Learn ways to Earn Money with Your Photos

Monetize Your Creativity: Sell Your Photos, Videos, Illustrations, and AI Art Online

5min read > Online income > Photography 

Ready to make money with your photos?

 It's definitely achievable, even in a competitive market where everyone claims to be a photographer. The internet offers various opportunities for photographers to earn from their pictures. This guide will help you understand how to sell your photos online and provide valuable resources to kickstart your photography business.

First, choose a subject you enjoy taking pictures of, such as food, portraiture, or landscapes. Understanding your specialty can help you attract the proper audience and produce stunning images!

Once you've found your niche, build a portfolio to showcase your best work. Your unique style and skills are the key. Sharing your passion and creativity can turn your hobby into some extra cash.

BLOGGING 

At first, attracting people to your blog can be a challenge. When you have a website to sell and promote your photos, you gain control over everything, from setting the prices to managing purchases and deliveries. To improve your blog's visibility on search engines, optimize it by using relevant keywords related to your photography niche. Use social media to drive traffic to your blog and get people to share your photos.

Consider adding visually appealing galleries showcasing your best work to sell photos through your blog. Share the stories behind each photo or offer tips on photography techniques to engage your audience. Ensure visitors have clear information on purchasing your images, including pricing and available formats. You could also run promotions or limited-time offers to encourage buyers and create urgency.

ONLINE STORE 

There may be moments when hard drives crash, USB sticks fail, or files corrupt. Having a physical product to sell from your photography website can bring value into your customers' lives. Selling prints lets you make money with photos and gives your customers a wonderful experience.

Wix Art Store offers all the tools you need to showcase your work in the highest quality and sell digital and print copies of your photos online. Unlike all other sites in this list, Wix Art Store does not charge any commission fees, allowing you to set competitive prices. Thanks to this, you can make money by selling your photos online.

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY 

A stock photo can be sold multiple times and is accompanied by a limited-use license. You can set the number of sales to unlimited and put a price on it that encourages more people to buy.

 Create a stock photo archive site on your website and sell these photos.

Consider setting the sales to unlimited and offering an attractive price to encourage more buyers. As a photographer, you have the freedom to choose how you earn money, whether by creating a stock photo site on your website or selling independently.

To attract more buyers, create unique and standout work. Your images' distinct style and qualities will set you apart from others.

FREELANCE SERVICES 

Freelancing is another way to earn money with your photos. Websites like Upwork and Fiverr allow you to offer photography services. You can take on projects like event photography, product shoots, or photo editing.

Create a compelling profile that highlights your skills and experience. Showcase your best work to attract clients. Good reviews from satisfied clients can help you get more projects.

One of the hardest parts of freelancing is the inconsistency of payment. Sometimes, waiting for the next paycheck to come in can be challenging. Since there isn’t a consistent pay schedule when you are a freelance photographer, creating consistent pay can benefit you and your business.

NETWORK WITH LOCAL BUSINESSES 

Local businesses often require high-quality photos for marketing. Offer your photography services to restaurants, boutiques, and other small businesses to meet their social media and advertising needs.

SELLING YOUR PRINTS 

 If you have a collection of amazing photos, why not consider selling prints? Sharing your best shots is a great way to earn extra cash, and selling physical copies of your work allows art enthusiasts to have something tangible to enjoy. 

Showcase your photos in galleries or sell them online as prints, posters, and cool merchandise like t-shirts and mugs on platforms like Etsy, eBay, and Redbubble.

But before selling prints, find a good, high-quality printing service. 

START DOING PHOTO SHOOTS 

There is a lot of money to be made on photo shoots. While having your own studio or the means to rent one is ideal, many clients now prefer outdoor or on-location shoots. So, if a studio isn't feasible for you now, don't worry - plenty of photo shoot opportunities are still available.

Best types of photo shoots you can do:

•Maternity photo shoots

•Newborn photo shoots

•Pet photo shoots

•Family portraits

•Headshots

•Real estate photos 

•Boudoir photo shoots

EDIT AND RETOUCH PHOTOS 

Capturing the image is only part of the job—the rest is creating the right mood through editing. If you know software like Lightroom or Photoshop, you can offer editing services to other photographers.

You can charge based on time, the number of images, and the amount/type of retouching you want. For example, you could charge more when people request to remove the background vs. light airbrushing altogether to smooth out skin tones.

Consider Partnering with local small businesses for photography opportunities, such as coffee shops or bookshops, who may be looking to utilize your photography skills. 

PROMOTE ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest are great for showcasing your work. Share your photos on these platforms to attract potential buyers. 

Gather your best work into a portfolio and upload it onto your website. Additionally, share your work on social media and do whatever you can to promote your services. High-quality prints can attract art lovers and collectors, providing another revenue stream.

Consistently and regularly posting high-quality content can help you gain visibility and attract more clients or buyers.

Best Places to Sell Your Photos Online

You have the flexibility to distribute stock images on various websites but carefully evaluate the pros and cons of each platform. Here are the top online destinations for selling your photos:

• ShootProof- This user-friendly platform lets photographers share and sell their photos. It makes running your studio and selling more photos easy so you can focus on what matters most: your clients.

•Adobe Stock—This photography eCommerce platform has been around for almost 20 years. It’s known to be among the very first online photo-selling marketplaces and is still considered one of the best stock photo websites for selling images.

•Shutterstock-  A global marketplace for artists and creators to sell royalty-free images, footage, vectors, and illustrations. Signing up for Shutterstock is free, and once you become a site contributor, you’ll start earning money every time someone purchases and downloads your content.

•Alamy- A British photography platform, is an excellent site for selling your photos. It provides quick and simple sign-up, an iPhone app (Stockimo) for capturing and uploading images on the fly, and competitive earnings—paying out over $1 million to contributors monthly.

•Etsy—Known for handmade goods, custom products, and vintage items, it's a marketplace for such items and a popular platform for selling photos. Despite its primary focus, Etsy attracts millions of users monthly, making it a viable option for photographers to showcase and sell their work.

•Fotomoto- An eCommerce widget offering print-on-demand services for selling digital products or photo prints.

•Crestock- This content provider offers royalty-free stock photos and vector illustrations to a wide range of clients across 100+ countries, serving both image buyers and sellers.

•Snapped4u- After capturing an event or portrait session, you can create a new gallery, upload the images as JPEGs, and set prices for the photos. Once done, clients can purchase the pictures, and Snapped4u will promptly email them the files.

•PhotoShelter- A digital asset management system catering to brands, organizations, and photographers. It can assist in setting up portfolios, organizing galleries, showing clients their proofs, and selling digital downloads or prints.

•iStock Photo (by Getty Images)- For over 15 years, they have helped artists earn money by allowing their stock content to be used by businesses and individuals worldwide. iStock by Getty Images is a top stock content marketplace, offering millions of affordable, high-quality images for your projects.

•Stocksy-  Home to a highly curated collection of royalty-free stock photography and video footage that is beautiful, distinctive, and highly usable. A platform cooperative that pays the highest royalties, with 50%-75% of all licenses going to our global membership. Before selling your content on Stocksy's platform, all artists must apply through our Call To Artists page and be approved by our review team.

•EyeEm- EyeEm, pronounced "I Am," is a stock photography website emphasizing advertising visuals. If your focus lies in commercial and product photography, this platform offers an excellent opportunity to sell your photos online. Leveraging artificial intelligence, EyeEm identifies photos with significant commercial appeal. To boost your sales, draw inspiration from advertising photography when curating the images you wish to sell.

Photographers receive half of the revenue from each photo sold on EyeEm, with prices ranging from $20 to $250 depending on the license type. One of the perks is that you retain your copyrights and can collaborate with other stock photo platforms to enhance your visibility.

•SmugMug—Aside from being a widely recognized photo storage platform for safeguarding and sharing digital photos, SmugMug also serves as a sales platform where you can vend photo prints and digital downloads. They say you can set it all up in just 15 minutes!

•Instaproofs- Instaproofs allows you to link your galleries to a professional lab with 10 or more labs. You can opt to have the prints and products sent directly to your clients or send them to you.

•Fine Art America- Print-on-demand service that handles all order aspects. They focus on fine art and pay a 35% commission, but you set your own prices.

FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES 

Each stock photo website has its own submission guidelines. Make sure to read and follow them. This will increase the likelihood of your photos being accepted and sold.

Final Thought

Making money with photography might feel overwhelming at first, but once you find what works best for you, you'll be on your way to being a pro photographer—and getting paid for it! Who wouldn't want to earn a living by doing something they love? 

Legal terms for selling photos online

Editorial use: Permission to use in blogs, newspapers, magazines, and other publications.

Commercial use: Permission to use in marketing and advertising to promote a product or service.

Retail use: is permission to use a photo in the creation of a physical product to be sold. This includes prints, posters, and products that feature the photo (pillows, mugs, etc.). This term is sometimes discussed in the same context as commercial use but should be considered separately.

Exclusive use: The one who purchases the license from you can only use the photo.

Non-exclusive use: Photo licenses that anyone can purchase and use usually cost less than exclusive ones.

Public domain: when photos have no restrictions or copyright claims and can be used for commercial, editorial, and personal purposes. Works created by US federal government agencies (such as NASA) generally fall into this category unless otherwise stated.

Creative Commons: Conditional usage of your work is allowed if it complies with the stated restrictions. Attribution to credit the creator is sometimes required. Visit Creative Commons to generate a badge for this license for free.

Royalty-free:  Individuals can purchase a license to utilize a photo without limitations on duration or frequency. This type of license is widely popular due to its affordability, as these photos are typically non-exclusive in nature.

Rights managed:  A single license can be acquired for a photo's usage, subject to specific distribution limitations. Any additional use beyond the initial agreement necessitates the purchase of extra licenses.

Right of publicity: When using photos of people, especially for commercial purposes like selling them online, it's important to remember that the subjects have rights. This issue stands apart from the copyright aspects discussed earlier. To ensure legal compliance and respect for individuals' rights, always obtain explicit permission from the subjects before using their likenesses in your photos, especially when selling them online. This proactive approach helps safeguard against potential legal ramifications and fosters ethical practices in your photography.

TAGS: Online Income, Photography