cehwiedel: Opinion, Analysis, Humor,
Satire, Mystery,
Fantasy & Facts
Fantasy & Facts
Digital Photography: Financial
Considerations
To keep myself honest about using digital
photography as a micro-revenue source, I need to consider some
basic financial concerns that move it from the realm of hobby
to that of money-making proposition, if at a low level.
Remember, the idea is not to become a
full-time professional stock photographer, but to become a
“good enough” photographer, improve the
quality of the photographs to be used in designs for my online
store, and derive additional income from the sale of stock
photography.
The numbers at right are based on my own
determination of how much income is needed 24/7/365 to enable
me to quit my day job, plus information I’ve collected
while investigating online markets for low-cost low-resolution
stock photography.
Note especially the rate of production of
new acceptable stock photographs: 2 to 4 daily! My experience so
far has shown that to be more realistically described as weekly.
This exercise has increased my respect
for full-time professional stock photographers!
Basic Analytic Elements
• Decide minimal daily overall
income target: $70
• Decide on percentage of minimal
daily overall income target to be derived from digital
photography: 10%
• Determine minimal daily digital
photography income target: $7
• Determine number of downloads
required to reach minimal daily digital photography income
target: 14 to 35
• Guesstimate average download rate
for submitted stock photographs: 3x/yr per photograph
• Determine target number of
photographs that need to be available for download to reach
minimal income target: 1703 to 4258
• Determine acceptance rate of
submitted stock photographs: 74% (mine currently at Big Stock
Photo)
• Determine number of photographs
that need to be submitted to reach target number of available
photographs: 2271 to 5754
• Guesstimate rate of production,
submission and acceptance of new stock photographs: 2 to 4
daily
(this is optimistic for me)
(this is optimistic for me)
• Determine how long it will take to
reach target number of available photographs: 1.5 to 8 years
• Don’t forget a
photograph’s life cycle: those that dwindle in
popularity, or never become popular enough should be replaced.
