How to make money by taking photos!
People often develop an art of capturing amazing photos and I am sure you have developed that too and your Instagram account can say so. Are you willing to make money by selling your photos? But wondering which platform to use to sell your photo stock? Then this is a perfect article for you, where you can know tricks and tips to earn money from your hobby of clicking pictures.
Ways to earn money from photography
Who does not love to earn some extra cash, if you know the right place and right trick then your talent can bring some extra penny in your pocket very easily? Here are some ways that will help you to figure out how to make money from your clicked gallery.
Sell your prints online
If you have practiced enough then you might have a bundle of stock kept with you and there is a chance that you might have an amazing collection by now. A good collection is often praised and bought by them, so why not sell them? There are many different easy and inexpensive ways that can be adopted to sell prints online.
The simplest way to send the sell photos online is through a third party seller. They will do all the necessary legal work required in sending out the prints and will give you your commission. Is there any reason that you should not consider selling your pictures online? Various platforms can be used to sell your photograph’s stock. One of such great platform is Etsy. This is one of the most famous websites that sell up all the kinds of homemade products all you need to do is to print your image and upload it online and get amazing deals on the same.
Another way to sell your pictures is a little harder but makes a lot of money. You can print your pictures and sell them yourself by approaching shops and restaurants. For instance, you have taken a lot of pictures of a place and an area and you want to sell them. You can approach a restaurant or a café that can display your photographs and attract the customers to buy them. Great work brings great money!!
Sell Your Photos in Galleries
As a photographer you will love it when your photographs will be displayed in galleries and thousands of people will come and have a look at them. If your pictures will be loved then people will prefer to buy them as well. So displaying your collection in the local galleries is one of the most amazing methods to make money. Photographs that connect with people are the most preferred and bought pictures.
One general rule you all should remember is that if you have people in your pictures then you should not sell them plus they wouldn’t be sold as well. People usually don’t prefer to buy such a picture for their home display. It is really important to figure out what all to sell and what not to. Photographs of local areas, monuments, views, nature are most popular among people.
Sell Your Travel Photos
Do you love to travel and clicking your travel picture? Isn’t it exciting to know that you can earn money through your travel? This is a huge demand for original content, newspapers and magazines keep on looking for new and amazing content. This is the best opportunity to make money by creating and selling content. Content can be in the form of videos or pictures anything you have captured the best.
If you are a talented writer along with the photographer then you can sell your travel story along with the pictures and make a great amount of money. There are many organizations apart from newspapers and magazines that can buy your travel stories and make you popular. Your efforts can easily help you to attract clients.
Wedding photography & Photoshots
Many photographers chose to opt for wedding photography. It is one of the most effective ways to earn a lot of money through wedding shoots. But without a doubt, the efforts involved in the planning and execution of the work is immense and comes with a lot of stress.
In wedding photography, the financial benefits are high and are also a rewarding job. You become a part of one of the happiest days of people, how beautiful it is to earn money through this day.
But great money comes with great responsibility; the pressure of delivering the best quality pictures is very high. You have to click the best moments and share them. if you think you aren’t ready to take such a high-quality job then you can start by doing Photography for the rehearsal.
Work as a second shooter.
Photograph engagement sessions.
Create a stylized shoot (a fake wedding).
You can try and achieve a lot with small efforts.
Pursue Club Photography
If you are not very fond of wedding photography, then you can opt for pursuing club photography. Clicking pictures along with having a lot of fun is the best way to earn some extra pocket money. Photography is extremely popular in night clubs, proper night clubs have well-established promoters as well as photographers and you can be one of them.
This specific type of photography involves the earning of a lot of money; it’s worth being a nightclub photographer. Thus it is an astonishing way to collect and earn money along with tons of fun. These photos end up on Facebook and social media making you a popular photographer and it helps you to get more events to click which leads you to more money.
Real estate photography
Real estate photography is also one of the methods to earn money through your photography talent. Regardless of your photography niche, it is very easy to pursue real-estate photography. A lot of real stators hire photographers to click amazing pictures of their property’s interior or exterior. So, that they can display them and attract customers.
For this, it is a suggestion that you will need to create your photography package so that you can earn the maximum you can. Your package should include the rate sheet, a contract, and other important details that will help you to run your shoot smoothly.
You can grow your network and earn an apt amount of money in a short period.
Enter Photography Competitions
In my opinion, photography contests are one good way to make money that most people seem to forget about. Participating in several organized photography contents allows you to get an opportunity to get a lot of cash prices. It does not take a lot of time to enter a photography contest and can help you to win a lot of money. Even if you do not end up winning, it will get your work out there. If you’re lucky, your work might even get critiqued.
Become a teacher
Photography is not only about clicking random pictures, it is much more. Photography is a full subject people study and gains knowledge, some become expert with their years of hard work and experience. So, why not trade your expertise for money? Now a day’s people are becoming crazier about learning photography and thus there is a huge need for teachers. And you can become one; all you need to do is start teaching. Start from the basic framing then move to the camera settings and then the most important is editing.
Editing is a tough task and you need a lot of practice to learn so, and having an experienced guide along is always a good choice for people. So, become a teacher and earn, simple and easy.
What Type of Photos Sell the Best?
The largest buying base of photographs is of bloggers and medium sized business owners.
What kind of images is most popular for buying?
People — Adults, kids and everyone in between from every country and culture!
Working People — Images of working people are very popular with businesses. Folks working on their laptops, writing, speak at a meeting, etc. But, an advice just doesn’t make your clicked pictures so generic they can end up in a meme.
Food and beverages— Various varieties of delicious foods and beverages even empty unwashed plates are the kind of photographs that are bought by a lot of cafés and restaurants owners.
Tools — Gears, nuts, hammers, bolts, and screws can convey a lot to potential buyers and sellers.
Cities — City’s landscapes, popular buildings, people commuting are really popular photograph choice of many photographs collectors.
Nature — This never goes out of trend and is always loved the most this is a no brainer which never gets old to shoot or sell.
Travel — Shots from around the world are always in high demand of travel enthusiasts as well as photographs collectors.
Pro-tip — Have a look at the categories for some of the image marketplaces we’ll discuss to see some more of the most popular images.
How do Freelance Photographers Make Money?
Freelance photographers are generally self-employed photographers. They usually take projects from various organizations and people as and when they like.
Freelancers have an advantage of being flexible to choose their projects whatever and whenever they want. For instance, t could be a project for media, newspaper, magazine, company, event or commercial shots. You will get paid as a freelancer to do their job. For this it is very important to have a strong portfolio so that you can effectively build up your network and get more projects.
Some gigs you can find on freelancer platforms:
Product photography (with or without models)
Food presentation, styling, and photography
Image manipulation
Developing and editing negatives
Culling and creating collections from wedding photos
Amazon product photography
Myth about photography
A person often thinks that they can only earn with the photos which are clicked professionally or using a professional camera, but that is not is the case. You can even make it through the pictures captured by your Smartphone. Yes, definitely quality is essential, but who said, that quality cannot come with the phone clicks. There are dozens of companies that use Smartphone’s and tablets as their cameras just because now a day’s smart phones also capture great pictures which are not less than the professional camera. So you can earn with your Smartphone as well.
Websites where you can sell your photos online
There are several websites where a photographer can showcase your photograph collection and can sell your stock. Some of them are
Adobe Stock
Adobe stock is a marketplace set up by the most popular and talented photo editing software solutions. For 10 years they are providing a platform to their clients and are known to be the first to provide such opportunities to talented photographers.
Shutterstock
Another popular known platform for earning money with your pictures is Shutterstock. It has been a popular site that is into buying stock photos online for over 15 years. They have a collection of over 200 million images, videos, and music tracks for collectors and buyers. As a photographer, you can earn a good amount of money through Shutterstock.
Alamy
Alamy is another amazing platform on which an as a photographer you can sell your stock images without any worry and can earn an amazing amount of money. This site is not that popular as Adobe Stock and Shutterstock but still gives a great response to the photographers and the buyers. Alamy gives access to the photographers where they can upload their pictures without licensing or any other copyright issues. Thus, it’s a good platform to try to sell the photo stock online.
Crestock
Crestock gives you a passive way to earn money for your photo stock. You just simply have to sign in on the website and upload your photo. After this, the Crestock team will evaluate your pictures and once they are done with them then they will upload your photographs to the Crestock portfolio from where the customers can view them and purchase them. Isn’t it an easy way to earn money with your talent?
Fotomoto
Fotomoto works differently, it is not a marketplace it is rather a widget that is integrated with your website and helps you to sell your photographs through it. Like Etsy, Fotomoto allows you to offer digital photos, photo prints, and even canvas to your site. In this case, also you need to take care of the offer by adding the extra expenses of printing, packaging, and shipping.
Finally, photography can be an expensive hobby, but it’s in your power to turn it into a steady source of income, too. After reading this, I am sure you are aware of various ways now to earn money with your clicked shots. You can sell your prints; pursue several photography niches to make money and even you can become a freelancer and gain an extra penny in your free time.
It’s just your skills and a pinch of hard work that can take your photographs to heights and help you to earn plenty of money along with fame.
If you are still confused that if the photos you have clicked it giving you money or not, I guess now you don’t have to be unclear and doubt your skill set. Just grab your camera and get going and come up with amazing salable shots.
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