Dreamstime

What’s Dreamstime?

Dreamstime is a stock photo site that enlists freelance artists, photographers, videographers and musicians to upload images and clips on the market.

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How it really works

Contributors can join here and upload art, photos, videos or audio. In case your files are accepted — they’re reviewed for quality and appropriateness — they will likely be listed on the market on the location.

When one in every of your images or files is purchased, the artist receives a royalty starting from 25% to 60% of the acquisition amount. The proportion relies on the recognition of the media — i.e. how continuously it’s purchased — and whether you’re offering it exclusively through Dreamstime, or also sell this image elsewhere.

Pay

Once a contributor builds up a balance of at the least $100, the balance may be cashed out via check, PayPal, Payoneer or Skrill.

Dreamstime review

Like most stock image sites, Dreamstime enlists artists to upload content that the location makes available for purchase. Purchasers include media organizations, web sites, promoting firms and other individuals, who need relatively generic photos or clips for instance a story or ad.

Stock art generally sells for a relative pittance — anywhere from a number of cents to a number of dollars. So, unless you sell 1000’s of photos or clips, this site is not going to make you wealthy.

One popular photo of blooming lavender, for example, sold 14 times in a two week period on Dreamstime. For that, the photographer earned $8.76 — between 38 cents and $1.98 per purchase.

Indeed, some reviewers said it took them years to achieve the $100 threshold that permits them to money out their earnings.

Volume business

That said, stock images can sell an almost limitless variety of times. So, in case you manage to attract a preferred illustration or take an iconic photograph, that one image can generate semi-passive income for years. Should you upload many photos that every one prove popular, you may make decent side hustle income with stock photos.

It’s just rare to make greater than a number of hundred dollars in any given month.

Exclusive?

Dreamstime offers a ten% royalty boost to artists who’re willing to provide them an exclusive right to sell their images. Other stock photo sites, corresponding to Getty Images, offer an identical promise. Should you’ll surrender your right to list photos widely, you get slightly more on each sale.

Is it price it? We don’t see the added royalty as a sufficient incentive to provide up rights to sell elsewhere. In our view, making a living selling stock photos is all about volume. The more widely you list, the more likely you might be to seek out buyers.

One concern

Dreamstime doesn’t accept all images. But, in case your images are accepted and loaded onto the location, Dreamstime expects you to maintain at the least 70% of them there for at least 6 months. Should you select to go away the location, Dreamstime has the precise to keep up your images for that six month holding period.  Nonetheless, it’s going to still pay royalties to the contributor during this era.

Recommendations

There are quite a lot of stock photo sites. And, unless you comply with an exclusive deal, you may list your photos with all of them. Outside of the precise to keep up your images after you’ve left, we expect Dreamstime is competitive with the opposite stock photo sites.

Our advice: Enroll with all of them and don’t give exclusive rights to anyone.

If you ought to list with Dreamstime, you can do so here.

We also recommend Alamy, Foap, Getty, Adobe and Shutterstock. You possibly can sign up with Alamy here.

Learn more about Foap here. Our review of Getty is here. You’ll find more details about Adobe here. Our review of Shutterstock here.

What their users say (from Trust Pilot)

Dreamstime offers photographers a lot of benefits, including the likelihood to repost and compare their shots with other photographers, to be stimulated to take pictures and to achieve a wider audience.
Nonetheless, it will be important to pay attention to the constraints of this platform, particularly the low revenue per photo. Ultimately, Dreamstime could also be a chance to be rigorously evaluated, but it will be important to have realistic expectations.

I’m using dreamstime as a contributor. Also I’m using another platforms as a contributor but on this platform I don’t know why my photos usually are not selling. In other platforms I’m satisfied from sales.

Satisfied

As a contributor, you’d like your images to be processed quickly, answers to queries answered quickly and to be paid out quickly. Dreamstime does exactly that.

I used Dreamstime since 2008. The service is all the time perfect! The payment to my Payoneer card was made quickly.

I’m a feature photographer in Dreamstime. And really satisfied with my relationship with the corporate.
But I’m disenchanted recently because my sales are very poor, probably resulting from the AI creations by other designers.

Invaluable

Dreamstime has been a helpful site for uploading and been in a position to sell my images. Once reached the quantity allowed to receive it’s a smooth transaction. It is simple to upload on the location and straightforward to review and adjust any mistakes. I’m satisfied with the service.

I actually have been all the time satisfied with dreamstime since I joined it as an exclusive photographer for greater than 9 years now..

Working on Dreamstime since 2016, mainly in the sphere of horticultural photography. Extremely pleased with the eye to skilled topics and the simple, friendly handling of the portfolio content.

Not quite a lot of $$$

As contributor, I’m very disenchanted. About 6000 videos online and a couple of years to earn 100€. Sorry…I stop my collaboration.

I desired to sell my photos on the platform, but my photos were rejected they usually put a copy-and-paste text with 15 the explanation why. One in all them was “There may be a logo within the photo” It was a photograph of fish. Tried to get my account closed. Got told they might keep my photos for six months and take all of the profit.

I actually have been a dreamstime contributor since 2004. Initially I had high rejection rates, their standards were high, but i learnt from their feedback what went fallacious and improved on that. After some time of uploading photos to different stock photo sites, the location that gave me essentially the most earnings was dreamstime. So I settled down with dreamstime as exclusive contributor. It was an ideal journey, earning passive income and getting paid for approved images due to my exclusivity for as much as 10k images.

Very inconsistent! Sometimes all my pictures are accepted, the following day all are refused. This create a confusion in regards to the criteria used! I’m disapointed!

1/30/2024