I am not a professional photographer; can I still become a member of Shutter Village and sell my photos online?
Shutter Village membership is open to everyone regardless of your skill level. Either you are a pro, an amateur or a hobbyist, you are very welcome here. The only requirement is that your photos are in jpeg format with a minimum image size of 1mb.
How useful is this site to an amateur or a hobbyist photographer?
We are always looking for new images to sell to our website. This site has not restricted its membership to professional photographers only, so anybody can join. As Shutter Village grows so are our photographers.
On a recent trip I came across an old lady selling her homemade postcards with pictures that she took herself. She never had any training nor read photography books, all she knows is how to set-up her camera and take local pictures. She prints them out onto a blank postcard and sells them in her shop. She doesn’t call herself a photographer but her pictures are very impressive.
As far as photography knowledge, the old lady was a complete amateur but her pictures showed the skill of someone who knows how and when to take an eye catching image.
So just because you are an amateur photographer it doesn’t mean that you cannot take great pictures.
How do I join Shutter Village and start selling my photos?
Selling your photos on Shutter Village is so simple. All you need to do is go to the homepage of www.shuttervillage.com and on the bottom left corner you will see a section for photographers to signup. If you complete this section it will guide you through the process of setting up your membership account. All new membership account is for FREE; which means no monthly fee and storage fee to worry about. For security reasons we have to review your details and once approve you can then login and upload your photos.
Rest assured that all your details will be kept confidential.
What is the minimum image size I can upload?
The minimum image size is 1mb and in jpeg format. This is because many images below 1mb are too low in quality to meet the needs and standards of most photo buyers. Also, as the site grows we will be adding new features which will include support for other image file formats.
What is the maximum image size I can upload?
The maximum image size is 30mb
How do I upload my images?
To upload your images you first need to register as a photographer. Using your photographer account you will able to login and upload as many photos as you want.
How many pictures can I upload?
There are no limits to the number of photos you can upload.
Are there costs involved in joining?
No! Membership is FREE
Are there any hidden costs?
No. Full membership is FREE. The only charge Shutter Village gets is the commission from selling your picture.
When I sell an image I only get 50% of the profit, what happens to the other 50%?
The other 50 % goes towards all the marketing, sales, advertising, running and maintaining the website. Unlike other image libraries Shutter Village do not charge photographers a monthly membership fee, not even a storage fee. So if your photos do not sell we are also at a loss so it’s in Shutter Village interest to help you to sell and sell and keep on selling your images.
Do you offer refunds?
Once your purchase is made we cannot offer a refund. The reason for this policy is because we offer full access to our entire digital collection of photos and, as such, there is no way for our products to be returned. On a very rare occasion we will make exceptions on a case to case basis.
Do you add photos on a regular basis?
Yes, we do. We add photos as they are taken. Click on "Newest Photos" to see the latest photos that we have posted.
Are there any restrictions on my use of the Shutter Village photos?
Yes. While Shutter Village offers great freedom and a wide ranges of uses, we do not allow the redistribution of our photos or allow the use of our photos within products that are mass distributed in any type of archive format.
Is account sharing allowed?
No! Sharing an account is no different than distributing our materials to others. Individual accounts must be purchased by your friends and colleagues.
Can my image sell more than one time?
All Royalty Free image can be sold multiple times. So yes your picture can be sold several times to different buyers, increasing your profits.
How do I know if my picture has been sold?
When you login through your photographer account you will have “View my Sales” section. This is a new section that is still under construction because of some bugs in the calculation but we are working on a solution to resolve the problem. The aim of this section is so that you can keep track of all of your sales and the amount that you receive for the selling of your photos.
How do I get paid if my pictures are sold?
At present we are offering 3 payment plans.
Plan one is where you get paid every four months.
Plan two is where you get paid every six months.
Plan three is where you get paid yearly.
Once your picture start selling, you can discuss your preferred payments option with our payments department.
How important are keywords?
Keywords are extremely important. If a buyer is searching for images in the Shutter Village database, he is going to enter some keywords to describe the images they are looking for. So, to ensure that your images will popup during the search it is critical that you enter enough keywords to fully describe the image. If you have no keyword or poor keywords your image may never be found during a search.
Using good keywords is one of the most important keys in selling your images.
How easy it is to sell my photos through your site?
Selling photos is not easy. Your photos could sell very quickly or they could take months to sell.
What you have to remember is that a photo buyer comes to an agency, like Shutter Village, to look for a specific kind of an image. For example, the photo buyer may be working for a calendar company and planning to create a series of calendars based on old Irish pubs. This type of buyer will only search through our database for this specific type of images. If this type of buyer only comes once a year, then these specific photos might only sell once a year. It’s a simple rule of supply and demand. You never know what a photo buyer will be looking for or when he will want a specific image. So the simple answer to this question is that some images may sell in days, some may take a year and some could take several years, all depending on what the buyer wants and needs.
As Shutter Village is an international company we approach a wide range of buyers and we always try to increase our market visibility so that we can find buyers.
When I upload my pictures why they do not appear on your website immediately?
All newly uploaded pictures go through a short review process. This process is to prevent images that are defamatory, obscene, indecent, menacing or racially motivated from being displayed on our public site. Also, images that are below the minimum image size may not be displayed.
Is there any copyright issue I need to worry about?
Basically, under the law in most countries you own the copyright of all the pictures you’ve taken.
Photographers should also make themselves aware of legislation relating to taking pictures of people and places. In some countries, to take picture of a certain building or object you require permission from the owner or copyright owner of that building. If you submit photos of such building or object you will need to submit a “Property Release Form”. There are also similar laws in relation to taking pictures of people in some places or event, in this situation you as the photographer/photo seller are required to get a "Model Release Form". In this case, our best advice is to check the country’s copyright laws before you start taking pictures.
Can I upload picture that I do not own the copyright to?
No
What rights to my pictures are sold?
All your pictures are sold under a Royalty Free License, which allows the purchaser to use that image as they wish, except for the purpose of reselling the images to someone else. You as the photographer will remain the copyright holder of the image.
Are there any type of images I am not allowed to upload?
Yes! Images containing pornographic, racist, sexist, defamatory, obscene and offensive cannot be uploaded or displayed on Shutter Village. As the person uploading images you are responsible to ensure that your images do not meet any of these categories.
Does Shutter Village sell Rights Manages Images?
As we are new to the market, Shutter Village is targeting the Royalty Free market. Behind the scene, our development team is working hard in redesigning our website to include the support for selling Rights Manages Images. The redesigning will be completed early of 2008.
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