Somewhere in your home or on your computer you have a huge number of photos–maybe even some videos–you have taken over the years. And you ask yourself: “Can I make money with some of the good images?” The answer is “Yes”.
The truth is that you do not need to be a professional photographer to licence your photographs to stock photo companies. You do, however, have to submit extremely high quality photos to be considered for inclusion in the databases of iStock, Shutterstock, Alamy, Dreamstime or other companies. And all photos must be digitized.
Not only are they looking for professional-quality digital images, they are looking for images that appeal to advertising art directors and magazine and blog photo editors who are making decisions about images to use commercially.
What photos to submit
So when you are deciding which images to submit, think like an editor and ask yourself: 1) what type of ad would this image work with? Or 2) which news or travel or beauty or self-help story could this image help illustrate? (I can tell you from my own experience, good photos of youngish retirees using a computer or wearing a phone headset would be desirable!)
What may surprise you at first is how little you will be paid for each download of an image: it is sometimes less than $1. For that reason many photographers submit dozens of photos to increase their earnings.
Now, if it turns out your photos or short video clips are not what the stock photo companies need right now, you can always submit your excellent quality images to the free photo stock companies, like Pixabay and Pexels. When someone downloads an image–which is free–they are asked to donate to the photographer. Some people do. Some people don’t.
What you need: really excellent quality digital images. You can also submit short digital video clips at some stock photo companies now.
Where to find the jobs: iStock, Shutterstock, Alamy, Dreamstime. Search online for “sell photos to stock photo companies” or “sell video clips online”. Be sure to check the reviews of each company to find out the good stuff and the ugly experiences people have had with them. Also carefully check how often and by what method you will be paid.
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