What is Microstock Photography?

We know we are living in an image-intensive world. Books, magazines, and websites are filled with different images with different sizes, so there is a large demand for images of every kind.
In the early days, if someone maybe a publisher, a designer or other one needs to use a photograph, he need to go to a traditional stock image libraries and spend pay a very high price to get a licensed photograph.
The first microstock website was founded by Bruce Livingstone in Spring 2000, called iStockphoto, which remains one of the leading microstock libraries today. And some of the leading microstock sites are Dreamstime, Shutterstock and Fotolia.
These Microstock photography sites source their images from a wider range of photographers than the traditional stock agencies, including a willingness to accept images from amateurs and hobbyists, and sell their images at a very low price for a royalty-free image. This gives non-professional photographers great opportunities to sell their photographs and make money from them.