Selling Photography On Cafepress

If you believe photography is a costly hobby, you are correct, it can be. But that doesn’t mean you need pro-quality equipment to make money from your own photos! Selling Photography On Cafepress

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

But you get your clicks, there are an increasing number of opportunities to monetise photos you have already taken. And if photography’s already your luggage, there are heaps more ways to develop your skills, 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 bash for yourself!

If you’ve got a digital camera (or fancy picking one up for a steal), you’ll have more options for selling pics to stock libraries, to websites for prints, or for print-on-demand products. This is because cameras will usually produce larger file photographs (although some camera phones are trumping digi cams these days so this isn’t necessarily the case).

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

It helps to have…

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

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

FastStone Image Viewer can open RAW files directly from your digital camera and save them as JPG, TIFF or PNGs. OK for basic edits such as color correction, straightening, cropping and contrast.
Raw Therapee is a Lightroom-like editor with loads of tools for tweaking colours, curves and more.
PIXLR is a convincing alternative to Photoshop, and even recognises the same shortcuts right out the bag. You can run it directly from a browser / through the app at no cost.
GIMP can do a lot of what Photoshop excels at, though some users guess it’s a tougher learning curve.
There are loads of phone editing apps to be had for free or a few pence, but Snapseed (iPhone, Android, free) always makes the best-of lists.
Do not forget the bloatware picture software bundled into your’puter, phone or laptop. Many can make light work of the fundamentals.

>>TAKE A LOOK AT HOW I LEARNED TO SELL PHOTOS FOR MONEY<<

Selling Through Stock Libraries

Stock libraries purchase’n’ sell digital photos to use on websites, in books, on products as well as in advertisements, with the photographer getting a cut of the sale each time.

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

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

What that means is you will always need to be on the ball about picking your best shots. Do not get too hung up about rejections, however; combine multiple websites and post pics to them to get the best possible coverage.

Which Websites Pay Most?

Swing by Alamy first. Their student contributor scheme provides you 100% of the sales price of your pictures for two years. Total win! Your uni will need to be part of the scheme, but loads of UK and US institutions are already on the books. Selling Photography On Cafepress

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

Other Websites to Check Out:

Picfair comes with a twist: you decide to what extent your pictures sell for. Picfair then add 20 percent 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 website butif you wish to earn more than’enjoys’, you can also pimp your pictures through the marketplace. EyeEm divide every sale with you 50/50, with photos selling from $20-$250. EyeEm Bonus: regular how-to content, themed missions run by large brands, plus you’ll be able to upload pics via the net or phone.
Foap is built around telephone photographers, with everything handled through the program (Android, iTunes, free). Foap sells pictures for $10 each and divides it 50/50, so you’ll earn $5 a pic. They also run monthly Missions, where you are able to submit photos on a theme to be in with a chance of winning extra money and perks.

Big Name Websites

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

IStock palms over 15 percent 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 plan the customer purchases determines how your piece is calculated.

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

Playing the Stock (photo) Market

Earning 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 will need to upload a great deal of quality pics to a number of sites.
Photos of people are constantly in demand, but anybody you pap might need to sign a model release form to say they are OK with you with it (your inventory 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 want to cancel your account later on?
You often won’t get a state in how clients 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 could clue you in on what sells, what to snap next, as well as how to enhance your camera or editing skills.
Add loads of keywords when you upload your pictures. It helps folk find (and hopefully buy!) your pics.

Selling Your Prints

There is loads of liberty in selling prints (i.e., printed copies of your photos). You decide what to shoot, 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 lab, better quality means greater profits! Selling Photography On Cafepress

That means using a suitable printing laboratory (one which excels in art or framed prints), opting for expert paper, or even selling limited or signed editions. Sounds like a drag? Not necessarily; there’s inspiration below to get you started.

Use a Photo Host

Photographer-friendly site hosts give you a safe place to store your digital pics, a portfolio (which means you can show’em away ) and shopping tools (so you can sell prints, downloads and wall art).

They even take care of the printing and any stamp every time you make a sale. Hashtag hallelujah, right?

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

Get Your Own Photo Shop

Alternatively, you could always get your own website or Etsy shop and hang onto more of your gain!

Getting prints or gifts to market is also super straightforward; go for print-on-demand and you won’t need to store some stock (or be out of pocket if you can not shift it!) .

Sell on Social Media Platforms

Eventually the social networking giants will wise-up and begin letting us sell 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 purchase prints from his feed — and made $15k in one day. Obviously it helps if you’ve already got a solid fanbase, but if you have talent (and the ideal hashtags) it is worth a shot!

The best thing about selling on social media is that you don’t even need a website: your feed is your 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 generate moolah from mouse mats, keyrings, t-shirts, bags, books and more — often using zero set-up costs.

The actual beauty of print-on-demand is that while you may advertise a great deal of products, none of them really exist until somebody buys’em — so there’s no inventory to store, lose, or fall over. Better still, there are sites out there that do all of the producing, printing and submitting for you, so all you’ve got to do is take the photos!

Photo books

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

Blurb enables you to create photo books by simply importing your Facebook or Insta images — and you’ll be able to sell your final book on Blurb or Amazon.co.uk. You can even advertise books on your own website (if you’ve got one), but have Blurb/Amazon handle the payment. Easy! Selling Photography On Cafepress

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 get started!

Most print-on-demand outfits allow you to upload your photos (or illustrations), select which products you wish 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 market, but you can choose to have your very own online store and add a mark-up to the cost (which you get as your royalty) rather than It’s 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% but, while it’s tempting to dial it up to full whack, remember 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 marketplace, or you can start your own shop and grab 20% commission.
Redbubble starts with a product base cost and allows you to 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 cheap — if you are happy with the occasional sale, it can be a nice way to make money on the side for relatively little work.

The word from successful vendors is that, to earn proper bucks, you’ll want to put in the hours (so just like a job, sadly). We’re talking uploading lots of photos or layouts, getting the word out, and generally making an effort!

Go Freelance

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

Know your niche. Whether it’s people, pets, food or something completely left-field, it is easier to market yourself whether your portfolio showcases what you do best.
Take the time to learn your craft. You may get lucky selling stock if you don’t understand your aperture from your elbow, but you can’t afford to chance it when someone’s paying you for wedding pics!
Work out your rate and make sure it covers your time, your prices and leaves you a little on top for gain. And get insurance to your gear!
Give to photo events, portraits or parties for family and friends to build up a portfolio, and ask them to spread the word for you. Or search out your favourite bloggers and pitch them your pic ideas!
Batter your social networking account with your best pics, let folk know you are available, and tell’em how to get connected. 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 cover local events.
You might have more chance of being adopted by Madonna than obtaining a press pass, but it is like a golden ticket that can get you into sports, fashion and other exclusive events. You’ll want 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 everybody with an Insta account seems to reckon they’re a pro photographer, the reality is that being a freelancer may be the toughest route you can take.

You’ll need tons of patience, perseverance, good shoes and decent pics — and you may well have to give away images for free when you first begin to get noticed. If you are in it for the career, do not quit. If you are 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 only when you are doing something or going somewhere special. Loads of companies and brands are after photographs of daily life and often it is the simple things that produce the best pics — believe streets, food (street food?) , facial expressions, family, pets, sports… anything!
Back-up your best pics (or some 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 might not have the ability to sell photos if they include trademarked products, brands or perhaps specific buildings. Check out the terms with your stock library, or get the company involved and ask if you need permission to hawk your snaps.
Don’t just do the same-old or what everybody else is doing. Quirky, cute or weird is always in fashion. Amen to that! Selling Photography On Cafepress

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