Photos should be correctly exposed and in-focus.
- Photos can be submitted in digital form only.
- Photos must be categorized and keyworded correctly
Shutterstock Categories
Your goal is to have your photos downloaded by as many people as possible. You should plan your photo submissions in advance of actually uploading the photos. Not only does properly categorinzing and keywording your photos lead to more money in your pocket, it prevents you from being banned by Shutterstock for not doing it right!
- Abstract: This is the best category for images where you can't quite tell what the object is. Fractals, blurs, and super-macros go here.
- Animals/Wildlife: This category is for all animals (domestic and wild), insects, fish, etc. If it breathes and is not human, it goes here.
- The Arts: This is a tricky one. This category is for pictures of art objects, or of items used to make art, or people performing the act of making art. Just because your image itself is "artistic" does NOT mean it belongs in this category. Think hard about your image before putting it in the art category, or listing "art" as a keyword.
- Backgrounds/Textures: These are generally abstract backgrounds, or textures that one might use as wallpaper, or as a background for text. The best backgrounds have lots of room for text, are simple, clean, and uncluttered. Do not put images here just because you think would make a great background such as landscapes, skies, etc.
- Beauty/Fashion: This includes photos of models up close with makeup on, or photos of people modeling clothes with a clean white background or on location for a fashion shoot.
- Buildings/Landmarks: Any structure or structural detail goes here.
- Business/Finance: This category includes photos of businessmen and women, office photos, photos from financial districts, and pictures of money or money-related items such as calculators, money-counters, etc.
- Celebrities: These are strictly photos of famous people. Do not use this category for celebrations or celebratory events (A birthday is not a celebrity). These should only be photos of people, and unless you have a model release for them, they must be labeled as Editorial.
- Editorial: These photos cannot be used for commercial purposes without securing additional rights. They include large crowds of people when it is impossible to get a photo release from each person in the crowd. It also includes buildings that are copyrighted, cars with copyrighted designs, and any photo with a copyrighted logo or property in it.
- Education: This category is for photos of anything education-related such as books, classrooms, chalkboards, etc.
- Food and Drink: Anything that can be eaten or drunk. This does not include utensils or cups or photos of people eating. Designers love bright, colorful, well focused pictures of food.
- Health Care: Anything with medical subjects would go here. Items used in medical offices, pills/drugs, infants (need release) and seniors, some nudes if in a medical context, weight loss concepts (high demand), and the "apple a day" concept go here.
- Holidays: A holiday is a calendar event here. Calendar events include: New Year's, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, Easter, Passover, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Chanukah, and Birthdays. Food and beverage associated with these holidays would go here too. Vacation photos are not holiday photos.
- Industrial: Industry, construction, mining, power, electricity, and heavy equipment. Workmen, blue prints, hardhats, and other items relating to industry. Rusted items can go here.
- Interiors: Any images of the interior of houses, buildings, offices, and temples go here as well as isolated furniture and domestic still life.
- Miscellaneous: This is for anything that cannot fit into any of the other categories. Use this category carefully. Chances are, you should list your image in one or two of the other categories. Remember, those who will download your photos will be using category and keyword searches.
- Nature: This is for all outdoor images, sunsets, clouds, oceans, and flowers, gardening, and other natural topics. See Parks/Outdoor below.
- Objects: This category is intended for isolated objects uncluttered by background scenes. These photos sell very well. The more bright, clean, and well composed your image, the more likely that it will be downloaded. Items in context will likely go into one of the other categories.
- Parks/Outdoor: This is a great partner category for Nature pictures. Also appropriate for this category are gardens, sunsets, and photos of people engaged in outdoor activities (hiking, biking, sailing).
- People: If it has a person or body part in it, the image should be in this category. Groups of people also go here. Please Note: If you are posting a photo of a child DO NOT EVER USE KEYWORDS NUDE OR NAKED. Nor can you use "teen", "nude", or "sexy" as keywords or in the description of a single image. You will be warned the first two times you violate this rule; the third violation will cause you to be banned from the site, your past earnings will be forfeited, and your current images will be removed permanently. So, be careful here.
- Religion: Any items related to any religion. This is also a good place to put wedding pictures.
- Science: Any image involving natural or hard science. Some insect or specific animal shots could go here. Medical or computer sciences can also be put here. Pictures of the moon might be listed here. Dissection would go here. Doctors/practitioners working might go here. Some signs and symbols would be included in this category.
- Signs/Symbols: Anything that is a sign or a symbol including stop signs, arrows, people pointing or gesturing. Flags go here. Designers are looking for crisp, bright, isolated signs and symbols.
- Sports/Recreation: Any sport on land, in the air, on wheels, hunting, fishing, winter sports, hiking, biking, roller-skating, yoga, weight lifting, etc.
- Technology: All depictions of office related equipment including computers, cell phones, PDA's, etc. Microchip and other technology go here. CDs and other data devices go here.
- Transportation: Anything that transports: Planes, trains, automobiles, boats, gliders, even roller-skates. Road ways would go here too.
- Vectors: These are specially-created illustrations that can be enlarged to infinite sizes without quality loss. If you do not know what this is, you should not use this category.
- Vintage: Any item with a vintage feel (think 40 years old and older), kitsch, sepia tone scenes, anything relating to a non-modern era.
A Word About Keywords
Be a Good Shutterstock Photographer. Use titles, descriptions and keywords that actually apply to your photo's main subject. For example, just because there is a rose bush in the background of a soccer photo, you would not list rose bush as a keyword.
A purchaser once posted a message that a search for tropical brought up photos of Alaska. Now, I've never been to Alaska...but I have not read anything that would make me think of Alaska as being tropical.
Seriously Important Note: Purchasers are the people who download photos. All Shutterstock photographers should work together to insure that purchasers have an easy time finding the photos they are seeking. If too many photographers "keyword spam", the purchaser simply goes to another agency and all photographers lose potential sales.
Click here to visit the Shutterstock website.
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