Stock Photography FAQ

What can I expect to earn from shooting Stock Photography?

The average dollar value of a transparency sitting in a stock photography library file ranges from only US$1 or US$2 a year for travel and scenic subjects to US$3 or US$4 a year for model released images.  Images that appear in catalogs have a much higher potential value (Aurness and others, 1990).  In fact, there are photographers earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in stock photography sales by avoiding common subjects, like landscapes, thoroughly researching upcoming market demands, and ensuring their images get a high-profile in well-distributed catalogs.  (Brousseau, 1995).