Stock images of cats are on a roll!

I was doing my usual viewing of the sales on the main sites yesterday, and was surprised (and very pleased) by the number of large value sales of cats this month. I had a really good session with our bengal kittens back in February, and the images from that shoot have sold well on most of the stock sites. Here is a sampling of sales this month:

Bengal Kitten with sad look

This one is the winner of the bunch, with total downloads of 166 images with sales of $199 on Shutterstock since February 2011. This month it had an enhanced license sale on Shutterstock for $28 as well.  The same cat (Lily) had an enhanced download on iStockPhoto for $31 this month with a slightly different image of her clawing at the air.

Zoonar Sale of Bengal Kitten

Then, just to add to the fun this month, Lily was sold in slightly different clawing pose on Zoonar (yes, this site is finally taking off!). This image was sold via one of their partner sites, DDP Images, for 34.50 Euros, which is about $46. The moral of the story – even simple images that you can take at home with relatively little lighting equipment (probably three flash guns with these images) can generate a photo that sells well on microstock sites.

iStock Sale of bengal kitten