Can you MAKE MONEY Selling Photos WITHOUT Models?!?

[@occipitalexposure5059]

This video is both humbling and encouraging at the same time. After 10+ years in wedding/event photography, I started with stock photography in January of this year (2023). You were the KZbinr that made me interested in exploring this income avenue. I thought I was doing very poorly, but as I look at some of your monthly statistics for the images in this video, I'm realizing that a handful of my images look as if they share a similar selling pace. Being about 4months in now, I've definitely noticed a jump in sales this past month. My biggest takeaway from this video is to simply be patient. Thanks for sharing your insights!

[@LukaAzman]

Wow, that is really nice to hear! Yes, exactly, you have to be patient. In the beginning, there will be no significant sales, instead if you are lucky 😀 But you have the advantage of already being a good, experienced photographer, which I was not in the beginning! So just keep uploading, and let me know how it goes in the next months 💪

[@e.h.2162]

I'm curious if you share with me within how many Weeks/months did you have your first sale😊

[@sandiegophoto64]

Great tips there man! You just inspired me to get out there and do some crowd shots!

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you :)

[@annar301]

Thanks Luka, I find these types of videos most interesting and helpful. Also behind the scenes on shoots would be great!

[@LukaAzman]

Yeah, I know, I will definitely do that in the future 😀

[@ScripzC]

You can't be serious, if you are it's a blessing bumping into this channel

[@LukaAzman]

Thanks man! Yes, and I am serious! Of course there are also a lot of photos I made 0$ with them :)

[@TOTAL457]

Thank you for your video. Do you amend the colours, shadows, etc, of a photo?

[@Pendulum-Paranormal]

*Very nice. Please make also a video with your best selling images of your recognizable models, that you have paid for them ....! Thank you.*

[@LukaAzman]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[@privatename8228]

Excellent video. Informative and inspiring.

[@TheZGALa]

Thanks Luka. Great tips!

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you, you are welcome :)

[@SerMattzio]

Thank you for sharing this Luka. Very useful for a CG artist who does not use models often. Appreciate your quality videos.

[@LukaAzman]

Thanks! I am glad it was useful!

[@christophecoat1914]

I'm in the stock photo business too but watching your video make me humble big time. The most I got from a photo was nearly 2200$ and because it was about CoronaV, it's glory time is over…

[@LukaAzman]

Well, yeah, that was a sellable topic if you were in early enough 😁 But yeah, if you shoot a lot, there will be images that will surpass that, usually the ones that you wont expect 😁

[@christophecoat1914]

@@LukaAzman I totally agree, most of my best sellers I had a second thought before uploading them and they end up making the most. I don't do models though because where I live laws aren't good, like if the model later on doesn't want you to use his photo, contract or not, he wins. But my candid photos performs ok, so, I know there is money in there, maybe one, I'll try ;)

[@lspeventmedia7836]

Thank you, Luka for a very interesting video to highlight your successful images. As you say, most of your portfolio is shooting with models, yet the images you have shown have brought you good earning with no models in them. However, I would be very interested to hear how you go about hiring models and then organise your shoot. I am sure others will benefit from such a video as well. Thanks again for sharing.

[@LukaAzman]

Thanks for the idea, I have that on the list for quite some time :)

[@Ionut.Ciocan87]

Hello Luka, thanks for the info, have a great day!

[@LukaAzman]

Thanks, same to you 😁

[@bonny-cavalier]

Hi Luka! Thanks for sharing your statistics. Could you expand on topic about models and locations? Where you are looking for models? How much you pay for a location/model. You pay per hour or per shoot?) Would be great to hear some answers. Thanks!

[@LukaAzman]

Well, it depends. For models, here in Slovenia we have a database, and new models are signing in all the time, but when traveling, we use model mayhem, star now, or fb and instagram. Payment really depends, but usually from 60 to 200 eur for 4 hour shoot. For locations, it is a bit harder, but airbnb can be great for houses, but for offices and similar, usually through agencies or connections, and we pay from 200-1500, it really depends.

[@DevNathAU]

Could I upload same image all selling platforms? One image I want to upload adobe, shutter stock etc.

[@VintageReelAngler]

Is jpeg photo still an okay codec for submitting footage? My Canon 5D only offers jpeg photo in 4K. Great content on your channel!

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you! I think iStock recently stopped supporting Photo-JPEG codec, I am not sure about other stock sites. But you can just export in another format from your editing software, like h264 or h265.

[@teo_montenegro]

Thanks for the video!! Why didn't you have to send a model release for the photo with your hands? I thought that since it could be a recognizable body part, we had to have authorization by sending a model release. What is the rule that allows this? What is the limit in these cases to have to send or not? I have several photos and videos with just body parts, but I stopped sending them, thinking I would have to send a model release.

[@LukaAzman]

Well, it really depends. If there are some recognizable details on body parts, then you should upload model release. But if not, it is ok. But also it depends on the inspector and also, this image was quite old, and maybe it would be rejected these days, because they were not that strict back then.

[@larryglatt2548]

Thank you for important information well presented.

[@LukaAzman]

You are welcome!

[@WondersofHimalayas]

Amazing👏 , please make a video on contributor fund in shutterstock (ai ), and how have much you got ?

[@LukaAzman]

Hey, thanks :) Well, I am only on iStock, so I don’t know anything about that, sorry :)

[@WondersofHimalayas]

Oh no problem 🌿🙌🙌

[@IgorMarkovphotography]

where do you get those stats?

[@danijelahorvat]

hi Luka, I saw in one comment suggestion about Airbnbs for shoots. Do you ask owners to shoot in their bnb or do you book bmb and shoot? Im worried about the legality of it. Thanks

[@LukaAzman]

Yes, of course, I ask the owner if I can shoot there, because I also want him to sign property release for his place. Usually, if they agree, they will also charge you a bit more for that, because you will sell the images and make money from that.

[@steventritton4245]

Great work Luka. Have you been able to maintain your overall earnings over the years with new fresh content?

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you! Yes, my income is still going up slowly, but I am shooting and uploading a lot of new content, and also custom content make me a nice income.

[@lomb3497]

Hi Luka, are you scared of artificial intelligence? Do you think it's still worth investing in microstock or will agencies only sell photos generated with their algorithms, setting aside expenses for photographers?

[@LukaAzman]

I think that won't happen. I still think companies will want authentic photos, not made by AI. Of course, some people will use AI, so sales can go down because of that, but from my earnings did not go down for now.

[@Defectsrecords]

Very inspiring video

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you 🙏

[@Brypadlan_films_photography]

Sir. Is it OK if we posts stock image in any site at the same time?

[@LukaAzman]

Yes, you can, if you are not exclusive to a particular site.

[@Brypadlan_films_photography]

@@LukaAzman any recommendations of sites? And how they pay you or withdraw your revenue?

[@eliwilson8021]

What site do you use to check the sales data?

[@LukaAzman]

I am using Stock Performer. www.stockperformer.com/?ref=zskPfDalr It is not a free software, but I love it, because you can see detailed stats, top performing images (per year/per month,...), and you can put images into the collection. So I put all the images from a shoot into a collection, and I know exactly how much that shoot made me, what are the best selling images from that shoot,...

[@manisgodtomantv]

hi luka, please how will check how many of my images that had sold in gettyimages. do you have any video for that.

[@LukaAzman]

Hmm, I don't have a video, but you can check in ESP, under Royalties tab. There you have reports, but those are quite unusable 😀 So, you can download that txt report and upload it to the site todayis20.com, and there you can see all the sales much better.

[@throughmyeyes4]

This video was amazing, what are you using to get the stats for iStock, I've only used todayis20 and this kind of data is not there

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you! I am using StockPerformer: www.stockperformer.com/?ref=zskPfDalr It is a great tool, but you have to pay for it. They have different plans, and I think you can try it for free for one month.

[@ARTIST-AT-LARGE]

I shoot travel and lifestyle and I rarely - rarely - have people in my images that have sold.

[@LukaAzman]

Well, it really depends on the subject. But lifestyle photos with people will usually sell more.

[@teo_montenegro]

Im from Sydney. I thought we cannot use Opera House as stock footages...

[@LukaAzman]

Well, it depends. If it is just a part of the city skyline, it is ok. But if it is too prominent in the photo, then it is not ok.

[@x3pol]

Good job!!! :D

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you 💪

[@elgatochismoso2790]

How you can see the full stats of your photos?

[@LukaAzman]

I am using a platform called Stock Performer (www.stockperformer.com/?ref=zskPfDalr) It is paid, but I love that you can see all the info and breakdowns.

[@elgatochismoso2790]

@@LukaAzman Gracias por la respuesta!!

[@juretomic7898]

I wonder would deleting best selling images and reuploading it after sales go down would make any sense?

[@LukaAzman]

Well, that is hard to say. On iStock, I can't delete images anyway, unless I write to support. But if your image was selling, it doesn't mean that the next time you will upload it it will get the same traction and sales. You don't know why that image started to sell, maybe because there were some initial downloads, maybe because of the algorithm, maybe you just uploaded it in the right time,... Like I said, even if you upload the same image at two different times, maybe one will have tons of sales, and the other one won't have any. I rather focus on creating new content and just leave the old content there.

[@InKoreaExpat]

which platform do you use for multisite uploading photos?

[@LukaAzman]

I only upload to iStock, so I can't help you with that :)

[@InKoreaExpat]

@@LukaAzman are you exclusive with istock?

[@sureshtravelvidios9661]

I like it good information from India.

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you!

[@kigabuma]

Istock gives me a few cents for each one of my photos. :))

[@LukaAzman]

Well, yeah, I am getting a lot of those 0.01$ sales also, but all in all, but I am also getting some 100$ sales each month, so all in all, for me, it is worth it.

[@rogeriopeccioli1616]

Fantástico.

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you!

[@abdulmoizabdulmoiz7591]

hello sir i really apricate that you share very important things related to stock photography but plz can you tells us on which website you often upload

[@LukaAzman]

I only upload to iStock

[@Ytvvnjhyrtyufc]

👍👍👍

[@marcosborsatto]

hi luka! amazing content! are you using only istock? wich is your favorites ? thanks you!

[@LukaAzman]

Thank you! Yes, I am exclusive on istock!