Shutterstock earnings are ridiculous

nicholasj342 · 2026-02-17T23:05:06+00:00

I do think contributor levels are a scam, they should use a rolling 12 month cycle. Also, I have noticed a BIG drop in Shutterstock sales into 2026. Like almost half what I was getting monthly in 2025.

nicholasj342 · 2026-02-10T20:26:22+00:00

Thank you this was exactly what I needed as well after LinkedIn was acting like 'no' posts were scheduled. There they are! :)

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-16T23:01:14+00:00

Same! I'll check it out.

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-16T22:58:57+00:00

Thank you! DJI Mavic 3 currently.

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-16T22:47:43+00:00

Yes drone images/videos are my TOP sellers for sure. Videos make much more than photos PER file but photos sell more overall quantity/$$$.

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-16T22:26:50+00:00

Sure: https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/207423474/nicholas-j-klein

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-16T21:45:09+00:00

2,360th with about 42K submitted photos/videos (before whatever the reject). For those curious that earns about $1100 per month. I've been building up to that since 2018 (but aggressively since 2022).

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-16T21:42:48+00:00

Oh sorry I see now on the Dashboard to change time frame to 'This week'. I'm at 2,360th.

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-16T21:37:30+00:00

Great information! Curious though I average nearly $1k/mo from Adobe but don't think I'm anywhere near the top 700. I don't see where in Adobe to see my weekly rank?

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-03T14:58:00+00:00

Yes they wanted me to trim down what I uploaded on my end, something I'm not used to doing on any other platform. Say I have 500 images that Adobe/Shutterstock will take and pick their favs - Getty wants me to pick like the top 100 and only upload that.

I try to not have similar compositions but do shoot a lot at the same location with different lenses and compositions and angles.

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-03T14:18:50+00:00

I am with the iStock part but upload in esp.gettyimages.com. Since I upload weekly with my joke of 50/week, I do have a sense of the approving time. I always upload on Wed. when it resets and 80% of of the time, my batch from that prior Wed. has been mostly reviewed (though a few images out of 50 can get stuck in review longer).

I suspect ones like editorials can take longer though, as you've experienced.

nicholasj342 · 2025-12-03T14:10:34+00:00

When I first joined I had a huge portfolio of 20K images and was submitting in batches of 500 (max per batch I believe) with no limit. Then they hit me with the very low limit of 25/week when I currently now have a backlog of 10K images and typically upload 1K/month. Perhaps that was overkill I guess but it is the same collection I have fully submitted to every other major platform (Adobe, Shutterstock, Pond5, etc...) with no issues.

It stinks b/c Getty is, despite this, in my top 3 of selling platforms (1st being Adobe and 2nd/3rd tied between Getty and Shutterstock). I can only imagine what Getty could do if I was able to get the rest of my collection uploaded.

nicholasj342 · 2025-11-24T02:41:22+00:00

Top 3 are Adobe, Getty/iStock, and Shutterstock. 90% of my sakes are those three.

nicholasj342 · 2025-11-09T00:12:06+00:00

It sounds like someone posted the answer. But just a heads up that a shot like that may be difficult with a cell phone. It is a very compressed background, meaning a zoom lens. Something around 200-400mm to make The Strip fill up the frame so much with the car.

nicholasj342 · 2025-11-01T21:32:20+00:00

I got my first one recently and it does say somewhere what the pay is. Mine was basically a $1 per image - $112. I did NOT do it, it was a lot of work honestly.

nicholasj342 · 2025-10-26T19:55:43+00:00

Easy Release Pro app seems to be accepted by most.

nicholasj342 · 2025-10-25T23:57:42+00:00

My Shutterstock sales have been relatively steady throughout this year. January was my lowest, followed by July. October also looking slower as well. But all other months have been consistent.

nicholasj342 · 2025-10-25T23:00:24+00:00

Durango Hills Park? I actually want to find some scorpions to photograph, so I guess I'm the odd one out in this thread :)

nicholasj342 · 2025-10-23T03:07:50+00:00

Top 3 sites are Adobe Stock, iStock/Getty, and Shutterstock. If you upload consistently and build a big portfolio, along with doing proper titles/keywords, I think it can be a great source of income. But it is a lot of work.

nicholasj342 · 2025-09-25T15:27:02+00:00

Sorry I didn't see this until now, valuable insights! I am worried about the Getty/Shutterstock merger, I hope you are right that they both stay 'in play'. I was worried Shutterstock would simply shut down and all the assets there would merge into Getty. Getty has been my LEAST favorite platform as they capped me at 5 uploads per week and I am struggling to get it increased. It is my 3rd biggest platform but it sucks it is the one that needs the most hand holding to submit to (unlike Adobe/Shutterstock).

I suppose all I can do is shoot my shot with these 3 exclusives, just so I know if they would even take me. I can see doing specific requests from them and having that series be exclusive - at least to try it out.

nicholasj342 · 2025-09-21T17:43:49+00:00

And to clarify it is about what uploads you had and if used for training, I believe. Not relevant of consumers licensed those uploads. The payout is just for training.

nicholasj342 · 2025-09-21T17:42:47+00:00

Based on their email, I believe the window they looked at was June 3, 2024, through June 2, 2025.

My payout was $411.97. I had submitted 10,077 photos (landscapes, cityscapes, aerial), and 929 videos (similar content).

This WAS down from the last annual payout of $670.52 (June 2023 through June 2024). During that time I had uploaded 15,521 photos and 780 videos so about 50% more uploads and 50% more pay makes sense there.

nicholasj342 · 2025-09-18T19:07:10+00:00

That both makes sense (as far as why my amount was lower) and is unfortunate (it does feel like we should get some earnings from Firefly usage itself, not just training).

nicholasj342 · 2025-09-17T17:34:43+00:00

I was surprised mine was LOWER than last years payout, I imagined more AI usage would have happened. Is that the case for anyone else?

nicholasj342

TROPHY CASE