Photography Selling WordPress Theme

If you believe photography is an expensive hobby, you are right, it can be. But that doesn’t mean you need pro-quality equipment to make money from your own photos! Photography Selling WordPress Theme

In fact, if you’ve got a decent phone camera along with a steady hand, you are already in with a shot.

However you get your clicks, there are an increasing number of opportunities to monetise photos you have already taken. And if photography’s already your bag, you will find heaps more ways to develop your abilities, and income;  from selling your Insta inventory to pulling a Brooklyn Beckham (famous parents optional).

You know the drill: read, learn, and give it a celebration for yourself!

If you have got a digital camera (or fancy picking one up to get a sneak ), you’ll have more options for selling pics to stock libraries, to sites for prints, or for print-on-demand products. This is because cameras will generally produce larger file photos (although some camera phones are trumping digi cams nowadays so this is not always the case).

Got a camera phone? A growing amount of inventory libraries are catering for mobile snaps, and you still have a shot at the other biz ideas below. Keep reading!

It helps to have…

Some type of editing program can help buff your pics for the best results, so it’s well worth sniffing out a nice bundle (and learning how to use it!) So you can earn more money with your photos.

Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop are industry standards for picture editing. But they cost dollars! Do not crack open your wallet until you’ve checked out the freebies:

• FastStone Image Viewer can open RAW files directly out of your digital camera and save them as JPG, TIFF or PNGs. OK for basic edits like colour correction, straightening, cropping and contrast.
• Raw Therapee is a Lightroom-like editor with loads of resources for tweaking colors, curves and more.
• PIXLR is a persuasive alternative to Photoshop, and even simplifies the very same shortcuts right out the bag. You can run it straight from a browser / through the program for free.
• GIMP can do much of what Photoshop excels at, though some users reckon it’s a tougher learning curve.
• There are tons of phone editing apps to be had for free or a couple of pence, but Snapseed (iPhone, Android, free) always makes the best-of lists.
• Do not forget the bloatware image software bundled into your’puter, telephone or laptop.  Many can make light work of the basics.

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Selling Through Stock Libraries

Stock libraries buy’n’ sell digital photographs to use on websites, in books, on products and even in ads, with the photographer getting a cut of the sale every time.

Selling photographs through a stock website is a top way to surf passive income streams: you can upload a photo once and sell it over and over again, pretty much forever!

You might have to submit a selection of pics (and be accepted) until you may become a stock library contributor. After that, some websites will keep on reviewing all your submissions, and will gladly bounce any they do not think meet standards.

What that means is you’ll always have to be on the ball about picking your best shots. Don’t get too hung up about rejections, though; join a number of websites and post pics to them to get the best possible policy.

Which Websites Pay Most?

Swing by Alamy first. Their pupil contributor scheme gives you 100% of the sales price of your images for 2 years. Total win! Your uni will need to be part of the scheme, but lots of UK and US institutions are already on the books. Photography Selling WordPress Theme

Alamy reckons images typically sell for $90 (USD) each, but you could get anywhere from $20 to $500 depending what it’s used for. If you’re not a student, or your uni is not enrolled, the pay-out’s still a fairly decent 50%. Selling phone pics through their Stockimo program (iStore only) earns you a 20% reduction.

Other Websites to Check Out:

• Picfair comes with a twist: you decide how much your images sell for. Picfair then add 20% on top for their cut, but the sales price you set is what you get if your image sells.
• EyeEm: if Instagram and Alamy had a love child, this is what it would look like. EyeEm is a photo sharing site butif you want to earn more than’likes’, you can also pimp your images through the marketplace. EyeEm divide every sale with you 50/50, with photographs selling from $20-$250. EyeEm Bonus: regular how-to content, themed missions run by big brands, plus you’ll be able to upload pics via the web or phone.
• Foap is built around telephone photographers, with everything handled through the app (Android, iTunes, free). Foap sells photos for $10 each and splits it 50/50, so you will earn $5 a pic. They also run monthly Missions, where you can submit photographs on a theme to be in with a chance of winning extra cash and perks.

Big Name Websites

Dreamstime offer up to 60% for exclusives. How much your photo sells for also goes up the longer it’s downloaded: newbie images start at between $0.34 and $2.38 (USD). If you are shooting on a phone, start with the free Dreamstime app (Android, iPhone).

IStock palms over 15% of a picture’s sales price, but promise a bigger cut if you make the pic exclusive to the site. Photos typically sell for #7 or #20 a go, but the type of license or subscription program the customer buys determines how your slice is calculated.

Shutterstock coughs up $0.25 (USD) per sale on the most common subscription programs, but say you’ll find a larger cut as your lifetime earnings pass various levels. To put that into context, as soon as you’ve earned $10,000, you will be bumped up to the heady heights of 38 cents an image…

Playing the Stock (photo) Market

Making money with stock photos can involve a substantial cash-in, but there are a couple of things worth bearing in mind…

• Stock photography is a numbers game: if you want sales, you’ll need to upload lots of quality pics to several sites.
• Photos of individuals are always in demand, but anyone you pap might want to sign a model release form to say they are OK with you using it (your stock library will have template forms you can print, sign and submit).
• Check the accounts terms! When are you going to get paid, and in what currency? What happens to your photos if you would like to cancel your account later on?
• You often won’t get a state in how customers use your photographs, so in case you don’t need your selfies turning up in ads for STDs or hemorrhoid ointment, don’t upload’em!
• Sign-up for contributor newsletters, as they can clue you in on what sells, what to snap next, as well as how to enhance your camera or editing skills.
• Add plenty of keywords when you upload your pictures. It helps folk find (and hopefully purchase!) your pics.

Selling Your Prints

There is loads of freedom in selling prints (i.e., printed copies of your photographs ). You decide what to take, who to sell to, and for how much and, like selling through stock libraries, it can be a nice little passive revenue earner.

Now, before you leg it down to Boots to batch print your holiday snaps, there’s a little more to it. While you can run off photos on your home printer or at a high-street laboratory, better quality means higher profits! Photography Selling WordPress Theme

That means using a proper printing lab (one which specialises in art or framed prints), opting for specialist paper, or perhaps selling restricted or signed editions. Sounds like a drag? Not necessarily;  there’s inspiration below to get you started.

Use a Photo Host

Photographer-friendly website hosts provide you with a secure place to store your digital pics, a portfolio (which means you can show’em off) and shopping tools (so you can sell prints, downloads and wall art).

They even take care of the printing and any postage each time you make a purchase. Hashtag hallelujah, right?

But the big catch is, not only do they charge for hosting your site, they also take a cheeky cut from each sale — and that’s not everybody’s cup of cocoa! If you want to give it a whirl, look out for free 14-day trials until you pony up the money: try Zenfolio or Smugmug.

Get Your Own Photo Shop

As an alternative, you could always get your own website or Etsy store and hang onto more of your gain!

Obtaining prints or gifts to sell is also super easy; go for print-on-demand and you won’t have to store any stock (or be out of pocket if you can’t shift it!) .

Sell on Social Media Platforms

Eventually the social networking giants will wise-up and begin letting us market photos and other content right from our profiles.

But until then, have a hint from street photographer Daniel Arnold: he provided Instagram followers the chance to order prints from his feed and made $15k in a single day. Obviously it helps if you’ve already got a strong fanbase, but if you have talent (and the right hashtags) it’s worth a shot!

The best thing about selling on social media is that you don’t even need a website: your feed is the portfolio, and you have got a enormous potential audience!

>>LEARN HOW TO SELL YOUR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ONLINE HERE<<

Go print-on-demand

Print-on-demand is a brilliantly simple way to make moolah from mouse mats, keyrings, t-shirts, bags, books and much more — often with zero set-up costs.

The actual beauty of print-on-demand is that while you can advertise a great deal of products, none of them actually exist until someone buys’em — so there is no stock to shop, lose, or fall over. Even better, there are sites out there that do all the producing, printing and posting for you, so all you have to do is take the photos!

Photo books

First stop: Blurb, the self-publishing publishing platform (learn how that all works here!) .

Blurb lets you create photo books just by importing your Facebook or Insta pictures — and you’ll be able to sell your finished book on Blurb or Amazon.co.uk. You could even advertise books on your own website (if you’ve got one), but have Blurb/Amazon manage the payment. Easy! Photography Selling WordPress Theme

Gifts and Goodies

Turns out you can slap a photo on pretty much anything, from shower curtains to pet clothing and PJs;  and you don’t even need a glue gun to begin!

Most print-on-demand outfits let you upload your photographs (or illustrations), choose which products you want to sell them on, and give you a cut of the profits if they market.

• CafePress pays you 10% if your products sell in their marketplace, but you may opt to have your own online store and add a mark-up into the price (which you get as your royalty) instead. It is free to set-up and run a store, but CafePress take 10% of your royalties each month, up to a $10 max.
• Zazzle enables you to set your own royalty rate between 5% and 99 percent but, while it’s tempting to dial it up to full whack, keep in mind that your cut is added to the sales price: go OTT and you may find it more difficult to make sales.
• With Spreadshirt you may add a mark-up of $1 to $20 on items sold through the market, or you can start your own shop and grab 20% commission.
• Redbubble starts with a product base cost and lets you add on a mark-up — the default is 20%, but you can tweak it as much as you’d like.

Running a print-on-demand shop is low-fuss and low-cost — if you are contented with the occasional sale, it can be a wonderful way to make money on the side for relatively little work.

The word from successful sellers is that, to earn proper bucks, you will want to put in the hours (so the same as a project, sadly). We’re talking uploading plenty of photos or designs, getting the word out, and generally try!

Go Freelance

Selling photographs anonymously online is simple enough. But if you want to build a rep, get more glory or just have customers of your own, here are some tips to get started as a freelancer photographer:

• Know your market . When it’s people, pets, food or something completely left-field, it’s a lot easier to market yourself if your portfolio showcases what you do best.
• Take time to learn your craft. You can get lucky selling stock in case you don’t understand your aperture out of your elbow, but you can not afford to chance it if someone’s paying you for wedding pics!
• Workout your rate and make sure it covers your time, your prices and leaves you a little on top for profit. And get insurance to your gear!
• Offer to photograph events, parties or portraits for family and friends to build up a portfolio, and ask them to spread the word for you. Or search out your favorite bloggers and pitch them your pic ideas!
• Batter your social media account with your best pics, let folk know you are available, and tell’em how to get in touch. Get cheeky and choose alternative promo shots for brands, then tag them to get noticed.
• Get in touch with picture editors at magazines, newspapers or websites and ask if you can submit photos or pay local events.
• You may have more chance of getting adopted by Madonna than getting a press pass, but it’s like a golden ticket that can get you into sports, fashion and other exclusive events. You will need to apply each time (or become a member of the National Union of Journalists) but, once you’re in, you’ll get plenty of saleable photo opps!

While everyone with an Insta account appears to reckon they’re a pro photographer, the truth is that being a freelancer is probably the toughest route you may take.

You’ll need a great deal of patience, perseverance, good shoes and adequate pics — and you may well have to give away pictures for free when you first start out to get noticed. If you’re in it for the career, don’t quit. If you’re in it for the money, get your game on with the other ideas on this page in the meantime!

Bonus Tips for Aspiring Photographers

• Carry your camera everywhere — and not just when you are doing something or going somewhere special. Loads of companies and brands are after photographs of daily life and often it’s the simple things which make the best pics — think streets, food (street food?) , facial expressions, family, pets, sports… anything!
• Back-up your best pics (or any you’d hate to lose): maintain copies on an external drive or in cloud storage (Dropbox provides you 2GB of space for free).
• As soon as you start getting sales, get to grips with tax and the freelancing fundamentals. It will save you stress in the long term, and can save you cash on your tax bill.
• You may not have the ability to sell photos if they include trademarked products, brands or perhaps certain buildings. Check out the terms with your stock library, or get the company involved and ask if you require permission to hawk your own snaps.
• Do not just do the same-old or what everybody else is doing. Quirky, cute or weird is always in vogue. Amen to that! Photography Selling WordPress Theme

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