A couple of years ago, I made the decision to start selling my photos online. Before this time, I had never sold my work to people or businesses and was a little nervous about doing so I tried applying to different stock photography websites, but didn’t feel like any of them were really right for me,
so I decided to wait until one came along that felt like the right fit. Fortunately, in late 2015 Adobe Stock opened their contributor platform and I knew right away it was the place for me
Table of Contents
Introduction
I’ve always loved photography. When I was in high school and college, it was something that helped me see the world differently. That’s why when I first heard about Adobe’s stock contributor program, I knew it would be something worth exploring.
I had never sold my work before and didn’t really know how to price my photos so I watched the introductory video on how contributors make money on Adobe Stock – this step-by-step guide is seriously worth watching!
I am what you would call a beginner photographer because this is only my second year doing stock photography full-time. It has been an incredible experience for me and one that has taken me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow as an artist.
My goal with this post is to help other beginner photographers understand what it means to become a stock contributor and some steps they can take if they want to explore the opportunity too.
As you may know, there are many different levels of contributors: pro, basic, contributing member, expert, and premium. Beginner photographers will likely start off as contributing members which means that their images need a little more editing than someone who shoots raw files like a pro or expert-level photographer.
But don’t worry–there are plenty of resources here on the blog where we walk through some photo editing basics! Once you’re ready, head over to the signup page and get started!
The Benefits of Contributing to Adobe Stock
Contributing to Adobe Stock is one of the easiest ways for photographers and creatives to make money from their work. It’s quick and easy, and you can make some serious cash. And if you’re just starting out with photography or graphic design- there’s never been a better time!
Contributing to Adobe Stock is the perfect way for creators to have their work seen by millions of people all over the world.
Anyone who uses Creative Cloud has access to our images in their project templates- so they can start using your creations even before they buy them! And it doesn’t stop there- because your images are royalty-free, people can use them in any project they want! They don’t need to worry about paying an extra fee each time they use the image.
Contributing also comes with other benefits that could help you build your career. When customers purchase your images, Adobe will showcase your work on their website- which means that even more people will be exposed to it!
The last thing worth mentioning is how helpful contributing can be in building a portfolio of high-quality stock photos and graphics.
How to Get Started with Adobe Stock
To start contributing to Adobe stock you must first have an account with them. This can be done by signing up on the adobe portal that is available. Your plan will depend on how much you want to contribute and what type of work you are submitting.
Once you sign up they will let you know if they think your work is suitable for the site.
After that all there is left is to wait for your first assignment! As soon as you get it, edit it in Photoshop or Lightroom (you’ll need these two programs) and upload the finished photo onto their site.
If you’re new to editing photos, don’t worry–they’ve got tips and tutorials on the site to help you out.
If this sounds like something you’d like to do more often, read through their FAQs page before contacting them about pricing information.
They also offer special opportunities for professional photographers such as portfolio reviews and sponsorships. Read below to learn more about my experience using Adobe Stock and why I’m excited to keep participating in this program.
How much do Adobe Stock contributors make?
I made over $6,000 in less than six months just by uploading photos to Adobe Stock. It doesn’t take much time and it’s an easy way to earn some extra cash.
Not only can you upload your own images but you can also download and use images from their extensive library. Plus they have really good customer service.
IMAGES
Photos, vectors, illustrations 33% ROYALTIES
| Buyer’s plan | Earnings per download |
|---|---|
| 3 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly subscriber | $3.30 |
| 10 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly / Annual subscriber | $1.65 / $0.99 |
| 25 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly / Annual subscriber | $0.92 / $0.66 |
| 40 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly / Annual subscriber | $0.82 / $0.66 |
| 350+ CREDITS PER MONTHMinimum guaranteed | $0.33 to $0.40 |
| EXTENDED LICENSEOn demand / Subscription | $26.40 / $21.12 |
VIDEO
35% ROYALTIES
| Buyer’s plan | Earnings per download |
|---|---|
| HD – 25 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly / Annual subscriber | $7.84 / $5.60 |
| HD – 40 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly / Annual subscriber | $5.25 / $4.20 |
| HD – 350 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly / Annual subscriber | $4.55 / $3.85 |
| HD – 750 CREDITS PER MONTHMonthly / Annual subscriber | $3.50 / $2.80 |
| HD – 16-500 CREDIT PACK OR ON-DEMAND | $22.40 to $28.00 |
| 4K – SUBSCRIPTION, 40-500 CREDIT PACK OR ON-DEMAND | $56.00 to $70.00 |
How to become an Adobe Stock contributor?
- Create your contributor account to contributor.stock.adobe.com and sign in with your Adobe ID (your Adobe account). If you don’t yet have an Adobe account, sign up first.
For Fotolia users, you can sync your accounts via the Contributor portal. - Upload content accepts all the Legal guidelines Adobe throws at you. Also, you need to be at least 18 years old and be the rightful owner of all the content you upload.
- Add a title, description, etc. Every piece of content you upload to Adobe Stock Contributor needs to have a title, a category assigned to it, and keywords that best describe it.
- Submit images your content is now ready to be reviewed. A team of Adobe Stock curators will check all your content for technical quality and value.
- Manage your content you can add more or remove your content at any time. I also encourage you to edit and update descriptions and titles to make them more alluring regularly.
- Earn moneyWait to sell your first piece of content. It might take a while at first, but the earnings will start snowballing once it starts going.
Guidelines for photos
Adobe Stock doesn’t thoughts whether or not you’re an expert photographer with a $4k digital camera or a Mobile phone. Photos should meet the subsequent requirements:
Technical requirements
Format: JPEG
Colour space: sRGB
Minimum picture resolution: 4-5 MP (megapixels)
Maximum picture resolution: 100 MP (megapixels)
Maximum record size: 44 MB (megabytes)
No watermarks or timestamps
Do now no longer artificially increase picture size
Quality standards
If you need your snapshots to be treasured by customers, they want to attain presence standards.
Make certain that they are:
- Well-exposed and well-lit.
- Without seeing noise, noise specks, or water drops.
- Perfectly composed (for beginners: Rule of thirds) Not over-edited
My Top Tips for Success
Here are some Tips to find the trending topics
1. Find content that you’re passionate about and have some expertise in.
2. Create an eye-catching title with keywords your audience is searching for.
3. Write engaging, informative copy to support your title and first sentence.
4. Create enticing images that complement your copy and provide clarity for the viewer on what they will be viewing when clicking through to your portfolio page or blog post.
5. Make sure to use Creative Commons-licensed photos from sites like Pixabay (with attribution), Unsplash, and ZeroStock so you don’t violate copyright laws or get in trouble with the site hosting the photos you’ve downloaded from those sites without permission; this includes watermarks on all of your images!
6. Include links to your website and social media profiles at the end of each post so that viewers can learn more about you if they want to contact you directly.
7. Finally, remember to always follow Adobe’s guidelines on contributors’ rights before submitting anything! Good luck! And keep me updated on how it goes!
Conclusion
First and foremost, if you’re not already an Adobe customer or contributor, it’s important to know that there are some significant differences between the two types of accounts.
An adobe contributor is what you need to upload images and edit them in your preferred editing software – Photoshop or Lightroom for instance.
The best place to find the idea is the Collections tab of the search bar on their website. There are a number of collections available, Get some ideas and start contributing so it pays to shop around! The quality of the stock photos available through Adobe’s service is excellent and they offer many more categories than most other stock photo sites out there.
