How Adobe Stock makes the ultimate pro side hustle so easy

As I began hearing the chatter of my friends in photography making extra money selling stock images, I wanted to get in on the action. My excitement took a nosedive when I learned that many of the stock agencies have an application process with a long waiting period, high denial rates, and cumbersome image submission guidelines.

Then I found out about Adobe Stock.

In my everyday post-processing, I noticed the Stock menu in Adobe Creative Cloud and did a little digging. I discovered I could begin uploading images right away, so I chose a handful of images to submit. To avoid supplying model releases, I sent in faceless images I’d taken on beach trips, of art or messy projects, and kids hard at work in the school garden.

A few days later, my images had been reviewed and either approved or denied, and given a reason code. A little experience has shown me the kinds of images that are likely to be denied; those with high ISO, soft focus or blown out areas from shooting into the sun (which is beautiful for Instagram, but not for stock) will almost always be denied. I waited a bit, and then sales emails began to arrive! I’d do a happy dance with every arrival. The images that sold most often were those showcasing diversity, teamwork and whimsical fun.

I love that Adobe Stock makes the whole process easy.

The saying about consistent action creating consistent results is true in stock sales; the more images you add to your portfolio, the more sales opportunities you create. As I continue to build my portfolio, Adobe Stock continues to streamline the process for contributors. It’s been the easiest of all the stock companies I’ve worked with as far as the submission process, keywording, securing model releases, and monitoring sales.

When I’m not doing family sessions for clients, I’m shooting for myself to capture my own family’s memories and to feed my creativity. I share some of my personal images on social media, submit some to contests, include many of them in my annual photo album, and many of them end up just sitting on my hard drive. Adobe Stock provides an easy option to submit any of these images on their easy-to-use stock portfolio site and earn money in my sleep.

E-signatures will change your life.

The most recent feature I’ve been taking full advantage of is Adobe Sign — no longer are hard copy versions of signed photo releases needed! I can digitally request and submit releases via email rather than deal with the cumbersome process of printing, signing and scanning a hard copy.

In most situations, the whole task of tagging images with keywords has been so taxing, I’m sure I haven’t used as many as I should have; five and I called it quits. But when you upload an image to Adobe Stock, about 20 keywords automatically populate the tag, and the majority of them are accurate! Not only does this save time, it also optimizes users’ search results. An even bigger bonus: When I upload a set of similar images, I can sync the title and keywords so I don’t have to manually update each one.

Submitting images is just one extra step in my workflow.

If you have an Adobe ID, you can upload images directly from your Lightroom library to the contributor portal. When I finish editing a set of images, I just drag the ones I choose into the Adobe Stock section in the library. From there, I click a publish button that exports the images (with optimal settings) and loads them directly into the contributor portal. I can quickly review the pre-populated keywords, add a title, attach one of the email signature releases on file, and submit the batch for approval.

Streamlining this process has allowed me to easily include this step in my workflow, which encourages me to submit more images.

From the perspective of a designer searching for the perfect image, having Adobe Stock integrated in the Creative Cloud platform means they never have to open a separate web browser. They can search, preview, edit and download stock content directly in their design tools, making Adobe a popular resource for stock.

Adobe lets me know which images clients want to buy.

Adobe Stock provides visual trend forecasts that help to identify what kinds of images will resonate with buyers in upcoming seasons. The 2018 report includes a variety of fascinating trends, a few of which I’m focusing on. For example, a trend toward silence and solitude encourages me to submit images that showcase the quiet moments in the everyday life of our children. This secret is too big to keep to myself!

All images by Maggie Fuller

This is a sponsored post.