A range of funny, high-quality photos have helped a Maltese photographer clinch a $5,000 prize for being the "most im-proved contributor" on iStockphoto.com, the internet's leading photo database.

Kurt Paris, 27, was chosen from among more than 80,000 photographers after spending just a year developing his talents and uploading his images on the site.

"After having watched, listened, assisted and learned, Kurt took his art to the next level in a spectacular fashion this year," the website said about Mr Paris when announcing the winners of the Punctum Day awards online.

For Mr Paris, photography is just a hobby but he is determined to spend his winnings on building a proper studio to further his talent. He has also managed to rake in some extra cash from selling several photos on the site.

"I'm quite chuffed. It's quite a big thing to be chosen," Mr Paris, who is studying computer science in the UK, said over the phone.

Through the website, photographers can upload images and other files which can then be sold to users at a very low price and royalty-free. This means that once bought, the photos can be reused as many times as a buyer likes and for practically any purpose, including magazines and adverts.

The photographers get a cut of the sale each time a photograph is bought, while the bulk of the money goes to the website, which is said to sell an image every five seconds.

Mr Paris started contributing to the site when iStockphoto organised a massive photography session in Malta, Gozo and Comino for its best photographers from around the world.

Mr Paris joined in and loved the experience of using proper lighting and other important tools. He has been at it ever since and, as the prize implies, was an extremely fast learner.

"I wouldn't live off this but many people do it full-time so it can be quite lucrative," he said, encouraging others to give it a shot.

In July Mr Paris was also honoured as photographer of the week and his profile was advertised on the site's homepage for a while.

He explained that a typical iStock photo did not need to be particularly beautiful but had to be technically perfect and as generic as possible.

However, since the site has gained in popularity people have had to become more creative and the images have become more complex.

"There's only so many photos you can take of an apple just lying there," he said.

The key to maximising sales is to "tag" each photo with as many suitable keywords as possible so the photos feature prominently in the required searches.

"I have decent English, so that helps," he said, adding the photos also had to be as versatile as possible since the more they could be used the better.

"My personal style is to have photos which tell a story in a funny way.

In fact, they don't do very well sales wise," he joked.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com