Getty Images Contributor
Contribute stock photos and earn royalties through the world's leading image library
Overview
Getty Images accepts contributor applications from photographers and models who want to license their images through the world's most recognized stock photography platform. Accepted contributors earn royalties on each licensed image.
Models and actor-types can collaborate with photographers to create stock content depicting commercial scenarios, lifestyle situations, and business settings. Model-released stock photography featuring real people commands higher licensing fees.
How It Works
Getty Images is the premium tier of stock photography, serving major publications, advertisers, and brands. Having your likeness in their library provides passive income and broad commercial visibility.
Applying as a contributor is free. Getty sets royalty rates based on the license type and contributor tier, with earnings varying significantly by image popularity and usage.
Who Uses It
A worthwhile pursuit for actors and models who want to generate passive income from their look. Partner with experienced stock photographers who understand what sells and can produce technically excellent content.
Pricing & Plans
Applying to become a Getty Images contributor is completely free, with no registration fees or upfront costs. Getty's royalty structure pays contributors 20% of the licensing fee for rights-managed images and 15-20% for royalty-free images, depending on exclusivity arrangements and contributor tier. Exclusive contributors who license their content only through Getty earn higher royalty percentages than non-exclusive contributors who distribute across multiple platforms. Individual image licensing fees on Getty range from approximately $175 to over $500 depending on the license type, usage scope, and image resolution, meaning the per-download earnings for contributors can be substantial compared to budget stock platforms. Getty pays contributors monthly via direct deposit, with a minimum payout threshold of $100 in accumulated earnings. The financial model is purely performance-based — you earn only when your images are licensed, with no guaranteed minimum payments, but the potential per-image earnings on Getty significantly exceed those available on high-volume, low-cost platforms like Shutterstock.
Pros & Cons
What's Great
Getty Images occupies the premium tier of the stock photography market, and having your likeness in their library means your images are being presented to the world's most prominent advertisers, publishers, media companies, and brands who are willing to pay significantly higher licensing fees than budget stock buyers. The higher per-image licensing fees translate directly to higher per-download royalties for contributors compared to volume-oriented platforms, meaning fewer downloads can generate more income than hundreds of downloads on budget platforms. Being featured on Getty provides a form of passive commercial visibility — your face may appear in major advertising campaigns, editorial publications, corporate materials, and digital media worldwide, expanding your exposure to potential casting directors and agents who may recognize you from widely distributed commercial imagery. The model-released people photography category is one of Getty's highest-demand and highest-revenue segments, as businesses pay premium prices for authentic, high-quality images of people in commercial and lifestyle contexts. Getty's editorial and creative teams curate their library to maintain quality standards, meaning accepted images are part of a professionally maintained collection rather than an undifferentiated mass of content. The platform's search algorithms and client relationships ensure that high-quality contributor content receives meaningful visibility to the buyers most likely to license it.
What Could Be Better
Getty's contributor acceptance process is selective, and not all applications are approved — photographers and models whose work does not meet Getty's technical and aesthetic standards may be rejected, limiting access to the platform's premium marketplace. The 15-20% royalty rate means that the majority of the licensing revenue goes to Getty rather than the contributor, and while the per-image fees are higher than budget platforms, the contributor's share is a relatively small percentage of the total transaction value. The passive nature of stock photography income means that individual images may generate very few downloads despite being part of a premium library, and building meaningful income requires a large portfolio of in-demand content produced over time. Getty's content requirements are stringent, including technical specifications for resolution, lighting, composition, and model release documentation that require professional-level photography skills and equipment. The stock photography industry is experiencing increasing competition from AI-generated imagery and user-generated content, which may impact the long-term earning potential of traditional stock photography contributions. Models featured in stock imagery have limited control over how their likeness is used once images are licensed, and may find their face appearing in contexts they did not anticipate or would not have chosen, including potentially embarrassing or sensitive commercial applications.
Our Recommendation
Getty Images contributor status is recommended for actors and models who want to generate passive income through their most valuable asset — their appearance — by collaborating with experienced stock photographers who understand the platform's content requirements and market demand. The platform is most worthwhile for models and actors with versatile, commercial looks that photograph well in the business, lifestyle, healthcare, and technology scenarios that drive the highest demand in premium stock photography. If you are primarily focused on your acting career and find that stock photography modeling conflicts with your personal brand or creates unwanted commercial associations with your likeness, carefully consider whether the passive income justifies the loss of control over how your image is used commercially. Partner with photographers who have an established track record on Getty rather than attempting to produce stock content independently, as experienced stock photographers understand the technical requirements, trending content themes, and composition styles that generate the most licensing revenue. Consider distributing your stock content across multiple platforms — including Getty, Shutterstock, and Adobe Stock — unless a Getty exclusivity arrangement offers a sufficiently higher royalty rate to compensate for the lost distribution reach.
Pro Tips
Partner with stock photographers who specialize in people photography and have existing Getty contributor accounts with proven sales histories, as their understanding of what buyers want will dramatically improve the commercial viability of the images you create together. Sign comprehensive model releases for every shoot and keep copies of all releases organized, as Getty requires proper documentation for every identifiable person in submitted images and missing releases will result in rejection. Focus on creating content that depicts in-demand commercial scenarios — diverse teams in professional settings, healthcare interactions, technology users, active lifestyle moments, and family situations — as these evergreen categories consistently generate the highest licensing revenue in stock photography. Maintain a fresh, current appearance in your stock work and update your portfolio with new shoots at least twice a year, as stock buyers prefer recent, contemporary imagery and older content gradually becomes less commercially relevant. Discuss usage concerns with your collaborating photographer before any shoot, and understand that once images are accepted by Getty and licensed to buyers, you will have limited ability to control or predict the specific commercial contexts in which your likeness appears.