Disclaimer : All listings shared here are impartial and with no bias to the products or the brand.
500px | Alamy | Adobe Stock | Shutterstock | Dreamstime
BigStock Photo | Getty Images | | iStock Photo | Stocksy | Smug Mug
Red Bubble | Photo Shelter | Fine Art America | Eye Em
If you are fond of taking pictures, your photography can be a nice source of income on the side. Photographers that are creative and persistent enough, find that selling stock photos can be quite lucrative.
There are so many ways to make money from images that you may already have on your cell phone or computer hard disk. There are several websites, from stock photos – to arts and craft marketplaces – to social media platforms, that are willing to pay you for your photos and they pay quite well, depending on the quality of images.
Many stock photo marketplaces let you sell professional-quality still photos, vector graphics and 4K videos. Some may accept illustrations as well
Who are the Customers?
Stock photos are used for advertisements, brochures, editorial content, instruction manuals, and more. Using stock photos saves buyers the hassles of arranging photoshoots and hiring photographers.
The largest buyer groups of stock photos include bloggers, website content creators and small to medium sized website business owners.
Companies and individuals search stock photo sites for images they need – and are willing to pay a small fee for downloading and using selected image(s). If they pick your photo, you’ll get a cut of the fee they pay.
Tips for success in selling your photographs
- Upload High-Resolution Images. If you submit low-resolution photos, they will likely be rejected. Make sure your photos are high-quality, bright, and focused. Dull or out-of-focus images won’t sell well.
- Research Trends and Niches that the stock sites are looking for. Most stock sites publish information on what is in demand by the customers
- Sell Across a Range of Sites. If you want to sell photos online, it’s best to upload content to several online platforms, including micro-stock sites like Shutterstock and macro stock sites such as Getty Images.
- Make sure your pictures are free of any brand names or logos. Stock photos should be fairly generic that can be used by any type of company.
- When companies look for stock images, most of the time they are looking for a pictures of specific objects
- People in action, e.g. working on laptops, writing, speaking at a meeting, etc. These images are very popular with businesses
- People from different countries and cultures around the world
- Food — Various types of delicious foods and meals, including even empty crockery and cutlery
- Still objects including tools — Computers, furniture, office space, even Hammers, nuts, bolts and screws. They all can convey a lot of things for potential buyers.
- Cities — City scenes , buildings, people moving around
- Nature — Good sceneries are always in demand
- Travel — Shots from around the world are always popular
- People in action, e.g. working on laptops, writing, speaking at a meeting, etc. These images are very popular with businesses
- Submit pictures that are simple and easy on eyes – without too much clutter .
- Do your homework frequently, study a few stock photo websites to get ideas of what works and what doesn’t.
- Choose sites carefully and focus on sites with a large audience – and the ones where it is easy to upload and sell photos.
You need to start thinking about how your photos can be used by a brand or publisher. It is always good to define your niche. Every successful photographer has a consistent style or theme that is commonly visible in their work. Consistency is helpful in selling – whether your collection is about travel, fashion, cityscapes, nature, food, etc.
You can also do keyword research to analyze the search volume for terms related to your photographs.
Social media can be a great platform for selling products and services. Visual social platforms like Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest can help you reach a worldwide audience. . Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are all the online places where you can sell photos.
- Facebook has multiple options such as Facebook Marketplace, and even Facebook business pages
- Instagram allows businesses to create shopping feeds on their pages. Plus, you can always direct interested buyers to your own website
Some online stores sell stock photos that you take with an Android or Apple cell phone cameras
There are many apps that help you upload and your shots on their related platforms
- Foap
- EyeEm
- 500px.
Stock Photo Sites
Stock photography websites and online platforms offer the simplest way to earn money from photography.
- Stock photography sites van help you earn passive income. Once you shoot and upload your photos and set the metadata for your images, your work is mostly done! Your stock photos keep selling and help you earn royalties even while you are sleeping or playing games
- You don’t need any specialized training and most of the time you don’t need a website to get started. As long as you provide high-quality images, with good lighting and color and good composition — your submissions will be accepted and you can make a decent amount of money.
- On the effort side, though, stock photography sites rules may require you to take a long time, editing and work on images to upload. These sites have strict guidelines for accepting submissions for selling photos online. You need to follow plenty of rules around the quality and information needed for every image.
- Most platforms let you keep between 30% and 60% of the sales
Here are some Major Stock Photography Sites That You can Try
Disclaimer : All listings shared here are impartial and with no bias to the products or the brand.
500px | Alamy | Adobe Stock | Shutterstock | Dreamstime
BigStock Photo | Getty Images | | iStock Photo | Stocksy | Smug Mug
Red Bubble | Photo Shelter | Fine Art America | Eye Em
Final Words
We hope you’ve enjoyed the list of photography stock sites as well as other options shared in this post. If you have experience with any of these stock sites, or any other sites, you can share your thoughts in the comments below.