Shutterbox: Earn from your stock photos.

I have over 500 stock photos in my Photo Gallery (maybe over a thousand in my PC). All these were taken by me using my Canon Ixus 30 with the better ones uploaded for the general public to see.

A few months back, Connie and I were talking about monetizing on these photos and selling them. The idea was good and it has been proven to earn but we had to start from scratch — which includes creating or setting up a gallery, light box system, payment process and all. Very tiring ad time-consuming.

Just today, I signed up for ShutterStock. They will sell your photos for $0.20 per download. So if you submitted a single photo and 1,000 people downloaded it in a month, you get $200. Not bad eh?

From their FAQ: Photos must be at least 2.5MP (2.5 Million Pixels). To determine the amount of pixels in a photo, multiply the width by the length. For example: a photo which is 1700×1500 adds up to a total of 2.55 million pixels – a photo of this size is valid – however, a photo which is 1200×1000 adds up to a total of 1.2 million pixels which is smaller than our minimum size requirement. Photos must also adhere to our Content Guidelines or they will be denied entry into the system.

I browsed their gallery of photo submissions and it looks impressive. Went back to my own collection and submitted some. We’ll see how much I can make out of it. :D

Apply as a Photographer now.

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9 Comments

Microstock · 19 years ago

Providing an ID is good legal practice. They’re selling photos with people’s faces, so they need to be able to trust you and to follow up if there are any problems.

The transmission via the Internet is done via an encrypted connection (on most such sites – but you should check) so it has the same protection as your Internet banking and any online purchase.

There are lots of people making excellent money with these microstock websites. Deal with the ID thing and get yourself some of the action!

– Lee

emmerse · 20 years ago

kittyjack, perhaps you can try this alternative stock photo subscription site. They do not require any photo ID. You just need to click to agree to their agreement.

http://www.123rf.com

kittyjack · 21 years ago

I visited the site for ShutterStock and it was almost scary – they want either a credit card number OR a scanned copy of your “government issued I.D. or passport”. That’s crazy, you should never provide a copy of your I.D. or passport over the internet!! There are many email scams that also involve giving out a copy of your picture I.D. or passport also, and it is dangerous to give out. With that, they can obtain copies of either a birth certificate or social security card, and assume your identity. Just be aware of the risks, and in general it is not a good idea to give out, especially over the internet. Some rental offices will require copies of your I.D., as well as banks, lenders, and others may require it at times, but not for the purpose of PAYING you for internet photos. Where is their risk? Why would they need a copy of your I.D. or passport? That’s just crazy.