This is a supplement to the previous posts discussing trends in 3 years of my microstock earnings and contributions from different agencies.

Let’s look at the growth of my portfolio in iStockphoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Fotolia. These are my 4 top microstock performers providing 88% of income. I submit pictures regularly preparing between 50 and 100 new files each month.

The gray line above represents a number of all pictures (jpg) produced for microstock including rejects, multiple versions and files which were not submitted. So, this is a measure of my work and efforts rather than a number of files available for stock. I used that number as a reference to derive RPI (return per image).

After 3 years I have quite different portfolios in various agencies. Shutterstock has the highest number of my pictures (2269 by the end of October 2010). Nowadays they accepted almost all pictures. Dreamstime with 1,761 files takes the 2nd place. However, my DT portfolio is growing slower during last year than in other agencies due to their review policy (“too many similar pictures”).

My numbers for IS (1628) and Fotolia (1614) look quite similar, but those portfolio are quite different. FT accepts most pictures rejected by DT. My landscape and industrial pictures rejected by FT are usually selling in IS. It is interesting that the IS portfolio contains some unique pictures which were not accepted by SS, DT or FT.

A year ago, my IS portfolio was the smallest one, but now it passed already FT, and will, probably catch the DT portfolio. The current 30 images/week upload limit at IS is usually more than I can prepare for submission.

Related posts:
Earnings from Microstock Photography – 3 Year Trends
Big 4 in My Microstock Portfolio
Am I Really Making Money from Microstock Photography ? Part 1 and Part 2
My microstock referral links for photographers:
Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics, Panthermedia, CanStockPhoto, DepositPhotos, Graphic Leftovers

My adventure with microstock photography started in November 2007. For the first two years I used to report my monthly earnings from microstock in this blog. Nowadays, I am less obsessed with my statistics focusing more on producing new pictures. However, my 3 years in microstock is an occasion for a statistical summary.

Total Earnings and Portfolio Additions

I am submitting my pictures to 12 microstock agencies. 88% of my income is coming from the top 4: Istockphoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Fotolia (see Big 4 in My Microstock Portfolio).

Above, I am showing my total monthly earnings from all agencies (thick yellow line – left axis) and monthly addition to my portfolio (gray bars – right axis) over the span of last 3 years. I divided growth of my earnings into three periods and added trends into my graph (linear approximation).

1st year (green line). Building my portfolio. Slow, but consistent, growth of earnings $19/month.
2nd year (blue line). More rapid growth of my earnings at $96/month. The only time period where I can see the response of my earnings to the increased number of pictures submitted.
3rd year (red line).. Slowing down … $50/month. More month to month fluctuations.

Let’s look at trends in the individual microstock agencies (the same scale is used in the graphs below).

iStockphoto

Portfolio: 1628 files. iStock was my first microstock agency. Submissions used to be restricted by a weekly upload limit. However, recently they increased that limit. At the same time I reached a gold canister level. So, right now, 30 images/week is usually more than I can prepare for submission. Acceptance rate ~75%.

I experienced a rapid growth of sales at iStock during 2009. Recent earnings are fluctuating, but are still growing. iStock provides 40-50% of my microstock income.

My sale commission at iStock will drop from 20% to 18% in January 2011 and, generally, perspectives for an independent contributor don’t look great there.

Shutterstock

Portfolio: 2269 files. I entered Shutterstock relatively late. It took me 4 attempts to get accepted. The first year was great and SS was my top earner for a longer while. During the last 1.5 year my earnings are fluctuating from month to month, but still shows a slow growth and are somewhat responding to the number of uploaded pictures. My portfolio at SS is the largest among the top 4 agencies. Almost all my pictures are getting accepted.

Dreamstime

Portfolio: 1,761 files. My earnings are growing with some fluctuations and Dreamstime provides around 10% of my total microstock earnings. However, I don’t really expect to increase that percentage. My overall acceptance rate is about 73%, but my effective acceptance rate during last year is only 50-60%. Too many photos/illustrations on the same subject or from the same series. or Image subject is too specific or niche-oriented are popular rejection reasons. I don’t submit all my pictures to DT any more. I feel that I am losing a lot of potential sales at DT.

Fotolia

Portfolio: 1614 files. FT provides about 7-8% of my microstock earnings. A slow growth. Overall acceptance rate ~63%. It seems to be improving recently. I don’t think it is due to any change in FT review policy. I simply submit more product and concept images and less landscape and nature ones. FT accepts all DT rejects.

Of course, this just one side of my microstock photography business – earnings from sales. Expenses and my labor time is another side. In previous posts I discussed a business model I am trying to implement. It may be time to review it.

What’s next?

Further growth? Reaching plateau? Switching to another activity? Looking for some more meaningful photography projects?

Can I use my numbers to make any predictions of my future microstock earnings? So far, I have seen a rather smooth growth of my income.

Related posts:
Big 4 in My Microstock Portfolio
Am I Really Making Money from Microstock Photography ? Part 1 and Part 2
My microstock referral links for photographers:
Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics, Panthermedia, CanStockPhoto, DepositPhotos, Graphic Leftovers

My microstock earnings in May were still growing (+10%), but I see a slowdown. Summer time? There are some changes in performance of my top players: Shutterstock and iStockphoto.

I spent less time in May in creating new images for microstock, but I managed to increase my average microstock portfolio from 942 to 1002 files. 86 new pictures in SS, 56 in IS, and 45 in DT.

Microstock earnings and payments from May 2008 to May 2009

Shutterstock. 37.6% of earnings (was ~50% in April). The first decline in earnings since August 2008. Number of downloads was at the same level as in April, but only two ELs and much fewer downloads on demand. The average earnings per download dropped from $0.53 to $0.46. 86 new pictures added (almost all accepted). $722 left to reach my next milestone here, $3000 in total sales. 2 or 3 months?

iStock. 30.6 % or earnings (was 22.5% in April). BME and a big one! Will IS catch up with SS? 53 new pictures accepted, i.e., more than in DT. A lot of sales from a couple of pictures uploaded in May. Mostly X-small sales, but in average $0.89/download.

DreamsTime. BME. Good sales, especially, in the end of May. Only 45 new pictures added. A lot of rejections: “Too many shots of the same item or from the same series”. “This is a very well covered subject in our data base or the subject of your image is too specific”. I am not submitting all my pictures to DT any more. Nevertheless, my acceptance ratio dropped down to 63%.

Fotolia. Lower earnings than in my April, but still almost at a payout level every month.

StockXpert. BME. 64% from subscriptions.

123rf. Slightly lower earnings than in April which was BME.

Big Stock Photo. Earnings lower than in April, but sufficient for my monthly $30+ payout. March’09 was my BME.

CanStockPhoto. BME. One big sale through PhotoSearch and a few $0.30 subscription sales puts CSP into the same income league as 123RF and BSP. I added CSP to my earnings graph.

Featurepics. No sales.

Panthermedia. 350+ images in my portfolio. 1 sale in May.

agency	portfolio size	downloads (EL)	earnings	% earnings
Shutterstock	1199	687(2)	$314.06	37.6%
iStock	728	286	$255.90	30.6%
DreamsTime	942	92	$85.60	10.3%
StockXpert	1163	111	$49.20	5.9%
Fotolia	780	56	$44.62	5.3%
CanStockPhoto	1039	7	$29.55	3.5%
123rf	1121	55	$29.03	3.5%
Big Stock Photo	1103	35	$27.00	3.2%
	1002 average	1329 total	$834.96 total

May was my 18th month in microstock with $5221 of total earnings.

Some other bloggers are reporting monthly earnings from microstock:
Microstock Diaries … Microstock Experiment … NiltoMil … jrtb … Driftless Ramblings … bankizdjec.pl … MeLastMohican’s Blog … Probably Due To Network Congestion

My latest stock photos on Dreamstime

Related posts:

• 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings: May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January | February | March | April | May
• A Reverse Look at Microstock Sales from My iStock and Shutterstock Portfolios
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• How to Get Accepted by ShutterStock? Don’t Give Up!
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics, Panthermedia, CanStockPhoto.

Sticky note mind map with questions on a blackboard

A little milestone in my microstock photography: the 1000th download from my iStockphoto portfolio. I have 652 pictures online there after 16 months of submitting. My total earnings from iStock are $1,055.52 which makes just about $1 per sale. I reached my 500th download 5.5 months ago.

Related posts:

• Is iStock Waking Up?
• The last 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings: 2008 March | April | May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January | February | March
• 500 Downloads from iStock – River Dam Spillway in the Big Thompson Canyon
• Reaching 250 Downloads from iStock with the Devil’s Backbone Picture
• iStock Earnings and 7 Best Selling Pictures in My Microstock Portfolio
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics.

I started my microstock adventure over a year ago with submitting pictures to iStockphoto. A little later I added other agencies, and several months later Shutterstock and StockXpert. During these first months my microstock earnings were dominated by sells from iStock.

At that time it looked like I could predict my future earnings from microstock: more pictures in the portfolio, more earnings. It was almost exactly a linear relationship. Then, this perfect growth picture got complicated.

My efforts in growing iStock portfolio remain the same as shown by a green graph below: 15 uploads every week. My acceptance rate stays also the same around 72%. I was hoping to increase my upload limit after reaching the bronze canister level after 250 sold pictures, but iStock changed limits and I am still at 15 upload slots per week.

Around May or June of 2008 my sells (number of downloads) at iStock reached a plateau. The earnings fluctuated a little bit more due to an occasional extended license deal, but in October they started to go down. I am not sure how much it was caused by the changes at iStock (best match search algorithm) or by the declining economy. My loses at iStock were never so dramatic as reported by some other photographers. During last two months I had clearly more sales in small and extra small sizes than before.

Now,some good news. It is February 17, 2009. My February earnings at iStock already exceeded the January earnings and are heading towards a BME (best month ever). We will see if it is just a pleasant fluctuation or a long term trend (till the next surprise for nonexclusive photographers at iStock).

iStock lost its top place in my microstock earnings for Shutterstock in the last September, but occupies a solid second place.

I don’t complain about uploading procedure since I am using Deep Meta software which make uploading process to iStock and managing the portfolio really easy. Since I work on Mac I installed Deep Meta under Windows XP run with the aid of VMware Fusion.

Related posts:

• iStock Earnings and 7 Best Selling Pictures in My Microstock Portfolio
• 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings:
  2008 January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• How to Get Accepted by ShutterStock? Don’t Give Up!
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics.

For beginners it is important how long it may take to reach the first payment. Here is some useful statistics: Date of 1st Payout From Stock Sites together with “Date of 100th Download From Stock Sites”.

I have just reached a milestone in my microstock photography – the first $100 from iStock portfolio. It took me almost 4 months and 81 downloads from 119 picture portfolio. It was also hard work and a lot of learning.

Cleaned sewage flowing out from a water reclamation facility, one of my industrial shots. This is a picture which crossed the $100 line at iStock, It is also selling well at Shuterstock, but was declined by Fotolia due “type of photograph” and by Dreamstime due to “lack of composition.”

The water reclamation facility is near Environmental Learning Center and old Rigden farm in Fort Collins which is usually a real goal of my shooting.


A scoop of roasted pistachios is a real hero this month in my iStock portfolio. This picture got an extended license worth $21 in my earnings.

How are my pictures doing in other microstock agencies? Shutterstock – $43.25, 94 downloads, 69 files (after just 2 weeks), Dreamstime – $22.90, 23, 113, Fotolia $19.81, 27, 122 (after ~3 months). Other agencies (Big Stock Photo, 123RF, Lucky Oliver, Featurepics: just a few dollars or nothing.

Related post:100 Images and $50 Earnings from My iStockPhoto Portfolio

I am celebrating a little milestone in a growth of my iStockPhoto portfolio today.

I just had my 100th picture accepted there. And, also today, I reached $50.39 earnings from iStock portfolio after 3 months on-line. So, I can expect reaching the first payment limit of $100 in a couple of months. I have more than 100 images with other microstock agencies (Fotolia, 123RF, Big Stock Photo and Lucky Oliver), but with much lower earnings. I cannot even predict when I may reach payoff limits there yet.

The last sale at iStock was this picture above: a diversion dam on the South Platte River in northern Colorado – nothing really spectacular, not a bestseller, but it has got a couple of sales already. I am glad to see that my river pictures shot during paddling have potential as a stock material.

I am always caring a point-and-shoot waterproof Pentax Optio W30 camera when paddling, but during recent months I was also taking my Canon EOS 40D. Considering that I paddle and train in a tippy low volume racing kayak it is a little bit tricky. You can find more paddling pictures and movies (mostly from Pentax camera though) in Fitness Paddling and Paddling with a Camera blogs.