How to earn money fast from Shutterstock Contributor Review (2022)

If you want to become a stock photographer, the 
Shutterstock Contributor program is the best place 
to start. First, it accounts for half of all revenue 
for most stock photographers. Second, it’s a simple 
dashboard that even newbies can use quickly. Third, 
it’s relatively easy to get accepted, so even 
beginners have a chance.

What is Shutterstock Contributor?

The Shutterstock Contributor Program is the leading 

platform for photographers and illustrators to sell 

their work and make money every time a customer buys 

a license for their work on Shutterstock. It’s the 

largest contributor program and accounts for up to 

50% of all revenue for some photographers.

In other words:

You upload your images (photos, illustrations, and 

icons), and if someone buys them through 

Shutterstock, you get a commission.

BECOME A Shutterstock Contributor

Shutterstock Contributor Earnings

You earn between 15% and 40% commission when one of 

your images or videos is downloaded at Shutterstock. 

This means you get paid $0.10 to $5.80 for images, 

$10.20 to $39.80 for extended licenses, and $1.25 to 

$47.92 for each video.

In other words, Shutterstock pays you based on your 

current image and video levels. These levels change 

based on how many photos or videos you sell in a 

given calendar year. The higher your level, the 

higher your commission, ranging from 15% at level 1 

to 40% at level 6.

BECOME A Shutterstock Contributor

So, you get 1 download every time a customer 

downloads your photo. To earn more as a Contributor 

to Shutterstock, you need to upload more content 

that gets downloaded more often.

BECOME A Shutterstock Contributor

How do you get paid?

You will be paid at the end of each month when you 

reach the minimum payout amount of $35. You can get 

paid through Payoneer, Paypal, or Skrill.

Changes to the earnings structure

Shutterstock introduced a new earnings structure on 

June 1, 2020, that rewards selling more content. The 

update dropped contributors’ earnings by 50% or 

more. The payout for the Enhanced licenses changed 

from a fixed amount of $28 per sale to a percentage 

of the license cost (20%, 25%, 28%, and 30%). 

However, some photographers still earn thousands of 

dollars from a single photo on Shutterstock.

How to become a Shutterstock contributor?

Any photographer who has a few good photos can 

become a Shutterstock contributor. Here’s a quick 

summary of the four steps necessary to join the 

Shutterstock Contributor program:

Sign up.

Upload photos.

Add keywords & a description.

Submit.

Follow this step-by-step guide to becoming a 

Shutterstock contributor:

BECOME A Shutterstock Contributor

Step 1: Go to submit.shutterstock.com.

How to become a Shutterstock Contributor - Step 1

You can click here for a redirect to the contributor 

signup page. Click the “Sign up” button in the top 

right corner, which will redirect you to the account 

creation page. If you already have an account, click 

the “Log in” button instead.

Step 2: Create a free account.

How to become a Shutterstock Contributor Step 2

Enter your name, nickname, email, and a secure to 

create a new account. Creating a new account is 

completely free and you’ll never have to pay 

anything.

Step 3: Add keywords & a description.

Keywords are how potential customers find you, so 

there’s no point in misleading them by using popular 

yet unrelated keywords.

Step 4: Submit.

Submit your images and wait for the quality-check 

team to evaluate them for technical quality and 

value. Once they’re accepted, your images will be 

automatically added to Shutterstock’s library, where 

they will be one sale.

How to increase Shutterstock earnings?

In theory, it’s easy to sell stock photos. But many 

photographers give up too soon because they don’t 

see immediate results. Like any other business, 

stock photography takes time to establish.

That means you’ll have to work for a few weeks or 

months before you start making money. But mindlessly 

uploading photos isn’t a sure path to success. And 

that’s exactly where many photographers fail.

It happened to a buddy of mine. He was uploading 

dozens of photos every week, but he just wasn’t 

getting anywhere. So I took a close look at his 

photos and his strategy to identify the critical 

problems.

BECOME A Shutterstock Contributor

When he implemented the following tips, his sales 

increased 4% in the first week, 20% in the first 

month, and 310% by the end of the year. His 

investment paid for itself within 6 weeks.

Want To Increase Shutterstock Earnings?

Lightroom and Photoshop are the favorite tools of 

professional stock photographers.

Get Started Free

1. Be the first to spot trends.

In addition to knowing how to take decent photos, 

recognizing new trends is key to success. As you may 

know, there are already billions of photos on the 

Internet. So it’s very unlikely that your photo will 

stand out from the crowd, even if you’re a 

professional.

Since every known subject is already saturated with 

stock photos, you should try to find new subjects. 

Although you may have some success in finding 

untapped niches, the real success lies in the 

trends.

For example, when the epidemic started in 2020, 

there were very few photos on the subject. The 

demand for photos of doctors, patients, scientists, 

and viruses skyrocketed practically overnight. For 

some quick-thinking photographers, it was a 

goldmine.

So, how do you find emerging trends?

Read the news.

Regularly check popular forums like Reddit.

Use the freemium app Exploding Topics.

2. Edit photos with professional tools.

With professional photo editing software, you’ll not 

only get better results, but you’ll also speed up 

your workflow. The result: you can take more photos 

that look better.

I use and recommend Lightroom or Luminar AI. First, 

I import my raw files into Lightroom, where I sort 

and cull them. Then I apply basic edits and larger 

masks.

When I’m happy with the results, I import them into 

Luminar AI to do some creative editing, such as 

softening them, creating a golden hour effect, or 

adding textures. Finally, I return to Lightroom to 

make minor edits.

Learning how to edit photos like a pro takes time, 

but once you learn, you’ll be surprised at what you 

can do.

3. Use Lightroom presets

There are two distinct advantages to using Lightroom 

presets. First, professional presets let you edit 

your photos the way the pros do. Second, preset 

packages let you try dozens of edits in less than a 

minute. So you’ll find the best edit very quickly.

4. Contribute to other sites

Why would you set for only one source of income? By 

uploading good photos to several stock photo sites, 

you can multiply your earnings very easily.

Currently, I recommend YAY Images because they’re 

running a special promotion. For every 1000 photos 

you upload, you get a $10 bonus. And by uploading 

upload tens of thousands of photos, you’ll quickly 

earn a lot.

Image Requirements

To maintain the exceptional quality of the content, 

Shutterstock established strict terms regarding 

image quality. These are Shutterstock’s uploaded 

image requirements:

Image formats: JPEG and TIFF, accepted are also EPS 

files if they’re compatible with Adobe Illustrator 8 

or 10,

Color profile: sRGB,

Resolution: at least 4 MP (megapixels),

File size: max 50 MB for photos, 100 MB for EPS.

Multi-Select tool

As your Shutterstock Contributor profile grows, 

you’ll have to manage more and more images.

To help you manage an overwhelming amount of 

content, Shutterstock Contributor introduced the 

Multi-Select tool, enabling you to add information 

to multiple items at once.

What Type Of Photos Sells Best On Shutterstock?

What sells the best on Shutterstock is governed by 

worldwide trends, which change rapidly in the 21st 

century. Therefore, I regularly update this section 

to keep it up-to-date.

1. Mediterranean diets

Mediterranean diets - Shutterstock idea

Mediterranean diets – Greek salad example (Photo: 

Dreamstime)

The Mediterranean diet continues to be popular. For 

the highest chance of success, capture people 

preparing and enjoying the dishes at home or on 

their porch. Prepare beautiful plates, such as 

salads, and give them a simple background. 

Additionally, photographing just the ingredients can 

go a long way, too.

2. Graduation 2022

Graduation - Shutterstock Idea

It’s been a rough year, yet many students managed to 

graduate anyway. This is an excellent opportunity 

for you to photograph.

Try capturing the students attending the graduation 

ceremonies, whether they’re online or in person. Try 

to find the moments when they celebrate at home with 

their loved ones, and for bonus points: capture the 

proud smiles of their parents.

3. Everything yellow

Everything yellow - Shutterstock idea

Everything yellow is the current trend. This color 

is full of positivity and hopefulness as it 

resembles the sun. Get creative with your 

photographs. You can capture yellow objects or color 

them yellow – it’s up to you. Also, don’t forget 

about footage and vectors.

BECOME A Shutterstock Contributor

4. Black people

Black woman applying skin lotion - Shutterstock idea

Several companies have taken up their own “Black 

lives matter” campaigns in the light of recent 

events. Consequently, high-quality photographs of 

black people are in high demand. Some ideas 

suggested by Shutterstock:

Examples of Black hair and skincare routines.

Black models showing off traditional Black 

hairstyles, like afros, box braids, cornrows, and 

dreadlocks.

Black models washing their hair, shopping for beauty 

supplies, patronizing Black barbershops, or wearing 

silk scarves, durags, and bonnets at night.

Represent subjects using African soaps, shea butter, 

or oils and beard moisturizers.

Show Black models applying makeup in varying shades.

Shutterstock Contributor App

Shutterstock Contributor App allows you to upload 

and submit images, monitor your sales and 

performance, and discover current trends directly 

from your phone.

Using this app, you can take photos with your phone, 

edit them (in Lightroom <- I highly recommend it), 

and upload them to Shutterstock without first moving 

them to your computer.

Shutterstock Contributor app

Shutterstock contributor app

The app is well-polished and works reasonably 

quickly. For me, it’s an excellent addition to the 

whole Shutterstock setup. I’ve always disliked doing 

everything from my computer. Arguably the best 

feature is being updated about your earnings 24/7.

Get free Lightroom presets to sell more stock 

photos.

Get Presets Free

Shutterstock Contributor 

Can you make money on Shutterstock?

How much do you earn on Shutterstock?

What types of photos sell best on Shutterstock?

Can you actually make money on Shutterstock?

How much can you make as a Shutterstock contributor?

Is selling on Shutterstock worth it?

How do I sell my photos on Shutterstock?

What percentage does Shutterstock take?

How much does it cost to be a Shutterstock 

Contributor?

How to delete the Shutterstock Contributor account?

How to upload a video to Shutterstock Contributor?

How to sell photographs on Shutterstock?

Does it cost anything to sell on Shutterstock?

Summary

Contributor programs are nowhere as profitable as 

they used to be ten years ago or more. But the 

Shutterstock contributor program persists as the 

most profitable for most photographers. There are 

several reasons for that:

Stock photo agencies have slashed their earnings to 

the bare minimum.

There’s A LOT of content already uploaded.

Therefore, you have to upload consistently and stay 

up to date to make a living from stock photography.

Overall, if you’re looking to start with stock 

photography, Shutterstock is the best place to do 

so. Or you can find even more methods to sell photos 

online.

BECOME A Shutterstock Contributor

SING UP 

UPLOAD PHOTOS 

ADD KEYWORDS AND DESCRIPTION 

SUBMIT 

Follow this step-by-step guide to becoming a 

Shutterstock contributor:

Shutterstock

Shutterstock contributor

Submit Shutterstock

how to be successful on shutterstock

Www Shutterstock com login

Shutterstock earning

Shutterstock contributor support

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