Getty Images

[Image]

Guys, I got a message from Flickr-Getty Images as follows. Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing on Flickr ? Would be grateful for any advise.

Flickr has partnered with the fabulous Getty Images to offer an invitation-only service for Flickr members to license their photos for commercial use.

The Getty Images team has noticed your work on Flickr, and is pleased to offer you an invitation to enroll with them. They have selected 54 of your photos for possible inclusion in the program. Here are a few of them: (some of my images attached)


If you're interested, find out how to get started at the Flickr page below:

http://www.flickr.com/gettyimages/
Congratulations! And, good luck!

Regards,

The Flickreenos

[toofan]

Aroon: once told me about getty images and asked to me submit my images there but I never find there submission Onn.  As he is in field of getting rewarded for his creations, He should be helpful here, but he is never seen active in other sections other then Photo gallery.

I will try redirect him to this post from facebook.

[Rakesh J.V]

 I got a mail saying they wanted to license 146 of my images for sale. Biggest problem is that they require model releases. As my genre is street photography, i dont carry around model releases to be signed upon  .. I am guessing that for landscape photos, they require property releases. Not entirely sure.

[Hellwrath]

Ram Sir,

There are two ways of becoming a Getty Images contributor via flickr. One method is to add three of your photos to a group to be reviewed by the getty team. This submission window is open for 10 days (I think) every quarter. The other method is where Getty Images is on the lookout for photographs on flickr that are good and would want to potentially add them to their collection.

Now, there were lot of concerns about the payout, usage and such about Getty images. It was said that they keep the bigger share of any images sold. I haven't seen the contract but from what I have read, you cannot license anyone else to sell your images later but you're allowed to sell signed limited edition prints yourself and not through a third party.

There are lot of such topics here, which might be able to help you understand the process/contract before you submit the photographs:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/callforartists/discuss/

If you ask me, you'll probably sell more number of prints through an art dealer and make more money than via getty . You have a wonderful collection Ram, the prints will sell very easily.

[theqca]

Ram sir...i second what Hellwrath says about selling through an art dealer

With regards to the Getty images email - IMHO the question you need to ask urself  is - do you want to sell / license ur pics as stock / micro stock?
Some ppl shoot pics which are like "stock" pics.....lots of them around...ur pics would fall into the "art" category...dont part with them or get into any sort of an agreement with any company where ur pics would loose thier uniqueness / exclusivity and make them available to everyone for a few dollars.

[VikramF]

I third what Hellwrath says - that contract was too confining for me as it would mean that I'd need to take down my pics from a host of other places I sell through. And in any case, through a lot of other agencies you get larger commissions.
On the flipside of the coin - there is no agency larger than them in terms of reaching out to customers and they undoubtedly sell more than my other places put together.

[Incog]

I have some photos on flickr getty. I havent made a lot of money yet. I was invited much like you have been. They asked for some 70 photos and I have about 30 on getty. My experiences are as follows:
1. The curators pick photos that are sell-able as stock. They are not necessarily very artistic. I would think that you have to shoot with that in mind if you want to make good money.
2. The commission that getty charges is pretty steep, so get into the program only if you have no other ways to market your work.
3. Only enter those photos into getty that you dont mind being sold as stock. If there are photos that you have that you think that can be monetized otherwise such as through independent sales or by publication as a book etc. then keep it with you.
3. Getty does not own the photos, the copyright remains with you. It only has the right to license it for use by other users. You can cancel this permission at the end of the contract, or choose to continue it. As has been mentioned above, you can continue to use those photos for self-promotion or even as prints.
4. I entered this program because it seemed like fun, I do not have the ways and means to market my photos independently and a little extra money is always welcome.
5. Being successful on Getty is a combination of luck and having a collection of good, sell-able, stock photos.
Best of luck.
   

[itsme_soumya]

Payout is very less. Only 20% of the actual sale price

Cheers!
soumya

[Image]

Thanks Guys. I was reading some material yesterday and reached the same conclusion. The payout is only 20% - Getty gets to keep 80%. Getty also restricts commercial use of photographs offered to them for Sale.

I will stick with the few sources I know for now.

[itsme_soumya]

earlier, it was 30% and very recently (couple of months back) they reduced it to 20%.

but, getty is a big name and they have a huge customer base. chances are big that your photos would be sold to multiple customers multiple number of times. so, at the end of the month, your kitty could be quite heavy.

in fact, i know quite a few people who earn well through getty. average monthly earnings are around $180-200 for them!!

cheers!
soumya

[Upadhyay]

Getty is the company that owns lot of stock photography websites(photos, thinkstock…) so no doubt that they must be having the biggest user base but there are lot of other very good website if one wants to make money from micro stock.

Micro stock is a  different kind of photography, here photograph is looked upon as a content and not really as a piece of art and above all unless you are contributing an editorial image every image need to follow certain rules….model release for recognizable faces, property release for private property, no brand/logo etc.

You can’t even shoot and upload the photograph your friends dog without a written permission of your friend.