I became a Dreamstime exclusive contributor in August 2010. The results have been very good – way beyond my expectations. There was no one single reason why I became an exclusive Dreamstime contributor - it was a combination of factors and I have listed below the ten most important:

1. Editorial Images – the majority of my sales volume and revenue come from Editorial photos. I therefore cannot work with an agency that does not handle editorial photos.


2. Higher Commission & Best Levels System - Dreamstime has the highest commission percentage and the best commission levels system. If you view stock photography as a long term business venture then it makes sense that your best photos get more and more valuable over time.
3. Titles – 50 characters. I like the length of Dreamstime titles – It allows me to include several key words and phrases that I will also use in the description and the keywords. In this way I can make sure my images have maximum visibility.

4. Description – 756 characters. I know you are not meant to create unnecessarily long descriptions. However particularly for editorial images this is in my view essential. I dislike photos with short descriptions. If I am going to buy a photograph I want to know as much as possible about it and the photographer. Some agencies don’t have a description at all – they only have a title!


5. Keywords – a limit of 70 words. This more than some other agencies. While I don’t normally need to use all 70 it is definitely useful on occasions.
6. Collections – I’m sure some other agencies have a collections system or similar. However Dreamstime has the best and most flexible system. Most importantly it really works – a range of high quality and well maintained image collections will definitely increase your sales.
7. Contributors are valued – it feels like Dreamstime run their business for the sole benefit of the contributors. Of course this is not true – where would be if were not for the buyers. However the fact remains that via the blogs, forums, regular announcements and a range of prizes and bonuses we contributors feel more valued than at other agencies.

8. Copy data from another image – the ability when submitting new images to copy the title, description, categories and keywords from another image and then edit as required. This is a huge time saving for me.


9. Referral Program - Another nice thing about Dreamstime is that they still have a referral program for the photographers you are able to send there. With the referral system you will receive 10% of whatever your referral earns. This could really add up if you are lucky enough to refer a prolific photographer.

10. Limited Time & Resources – photography is not my day job and therefore I have limited time to develop and maintain my portfolio. It takes a lot of time to upload, describe, keyword, and resubmit my pictures. Then there is the constant editing and updating of my collections, viewing the blogs and message boards and collecting the payments each month. I simply don’t have the time to do all that with multiple agencies so I became exclusive with the agency I was most successful with and the one I like using the most – Dreamstime.

I trust this information is of assistance to you and I look forward to viewing your exclusivity thoughts, tips and tricks.