Anyone here shoot/sell stock photos?
 

I remember seeing a rule of the thumb that for a reasonable sized portfolio you'd make about $1 per pic per year.

So you'd need tens of thousands of images just to make a decent wage, and that's not including costs such as models or location fees. A pretty big investment with a (possibly very) long term payoff...

Anyone do, or has done, stock photos?

I needed some prom style photos a couple months ago. Every good image I found was over $100. I couldn't justify that much money for the project. I'm curious how many photos they need to take, when they sell at that price, to make some decent money.

That figure is incorrect. I know people with about 1200 images on iStock, who make about $2000 a month. But the kind of shit that sells like that requires hiring talent, doing set design, and doing a lot of studio work. Take a look at their top sales page and you'll get a good idea of what kind of numbers people are doing, and how large their portfolios are.

There are stock photo blogs that discuss the numbers in detail.

Is that gross or net? It's better than $1/pic/yr, but it still seems pretty low...

Very nice.

This is the one I wanted about two months ago: http://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-1...essed-for-prom

I swear it was going for $100. Can't remember what site.

Interesting thread. I was planning to start submitting my work but the way this sounds I might as well wait a little until I have a good amount to begin with.

Yeah I bump into that stupid stuff all the time. I have this bookmarked from around 2004 when I was working on a mainstream project. So much trash out there, good selection and OK prices here.

It depends on the quality of the picture, some sell fr $1,000s some for $1.