I hear what you are saying about stock photos but I strongly believe that if stock photos are done right that it could be profitable enough to justify the cost and effort.
The key to stock photos is not to just put up any photos you have. Regardless of how good they are (I have seen some stunning pics on this forum) if they are competing with tens or even hundreds of thousands of other good photos then you won’t sell. The key (pardon the pun!) is to find keywords that are poorly supplied with photos, or good photos, and then to put up many pics with that keyword so your pics are the most likely to sell. Yes, there are less people looking for obscure keywords but when they do it is then your pics that are more likely to sell as you then have a larger percentage of the pics available.
It also requires a certain persistence and dedication as it is a numbers game. You need a lot of photos on all the major stock sites if you want to stand an chance of earning anything significant. It isn’t ever going to be a quick win and may take years to build up a good portfolio. Many people just put up the pics they take anyway and don’t consider it their main task. To stand any chance of success it would require me to do this full-time.
You may disagree, and I am sure a lot will, but I believe that it is possible to make it work for me. The drone would add the opportunity to put up pics of more common things/places from unusual angles and that might be interesting too. It is all about creating something people want to buy.
So yes, whoever guessed at stock photos you are today’s lucky winner
That would depend on your cost and effort, but I’d probably say no. My main business is wedding photography but I love nothing better than shooting landscapes in my spare time (it;s how I got into photography a long time ago). Every image I shoot goes to Alamy picture agency, something I’ve done for years. I don’t go out just to shoot stock for the library, I do it because I enjoy it. The returns now though, hardly cover my fuel. 21 sales this year so far total $301, my very first sale years ago was $450 on it’s own. I had one sale recently which was $0.01
But that is exactly what I am saying… the kind of pics you take, and put up, are likely to be pics that have a lot of competition. It isn’t focused as your main business and so you have few sales. You could be a fantastic photographer (I expect you are as an experience pro) but regardless of how good your pics are if there are thousands of other pics on the same topic then it isn’t likely you will sell anything regardless of how good it is.
I intend to focus very tightly on under-represented topics and keywords. If stock photography can be profitable then that is how to do it IMO.
Look, I am not naïve… I know that the chance of me making any sensible money from this is pretty unlikely and I am not surprised that the experienced amongst you poo poo this idea. But I have the time, it is a hobby right now and if I can make something from it then so much the better.
But I think I will need the commercial insurance as I will be shooting many days a week so the annual policy makes sense.
Thanks for all your input. If I post in a year or two saying I give up you can always say I told you so
If you really want to go the route of stock photography, consider that if you were going to perform the flight anyway for recreational purposes and then later incidentally submit some of your photography for sale you probably don’t need commercial insurance for it.
I’ve still got stuff on Getty Images from the early 2000’s that sell, but even a good photo of Shearer getting his 200th Premier League goal in 2002 sells for pennies (I went to the game on a £1500 retainer and 10% sales)
I think I would be submitting too many to claim it was for recreation as I intend to submit photos every day but not all drone shots… most of my photography is with my DSLR. The drone will be an addon if you like.
My expectations are low so I won’t be too disappointed especially after your comments explaining the realities of stock photography but I would like to give it a go anyway… I don’t have a lot to lose tbh.
I fly almost every day (weather and schedule permitting) and submit a chunk of it as stock.
I still don’t count submitting a bunch as stock to contribute to the hobby paying for itself a bit (barely at all tbh) as “commercial” and there’s nobody contracting me to go and do the work.
I was going to fly anyway - it’s my hobby - submitting stock photos is still incidental to me doing my hobby.
If you had an allotment and then sell some of the veggies on does that make your allotment a commercial project? Of course not, it’s incidental to your hobby of growing things in an allotment.
The benchmark I use - and I have done a couple of actually commercial gigs I’ve taken day insurance for - is the question, “is the benefit of valuable consideration a direct outcome of the flight(s)?”
Remember if you’re shooting subjects wether property or people for commercial use you must obtain a model release or release from the property owner. Otherwise it can only be used for editorial of which unless there really is literally no photos of said subject already or you manage to capture it in such a unique way that no one else has then you will just make a few quid here and there.
Only really people and specifically identifiable property (like a branded building) in the United Kingdom. There’s no specific legal requirement in most cases for buildings to have a property release, unless it’s branded and is the main subject of the photograph.
So if you take a cityscape photo for stock and there’s a couple of buildings with brand logos on them you’re usually fine. If you were flying just in front of it and it’s clearly the main subject you might need one.
If you are doing commercial work you should also have Public Liability, etc.
And if you are producing inspection reports you should have professional indemnity in case or errors and omissions.
I pay Coverdrone more than £108 and I have all the other insurances.
If you have a scenario mentioned by milkman with the nuns on a bus, have your passport at the ready.
Its better too have more insurance cover on your drones, just incase something happens out of your control and someone gets seriously injured, hopefully not, but, you have the peace of mind that you took cover out for that event.
