This concept appeared in the pre-Internet era, in the middle of the 20th century. It turned out to be more profitable and easier for publishers and newspapers to look for ready-made photographs from the collected database to illustrate their texts than to call a photographer every time and pay for his services. Companies that mediated between photographers and buyers of their work began to be called photobanks. With the beginning of the Internet era, photobanks have safely moved to the worldwide network.

In fact, photobanks do not sell photographs, but the right (in other words, a license) to use them. Depending on the license provided, there are two types of photobanks:

Macrostocks are traditional photobanks with which advertising agencies, magazines, and publishing houses cooperate. Photos from these banks cost hundreds and thousands of dollars and are sold on special terms, often exclusively.
Microstocks, they are also micropaint photo banks and photo stocks, stocks – operate under simplified licenses, selling images at low prices for the needs of the web industry and printing in limited editions, and images can be sold many times. We are interested in just such photobanks.

Why did I decide to pay attention to photobanks at all

If you have your own blog or do custom-made websites, you know perfectly well that you cannot do without high-quality images. We need photos and pictures to illustrate articles, to design pages. Where to get them?

You can, of course, rummage through Yandex.images and Google images, but all these images have owners, and using images without their knowledge is, in fact, a violation of copyright. Of course, in the vast majority of cases, no one will sue you, many images have been walking and wandering on the Internet for years, and their authors absolutely do not bother with this topic, but nevertheless there is a chance to get into an unpleasant story.

In addition, it is highly desirable to have unique content for successful website promotion. And this applies not only to text, but also to images. Imagine the official website of some pretentious office, on the main page of which there is a picture that you have seen hundreds of times on the Internet in different contexts. Not at all impressive.

A great option is to take a photo yourself. But … do you want the content to be not only unique, but also of high quality?

Therefore, we have a direct road to photo banks, where it is absolutely legal to purchase (and sometimes get free) photos, illustrations, vector images, videos and other content.

True, photo banks do not guarantee that the image you bought will be only yours, but still the probability of meeting it somewhere else is much lower than that of images from Yandex.

If you are a photographer, then the photo bank is a great opportunity for you to earn money and promote yourself.

Let’s take a look at the photobanks in more detail. We will consider them from two positions:

From the buyer’s point of view – how to get high-quality content;
From the point of view of a photographer – how to make money on photobanks.

8 best foreign photobanks

Where to sell stock images to make good money? You will find the answer in the rating of the best photobanks. Registration and other formalities are essential. Be ready.

Shutterstock

The most popular photo bank. It gives photographers and artists a 53-60% profit, with the remaining 30% being shared among less-stellar sites. But I advise you to try everything.

Shutterstock Terms of Service:

attach a scan of your passport;
indicate the address of the place of residence;
you must be 18 years old;
pass the exam (theory + 10 high-quality photos);
grant permission to take pictures from people in the photo;
withdrawal of funds from $ 35 to electronic wallets Skrill and PayPal.

Shutterstock sells videos. But it is advisable to shoot them in at least 4K. The picture must be clear. How hotcakes are selling videos that can be used for business, advertisements, music videos. For example, a video of a broken vase was downloaded at least 10 times. It costs $ 399 under a standard license, imagine how much the author earned.

Another option for passive earnings is an affiliate program. For the sale of someone else’s photo, $ 0.04 is charged. There are authors who live at the expense of this.

All photos and drawings are sent for moderation before the sale. Even after passing the exam. Standard and low-quality photos on a soap dish (amateur camera) are screened out immediately.

From uploading a photo or drawing without copyright, $ 0.25 is charged. When you sell for $ 500, they start paying you $ 0.33 apiece. The total income will reach $ 3,000, your royalty per download will increase to $ 0.36.

Selling a standard license with a limit will bring in $ 0.83 – $ 1.24, without restrictions – up to $ 2.9. It’s hard to talk about income with an extended license. Here they pay 20 – 30% of the cost. Someone has $ 100 for one picture.

Adobe Stock

When Adobe bought the stock, sales increased. The site is more loyal than Shutterstock, but there are also rejections. Suitable for beginner photographers, artists. Simplified registration. No exam. You can upload photos for sale immediately after registration. Even a photo taken on a soap dish is allowed through.

What is required of you:

scanned passport;
filling out tax form W-8BEN, so as not to pay America VAT 30%;
permission to take pictures from people in photographs.

A photo under a cheap standard license will bring $ 0.66 to your wallet. Maximum $ 3.3. They pay $ 69.65 for 4K video.

Image moderation on Adobe Stock lasts from 3 days. But it depends on the speed and desire of the moderator. Sometimes 3 photos are missed in a minute, and sometimes it takes a week to wait.

The minimum withdrawal amount is $ 25 on Skrill.

Cons: lower earnings and fewer clients than Shutterstock.

Vitaly Milevich gave a night landscape with the Hungarian parliament building for $ 0.59. In the first month, he raised $ 1.74.

Depositphotos

Depositphotos is a whimsical photo stock. The percentage of deductions from a purchase depends on your status. You can go to a new level after uploading a certain number of images.

Depositphotos Requirements for authors:

Must be of legal age.
Provide a scan of your passport.
You need to pass the exam by uploading 5 pictures or 3 videos. Usually it is checked 7 – 10 business days.

The minimum wage is $ 50. Pay to WebMoney, PayPal, Skrill, Visa bank card.

Earnings:

photo or illustration (standard license) – from 0.24 to 5.20 $;
video (standard license) – from $ 5.28 to $ 6.24;
photo or drawing (extended license) – from $ 35.2 to $ 41.6;
video (extended license) – from $ 35.2 to $ 41.6.

Dreamstime

Pays generously. For one photo you can get $ 0.68 – $ 3. And if you also prove that your work is published only on Dreamstime, the royalty for one shot will grow to $ 40.

Why Dreamstime is beneficial:

Images are easily moderated. Low-resolution copies are left overboard. I do not recommend using a soap box and a 5-megapixel smartphone.
The more sales, the higher the deductions for images.
You can upload works through the mobile application.

Buyers have a nice bonus – 5 first photos for free.

Disadvantages:

Verification takes 3 business days.
Less sales than Shutterstock.
It is difficult to get a minimum wage of $ 100. Transfer to PayPal, Skrill, Payoneer.
A photo is removed if it has not been sold for 4 years.

Simplified registration. No need to sign documents and pass an exam.

IStock

IStock is suitable for the pros. Not every beginner can handle a difficult exam consisting of theory and passing 3 photos. The reward for passing the test will be a good fee and a sufficient number of buyers. With one photo, you can earn $ 1 – $ 40, with a video – $ 5 – $ 50.

Features:

the minimum withdrawal amount is $ 100;
money is transferred to PayPal, Skrill, Payoneer;
with the rating, income also grows.

You can retrain into exclusive authors. To do this, you need to upload 250 works and gain an approval percentage of “50%.” You will have to forget about other photobanks. As a privilege, you get a 10% increase in the fee, an increase in the weekly limit for uploading.

123RF

On stock 123RF, in addition to photos and videos, you can also sell audio files. The site is loyal to beginners. You can fail the exam if the content is wheezing, hissing, or difficult to see due to noise.

Features:

pay 30 – 60% of the cost of content to the author, exactly how much depends on the rating;
you can order a payment from $ 50 to PayPal, Payoneer;
the site cooperates with Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.

Sales at 123RF are quiet. But as a fallback will do.

CanStockPhoto

CanStockPhoto will delight beginners by the fact that you can do without tests and a scan of your passport. The site is in English. Knowledge of the language or Google Translate is essential.

Contributions start at $ 0.2 and end at $ 15. And you can request a payment from $ 100. Lags behind Shutterstock in terms of sales.

Crestock

People go to Crestock because it’s easier to get there. No need to take an exam, show documents. Register and upload photos, vectors or 3D models.

The work costs $ 1-15. How much exactly depends on the type of license and your rating.

The site is in English. We’ll have to deal with the dictionary. But the dollar deductions are worth it.

To withdraw your earnings, you need to sell 200 – 250 pictures. All of them are tested within 3 working days. The accumulation of the minimum wage can take several months.

The best free photo stocks

In a selection of 15 free photo databases for searching images of any subject, size and resolution for commercial use.

Pixabay

The top photo stocks are opened by a large platform of photos and videos that users can freely dispose of.

The search is carried out by word, phrase or manually by headings. Registered users rate images, comment, add to favorites, download in different sizes. You can choose your favorites and subscribe to them to keep track of new works. There is an opportunity to support the author: paying him any amount for a photo is optional.

This is how Pixabay greets visitors

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

Headings: 20 headings, including architecture, religion, sports, recreation, education, animals, wallpaper.

Number of works: more than 1.5 million photos, illustrations, vectors and video content.

Language: Russian and +25 languages.

Burst

The resource offers bright, high-quality images without copyright for commercial use: website, blog, printed materials, souvenirs and so on.

High and low resolutions are available. The former is chosen for print, the latter is better for web graphics.

You do not need to register to use the photo stock. A simple interface, easy navigation and download in a couple of clicks make Burst one of the most popular sites.

Burst home page

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

Headings: 28 collections from various fields – sports, business, family, fashion, nature, music, holidays, food, beauty and more.

English language.

Pexels

The base allows you to take photos for the site from more than 150 collections, images are added to them every day. There is a search by words, headings, photographers.

Pexels has posted photos from different categories on the main page

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

Headings: animals, sports, space, cafes, design, water, creativity, from above, dancing, portraits, sweets, agriculture, architecture, children, city life and much more.

Number of works: 150+ thousand.

Language: English and German.

Unsplash

The resource has collected photos that you will not find on other stocks. Sorting is possible by collection, tags or author. Updates are released every 10 days.

All images are free, but you can thank the author with the nth amount.

Everyone will pick the best Unsplash image for any project

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

Headings: there are familiar collections (people, nature, style, fashion, animals, and so on), as well as a selection of the most downloaded, popular pictures, editorial choice.

Number of works: 550+ thousand.

English language.

Free Images

Image repository from all over the world: amateur photos and professional works of photographers, illustrators. If you want, you can add content to your favorites, just rate it or subscribe to the authors and send out a newsletter.

Authorization is required to download. Adjust search parameters – popularity, novelty, views, number of downloads, favorites, rating – and choose high-quality free photos for your website or personal use.

Free Images claims high quality images from the first page

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0), attribution optional.

Headings: You will find works on topics such as sports, celebrities, the army, auto and moto, signs and symbols, health, medicine, religion, food, architecture, fashion, beauty, games, and more.

Number of works: 380+ thousand free photos.

Language: Russian and +15 more languages.

Light Painters Loft

Free photobank to search images for blog, applications and sites. In order not to miss anything, subscribe to the newsletter: letters come once a month.

The service also has premium packages: all free + additional packages.

Light Painters Loft sorts images by style and color

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0), Royalty-Free, attribution optional but encouraged.

Categories: abstract, animals, art, black and white, city and architecture, events, drinks, landscape, nature, objects, people, styled stockphotos.

Number of works: 1+ thousand, here the emphasis is on quality, not quantity.

English language.

Gratisography

The service offers free images for commercial use. The interface is intuitive, you can upload a photo in 1 click. The site has the usual division into categories, search by word is available.

If the images are not enough, Gratisography suggests you go to Shuterstock and continue your search there. At the same time, you are given a 20% discount using the GRATIS promo code.

The small number of images on Gratisography is compensated by the quality

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

Headings: animals, business, fashion, eccentric, food, nature, objects, people, city.

Number of works: about 1 thousand, updates daily.

English language.

Public Domain Pictures

The photo stock has collected the works of amateur photographers. All content is provided for personal use and posting for commercial purposes.

Public Domain Pictures is a godsend for those looking for images

License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

Headings: 13 categories of different directions – architecture, business, food, animals, illustrations, people, still life, objects, landscape, holidays, nature, sports, flowers.

Number of works: 10+ thousand.

English language.

Picjumbo

High quality photos are available for free download. Convenient sorting by categories and similar images. In the upper right corner there is a search in English. There is no prohibition on the use of images for commercial purposes.

Foter

A search tool for the Flickr base. You can also download the files you like and at the same time check the licensing of their use. Many categories, search, good quality.

SplitShire

Free photo stock with illustrations and videos from a professional photographer. There are more than 964 photos on the site. And of course all navigation is also in English.

New Old Stock

If you are suddenly in need of vintage photographs, you can find them on this site. All illustrations that are posted on this photo stock are taken from the public archives. This is not the most convenient navigation, but very unusual specimens come across.

DesignersPics

Nice pictures in good quality in 10 categories. Also free to download. Search in English.

Photogenic

The Russian project is loved for a good percentage of income from the sale of images – the author receives 40% for each download. If you start from the cost of the image on the stock, you can estimate that for the sale of one photo you will earn from 60 to 300 rubles.

The registration scheme is somewhat similar to Shutterstock: to start cooperation, you will need to send ten of your papers to the exam, the site administration will review them and make a decision. If you agree, you conclude an agreement and you will be able to upload pictures to the photo stock.

The page for authors has a special section about the most popular topics that are most often searched for and bought on stock. We highly recommend watching it before starting work.

How much can you earn on photo stocks?

Your income level is entirely up to you and your willingness to create new jobs for sale. According to reviews on the forums, in a couple of years you can reach the level from $ 100 to $ 500 per month, which is not bad at all for passive earnings that do not require much investment and time.

On the Internet, you can find stories of more successful authors, whose earnings on photo stocks reach $ 1,000 per month, but such cases are the exception rather than the rule.

It is important to be philosophical about photo stocks for making money: you do not need to hope that they will become the main source of income, but you should not miss the opportunity to receive a couple of hundred dollars without much difficulty in the future.

photogenica.ru

How to use

Pictures can be purchased individually, in packages (download quota throughout the year) or by subscription (monthly download subscription). The more pictures you buy, the cheaper. Prices in rubles, for example, subscription prices:

Like most photo stocks, Photogenica provides Standard and Advanced licenses. The standard license allows you to use the image:

in advertising and marketing;
on the Internet (on websites, in social networks, banners);
in the media;
for interiors.

The extended license allows the use of images on items for sale and replicated electronic products (applications, programs).

Photogenic does not restrict the use of pictures in the medical industry (as many other photo stocks do), and does not require the purchase of a special license if the picture is purchased by an intermediary (designer, advertising agency) to create the layout.

For the convenience of searching, there are various filters – image type, orientation, color, etc., including search by file size, which is convenient for finding high-resolution photos for large-format printing.

For authors

Photogenic deducts 40% of the cost of the license sold. But, since Photogenica is a Russian project and the sales market is Runet, therefore, the sales volume may be less than that of photo stocks that sell to the whole world.

fotolia.com

fotolia.com – owned by Adobe, created in 2005 and is actively developing. At the moment, there are more than 60 million images in the database. Photolia Photobank offers images and videos.

How to use

The internal “currency” of Fotolia is points, the approximate value of a point is +/- $ 1, the more points you buy, the cheaper they are. As with iStockphoto, there are a variety of per-piece packages and subscriptions available.

On this site, the price of an image depends on its size.
The site offers 3 free images per week.
Licenses – as usual, standard and extended.

Images come in three collections:

Main – photo from 1 point, vectors from 6 points;
Infinite collection – images from third-party photo agencies, photos from 10 points, vector from 30;
Instant collection – photos from mobile phones, of course of high quality, at a price of 1 point or more. The implication is that this captures the spontaneity of the moment.

Of course, as with previous sites, it is better to enter keywords in English – this way you will see more images.

For authors

On fotolia.com there is a complex system of ratings (ranks) of authors and percentages of payments:

The author’s earnings, if the content is sold for points – from 20% to 63%, if by subscription – then from 33% (image) to 35% (video). The percentage depends on the rank and degree of exclusivity of the author and the size of the images sold.

The advantage of Photolia from the point of view of the authors is the absence of entrance exams and the need to verify the identity, as well as softer requirements for content compared to previous stocks.

Output

If photos are needed for legal entities. persons, buying in Photogenica will be the easiest way – the license and documents will be drawn up as necessary, payment by bank transfer. For freelancers and individuals, this also makes sense, since you can pay in the usual ways (e-currencies, terminals). Photogenica is one of the few photobanks where you can simply buy 1 picture.

Sources used and useful links on the topic: https://copirayter.ru/obzor-i-sravnenie-11-luchshix-fotobankov-i-fotostokov/ https://iklife.ru/sposoby-zarabotka/fotostoki-dlya-zarabotka- dlya-nachinayushchih.html https://livepage.pro/knowledge-base/best-photo-stocks.html https://news.pressfeed.ru/top-20-besplatnyx-fotostokov-dlya-vsex-kto-rabotaet- s-kontentom / https://skillbox.ru/media/design/7_fotostokov_dlya_zarabotka/

Post source: lastici.ru