Which stock libraries accept image submissions?
Almost all of them.
There are countless stock libraries, but here is a synopsis of the ones that I am personally aware of and what I know about them. (Please feel free to comment if I have made any errors or missed an amazing library that you know about…)
Getty & iStock images
Getty images are a giant stock library with who have been in the business of swallowing up other smaller stock libraries for a while to become even more gigantic. At one stage Getty was perceived as a very high-quality premium library, but over the years this perception has reduced. They still have amazing high-quality images in their library, but there are also lower quality images available for sale now also. Their price points have also reduced considerably.
Getty seems to have dropped the bar somewhat since they acquired iStock. Prior to the acquisition, iStock were snapping on Getty’s heels because they were presenting as a much cheaper alternative.
You still have to apply to join their library and certainly, not everyone will be accepted. Your application is automatically reviewed for use by either Getty or iStock, so it increases your chances of being accepted. Don’t expect to bolster your retirement fund with either outcome though.
Getty also has an arrangement with Flickr, which is a self-described image hosting service, generally populated by amateur photographers. Getty’s agreement allows them to scour the library for images that they like and invite owners to sell them via their channels. Most Flickr users are so excited to receive such an invitation that they sign up without much further consideration. Flickr users can also proactively opt to offer their images for sale via the Getty agreement.
Getty has a dubious ethical history. Ever hear the one about the professional photographer who generously donated her portfolio of images to a library for public domain use, only to find them for sale on Getty. She subsequently received a letter threatening her for using ‘their’ licensed images…
Shutterstock
Shutterstock are also a very large stock library. Again you can submit your images for review. If you are accepted you will be allocated an account and you can start uploading. Some contributors consider that Shutterstock offers quite good feedback when images are not accepted. When you’ve licked your ego-wounds better, this could be considered valuable support to hone your skills and improve.
Adobe Stock Images
Adobe joined the stock library party relatively recently. They offer the technical advantage of being able to submit your images to your account directly through Adobe Lightroom. Similar to the previous two libraries, a sale can often result in only a matter of cents.
Alamy
Alamy seems to have a more ethical approach than some of their other counterparts. The % they offer is higher than most libraries. They don’t demand exclusivity (more about this below), and they donate a portion of their profits to charity. It is apparently difficult to have your application accepted by Alamy.
Stocksy
Stocksy is a refreshingly different type of stock library. They have a co-operative business structure, and all their contributors have a voting right as well as a dividend share in profits. Additionally, they offer a good % licensing fee in comparison to many of the other sites. Becoming a contributor is hard. They haven’t been accepting new contributors for the past two years. An invitation to submit work for contributor consideration is currently open at the time of writing. Their library is carefully curated, so even if you do get accepted as a contributor, you will still have to work hard to get your images accepted also. They also require exclusivity. If you want to sell your images to a stock library, ethically this one would be top of the list for me.
Stockfood
I came across Stockfood by accident when I was researching for this article. I am shocked that I wasn’t aware of it previously. It is a specialist stock library for food photography and it has actually been around since 1979 and the company was founded in Germany. In addition to images, they also manage food editorial feature articles, which is pretty exciting. Joining the library is by invitation only but you can send samples of your work for consideration by email.
Unsplash
No article about stock libraries would be complete without something about Unsplash. Unsplash’s founders had the innovative idea of convincing people that sharing their images for free, for commercial use, is a great idea. Somehow an enormous number of people have been duped by this outrageous concept.
Reading some of the sobering accounts from people who have shared their images for free, is quite saddening to me. Sometimes they have discovered people in other countries profiting from the sale of their images. Oftentimes big corporations are using their images without any remuneration, or credit. It appears that Unsplash is in the business of profiting from exploiting gullible contributors. Once you submit images, you can’t unsubmit them. Having said that, I did also receive positive feedback from one prominent food photographer. She said that for her Unsplash is a great source of traffic to her website and it has also brought her paid work. However, from all I have researched I have to conclude that her experience is in a tiny minority. (I’m very interested to hear positive Unsplash stories if you have one… and you’re not a founder…)
Earlier this year (2018) Unsplash secured a 2nd round of funding “to help fuel their vision for a new economic model around photography”, from a company involved in Blockchain technology. They don’t say exactly what this economic model will be but they do say “It won’t be a model where photos are going to be paid for with cryptocurrency. It will be a model that leverages the unprecedented distribution Unsplash photos gain to bring as many opportunities to contributors as possible while maintaining the open, free-to-use principles of the community.” To me, reading between the lines that say, “we still don’t plan to pay you in any way, instead we want to profit even further from brainwashing you into thinking that other people ‘liking’ and downloading your images for free somehow offers you some currency in popularity”.
In our ever increasing culture of vanity kudos, I’m sure many more will continue to be duped into contributing.