even if its shutterstock or istockphoto, if u think its easy to sell, u really need to think 10 times over again..
if u look at the photos that managed to sell, and u feel that they are junk but yet they sell, you have to think 10 times over again. It just means, that you dun even know what will sell and what will not. And very likely if u enroll, ur photos will not sell at all.
And dun even think that once u upload ur photos, the next day there will be ppl buying it. Sorry, sometimes u need to wait for months or even years before ppl even buy it.
And sometimes you may think its very easy for your photos to be accepted, trust me, they are not easy at all.
If ur photo is not sharp, sorry u are out. If your photo has noise, sorry u are out. If you use unsharp mask, sorry u are out, they will ask u to repost without unsharp mask. If ur photo composition sucks, sorry u are out. If your photo colour is too pale, lack contrast, white balance wrong, sorry you are out.
Once u enroll in the istockphoto or shutterstock, u will understand why I say tat the L lenses or the gold ring lenses of nikon are an absolute must have. You will also understand why minimum dslr like D300 or D3 is VERY important.
Once you enter the commercial realm, u have to accept the harsh reality, Equipment MATTERs Everytime.
Do u know that whenever u upload a pic, the stock agency will resize ur pic into various size? for example a 6 megapixel D70s will have their photos resized to XS, S, M, L. With a 1dsMkiii that produces 21 megapixels photo, Its photos will be resized to XS, S,M,L, XL, XXL. A D300 or D3 will only go till XL size.
The bigger the photo, the much more they sell. The $1USD are for the XS sizes. $3USD for S size, $5USD for M Size, $10USD for L Size, $15 USD for XL size, $20 USD for XXL Size.
This is an example of a resize done by istock for images from D300 a 12.1 megapixel cam.
XS: 426 x 292 px
S: 851 x 564 px
M: 1701 x 1129 px
L: 2721 × 1806 px
XL:4288 × 2848 px