First Image Sales and the Critical Minimum of Portfolio Work on Stock Image Sites

How many images do you need to accumulate in your portfolio to start seeing income grow? This is a pressing question for aspiring artists and even professional artists. You can find real stories of sales on stock image sites on forums and Reddit. Here's what we found for recently created accounts (in 2024-2025), showing the portfolio size and time it took for people to make their first sale. There's limited data, and it's not always possible to accurately determine "early 2024" versus "no sales before this date," but there are examples that are useful as benchmarks.

Patterns, when the first sale occurs and how to achieve regular income

Trends can be identified from these examples. Small portfolios can still generate their first sale very quickly. For example, a Shutterstock account with ~70 photos sold within ~5 days. A portfolio of 50-100 photos is often the minimum required to achieve good results. In the case of Adobe Stock Premium, just 65 images were enough to generate a "decent income."

If the portfolio is "average" (200-500 photos), it will likely take time (several months or a year) before regular sales and significant income are achieved. For example, with a portfolio of ~200 photos, a user earned around $1,000 in a year, plus income from multiple platforms. With a larger portfolio (thousands of photos), sales are more stable. Here's an example with ~5,000 images across multiple platforms. Subject matter, quality, keywords, and trends are often very important. It's not just "I have a certain number of photos," but what's important: the subject matter, quality, style, and market relevance. The examples show that photos of "everyday life, food, and objects" were among those listed as being sold.