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Selling Photography

If you love to take pictures, and have honed your skills so that you can produce beautiful, sharp images you are well on your way to having the ability to make money by selling your photos. You may think your skills are just a hobby, because you can’t afford a shop, and aren’t interested in taking portrait or model pictures. It doesn’t have to be just a hobby, however. You can make a lot of money selling photos online.

Types of Photos that Sell Online

There is no limit to the types and subject matter that you can sell online. Hundreds of online sites sell stock photos for use by webmasters, publishers and even people who want interesting pictures to go with their blogs or as avatars for various social media or other applications. While it is true that the more unusual a photo is, the more likely it will sell faster, or for more money, even the most commonplace items have a large audience. The most common categories for those who want to take pictures to sell photos online are:

  • Foods and Drink
  • Beauty/Health
  • Travel
  • Science
  • Fitness
  • Animals
  • Pets
  • Entertainment
  • Babies and Children
  • People
  • Holidays
  • Nature
  • Landscapes
  • Sports
  • Automobiles and Transportation
  • Technology

The best way to choose the type of photos that you want to sell is to study what photos sell best where others sell stock photos.

Permissions and Releases

When you take pictures of people you may need to obtain a release from them in order to use the photo for profit. Most property that is easily seen from the street or as part of a landscape is legal and safe to photograph and sell. However, if you are going to sell stock photos, make sure that you do not use any famous buildings, or buildings that contain company logos without permission. Most public buildings are fair game, however military installations and some government buildings may be illegal to photograph. It is better to be safe and ask.

How Much Can You Make When You Sell Photography?

There are a couple of ways stock photography sites determine how much to pay. You won’t be paid for uploading your photos to the site, but rather each time someone chooses it for downloading and using. Some sites charge buyers by the download, some charge according to the desired resolution, and most will have different license options for buyers to chose from for different purchase prices. You will earn anywhere from fifty cents per download to hundreds of dollars for full license.

Some stock photography sites determine what the payments will be for each type of download, and others will let you set the payment for various licensing options. Since each site will have its own methods for determining payments, make sure you fully understand the TOS (terms of service) for the site before loading your photos into the database.

Licensing Your Photos

In some cases you will not have an option as to how your photos are used. The site you upload to will have stipulations for use by each purchaser. Some sites, however let you choose what licenses to allow, and have different prices for each type of license if you select more than one. The three most common types of stock photo licenses are:

  • Royalty Free: This is the most popular type of license. It simply means a buyer has paid a fee for a picture, and can use it in any way that need to.

  • Rights Managed: This is the most confusing type of license as it can contain different language depending on what you want to allow the buyer to do with the photo. One of the variations in this type of license is allowing only one use, meaning the buyer can only place the photo on one article, in one place. Another variation would be the type of use the buyer is allowed, such as only in not-for-profit content.
  • Extended or Enhanced License: This allows the buyer to use the image on a number of items, or multiple insertions into a similar item such as on t-shirts or calendars for resale. This is sometimes called a “commercial license.”

Taking photos for personal use as a hobby is fulfilling and fun, but getting paid for those photos adds a whole new dimension to your pastime. It can end up making you a lot of money.