Selling Pictures For Jigsaw Puzzles

If you believe photography is a costly hobby, you’re correct, it can be. But that does not mean that you need pro-quality equipment to generate money from your photos! Selling Pictures For Jigsaw Puzzles

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, you will find a growing number of opportunities to monetise photos you’ve already taken. And if photography’s already your luggage, there are 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 up one 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 generally produce larger file photographs (although some camera phones are trumping digi cams these days 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 thoughts below. Continue reading!

It helps to have…

Some type of editing software will help buff your pics for best results, so it’s worth sniffing out a nice bundle (and learning how to use it!) So you can make 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 straight 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 tools for tweaking colours, curves and more.
PIXLR is a persuasive alternative to Photoshop, and even recognises the very same shortcuts directly out the bag. You can run it directly from a browser through the program at no cost.
GIMP can do much of what Photoshop excels at, though some users guess it’s a tougher learning curve.
There are loads of phone editing apps to be obtained for free or a few pence, but Snapseed (iPhone, Android, free) always makes the best-of lists.
Don’t forget the bloatware picture software bundled into your’puter, phone or laptop. Most 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 buy’n’ sell digital photos to use on websites, in books, on goods and even in ads, together with the photographer getting a cut of the sale each time.

Selling photographs through a stock website 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 need to submit a selection of pics (and be accepted) until you can become a stock library contributor. After that, some sites 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 need to be on the ball about picking your best shots. Don’t get too hung up about rejections, though; combine multiple sites and post pics to all of them to find the best possible policy.

Which Websites Pay Most?

Swing by Alamy first. Their pupil contributor scheme provides 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. Selling Pictures For Jigsaw Puzzles

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 are not a student, or your uni is not registered, the pay-out’s still a fairly decent 50%. Selling phone pics through their Stockimo app (iStore only) provides you a 20% reduction.

Other Websites to Check Out:

Picfair has a twist: you decide to what extent your pictures 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 but, if you wish to earn more than’enjoys’, you can also pimp your pictures through the market. EyeEm split every sale with you 50/50, with photographs selling from $20-$250. EyeEm Bonus: regular how-to content, themed missions run by large brands, plus you can upload pics via the net or phone.
Foap is constructed around phone photographers, with everything managed through the app (Android, iTunes, free). Foap sells photos for $10 each and splits it 50/50, so you’ll make $5 a pic. They also run monthly Missions, where you can 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% for exclusives. How much your photo sells for also goes up the longer it is downloaded: newbie images start at between $0.34 and $2.38 (USD). If you are shooting on a phone, start with the free Dreamstime program (Android, iPhone).

IStock hands over 15 percent of an image’s sales price, but guarantee a bigger cut if you make the pic exclusive to the site. Photos typically sell for #7 or #20 a go, but the sort of licence or subscription program the customer purchases determines how your slice is calculated.

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

Playing the Stock (photo) Market

Making money with stock photographs 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 always in demand, but anyone you pap may want to sign a model release form to say they’re OK with you with it (your inventory library will have template forms you can print, sign and submit).
Check the account terms! When will you get paid, and in what currency? What happens to your photos if you would like to cancel your account in the future?
You often won’t get a state in how clients use your photos, so if you don’t want your selfies turning up in ads for STDs or hemorrhoid ointment, do not 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 images. It helps folk find (and hopefully purchase!) your pics.

Selling Your Prints

There’s loads of liberty in selling prints (i.e., printed copies of your photos). You decide what to shoot, who to market to, and for how much and, like selling through stock libraries, it can be a wonderful little passive income earner.

Now, before you leg it down to Boots to batch print your holiday snaps, there is a little more to it. While you can run off pictures on your home printer or at a high-street laboratory, better quality means higher profits! Selling Pictures For Jigsaw Puzzles

That means using a proper printing laboratory (one which specialises in art or framed prints), opting for expert paper, or perhaps selling limited or signed editions. Seems like a drag? Not necessarily; there is inspiration below to get you started.

Use a Photo Host

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

They even handle the printing and any postage 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 wish to give it a whirl, look out for free 14-day trials until you pony up the cash: try Zenfolio or Smugmug.

Get Your Own Photo Shop

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

Getting 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 not shift it!) .

Sell on Social Media Platforms

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

But until then, have a tip from street photographer Daniel Arnold: he offered 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 strong fanbase, but if you have talent (and the ideal 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 using zero set-up costs.

The real 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’s no inventory to store, lose, or fall over. Even better, there are sites out there that do all the producing, printing and submitting for you, so all you have to do is take the photographs!

Photo books

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

Blurb enables you to create photo books just by importing your Facebook or Insta images — and you can sell your finished book on Blurb or Amazon.co.uk. You can also advertise books on your own website (if you’ve got one), but have Blurb/Amazon handle the payment. Easy! Selling Pictures For Jigsaw Puzzles

Gifts and Goodies

Turns out you can slap a photograph 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 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 marketplace, but you can opt to have your own online store and add a mark-up into the cost (which you get as your royalty) rather than It is free to set up and run a shop, but CafePress take 10% of your royalties each month, up to a $10 max.
Zazzle lets you 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 might find it harder 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 allows you to add on a mark-up — the default is 20%, but you can tweak it as much as you like.

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

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

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 niche. Whether it’s people, pets, food or something completely left-field, it’s easier to market yourself if your portfolio showcases what you do best.
Take the 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!
Work out your rate and make sure it covers your time, your prices and leaves you a little on top for profit. And get insurance for your equipment!
Offer to photograph events, parties or portraits for family and friends to develop a portfolio, and ask them to spread the word for you. Or hunt out your favourite 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 take alternative promo shots for brands, then label them to get noticed.
Get in touch with picture editors at newspapers, magazines or sites and ask if you can submit photographs or cover 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 could 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) however, as soon as you’re in, you’ll get loads of saleable photo opps!

While everyone with an Insta account appears 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 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 thoughts on this page in the meantime!

Bonus Tips for Aspiring Photographers

Carry your camera anyplace — and not only when you’re doing something or going somewhere special. Loads of businesses and brands are after photos of everyday life and often it’s the simple things which produce the best pics — think roads, 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).
Once you start getting sales, get to grips with tax and the freelancing fundamentals. It will save you stress in the long run, and can save you cash on your tax bill.
You may not be able to sell photos should they comprise trademarked products, brands or perhaps certain buildings. Check out the terms with your stock library, or get the company involved and ask if you need permission to hawk your own snaps.
Do not just do the same-old or what everyone else is doing. Quirky, cute or weird is always in fashion. Amen to that! Selling Pictures For Jigsaw Puzzles

>>MY RECOMMENDATION FOR LEARNING HOW TO SELL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ONLINE<<