How to sell photos on Adobe Stock from A-Z

1. What you need to know about Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock is an online platform developed by Adobe that allows users to buy and sell a variety of visual assets such as: images, videos, vector graphics and design templates. Adobe Stock was launched in 2015 and quickly became one of the largest photo and video archives in the world, serving the creative community and businesses, meeting many usage needs.

With over 200 million creative assets, Adobe Stock is a rich online resource for a variety of uses, from media, advertising, design to filmmaking and content creation. Products purchased on the platform can be directly integrated with Adobe software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Premiere Pro, helping users save time and optimize workflow.

2. Who benefits from Adobe Stock?

Adobe Stock benefits many individuals to businesses, units,... because it meets the needs of high-quality, diverse photos for many purposes. Specifically, the beneficiaries of this platform include:

Photographers, graphic designers, and other digital artists can sell their photos on Adobe Stock or use vectors and videos to earn extra income. The platform helps them reach millions of users worldwide without having to promote their personal brand.

Designers and creative professionals, video editors, and more can turn to Adobe Stock to find images, videos, vectors, or pre-designed templates for their projects.

Businesses from small to large in many fields can take advantage of Adobe Stock to find quality content for their products, marketing campaigns, communications or advertising. The platform helps businesses save a lot of time and money on content design.

App developers, website developers, or publishers can leverage Adobe Stock to find relevant images, videos, and vector graphics for their products, projects, and content instead of designing them themselves. 

Students, teachers, and lecturers can also turn to Adobe Stock as a rich source of learning and teaching materials. They can use the platform's resources to create more impressive and engaging learning materials, presentations, lectures, etc.

3. Benefits of using Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock is not only a platform that helps you sell a variety of content such as photos, videos, vector graphics and many other creative materials, it is also a “marketplace” that helps you gain many benefits as a collaborator. Specifically:

Being an Adobe Stock contributor allows you to earn money from your creative work. When a user purchases or downloads your uploaded content, you earn a commission for that resource.

Adobe Stock is one of the largest online stock photo platforms in the world, with millions of users. This helps your work reach a large audience, expand your sales opportunities, and increase your personal or business brand recognition.

Adobe Stock easily integrates with Adobe software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premiere Pro. Users who purchase content from here can easily use it on these software without having to convert the format.

Adobe Stock provides an intuitive, searchable, and easy-to-use dashboard that lets you manage and track all of your uploaded content, including downloads, revenue, and more, so you can fine-tune your keywords to optimize visibility and profit.

Becoming an Adobe Stock Contributor not only helps you sell content, the platform also helps you join a global creative community to learn many skills and experiences in photography/creation/design and update the latest trends.

Adobe regularly hosts marketing campaigns and promotes featured content on its platform. If your content is selected as featured content, you will have the opportunity to get noticed by more potential customers, increasing your revenue quickly.

Adobe Stock helps protect your content by only providing licensed use rights. This ensures that your work is not used without permission, giving you peace of mind when posting and sharing your content.

4. Instructions for selling photos on Adobe Stock

Selling photos on Adobe Stock is a great opportunity for you to pursue your passion for photography and art, and turn your creative works into a source of passive income. Here is a detailed guide to help you get started and sell photos successfully on this platform:

4.1. Quick Guide

The steps are as follows:

Sign up for an Adobe account.

Sign up for an Adobe Stock Contributor account to become a contributor to the platform.

Upload the photos, videos or graphic vectors you want to sell to the system.

Provide detailed descriptions and relevant keywords to help buyers easily find your content.

If your photo features a special model, upload a release with it.

Submit content for Adobe review before posting to the website.

Buyers will find your photos by searching for keywords and buy your photos on Adobe Stock. You will receive profits immediately after the buyer completes the payment.

4.2. Detailed instructions

Here's a step-by-step guide to getting started with registering and uploading photos for sale on Adobe Stock:

4.2.1. Create an Adobe ID

Before you can register and upload photos to Adobe Stock, you need to have a personal account on the Adobe Stock platform, and first you need an Adobe ID - a common account for all Adobe services. To create an Adobe ID, follow these steps:

Visit Adobe's official website.

Find and select “Sign In”. 

Here, click “Create an account” and fill in all personal information.

Once you complete your registration, you will receive a confirmation email from Adobe. Go to your inbox and click the link in the email to activate your account. 

4.2.2. Register for an Adobe Stock account

Once you have an Adobe ID, the next step is to register for an Adobe Stock Contributor account. Do the following: 

Go to the Adobe Stock site and sign in with your Adobe ID.

At the main Adobe Stock interface, click the “Create an account” button to start the registration process. 

You will need to fill in the necessary personal information including: full name, country of residence and contact address, transaction credit account,... then click "Create Account" to continue.

After completing the registration, you will be redirected to the “Adobe Stock Contributor” profile page that requires you to file your taxes. Select the W-8 BEN for foreign residents and enter your name (in capital letters), address, country, and age in English.

Sign and write your name at the bottom corner of the form, then click “Click to Sign” to complete the tax return. This form will take up to 24 hours to be reviewed by the system. During this time, you can post photos for sale as usual. 

4.2.3. Upload photos

Once you have an Adobe Stock Contributor account, you can start uploading photos to the system to sell your graphic products. To upload photos, in the control panel on the home page interface, click “Sell” to access the feature to sell photos on Adobe Stock, and click “Pricing” to buy photos.

Here, click “Upload”, then select “Browse”, the document window on your computer will appear. Now, you just need to find the location where the photo is saved on your computer and select or hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple photos. Then click “Open” to upload to Adobe Stock. 

Note: The platform requires photos in JPG format, with a minimum resolution of 4 Megapixels and a maximum size of 45 MB to be accepted for sale on the platform. To continue, select “File Type” > Photo > select a category that matches the theme of the photo you are uploading > select “No” to confirm if there are no copyrighted objects or people in the photo. 

4.2.4. Add description

You need to add a description of the photo for sale in English. Keep it short, easy to understand, and include keywords to help people find your photo. You can enter up to 49 keywords, of which about 35 should be related to the subject of the photo. Note: The main keywords are in positions 1-5, Adobe Stock values ​​these 5 keywords more than the list below. 

4.2.5. Buyers find your photos

Once your photo is approved, it will appear on the Adobe Stock page and when buyers search by keyword, depending on the description and keywords, your image will be optimized and appear. Therefore, if you use common, easy-to-understand keywords, and content that meets popular trends, the possibility of being accessed and purchased by many buyers is higher.

4.2.6. Submit your photo

Then, carefully check the image of the keywords, click “Submit” in the upper right corner to send the photo and request approval before the photo officially appears on the platform. The review time for Adobe Stock is 3 days. If your photo is not accepted, Adobe will send a notification with the reason so that you can edit and resubmit. 

5. How much money can you make selling photos on Adobe Stock?

Earnings from selling photos and videos on Adobe Stock are determined by the content's appearance, quality, and licensing. For regular images, you'll earn between $0.33 and $3.30 per download. Licensed images can earn up to $26.40 per download. 

Additionally, selling videos on Adobe Stock can also be a great way to earn money. The minimum amount you can earn per video is $2.80 – $70 per download. Similar to photos, videos are worth more when they are of good quality and come with licenses. You can see that the potential for earning money from Adobe Stock is huge, especially if you have a lot of quality products, so upgrade and maintain the quality of your work.

6. Which photos sell well on Adobe Stock?

Not every image you post on Adobe Stock will generate income for you. You need to understand the trends and tastes of photo buyers, and your work has high applicability and the ability to connect with viewers to easily get more purchases. Here are some of the most popular topics on Adobe Stock:

Photos that show genuine human emotions, for example: natural smiles, innocent smiles, sad faces,...

Photos depicting culture, ethnicity, lifestyle and gender.

Technology images, digital photos, are highly applicable to articles, marketing and advertising materials,... in these two fields.

Photos of exercise activities such as: yoga, jogging, gym workouts,...

Photos of nature and outdoor scenery. It is highly applicable for content about tourism or environmental protection, human activities,...

Pictures of food, drinks, and eating activities of people in different countries.

Photos of tourist destinations, outdoor activities such as mountain climbing, hiking, exploring new lands.

Images related to sports activities, exercise, medical care,...

Images of personal hygiene, resting, working at home or working at an office, company,...

7. Tips to make selling photos on Adobe Stock "easier"

Starting as an Adobe Stock contributor, you can easily upload and sell stock photos on the platform. However, not everyone is successful and makes a big profit from selling photos on Adobe Stock. Here are some tips to help you optimize your sales on Adobe Stock:

7.1. Creating human images and lifestyles

Images of people and lifestyles have always been the “core” of stock photography. Photos showing people working, playing, participating in physical activities, etc. are always attractive, receive attention, and have high applicability. If you want to increase the number of buyers, you should focus on taking pictures that show people's lives.

7.2. Upload trending content

To achieve high sales, you should pay attention to current trends and upload relevant content. For example: Major sporting events, COVID-19 pandemic, weather images, Christmas, etc. This helps you create products that meet market needs and increase user reach.

7.3. Create "green" content

Content that uses unusual angles is always engaging and successful. Instead of taking a photo of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, try taking a different perspective, such as taking a drone shot of the Eiffel Tower from the air, to create more unique content.

7.4. Optimize description

To increase the visibility of your images on Adobe Stock, optimizing your metadata is important. Some things to keep in mind include:

7.4.1. Notes

Photo titles and descriptions should be short and to the point. Titles should be no longer than 70 characters, and captions should clearly describe the content of the photo without including brand or personal names.

7.4.2. Keywords

When adding keywords, rank your most important keywords in the top 10 and use 15-35 relevant keywords. Use singular nouns to make them easier to find. Check out more Adobe Stock tutorials to learn more about keyword optimization and how to use it to increase your keyword search volume.

7.5. Upload Strategy

Be smart about your upload strategy to gain more traction in a competitive market. Plan to upload images 2-3 months before events or holiday seasons, like Christmas or Lunar New Year, Halloween, etc. 

This will give your images a better chance of appearing on the first page of search results for longer periods of time as buyer demand increases months before the holidays. By implementing these tips, you’ll have a better chance of successfully selling your images on Adobe Stock and growing your photography career.

7.6. Use other Adobe products to optimize your photos

Take advantage of powerful editing software like Photoshop and Lightroom to improve the quality of your images before you post them for sale on Adobe Stock. These tools offer powerful features to help you edit and enhance your photos. 

However, you should note that over-editing can make the image “unrealistic”, reducing the commercial value of the product. Use these tools skillfully to create natural, vivid and attractive photos.

7.7. Image diversity

To reach a wide range of buyers, try to take and create a variety of stock photos, vectors, etc. to meet the needs of many ages, fields, professions, etc. This not only enriches your content but also creates a vivid picture, attracts more customers, and increases the applicability of your products in today's social reality.

7.8. Take advantage of the rules for each photo

A good photo needs composition. You need to learn a little about photography, follow rules like: one third, one sixth,... to create photos that are both attractive in quality and composition. In addition, you can also use leading lines in the photo to guide the viewer's eyes, creating a more interesting and engaging visual experience.

8. Sell AI-Generated Images on Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock is one of the largest stock photo platforms, allowing people to upload and sell AI-generated images. So, in addition to selling photos you take, designers can create AI images to sell on the platform, opening up more opportunities to increase revenue and reach more users globally.

If you're considering selling AI-generated images on Adobe Stock, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Before uploading any AI-generated images, make sure you have the rights to sell them for commercial purposes, meaning you own the rights to the images it creates.

While AI-generated images can be very realistic, you should not create images that depict real people as this could lead to legal issues.

When submitting AI-generated content, select the separate category “Created Using Generative AI Tools” for that image and select the “People And Property Are Fictional Box”.

If the AI-generated image is photorealistic, set the file type to photo or illustration.

Ensure that AI-generated images are accurate in content versus reality.

Do not copy the style or signature of famous artists when creating AI images as it may result in copyright infringement and account suspension.

AI-generated images are often low resolution, please upgrade images to at least 4 megapixels to be accepted by Adobe Stock before posting.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

9.1. When can I sell photos on Adobe?

You can sell photos on Adobe Stock as soon as you successfully create an account, upload images that meet the platform's standards and wait for approval.

9.2. Can I retain my copyright when selling on Adobe Stock?

Yes, you retain copyright to your image, but Adobe Stock will have the right to use it under the terms of the contract.

9.3. Are the images on Adobe Stock royalty-free?

No, all images on Adobe Stock are copyrighted. Buyers must pay a license fee to own and use the images as they please.

Conclusion 
Selling photos on Adobe Stock is a great opportunity to help you both fulfill your passion for photography, editing, and professional photo design while helping you earn a real income. Invest in image quality, optimize keywords and descriptions,... with the tips and instructions above to improve your competitiveness and increase revenue from your photos. If you need further support, you can contact SaDesign for detailed advice or refer to more content on the homepage!