17+ Powerful Tips To Sell Photos Online & Earn Money | 2024

So you want to earn money 24/7 just by selling your photos online???

if you are a professional photographer or even a Creative photographer who shoots using a smartphone or even some expensive DSLR/Mirrorless camera.

and have some questions like can I earn money from my creative photography by selling some images online? or Which stock photography site to choose to sell photos online?

then you’re at the right place, yes you can earn money just by capturing and selling your images…

as you know there are tons of different stock sites available where you can sell your photos, but today in this article I’m sharing some of the most trusted and popular sites only 🙂

and believe me, that’s one of the easiest ways to earn online by selling your photographs to some best stock-photography websites, or by some freelancing work…

• 7 Proven & Unique Ways to Earn As Photographer

so in this article, you’ll find some best stock-photography websites to earn money by selling your photos online.

and also get the answer to some important questions which are mainly related to selling your photos online…

now without wasting your time let’s get started…

17 Powerful tips to sell photos online and earn money

To sell Photos online you Do not even need a DSLR or Mirrorless camera that’s the most thing you need to know.

because I saw lots of creative photographers, who captures beautiful images with their smartphone and thinks that they can’t sell their images, but that’s a big myth.

and the main reason behind this myth is that all photographers think that they need some expensive DSLR camera or gears to capture beautiful images, but that’s not true (all time).

• Know the key difference between DSLR & Mirrorless camera

so if you’re shooting with your smartphone then don’t worry, you got a fair chance to earn money by selling your pictures captured using  smartphone.

here are some important tips/points you need to take care to start earning using your photography skills…

• How/Where To Sell Photos Online?
• No Entry for Smartphone users???
• Meaning of Stock Photography
• Quick Examples Of Stock Photography
• Most Trusted Sites For Stock Photography
• Things to remember before Registering Or Creating an Account on Stock Website
• Follow these Condition To Get Approved With Any Stock Photography Website
• How Much Money Can You Make by selling your images?
• Time to get money into your bank account
• Not Good At Photography?
• Focus On Types Of Photography To Earn Well
• Golden Tips To Get Your Photographs Noticed On Any Stock Photography site

so, now let’s understand how to sell images online with your smartphone and if you have any DSLR then with your DSLR.

How/Where To Sell Photos Online?

So, first of all, let’s understand how/where to sell our photographs.

Short Answer…

To sell photos online There are tons of best websites available where you can submit your photographs.

and if someone downloads your photograph then you earn so it means you just make money by selling your photographs online.

that’s the basic method to earn from your photography, as simple as that.

So to sell photographs online you just need to know some good & trusted stock photography websites.

because if you capture some beautiful images but the website which you choose if it’s not good and if that site doesn’t give your good commission then there is an issue.

so all these stock photography websites play such a big role to earn a good amount of money from your photography online.

These websites help you a lot to earn money from your photography, so for this, you need to capture some great photographs with rich quality.

don’t worry if you don’t have sufficient skills to capture beautiful images, in this article I mostly cover all the topics and tips to sell your images too quickly.

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No Entry for Smartphone users???

Photo by João Silas on Unsplash

So the answer is No!! there is no need for some expensive DSLRs to submit your photos.

if you are using a smartphone then you can submit your images to any stock photography website.

but the quality of your image matters a lot, so you need to take care of your overall image quality, because if your images are not too sharp then they may get rejected.

Meaning of Stock Photography

So normally stock photography is a kind of website which owns a bunch of photographs and sells those photographs to the client.

so it’s the best source to sell photos online.

now the question comes if I am a client then I just simply download an image online why I need to buy it?

right?, LOL but the main reason behind that is it does not give you quality or when you find the pictures which contain quality then it must be a stock photograph.

people use stock photography websites to use photos and images on their websites, magazines, and brochures or even on posters legally. elsewhere they get copyright from the owner.

Quick Examples Of Stock Photography

So the sweet and simple example of a stock photograph is here…

Just search on google for any images, there are lots of images that contain marks like “Shutterstock” etc.

I hope you already saw the marks that say that you can download this image for FREE with marks but if you want that image with high resolution or without any marks then you must need to buy that image.

so, those types of images are linked to any stock photography website, that’s the basic example of stock photography and working of a stock photography website.

here is one example of a stock photograph that I just downloaded from Shutter-stock.

now you can easily understand how you can earn using the stock photography website after your registration with this website.

if you don’t understand then just comment below and I’ll explain you in detail.

Most Trusted Sites For Stock Photography

Yes, I know this Question is also one of the most asked and very genuine (and important :D) to earn money from stock photography websites, especially for students, because they need more money haha.

So here is the top list of stock photography websites to sell photos online, that you can trust.

1. Shutter-stock
2. Fotolia
3. istockphoto
4. Dreamstime
5. Getty Images
6. Stocksy
7. Crestock
8. Shutterpoint

So from the 1 to 8 all contain priority in descending order, and yes each website is free to create your account.

checkout in-depth articles on these stock photography sites and their commission rates along with rules…

so you don’t need to pay any money to earn money from stock photography websites, that’s the one big good news for you :).

I make it a priority because each website contains its own rules and working method, so from the top to bottom you just need to register every single site.

the money ratio is also different with every different website, money ratio means the “commission”, you get when someone buys your images.

also to sell photos online hard work must be needed.

• some of the best and trusted websites to sell your photos online.

Things to remember before Registering Or Creating an Account on Stock Website

So I am taking an example of a shutter-stock website.

for this, first of all, you need to sign in and create your own account by filling in your information.

and after that, you have to submit some of your Best photographs(normally 10 photographs) with some conditions(we discuss all conditions later in this article).

that website takes some time around 4-5 days(to analyze your images), the member of that site just Check your photographs with some given condition, and then after reviewing your photographs, the team member of that website reply within a couple of days via e-mail.

and after confirmation, you can upload your photographer.

and if someone downloads your photographs then you can Earn  A LOT from your single photographs.

that’s a basic method to create your account on any shutter-stock website and earn money.

Follow these Condition To Get Approved With Any Stock Photography Website

So for this, you need to submit, your top 10 best photos which cover all these conditions…

1. images size must be more than 4px (pixel)
2. your image must be clean or sharp, make sure there’re not enough grains in your image ( this is the common rejection everyone gets )
3. pictures must be taken by you.

That’s it, these are some most common conditions you need to follow on each stock site…

now you are not too far to earn money by selling your photos,

after passing this condition you need to give proper caption and tags for your images, tag stuff matters a lot, so make sure you give proper title, description, and tag…

because of your tags and captions, buyers find your images too quickly.

after that, you get a reply or we can say confirmation mail from that particular stock website that your photos are getting approved and now you are a member of our community.

How Much Money You Can Make by selling your images?

So in short, it totally depends on your photograph and skills to sell photos online and the requirement of your photographs.

(and sometimes  the requirement of some particular image gives you much more benefits.)

Let’s discuss in-depth…

As we know every stock website contain its own rules and regulation if I am talking about Dreamstime pay an additional bonus to every photograph which is submitted by you on their site.

OR istockphoto pays three-time more money for their extraordinary photographs.

so the main benefits of a stock photography website are that your first picture could still make a good amount of money.

Time to get money into your bank account

the rule is simple…

the minimum threshold is $100 dollars ( for most of the sites ).

once you complete this threshold you can able to get your money.

if you earn more than 100$(USD) then via PayPal or wire transfer you get money into your bank account.

Focus On Types Of Photography To Earn Well

So as we know normally people use stock photography websites to use photos and images on their websites, magazines, brochures, or even on posters.

or normally you see lots of banners available in the markets or any website logo etc.

that’s all are purchased by all these sites.so now we know the meaning of stock photographs.

if we observe closely then we know that all photos are photoshopped after purchasing it.

it means clients want totally clean photographs (the short background must be clean so the client can easily use Photoshop to use an image ).

so the golden key is here…

if you upload simple and more quality photographs then their chance may increase to get downloaded more and more.

So it means click and submit photographs which are needed most in the market…

there is no need to submit high colorful images, your images must be good and clean, that’s how you can sell photos online.

Not Good At Photography???

Yes, that’s a problem for lots of newbie photographers, they don’t even have a good type of D-SLR to click better images.

and want to sell photos online so here is the way you can make your photography skills far way better than ever.

Related: learn everything about photography | A-Z guide

17 Free Tips to Rank Your Photos on Any Stock Photography Site like a PRO

here’s a collection of some important tips which you can follow if you want to earn extra from any top Stock photography site…

1. The quality of your images

to sell photos online quality must be good for your images if you are using D-SLR then there is no problem but if you are using a smartphone then take care of it.

• Improve your Picture quality by capturing raw images

2. Competition of your image

if you want to sell photos online related to some common images then check the competition.

if the competition(by image category or title) of your image is less and there are more clients who want to get that image then its well and good.

but if the competition is high then you need to pay more attention to get your image downloaded by the clients.

3. How many people see your image???

after getting approved, you can able to sell photos online.

you can even create one beautiful portfolio but if there are no clients to see that portfolio then it’s worth noting.

so you must have a creative mind for these things, create some social profiles like Facebook pages, Instagram, google plus, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.

and share your work or link to the public so they can visit your portfolio and download some great images.

1. Check your image twice before submitting it.
2. The photograph must be clean.
3. Edit your images to make them cooler, use simple apps to edit images.
4. Use your own content.
5. Give proper tags to your photograph.
6. Submit photos regularly.
7. It takes time, so be patient and positive about selling photos online.
8. If your good image contains some background then remove it using photoshop(not must be required).
9. If you earn money from all these websites then just buy DSLR equipment to get better resolution.
10. Give a proper detailed description of your photograph.
11. Do not submit the same types of images, again and again, a very important key to selling photos online.
12. Create your own blog/website and advertise your stock photograph.
13.  The most important-see how other stock photographers are earning, and analyze their portfolio and description to earn well.
14. Most most most important if your images are getting refused to submit then learn from it.

that’s all the golden key to sell photos online on any stock photography platform…

Read more…

• Improve your Photography.
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I hope this article helps you to find some ways to sell your photos online, if you like this article then please share it with your friends.

what it is that stops you and tells you to bring out your camera to capture?

have a good day 🙂

About Author

Manthan

Hi, I'm Manthan I'm a professional photographer and founder of photographywith.com. this site hosts all of my writing on photography stuff like blogs, reviews, editing, and much more. whatever I learn new, I publish here as a blog with some good and easy examples. Cheers, Manthan

photographywithdc@gmail.com

https://www.photographywith.com