There is a recent thread here at work-at-home-forum about stock photography, so I told to myself, what about another thread aimed at selling stock videos? Did you tried selling stock videos? Any success stories? Video is something completely new for me, because I never had camera capable of shooting videos in quality good enough for stock agencies. I mean, I had mobile phone capable of shooting only low quality "videos", etc. But just recently, I got my new camera Olympus E-M5 (OM-D) so I want to try it. It is mirror-less camera with interchangeable micro 4/3 and 4/3 lenses (through MFF-2 adapter). That is good because, I have various ZUIKO lenses which I bought initially for my old DSLR Olympus E-500. I am very happy with my new camera and because it is capable of shooting videos in great technical quality, it came to my mind to try it with stock videos. (I always wanted to try it actually and video was one of the reasons why I bought it.) I have some experience in stock photography field since 2006, as a hobbyist stock photograher, shooting mostly nature, animals, historical architecture such as castles, open-air museums, etc. My stock photographic portfolio can be seen for example here if you want: <Snip> Etc. So maybe it is time to move also to stock video field. Maybe with time-lapses, composed of sets of photos taken in various intervals. Here is no real camera video capability needed, because time-lapses can be composted from photos. But I never dared to do time-lapse experiments much with my old DSLR Olympus E-500. I was afraid, that I will consume many shutter cycles very fast – which are limited for DSLR cameras. Limited by theoretical material fatigue of shutter. Some say it is limited to 50 000 cycles, some say more, some less. I didn’t dare to try it, because it could be consumed very fast for video, considering one second of video takes about 24 ~ 30 frames. But E-M5 (OM-D) has electrically controlled shutter and no mirror so I am not afraid any more. And I want to try to also shoot directly HD stock videos. I know that it will not be easy probably, especially because I never shot (any) videos before, but I am willing to learn and to try it anyway. I tried to shoot some videos, shooting my cat sleeping on bench, some waterfall close ups. and I submitted 2 of them to Pond5.com, unfortunately not even after 2 weeks since upload, I didn’t received any decision, whether they are refused or accepted. How long does it take there? So anyway, have you any experience with stock videos? Any suggestions, etc. Thank you in advance for your answers. [Post edited. Links removed - Admin]
I can't answer any of your questions but think you're on the right track. It seems reviewing video would be very time consuming compared to stills. Plus first time submissions always take longer than approved shooters. I stay away from video just because of the massive gigabytes involved. Editing is a big part of the equation and what sells is the question. Best of luck and keep us updated on your quest please.
If you're making videos people want to watch then you can make a small fortune on youtube now with the adsense program. I have a friend who makes really silly short videos and earns loads, he's even selling t-shirts!
Good advice Paul. I'd take it a step farther and embed the (youtube) videos on my own website to keep visitors longer. I do that with other peoples videos, including from Hulu, and it helps attract and keep viewers. That gives you more control over the advertising you want shown next to your videos. So many ways to monetize videos, selling them outright may be the hardest method.
Videos can also be used to drive traffic to websites and blogs. I've done that before via youtube and using other means. And I agree that embedding videos on your website can make it more interesting to visitors.
