Taking
pictures is your passion? Friends say you are great
at photographing and call you cameraman? Why not to earn some income with it?
How? Here
are some ideas…
1. Calendars
and postcards
Most of people
know Anne Geddes, who is making cute pictures of little babies for postcards.
She found her niche and she is grate in it! You can also reach such success!
First of all
choose your theme. It can be 12 seasons, or cute pets, or cities. Then take
pictures according this theme. Then contact calendar publishers and offer your
album to them! But remember, it has it own seasonality, so publishers will not
accept your pictures at any time!
It could be
easier with postcards, especially if you live in province, where are just small
publishers. You can make photos of your city or country showplaces. It’s always
marketable among postcard publishers! You can add some text to them or some
decorative elements like borders. This way you can offer ready to publish
product and ask for more money for it!
2. Newspapers
and magazines
You can make
photo reporting for newspapers. Make some pictures of interesting events or
just your city and come to newspapers editorial offices. Even if they will not
buy your photos right away, they will know whom to call next time when they
will need “fresh” pictures. Newspapers and magazines need a lot of pictures on
their theme. They can write around same thing again and again, but pictures
shouldn’t repeat! Make different albums with different themes for them or make
complete reports (with text) of interesting events or theme. It will make your
service complete and will add additional value to your work! Be creative and
unique and your pictures will be marketable!
3. Photo
stocks
You can sell
your photos online too! There are a lot of photo banks where you can upload
your pictures for sale! Is there any demand for quality pictures? Yes, there
is! Websites, blogs, online newspapers and magazines are always in need for
fresh colorful photos and many of them are ready to pay money for them!
What you need to
start selling your pictures in such stocks? Good digital camera (many stocks
will ask certain quality of pictures), sometimes digital copy of your documents
like passport or drivers license copy, at least 15 pictures to start (to pass
exams in some stocks you will be asked for about 10 pictures).
But don’t be
afraid, it’s not so difficult! Not all photo stocks are so requiring!
OK, let’s see
where you can sell your pictures online:
www.fotolia.com – no
exams and no documents required! Fast to register. Easy to use. Minimal size of
picture: 2400х1600. Money withdrawal by PayPal and Moneybookers after you reach
50 dollars.
www.bigstockphoto.com –
terms and conditions test required, but test is very easy to pass even without
knowing the rules! No documents required. Minimal picture size: 800x800. Money
withdrawal after reaching 30 dollars by PayPal, Moneybookers or by check.
www.dreamstime.com – no
documents and tests required. Quality of uploaded pictures: not less then 3 MP.
You get 50% from every sold picture you uploaded! You can withdraw money after
you reach 100 dollars. The limit of uploaded pictures is 100 files per
day.
www.istockphoto.com – one
of the most profitable and popular photo stocks. Unfortunately it’s not so easy
to start. Firstly you will be asked read the user manual and pass the test
about it, then you will need to upload scanned document like passport or
drivers license to identify you. After these tests you will need to upload 3
photos made by you. You will be accepted within 2 weeks. If moderators will not
like your photos you will be asked to upload another 3 photos. Minimal picture
size: 1200x1600. You will get 20% from every sold picture (1-40$), but if you
become exclusive photograph and publish only on this stock, then your percent
will raise to 40! You can withdraw your money when you reach 100$ in your
account by PayPal, Moneybookers, Payoneer or by postal transfer.
www.shutterstock.com – at the moment most
profitable image stock, that’s why it’s not easy to enter there. Firstly you
need to upload a scan of your passport or driver’s license and then wait about
2 days. After identification you need to pass the exam: 7 out of 10 of your
uploaded pictures need to be approved by moderators. But if you don’t pass this
exam from the first time, you can do it after 1 month again and again till you
pass. There are no limits for trying! For beginners minimal size is 4 MP, but
for experienced – 2.5 MP. Format should be jpg
or eps. For every download you will
get 25 cents, but after you reach 500$ your income will rise to 30 cents per
download. It doesn’t look much, but as more you upload as more you will get.
For example, if you upload 100 pictures and each of them will be downloaded just
10 times, you will get 250$! Minimum to withdraw – 75$ (via PayPal,
Moneybookers or check).
You may think
photo stocks pay too less for your images, but it’s better than nothing, right?
Your images can just take your disk space or they can bring you some income! It’s
up to you what to do with them!
4. Participate
in online photo competitions
There are many
online contests and competitions for photographers. As a winner award could be
money or valuable prizes like professional camera or laptop. Some competitions
have participation fee, but some are free to enter. You can find some
competitions here:
http://www.photographycompetitions.net or http://www.fanartreview.com/page/photo_contest/photo_contest.jsp
5. Sell
printed pictures
Most of
professional photographers make money with framed pictures. How? Celebrity
photos sold to newspapers or to celebrity representatives, framed pictures
online stores, your own website where you can sell framed pictures or art exhibitions
and galleries.
Talking about
online photo stocks, there are 2 unusual stocks. Why they are unusual? Despite
of stocks mentioned before they specializes on printed photographs. First is www.photogonia.com, where you can just print images on canvas. Another one is www.imagekind.com, where you can also sell your works through the site!
Advantage of Imagekind is free membership and possibility to hold a gallery up
to 24 images. Upgrade to paid membership is also available. It gives more
opportunities as usual.
6. Making
photo sessions in schools, preschools or events
Every one of us has
photos from their schools, preschools and different events they participated.
Someone made these pictures for us and was paid for it! So you can too! Events
are also great opportunity. For example, sport events. Then you can sell these
pictures to fans or even to the teams who participated on event! Also in famous
places where are many tourists you can make pictures of them. If they like your
pictures, they can order them in printed format! For such income you may need
advanced equipment, but if you are good in negotiations, your investment will pay
off! And don’t forget about weddings, exhibitions and other events, where
people simply need you!
For my blog readers I am giving away the eBook Photo wealth system
Enjoy your time by taking pictures and making money!
Best wishes!
For my blog readers I am giving away the eBook Photo wealth system
Enjoy your time by taking pictures and making money!
Best wishes!
