iStockphoto or Dreamstime – Which is Best?

iStockphoto or Dreamstime – Which is best to submit your stock photos to as a contributor?

Although both iStockphoto and Dreamstime sites are extremely popular with like zillions of uploads and downloads daily, it took me a little while to work out the process of which would be best for my 1000 Stock Project. (I’ll tell you about that in a minute).

Purely looking at the quality of the images available on both, it’s easy see that iStockphoto has better quality images, whereas Dreamstime images are a little more ‘generic’ or you might say random. (Still excellent though).

iStockphoto is affiliated with Getty Images so their expectations are high. Both will still assess your images for suitability, relevance, needs, demand, quality etc.

What I did was found three images I want to use specifically for stock and uploaded them to both Dreamstime and iStockphoto. The former was easier and quicker, you need to fill out the tax stuff but you’ll be uploading an image, keywords / description etc within minutes.

istockphoto or dreamstime - which stock photo site is best?

Above – Any 2 for $220 – Melbourne, Australia – Martin Hurley

With iStockphoto to be accepted you have to take a photo quiz that tests your photo IQ of what type of stock photos they expect. Once passed, you can upload 3 images. Wait time to get feedback is like 48+ hours.

Ditto too – a whole book (almost) of contributor do’s and dont’s you can read through and absorb. Dreamstime is a lot easier in that respect. Just sign up and upload to your heart’s content.

Stock Photo Commissions

Dreamstime offer 25% to 60%

iStockphoto pays contributors a base royalty rate of 15% for each file downloaded. Unless you go as an Exclusive Contributor (meaning you can only sell through them and no-one else) which will earn you up to 45%.

Let’s not go exclusive just yet! First step is to wait and see if when I get accepted. Would be happy to upload to both, or just choose one. It’s a bit like waiting for your school exam results.

Stock Photo Ideas

I wrote about how inspired I got from these photogs selling easy to shoot stock photos seemingly with ease – not saying it’s easy, but still…

Sure, you got to go and get the shots – sprinkling your unique point-of-view, the right time of day, the right subject, and bring it all together into photographs that are in demand, and that takes time FOR SURE. Planning and all.

Then editing, clean up the image, levels, “make it look right” – upload it, with description and keywords. (Good things take time).

But still, the great thing is, once your shot is up, then it’s potentially available for download (where you get paid) every day for the next X years.

This is what inspired my 1000 Stock Project.

Which I’ve broken down to just, firstly, getting 100 stock photos uploaded for now. Have to be consistent in this game. But I have some groovy ideas of what stock I can shoot.

Keeping in mind they (iStockphoto at least) want photos that:

  • Illustrate the many sides of modern business
  • Concepts and Visual Metaphors: Go beyond the literal, and help a designer explain something in a new way
  • Food and Beverages: Cuisines from around the globe
  • Non Business Jobs: The word is filled with mechanics, garbage men and more
  • People Interacting: Human interaction is a constant in this world
  • Plus heaps of other interesting concepts and ideas

I’ve started that project TODAY by initiating the starting process. (First steps first).

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Thoughts?