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How Do I Get My Photos in a Photo Bank?

There are many online photo banks, where people can find a particular picture they need. Photo banks host a wide variety of pictures from different photographers, and they make these pictures available for sale to the public. Photo banks act as a liaison between the customers who need a particular photo and the photographer who has photos to sell. Adding your photos to a photo bank will give you more visibility as a photographer, as well as add to your income, since customers may license the photo and pay you royalty fees.

Things You'll Need

Computer with keyboard
Internet connection
CD
Contract with a photo bank

Instructions

- 1
  List the photo banks where you want to list your photos. Various agencies, such as iStockPhoto, Shutterstock and Fotolia, accept amateur photographers, while bigger photo banks, such as Getty Images and Corbis, market photos by professional, high-profile photographers. Narrow your search and contact these agencies through their websites.
- 2
  Ask about the rules they have regarding pictures with people, as well as information regarding the most popular photo concepts. By submitting photos of popular searches, you increase your chances of selling your photos.
- 3
  Send the images to the photo bank by uploading them through their website or sending a CD containing the photos you want to sell. Make sure to send your best work to these agencies. You want your photo bank portfolio to reflect high-quality work, which will attract more customers to your other pictures.
- 4
  Negotiate the price that the photo bank will pay you when a customer buys your photo. Photo banks pay anywhere from 10 cents to $1 per photo, increasing your commission when you have sold a certain number of pictures or have hit a certain mark. Keep your expectations realistic. You probably won't have a livable, continuous income through a photo bank, but this can be your gateway into the photography field.
- 5
  Make sure you and the photo bank have mutual expectations regarding the rights attached to the photo. Non-exclusive rights means that you can sell the same photo through other photo banks. Exclusive rights means that can only sell a specific picture to that specific photo bank, so you won't be able to list the same picture on other photo banks. Full exclusiveness requires you to sell all of your work to a specific photo bank, which means your work cannot appear in other photo banks.

Photography