How to Make Money with Microstock: Shutterstock Beats Adobstock in November Earnings

What have I been doing in November 2023?
I damage my knee and can't walk
Shutterstock returns from the dead with the best result in months thanks to video sales
Stay tuned for the Stock Photography Earnings Video!
Help support my channel and buy me a coffee paypal.me/Andr...
#adobestock #Alamy #Shuttrstock

[@lspeventmedia7836]

Hi Andrew, so sorry to hear about your knee. Physical limitations can be hard to take but I'm glad that you found ways to keep uploading images and videos. I have half the size of your portfolio at SS and I had similar revenue as you in November. There are often pleasant surprises. Videos generally perform well though, like you said, Pond5 has been dead for a while. I am frustrated with AS as their review time is four weeks now. But I am inching my way in slowly. Get well soon. I developed a rare disease last year for which there is no cure. It effects my balance. But, we have to rise above our circumstances and find other ways of keep doing what we enjoy, albeit at a slower pace.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Thanks very much for the kind words. Really impressive that you are doing so well with only a small portfolio. Goes to show quality often beats quantity. I've noticed a lot of frustration with AS acceptance times and also tougher rejections. I think it's a response to the wave of AI invaders swamping them. I wish you all the best with your physical challenges too. It's not easy and we really have to be kind to ourselves. One can only do their best in tough times. All the best for a strong December 🙂

[@patrickherzbergfotografie]

Great video Andrew, get wel with your knee. My sales have increased enormously, probably due to the doubling of my portfolio. The Dutch agency has stopped, I can now also offer those photos to other agencies. Income is still low.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Hi Patrick, thanks very much for the well-wishes. Old age has got to me 🙂congrats on increasing your uploads and sales. It is a real shame about your exclusive agency stopping. I hope there are new opportunities for you.

[@JWhyte123]

Its nice when at least one of the sites delivers! Thanks Andrew.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Thanks Jeff, Loved the Portugal video and looking forward to seeing how you did in November.

[@aleksandratokarz4915]

Good job Andrew, thanks for sharing! For me November was the second best month this year. I had 2 big photo sales on getty - 45$ each, and 66$ photo sale on SS, so pretty impressing. Let's see what December brings!

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Well done Aleksandra - Enjoy December too and happy sailing!

[@annerichard788]

Hi Andrew, I have very little videos and they never sell, but I had my best month ever on SS, thanks in part to a $108 photo sale and another $20 sale, no particular reason that I can see, they are far from my best work. Doing well on Adobe too, and this month a $20.78 dollar photo sale, a first for me on Adobe. So things seem to pick up a bit after a dismal few months. Cheers!

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Hi Anne, that is excellent to hear about those large photo sales. Microstock fluctuates so much these days, so those rare large sales are very welcome. Congrats on a strong month!

[@R.G.LovesBooks]

I hope you get better soon

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Thank you !

[@mzk7774]

Hi Andrew, hope your knee gets better quickly. I earned around 250 dollars. I got a BME at SS when it comes to number of downloads with 141 sales. Adobe was average, and at Alamy I got 2 small sales (8 dollars total) of the photos of the climate activists.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Thanks very much. The knee is getting better every day 🙂excellent results for you across the board. I hope AS and ALMy pick up for you though. I also had a slower month with them

[@angelbeing2240]

Hi, what is Bme?

[@BillMcKeon-r5q]

Sorry about your knee. It's not always easy, but dropping any excess weight always benefits the knees. In September I had my best month on Shutterstock. In November I had one of my worst months, even though I keep uploading. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Meanwhile, I continue to have steady sales on Adobe, but it's hard to believe how long it takes for Adobe to review an upload. By the time they accept a submission, I hardly remember taking the photo.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Thanks for the advice! I hear a lot that AS are being very slow with approval of assets. Let's hope it improves, like my knee 🙂 Good luck for your December results.

[@MysticalJessica]

Oh damn, so sorry to hear about your knee man! That sucks not being able to work because of health issues. I still have Tendonitis on both my feet after 5 years and still going. I also got some other health issues that aren't life threatening or anything like that, but put together stop me from being able to do any job. That's why I picked up photography, it seems like the only thing I can do for now. Thanks to you I am learning lots of things and turning my hobby into a little bit of profit and hope!

[@lspeventmedia7836]

So sorry to hear that. Some illnesses are life changing and we have to find ways to overcome the limitations that they impose. I'm in a similar situation. I am so glad that you are turning your hobby into something that will bring-in some revenue. It's not so much the money but the delight of seeing the clients picking our images over the others in a highly competitive market. I hope you will continue to be encouraged by the pleasure of developing your hobby into income, albeit a trickle to start with. All the best.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

thanks for the well wishes. I'm very happy to har you are finding photography and the vidos helpful 🙂 Enjoy!

[@MysticalJessica]

@@andrewbalcombe1338 Oh yes of course, I am learning so much from you and I like the way you explain things, very calm and straight to the point without any annoying cuts, plays or theatricals. Your channel is informative, relaxing and inspiring at the same time. To me it feels as if I am out with a friend exchanging photography ideas...

[@MysticalJessica]

@@lspeventmedia7836 Oh I am sorry to hear that you are in a similar situation I don't wish this on anyone. I wish you fully recover soon. About the photography yeah it's really about the passion but I don't think of it in terms of a competitive market but more like collaborative market, meaning that we are all working together rather than competing against, because we could be photographing the same place and still get different results, heck I shoot the same place everyday and it comes out different every time and in the end people buy what they need... Imagine, someone in Australia bought a photo of a bug I took with my phone! In Australia!! That's crazy to me cause Australia is the kingdom of bugs! Just open the window and there they are! Me on the other hand had to wait for the season that everything comes alive and frankly I haven't seen them since. That photo is no way better than anyone else's but that's what that person in Australia needed at the time so he bought it. I don't know, at least this is how I see it but I could be wrong... haha! Thank you so much for the good wishes , your comment warmed my heart and I wish you get out of any bad situation as quickly as possible.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

@@MysticalJessica thank you so much. that's really kind of you to say.

[@kuremotokyo]

Sorry for your injury! 😢 Why wouldn't you share the monthly income from your KZbin channel to include it in your final sum? It's part of your photography work so it would be legitimate I think... Does KZbin forbid you from it, a bit like Shutterstock?

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Hi There, I've made two videos about my KZbin earnings which I like to keep separate. The earnings are not that spectacular though 🙂.

[@mubaraksiddig2748]

Why are my photos not accepted in alamy site Even though I’m filming with a camera canon d700 And edit my photos with Photoshop

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Could be a number of reasons: too much noise, poor composition, subject not interesting, unsharp etc. I suggest uploading firstly to dreamstime they were mostly easier and gave good feedback about uploaded photo faults. Also, have a look at my videos to see what kind of photos I have success with. Good luck

[@mubaraksiddig2748]

Does working with alamy site require a full-frame camera I use canon d700

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

no, if you use a Nikon 1.5 crop sensor or a Canon 1.6 crop sensor they will accept those sized sensors.

[@mubaraksiddig2748]

Are these sensors in my camera Cannon d700

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

If you are talking about the Canon 700d, yes. It's an old sensor though.and not my favourate. if you are using the cheap 18-55 kit lens, I don't think you get very good image quality.

[@BrettHondow]

Hi, thanks for sharing your sales Andrew. Adobe has been my constant earner these past 6 months just with images. Also 99 downloads for Shiterstock for very little earnings. I do have a question however. How on Earth do you find your earnings for iStock each month, for individual sales too? All I can ever see is monthly downloads and how many. I just get a regular deposit from them every 3 months of $110+, but I have no idea which photos earned how much. Any help would be appreciated!

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Hi Brett, for the Istock earnings break down : go to the home page, click on royalties, it gives you a summary page for the previous month's earnings. click summary, scroll down a little, select pdf, then select download. The downloaded file contains everything. Let me know how it goes. Great that you get 110 every month. Well done!

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

whoops, click " export," not summary

[@BrettHondow]

@@andrewbalcombe1338 Thanks Andrew! I will check that out later today. The $110-plus is for 3 months, but it would be nice if it were monthly. :)

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

@@BrettHondow no worries Brett good luck and enjoy going through all of the details!

[@ScamsandShams]

Really Great video Question please.. if I used the normal pics I taken and covert into a cartoon style with befunky website..its not listed as an ai Like the other programes they have.. Would it be ok to submit to adobe stock I the normal way without ticking the ai box ? As I don't want to get my account suspended Kind regards

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Thanks, good question. I wouldn't risk it. Adobestock have information about what they will and won't accept. I suggest you follow that. If you cut corners it could end badly. Having said that, i'm also not very fluent in AI asset uploading so suggest you check out the many sources on YT to better get an idea

[@MikeWiering]

Is it just me, or has Adobe Stock become more strict recently? Since the summer, all of my submitted photos were rejected for quality issues, Shutterstock accepted them all.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

Not entirely sure, but i've always found AS to be stricter. The rejection rates are traditionally higher. Perhaps it's also an added hangover from being swamped with AI gen images too perhaps.

[@BrettHondow]

I have found their strictness level to be through the roof now. I hardly try to upload there anymore, it's not just you.

[@dbenedict357]

I have always found Adobe to be strict.. but since they allowed AI images… the wait time has increased significantly.

[@MysticalJessica]

When I last went to that retro cars event I told you about on the last video, one of the owners of a retro car liked my photos and video clips of the car and told me he wanted me to make some sort of promotion video and maybe some pictures of a small bar he has. The thing is I have a sony a6000 with a 16-50mm kit lens and the bar is very low light! I don't know how to film it without having noise in the picture. If you've got any ideas... please, most welcome!! Also this is my first time and I don't know how much money I should ask for? I am actually thinking of doing it only for the experience and the owner can give me whatever he wants but I am not sure if that's the right approach? The bar is only one small room, like 25sq m and the owner already told me he is on a budget so that's why he wants an amateur like me to do it! I know this is a difficult thing to ask but any guiding infos or ideas would be most helpful...

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

you have a couple of choices. Hire a camera /lens setup better suited for low light and ask them to pay for the hire and possibly the photos. Or use what you have and use noise reducing software in lightroom or Topaz. Or use a flash (which can be tricky) and not charge them but get them to sign a property and model release so you can at least use them for stock.

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

also, another option in low light is to use a tripod and longer shutterspeeds

[@MysticalJessica]

@@andrewbalcombe1338 Longer shutterspeed is for photography only right? cause according to what I have learned shutterspeed is to be maintained at double the frames per second. I generally keep it at 24 fps so I keep the shutterspeed at 1/50 sec for video.

[@MysticalJessica]

@@andrewbalcombe1338 So you think I should do it mostly for experience and hopefully to get them to sign a property and model release. Alright I will think about it. The owner of the bar seemed a down to earth guy maybe we can figure smth out. If he is still interested that is. Thank you so much for the advice and the ideas Andrew. I wish your videos and channel become viral, you deserve it!

[@Pendulum-Paranormal]

*POND5 .. its the worst ever...! Im out of them about 3 years now. I had over 4.000 great quality videos, and maybe sale 1 or 2 videos per year.... sucks*

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

yes it's reallydisheartening considering all of the work involved to contribute assets

[@MysticalJessica]

...but wasn't pond5 one of the best ones for selling video clips? Until yesterday all I could hear was pond5 is the greatest, pond5 this and pond5 that, what the hell happened? Now that I finally got my ID and can post on the damn thing it decided to die on me!?

[@andrewbalcombe1338]

@@MysticalJessica SS bought them out

[@Dehancer]

Great work! We'd like to collaborate, how can we get in touch? :)