The largest subscription-based stock photo agency

Shutterstock is the largest subscription-based stock photo agency in the world. Our outstanding collection of premium, royalty-free images grows every day, with photographs, illustrations, and vectors you won't find any where else. Sign up for a cost-effective subscription plan and download 25 images every day (that's 750 each month!) with no hidden costs.





To become approved you need to pass the entry test and have to have approved at least 7 from 10 initially uploaded photos.  

Advantages

+ easy entry test
+ only 7 of 10 initially uploaded have to be approved :-)
+ if less than 7 photos is approved, you can try again in 30 days
+ you get your own FTP upload account
+ Each photo that is downloaded is logged into the detail section in your account
+ Images must be at least 2.5MP (2.5 Megapixels/2.5 Million Pixels)
+ You can submit 1 or 1,000 photos per day
+ they prefer JPG/JPEG. However, you are welcome to upload TIFF's
+ Any photo you submit can be removed by you at any time
+ It's free to contribute photos
+ you must accumulate at least $75 to be paid
+ they do not accept X-Rated pictures, but they may accept tasteful nudes

Disadvantages

- they are quite demanding on the 10 initial photos
- you have to upload your ID
- The size requirement for new photographers is 4.0MP
- There is no maximum size limit for photos


Sample Credit Download Calculation:

Shutterstock will pay you 25 cents every time one of your images is downloaded. Once you reach $500 in earnings, your commission goes up to 30 cents per download. Our subscription model encourages buyers to download a greater volume of images than they would at most other agencies.

Current Payout $0.25 (US) per download. That means that at just 2000 downloads/month, you can earn $500 (US) per month! Many of our photographers earn this and more every month. 

How to pass succesfully the entry test on Shutterstock ?

First of all register yourself by clickin at "Photographers - We sell your stock images!" at the bottom of the page.

Then upload scann of your ID.

After accepting the terms you ave to wait for approval of your ID.

Then entry test is waiting for you.

To become approved you need to pass the entry test and have to have approved at least 7 from 10 initially uploaded photos.

How to get accepted at Shutterstock at the first time

There are few advices that need to be kept generally when submitting images to the microstock photobank. Removing the noise, keep images in focus, strong theme, etc. But even keeping this many people get rejected files at the first entry test to Shutterstock. Here are the best advices they will help you to get accepted to shutterstock at the first time:

1. Keep it sharp!

Easy to say, harder to do :-) How to get that?

When taking picture use tripode and set the apperture maximum to F8. Not more. A lot of books will ensure you that smaller whole in iris will guarantee the sharpest photo. That's wrong - because of difraction. If you want to know more, look at Ken Rockwell's page about diffraction.

Downsize your image. The downsizing will make your photos automatically sharper. Just keep in mind the smallest size accepted at shutterstock. Now it is 4 megapixels (mega = million). That means if you multiply the width with height in pixels, you should het number higher than 4 millions. If in doubt about noise or sharpness - always resize a photo to 4MP for a test submission (megapixels are millions of pixels – for example a camera with an image sensor that is 2000 pixels across by 2000 pixels high will capture 4,000,000 total pixels and is called a 4 megapixel camera).

2. Avoid the noise!

Downsize your image. The downsizing will make your photos automatically les noisy. For more information see part Keep it sharp!.You should inspect all images at 100% before uploading them to make sure they are free of noise, dust, and scratches.

3. Isolate it!

Images that are isolated on a white background tend to sell better than non-isolated images. Because of this, if you include isolations in your batch of 10 photos for approval your chances will be improved. You can do the isolation by overexposing a white background, or use image editing software to remove the background.

4. Be an artist!

Create and illustration if you are able to use Adobe illustrator or any other similar vector based software. Or use your Adobe photoshop and create a artictic background. Most probably it is a best way how to be sure thay will accept you. Take some photo and use some filters like Motion blur, radial blur. Try to overlay few layers and you will be suprised. .

5. Check the sky!

Generally said using a low ISO setting helps prevent noise. But sky is allways a problem and be sure to check it allways for noise.

There are any number of ways to filter noise like that in photoshop, but there is also the easy way. Neat Image or Noise Ninja is a nice little application that can zap the chroma noise that is apparent in most digital cameras. Paintshop Pro has a noise remove tool that works wonderfully. It can apply to the whole image or a selected area.

In Photoshop it's also a simple matter to duplicate the image into a new layer with a mask, gausian blur the top image till the sky is a nice consistant color and then change the layer properties to color. You can manipulate the layer mask to suit your needs if the color bleeding is a problem.

6. Keep your photos in focus!

Autofocus cameras produce terrifically sharp pictures when you use them properly. But getting sharp results sometimes requires telling them where to focus. There is no right or wrong time to use either manual or auto focusing - both can produce great results in almost all circumstances - however there are a few times when you might find it easier to switch to manual focusing: macro work, low light, portraits, shooting through glass, sport and action.

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