Best stock photography websites for selling

Digital photography has not only taken over from film but it has enabled many people to take many more (and therefore a great number of saleable) pictures. With instant in-camera feedback, and with access to tools and software that may have previously been limited to pro photography studios, more amateur photographers are creating better photos, faster. One outlet for selling your photography to stock websites. There are numerous stock websites that let you display your work for prospective buyers who will pay for the use of those pictures. All these services are free to join.

iStockphoto

One of the premiere stock photography sites on the internet is iStockphoto (it’s the first to come up on a search for the term). They currently has more than 2 million images to choose from and garners another 15,000 or so every day. iStockphoto gets good search results for many terms on Google, Yahoo, etc. Unfortunately, however, they do not have an FTP server (meaning you need to upload your photos via the website). You can earn 20-40% commission on your work.

Fotolia

Fotolia has over 2.5 million photos in the database and is growing quickly. They do allow you to FTP to their server, and commission is 50-80%, and get fairly good results on image search engines as well.

Dreamstime

My third suggestion is Dreamstime which is slightly newer to the stock photo scene. They also provide FTP access, and offer 50-65% commission.