Photography is a very broad niche, if you’re really passionate and know some simple tricks then you can easily make money as a photographer.
and here is the plus point, if you are really passionate about photography and just want to express yourself as a photographer then this is one of the best platforms ( or career ) you can choose to pay your monthly bills.
yeah as many professional photographers say, it’s hard to make money using photography and I totally agree with that.
but if you master some basic rules or ways which help you to improve your photography skills then you can also make money as a photographer.
so today In this article, I’m going to share some of my favorite ( proven by professionals ) and unique ways to earn as a photographer.
before I share ways to make real money using your photography skills, let me clear some myth which you might have as a photographer regarding earning money.
I saw on youtube, many people are saying like if you like photography then you can earn a very good amount of money.
that’s true, but it’ll not work if you’re only interested in the outcome, you need to work harder, need to do enough practice to get the job done.
also, some of the ways which I’m going to share is time taking, so make sure you must have enough patience to do that work consistently to get the outcome.
so if you think, you’re not ready for that stuff then you can watch youtube, that’s fine 😀
now without talking more about it, let’s get started…
7 Proven & Unique Ways to Earn As Photographer In India
there are many different ways which you can apply as a newbie photographer.
no matter if you’re shooting with any expensive DSLR/Mirrorless camera or just using your smartphone.
but at some point, an intermediate ( or plus ) camera is very important if you’re working on any big project or something similar to that.
that means gears matter.
it gives you the quality and result which you can’t get with your smartphone camera ( make sure it’s not that expensive 😀 ).
but don’t worry, if you own only a smartphone for now and don’t have enough budget to buy a new DSLR camera then you can find a solution for that too in this article.
you can found some free ways to start making money as a photographer in this article.
here is a very first and simple way, which you can start to earn as a photographer…
1. Start a Youtube Channel
This is the freeway that you can try out to start your photography journey as a youtuber.
as I mentioned already, you need the patience to earn as a photographer, and this is the hard one.
but just try to focus on your videos, make sure you upload quality content on a daily or weekly basis, without thinking about what you’ll get back in return within the next 2-3 years ( at list ).
if you’re young and want to do something interesting then this is the best option.
because once you start making videos on youtube without compromising your video quality, then there is no one to stop you.
and the main point is, you don’t need to pay anything to youtube to upload your videos.
you can use social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook to share your content to gain more reach.
To monetize your youtube video you need atlist 1000 subscribers and 4000+ hour of watch time. ( Quick Guide )
so monetizing your youtube video is a tough task, but if you’re posting constantly then you can reach out to different companies.
and ask them to share their products for review ( may you get it for free sometimes 😀 ).
so you can easily review the product and if the product exists on amazon or any other platform then you can use their own affiliate program to gain some real money apart from youtube.
you can even record the BTS of your recent shoot to share it with your youtube audience, that way you can make money from different resources.
you need to do all these tactics only if your youtube audience is not much, once you got that audience then you’ll get offers to do paid reviews.
this is the one way I’m explaining to earn money from youtube, there are so many different ways you’ll get once you reach that level.
but before that, you need to do enough hard work and hustle to reach that position.
you can simply buy a tripod from amazon and use your smartphone to shoot videos in 720 or 1080p ( 4k is way better ) to get the best results.
so without investing money in new cameras and gears, you’re ready to start your youtube journey as a photographer.
cheap DSLR cameras you can buy to start a youtube channel.
tips to remember if you’re starting a vlogging channel on youtube.
2. Start a Photography Blog
This is another free (almost) way which can help you to start earning as a photographer.
if you love to write or even if you want to learn photography then this is the path you can choose.
I started this photography blog around 2 years ago.
at that time I don’t have any proper reason to start a photography blog.
Like many other users, I just watched some youtube videos on how to earn as a photographer.
and found blogging is a very cool way to earn as a photographer.
so after that, I just learned some basic rules and ways to improve SEO on youtube and bought a server to host this site.
and then started writing articles related to photography, but at that time my main AIM was to earn money ASAP using photography.
but I’m also a full-time developer, so I’m not that much excited to earn money using my blogs.
then I started learning some new photography tricks and bought a new DSLR camera.
and what I learn every week I just write a post about it and publish it.
and after 2 years, I’m doing this thing ( part-time ), just because I love to do it.
within 1 year ( 2018-2019 ) of my blogging career, I Just reached 60K active users via social media platforms.
and the previous year, I just reached 150k active users ( almost 10k unique visitors per month ).
and now I’m earning enough using google ads and affiliate programs.
so, blogging takes time, but if your AIM is clear then you can even archive more than me ( I wish ).
when I started my blogging career, I’m not fluent in English ( I’m still learning ), but I’m improving it every single day.
so don’t wait for the perfect time, just buy a domain and publish your very first blog today ( comment below if you’re already running a blog site 🙂 ).
3. Share your work for Free
Not every photographer likes to share their work for free, I agree.
but sometimes it’s important to share your work for free with your client.
you can build your own portfolio and share it with your client, and if he/she likes it then you’ll get the offer right.
I’m talking about the same thing here at this point.
If you’re doing photography for a long time, then I hope you know a website called unsplash.
this is the site, where you can submit your images ( for free ).
and any end-user can use your photo without any copyright claim for free.
but here is the question, then how I’m going to make money as a photographer using unsplash?
So, now Unsplash is giving us a feature called hire us, which you can manage using your profile.
If any end-user likes your work and if he is looking for similar kind of shots then he can simply hire you.
the only thing required is quality, just publish quality work and you’ll get clients easily.
unsplash is also sharing stats of every single image (like download and total views) which you upload.
so you can easily understand the worth of your single image.
this is my unsplash profile, and I just created my account 3-4 months ago.
as you can see the reach I got ( just uploaded 52 images ), also you can see the option available for like Available for hire, which I’m talking about earlier.
checkout my Unsplash Profile 🙂
4. Sell your Photos
This is another good option that takes time (sometimes) but gives you more money for a single image than you expect.
Right now there’re more than enough stock photography sites available.
which you can use to sell your beautiful images to the end-user.
these types of sites are the opposite of unsplash, where you need to submit your work, and the end-user needs to pay you for the image if he wants to buy it.
you can choose any stock photography site, but you need to take care of some important stuff like how much amount you’ll get for a single sale?
or the commission rate that a particular stock photography site takes for a single image sale.
So I’ve already written an in-depth article on Some best stock photography sites to sell your images online.
which you can refer to earn money by selling your images.
5. Be a Freelance Photographer
This is a good way to earn a decent amount of money as a photographer.
there’re so many different online platforms available where you can submit your work to get your first client as a freelance photographer.
before you submit your profile, make sure you’ve enough images captured to impress any end client.
also, make sure your portfolio or ready and running.
if you don’t want to invest much to build a portfolio then you can use WordPress ( it’s free ).
just buy a domain like yourname.com or yournamePhotography.com, and host it.
using WordPress, you’ll get more than enough templates to build your photography portfolio.
please watch this video to get in-depth info on how to create a photography portfolio from scrach.
My favorite sites to use to submit your profile as a freelance photographer…
-
Upwork
-
Freelancer
-
Guru
-
PeoplePerHour
-
Hubstaff Talent
-
Fiverr
you can even use your own portfolio site, to sell your images ( you can even sell the product which you’re using through affiliate links )
6. Do Some Product Photography (if you Like)
I’m not a huge fan of product photography, but due to this pandemic, it’s hard to go outside to shoot.
so to get the quality content, I started learning product photography.
I started watching youtube videos on product photography ( personal favorite photographer youtube: Peter McKinnon ).
and now I’m just falling in love with this type of photography.
to capture better product photos all you need is a product, your camera, and your creativity to set up your product at the right location)
you can literally use any product to get the shot.
as a photographer, you can share your work with other production companies to share their product with you ( or you can buy them ) for the shoot.
once the shoot is done, just retouch the images and share them with them, post them on social media.
if your work is impressive then they may pay you to do capture more images for that product.
also if you found any amazon seller near you then you can ask them to share the product so you can capture that to earn money.
you can purchase some extra stuff like strobe, diffusion ( or even set up a small studio ) to get the job done.
7. Go out and find more clients
this is the very unique and simple way which you can apply if you are ready to just go out to find your client ( make sure the pandemic is over ).
for example, you can reach any nearest shop like a hotel, small restaurant, salon shop, car showroom, etc…
and talk with the manager, tell him about your photography skills, and what you can offer them ( you can even show your work via your portfolio site or using your Instagram feed ).
if you want to spend some money then you can publish your own office card and share it with each shop owner.
as of now, I’m assuming then you’ve already built a portfolio site, so if you reach out to 7-10 shop owners then you’ll definitely get 2-3 contracts for sure.
as a matter of the fact, not everyone gets successful results on the very first day, you need to go out to different places constantly to get the client.
after all, you need that gut feeling and positivity ( patience is a must ) to archive the best outcome.
also make sure you pick the category like what you’re really interested to capture, so you can improve your skills plus earn some good money.
you can also learn to make some B-rolls or Cinematic footages so you can offer that as well ( that’s a plus point ).
because now a day everyone likes to make short ads for their businesses, and if you know these two skills then you’re ready to rock.
Recently I just watched a video regarding this point, so that’s the main reason I’m sharing this idea to earn as a photographer, here is the resource (that’s me later)…
Bonus Way to Make Money As A Photographer
this one is my personal favorite and hope you’ll like this way too.
if you’re working alone and don’t like a big-time to go out for a shoot then you can do some pre-wedding, newborn, or maternity type of photography.
I love this type of photography because you need to work less to earn more money as a photographer.
follow me On Instagram for more crazy stuff
but the only thing required here is some good gears and confidence to share poses with your clients.
but I’ve one good solution, you can even choose applications like Pinterest or Instagram to find good poses.
so you can suggest some good poses with your client to get the shoot done.
as I mentioned earlier you can start learning to make videos, and editing stuff using some great tools like Imovie (Free), Filmora, Adobe Premiere, etc.
you can even learn photoshop to improve your photo retouching skills ( Lightroom is a must ).
in the end, if you know all these skills then you can earn more than enough money using just one single project.
you’re responsible for the shoot, image edits, and also for videos.
that simply means you’re all in one package for a very less price.
Final Words
now you’re familiar with each & every single Ways to Earn As Photographer, all you need to do is getting started.
so make sure you’re ready to pick and one way to start earning as a photographer.
as per my perspective, practice is the key to archive anything in your life.
if you’re just 20 ( or fewer years old ) then blogging or starting a youtube channel is a good idea.
in that way, you can learn photography plus you’re making your future better ( free of cost ).
just make some small goals and try to archive them, like publishing 1 video a week or writing one blog per week.
hope my words help you to get started with your photography journey.
that’s all from my side.
hope you guys like all these simple and easy way to earn as a photographer, these ways apply to every type of photographer.
no matter if you’re a beginner or intermediate or even a pro photographer.
comment below your favorite way to start earning as a photographer.
if you like this article, then please comment below and let me know, you can even share it on your social media platform.
thank you, stay safe have a good day 🙂
