6 Creative Ways to Make Money Online From Photography

Intro.

Photography is one of the largest passions in the world today, everyone can take photos and they do. However, many of us do it with more enthusiasm than the general tourist. But do you know how to make money online from photography and which is your best option?

In the following article, I’m going to touch on the best 6 avenues you can take to make some side cash (maybe more than just side cash) via online methods of either using your photographic skills or what else can be done with your images.

You probably think there’s only one option, selling your images to stock image sites. This is one of the choices but there are a few other options that you may not have thought about.

• Selling Photographs to News Websites & Magazines
• Sell Images to Stock Image Sites
• Use Your Photo Editing Skills
• eBook of Your Photography Experience
• Create Your Own Website to Sell Your Images
• Participate in Competitions

1. Selling Photographs to News Websites & Magazines

Many newspapers use their own photographers, but there’s also quite a number that don’t always do this. Some media outlets contract out photographers or purchase images from people that have been in the right spot at the right time.

You may be lucky enough or clever enough to place yourself where news happens. If you know of upcoming news events, you may be able to strategically position yourself at an ideal location to capture some amazing images.

Newspapers and magazines will pay premium prices for the right image that suits their article. Magazines are especially good to sell to, because they’re all about gossip and rumor.

Keep up with the latest news and events, so that you’re in the know of where celebrities or public figures will be stationed. Take images of these celebs arriving and departing events, and you may get lucky if a mishap of some kind occurs.

These are the images that the magazines want. Spur of the moment incidents that are captured on camera. Stock standard photographs will not cut it, you require a different angle than what everyone else has.

If you’re lucky enough to get your images noticed, these media outlets may want to work with you in the future. You know the old saying of ‘getting your foot in the door’. This still applies with many job listings. Get through the back door by having that one image snapped up by a magazine or newspaper, and they may offer you more than the one deal.

2. Sell Images to Stock Image Sites

This is where some of the magazine outlets used to go to get some of their images, the problem being that they are not unique. But stock image site are a great opportunity for you to sell to because of the amount of bloggers and website owners will always require great images.

Magazines may still use these sites also, just not as regularly as they used to. If they need an image of landscape for instance, they’ll come here for generic backgrounds or adverts.

Your opportunity to sell images to large stock imagery sites is vast. Many of the big companies like Shutterstock or Getty images will pay for all sorts of images, so long as they meet certain criteria.

Any images submitted to Shutterstock for instance, will be reviewed before it can be placed on their website for use. The reviews will look for things such as:

• Technical execution – this includes a number of factors such as focus, lighting etc.
• Metadata – submitted keywords and titles are checked for accuracy and relevance.
• Intellectual property – Images are assessed to make sure they are yours.
• As these large stock images sites are so big, you can submit any type of photographic genre that suits your style. When submitting, you’ll place metadata such as description and title of your image.

This is how it will get categorized, so that it appears in the correct section when somebody searches for it. So, if you’re into beach scenes, your images will display when ‘beach’ is typed into the search bar. It makes sense to be as descriptive as possible, otherwise your image may be sent to the bottom of the display listings.

There are various tiers of earning through these types of websites, you’ll have to check their contributor section for more information.

3. Photo Editor

If you have a good knowledge of some photo editing software programs then this could be a perfect opportunity for you to earn a few dollars. It goes without saying that Photoshop is the editing choice of the professionals but there are also some other programs that could be beneficial.

Many users can’t afford Photoshop so they seek alternatives. Amazingly, there’s a few free programs out there that can help with photo editing. GIMP is one such free program that offers a vast array of editing filters and modifying options. Get to know this program well and you’ll have one step towards an editing future.

Now, here’s a secret photo editing tip. Have you ever heard of Photolemur? Well if not, get to know it and your life as an editor will be minimal.

The amount of editing that goes into modifying photos to make them perfect can be tedious. Photolemur is a program where all you need to do is drag and drop your photo into their program, and it analyze’s and enhances the image for you.

It may sound too easy, and it is! Once the image has been processed, you can easily export it. There’s also a slider scale so you can choose to have the image processed halfway between the original and new version. You’ll also see a before and after shot

4. eBook of Your Photography Experience

Creating an eBook is simpler than you probably think. There’s no need for a publisher in today’s world of the internet, just write a book on a number of writing platforms and export it as a PDF file. This can be enhanced even more by using one of a number of eBook programs like Kotobee.

So why not share you experience as an experienced photographer? You can write about how photography exposure works, how to focus with various lenses or the best programs to modify and export or print your images.

Once you’ve written an eBook, you can either create your own website to sell it, or alternatively, sell it on another website such as Amazon. You can learn all about starting your own blog, where your ebook could be your main attraction. Read on below to find out more about this.

5. Create Your Own Website to Sell Your Images

How would you like to start a new venture, where you are the owner of your own blog that sells images! Its absolutely possible, even if you’re unsure how to start with a blog. Many photographers own their own website and offer images at a price.

In saying that, you’ll want to offer some images for free. Everyone loves something for nothing and to get people to trust you and gain authority, you’ll want to give them something to entice them to buy your best stuff.

You can also offer to give them something for their email address, such as an eBook, like I spoke about above. Once they subscribe to your email list, you send them your eBook automatically.

Now that they have offered you their email address, you can send them an email each month showing off your best photography for sale. This is done via an email autoresponder. It is a legitimate working method, that can pay you well if setup correctly.

Even if you think that building a website is difficult, think again. How about using a website builder. I can show you the exact place to go to setup a website, learn how to monetize it, add an eBook or sell products and make extra cash via affiliate marketing. Here are the guys that can help you with this.

With so many options to create an income once you have a website setup, I love this method.

6. Participate in Competitions

Lastly on my list of photography money making opportunities, is the chance to win money via competitions. Unusual you may say! And you’d be correct. It’s not your usual source of income from photography, and it certainly won’t be a consistent or regular income.

But somebody has to win and there are plenty of competitions out there. And the great thing about the digital age, you just submit your image online. Here’s a list of some great photography competitions for the year 2018. The majority will run the same competition each and every year, so just keep them in mind.

You may not make a fortune from this method, but a small side income is certainly achievable.

Wrapping Up

Photography is a passion that is felt by many, but finding the freedom to allow you to make a living or even just a nice income from photography can be a challenge. The online world has provided you with an opportunity to build some level of wealth if done correctly.

Learning how to make money online from photography can be rewarding and give you the freedom you’re after. Selling your images is by far the most common type of income resource, but don’t discount the other methods.

I’d suggest one of the most sustainable ways to make money online from your images is by creating your own blog and promoting your talents. It’s fairly simple to do and you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished a great skill to add to your photographic talents.

You will also have the opportunity to create other methods of income when you create a website, like affiliate marketing or selling online space to companies to promote their brand.

I hope you take away some valuable information from this article, and get stuck into a new adventure.