Do you want to turn your photography hobby into something that you can actually make a profit from? Stock photography is a great way to turn your photos into some extra cash in your pocket. Stock photos are images that someone might want to use for something.
The possibilities for stock photos are infinite; it could be pictures of nature, landscapes, just people doing really anything, events, or even pictures of animals. Basically you should take pictures of any and everything that is around you, it’s very inexpensive to keep the photos online and you can never be sure what people need or want.
You will want to keep your photos in library form so that someone searching for something can see all your photos of food, or plants or of people playing sports, etc. in one place. You should also make sure that your photos are professional and marketable, if you took a picture of a person you should have a signed release to use that picture, stating that the person in the picture doesn’t mind it being used.
You will then need to find a place to market your photos. You could use your own website but if your site is fairly small and hard to find. Most likely picture editors for magazines, books, or newspapers might not find your site. They want to find something fast being that they are almost certainly extremely busy.
Finding someone who can sell your photos for you, especially at first is your best bet.
Choose a website that is popular and big, the larger the website is the better your chances are that an editor will be able to find an image they can use right away. Also, with a bigger site there is more of a chance that they will buy from you, and there are literally tons of stock photo sites that you can choose from to meet your needs and wants.
For example Shutterstock.com is a fairly easy site to use, it’s free to use and you can earn money for every one of your images that are downloaded. This site walks you through the steps of getting started and once you have ten images that are accepted you can upload images as often as you would like.
Sites like this are one of many that can help you market your photos and start bringing in a profit doing something that you love. PhotoStockPlus is also a great site to start with; the site is extremely popular and comes up very fast in a Google search for images. They give options for selling stock photos which is great, and they also give you the option to sell prints, and most sites will give you the option to go with a higher grade account which will give you your own URL, amongst other fantastic amenities. The site will watermark your photos and even give you the option to set your own prices, also keeping track of all of your photos. It’s well worth a try if you are serious about making money from your photos.
A little bit of research and finding a site that suits your needs and you will be on your way to earning money for your photos. Keep an open mind and don’t get discouraged, starting is always hard but you must remember that if you put your photos on the right site and keep a wide variety of types of photos you are more likely to be seen and then more likely to have your works purchased.
About the author:
Tim founded Posterjack.ca in 2009, offering custom canvas prints and other custom printed art. Learn more about Tim, photography and more at Posterjack.ca.
This is a great idea Britt, something I’ve never considered before. It’s also wise to market your pics on a pre-existing website. When I looking for a photo, it’s the big ones I visit, and those are also the ones that show up on Google.
I’ve found social media to be a great way to get some quick exposure for new images. Visual sites like tumblr and Pinterest are great for this. In addition theres places like SXE (stock exchange) that help you make bit of cash on the side. One things for sure, getting exposure for your work is a lot easier than it used to be.
Thanks for the blog post – very interesting!