Welcome Back Side Hustlers!
Today's side hustle is for all of you aspiring photographers out there.
Whether you're shooting with a DSLR or your iPhone, you can make real money selling stock
photos online.
The world of stock photography has been booming in recent years.
The industry these days is no longer just about generic models and clearly staged photos.
Today's stock photography companies aim to offer their clients photos of everything from
food, technology, current events, travel, and business.
It should be noted, however, that stock photography is a bit of a crowded market.
To actually do well selling your photos, you'll have to find a niche that hasn't been fully
explored and really grind away at it.
In order to sell your shots, you'll need to sign up for one or more stock photography
websites.
Some of them allow anybody to join, while others are a bit more selective.
These more exclusive sites, however, do offer better royalties, so it might be worth your
time to try and get onboard.
Getting Started
Since there are literally millions of people out there looking for different kinds of images,
there is a wide range of image styles and subject material that buyers are interested
in.
That means there are practically infinite possibilities for the kinds of photos you
can create to sell to clients.
Granted, not every picture you take is going to sell.
To increase your odds at selling your work, you'll have to brush up on specific markets
and take photographs that are in demand.
There is a lot of competition on stock photography sites, so to set your photos apart from the
rest, you'll have to find ways to make them unique, interesting, and attention-grabbing.
Developing your own unique style is one way to go about doing this, but when you're just
getting started you might want to take a look at photos that are selling and take note of
the qualities that make them appealing.
Another way to improve your odds of selling your photos is by putting out a ton of different
images.
The stock photo hustle can be bit of a numbers game.
The more photos you post on a site, the greater your chances are of making a sale.
Licensing
Stock photos are normally licensed to customers for specific or limited uses.
The photographer typically retains the copyright since it's their intellectual property.
As far as licenses go, the most common ones are Royalty-Free and Rights Managed.
A Rights Managed license gives the buyer permission to use an image for a single purpose.
This is the model of licensing that most stock photo libraries use.
Images are normally paid for according to how they are used.
Each use is calculated individually.
Royalty Free licenses are typically sold by the file size.
No restriction is made on how these images can be used.
If you sell your photos under this license, you'll have less control over how your image
is used.
Stock Photo Sites
Fotolla and its sister platform Adobe Stock sell photos directly to creative cloud users.
That means users of imaging software like Photoshop and Illustrator can purchase images
straight from whatever design platform they are using.
Photographers get a 33% percent share of each sale.
Getty is one of the most popular stock photo sites around.
Photos can either be sold royalty free or rights managed.
Even though it's one of the most reputable stock photo sites, it can be a bit difficult
to get involved with.
You can't submit your own images, rather the site's editors comb Flickr to select photographers
to invite to use the platform.
iStock Photo - If you sell your images exclusively to this site, you can earn up to 45% of each
sale.
If you choose to sell your work on multiple sites, you'll earn a 15% royalty rate.
Can Stock Photo is a pretty fair stock photo site.
It's also possible to sell your work reasonably quickly.
You get paid 50% of each image sold.
To sign up, you'll have to fill out an application
and submit three sample images.
Dreamstime is a well-established microstock photo site.
Microstock essentially means that buyers can use an image as many times as they want.
The platform has over 35 million images in its library, and photographers can make between
25-50% in royalties.
To get approved for an account, you'll have to apply and upload a sample of your work.
Once you're a member, you'll have to maintain a high approval rating if you want to be able
to upload the maximum number of images allowed per week.
A few other sites that are worth looking into are Shutterstock, Stocksy, Crestock, and 123RF.
The Bottom Line
What you can expect to make selling your photos on stock sites all depends on how much time,
energy, and money you invest into it.
Top earners typically have pretty expensive gear set-ups and spend a lot of time fine-tuning
their images before posting them.
These kinds of serious photographers, however, are capable of earning six to seven figures.
For a hobbyist or beginner stock photographer who spends at least 5 to 10 hours a week plugging
away with their photos, they could easily make $200-$500 a month.
Don't be discouraged if you don't start selling pictures right out of the gate.
It'll take some time before you start seeing results.
Remember, identify what's in demand and give the people what they want.
It's less to do about what you like and more so what you think is actually going to sell.