My first EL

This picture got me my first (hopefully not last) Enhanced license from Shutterstock.


© Photographer: Gaja | Agency: Dreamstime.com

28 dollars in one go made a nice impact on the total for February. :)

Children skiing - a niche?

I took this snapshot last winter, and it was rejected by most agencies due to technical issues. But in those few places it as accepted, it has sold relatively well. Scanstockphotos is usually a very low earner, but this picture has sold 4 times only in January.

Cross country skiing is a very popular winter activity even for small children in Scandinavia, and competitions and races are arranged regularly. A search on Shutterstock and Istock reveals no similar pictures to this one, and a simple search on picniche gives a rating of 8500. So I guess I'll be bringing my good camera and a few more props the next time we go skiing!

Getting regular payouts

The fun thing about doing microstock as a hobby, is that you earnings increase as you put out more pictures for sale. I'm starting to hope that I might be getting payouts every month this year.

My payouts stats:
February 2010: $242 (Dreamstime)
October 2010: 105.95 (Shutterstock) + $101.68 (Dreamstime)
January 2011: $117 (Istock)
February 2011: $106.53 (Shutterstock)

My current balance, and estimates for the next payout:
Dreamstime: $83.47. Estimated payouts March and August 2011 (average income per month: 20. Payout limit 100)
Shutterstock: $2.62. Estimated payouts June and November 2011 (average income per month: 20. Payout limit 100)
YayMicro: 20 Euro. Estimated payout June 2011 (average income per month: 2. Payout limit 30)
Fotolia: 13.9 Euro. Estimated payout August 2011 (average income per month: 5-10. Payout limit 50)

Veer: $64.05. Estimated payout 2012 (average income per month: 3. Payout limit 100)
Scanstockphoto: 21 Euro. Estimated payout 2012 (average income per month: 2-3. Payout limit 50)
Istock: $5.45. Estimated payout 2012 (average income per month: 5. Payout limit 100)

Bigstockphoto: $15.50. Estimated payout 2013 (average income per month: 1-2. Payout limit 50)
123RF: $17.51. Estimated payout 2013 (average income per month: 1-2. Payout limit 50)
Can Stock Photo : 12.35. Estimated payout 2015 (average income per month: 1. Payout limit 50)
Depositphotos: $11.38. Estimated payout 2020 (average income per month: 0-1. Payout limit 50)

If I upload a few more picture, I'm sure I can manage to get a payout from Shutterstock in April/May instead of June. The same goes for YayMicro. Scanstock and Veer are wild cards in this game. I got a surge in sales there in January. If that trend continues, I might get more payouts this spring.
Depositphotos started ok last summer, but has completely died this winter. They will probably die soon.