Photography - How to Sell Your Photographs

Selling your photographs to make a little extra sidecaptivating enough to make people want to
money is an appealing idea. But how realistic is it? Asdownload them, also need to be technically perfect.
it turns out, quite realistic, provided that you are notHigh resolution images with imperceptible noise levels
hoping to get rich doing it.and perfect color balancing are the minimum technical
Let me say right off the bat that if you are hopingrequirements. Get used to shooting at ISO 100, even
to get into photography and live off the proceeds offor low-light shots that require a tripod, mirror lock up
your image licensing royalties, that's a whole differentand cable release.
ball game. Like every other artist in the world, youThe editors of each exchange will have their own
will need an extraordinary game plan and the requisitestandards, of course, and what gets rejected at one
talent to bring it off. I cannot help you with that.site may be accepted elsewhere. So don't give up
But if you are already taking pictures on a regularimmediately if you have a door slammed in your face.
basis, and at least a fraction of them are very good,Van Gogh could not convince anyone to buy even
then it makes sense to consider licensing them. Like Ione of his paintings in the course of his own lifetime.
said, you are unlikely to get rich doing this, but youThat did not mean his pictures were worthless. But
might earn enough money each year to outfit with apicture editors might not see where you are coming
new high-end camera body, or that lens youfrom if they do not recognize the market that you
fantasize about but which you otherwise wouldare targeting. For this reason, it pays to figure out
never go so far as to buy.beforehand what is selling well before you submit
So why is it not possible to get rich selling youryour first portfolio. After that you are likely to meet
photos?less resistance if you veer off in a slightly different
It is simply a matter of numbers. Most of the populardirection.
online image exchanges - the ones that will allowIt is also a good idea to specialize the themes of
anyone capable of creating quality photos to uploadyour photography. If you take particularly good
their material and license it out - sell images for aboutlandscape shots, and build a body of landscape
a dollar a piece, and of that they will pay youimages, your clients will be impressed by your body
perhaps 25 cents (maybe 50 cents if you are reallyof work when they are selecting that first image of
lucky). If you are thinking that this is a pretty pooryours, and they will likely seek you out again when
deal for the photographer, you are right. But thisthey require a similar image.
does seem to be par for the course, so there mayOther online image exchanges that operate in a
be some operational expenses to running an imagefashion similar to iStockPhoto include Fotolia,
exchange that are not immediately obvious. EitherShutterStock, and DreamsTime. All are worth
way, that's the current reality of the business.checking out. They are free to join and take a
So let's consider the numbers again. The reason thatcommission on your licensed images.
images typically sell for a dollar is that the buyers areAnother tack you can take, if you don't like the idea
webmasters looking for low resolution filler imagesof licensing your images so cheaply, is to go with an
for their web properties. They will happily fork overonline photographic service that allows you to set
one or two dollars for an image, but would frown atyour own pricing. These are a little harder to find.
paying five dollars. You may get hundreds of peopleOne such site is PhotoStockPlus which targets event
willing to pay you a dollar for an image before youphotographers. If you photograph weddings, parties,
can find a couple willing to pay five dollars for a highspecial occasions, then you are their primary
resolution version that could be printed on a coffeedemographic.
mug. You will find even fewer buyers - magazine andPhotoStockPlus offers a subscription service and
book picture editors, and the like - who are preparedgives you your own little e-commerce store where
to pay twenty dollars for the highest availableyou can sell plain photographic prints, as well as have
resolution version.them emblazoned across, for example, a T-shirt, a
So you will make your money from the masses, andcoffee mug, or a mouse pad. The idea is that you
at 25 cents a pop you will need 4000 licensedadd a markup on top of the wholesale price that
instances of your images before the image exchangePhotoStockPlus charges for supplying these items
will cut your first check for $1000. You might managewith your images on them, and that markup is
this by uploading 100 images that average 40passed onto your clients. All you do is upload the
downloads, or you might upload just 4 mind-blowingphotos, set the markups, and then point people
images that average 1000 downloads a piece. It willtoward the site. The rest is hands-off. The cost of
come as no surprise that most people make theirthe service to you is reasonable, with rates that
money by creating as many good photographs asstart at less than $30/month.
they can. They do not rely on their ability toRegardless of the route you take to monetize your
generate that rare master photo that everybodyphotography, actually doing something about it makes
must have.a lot of sense. You can either let your best images
Most of the online image exchanges will reject yoursit on your PC year after year, where they will likely
images if they do not meet the high standards thatget lost in the course of time, or you can put them
the exchange has set for itself. So be smart andout into the world where they will have a chance to
peruse the exchanges to get an idea of the qualityearn you both a little fame and some recurring
that is required. Your images, in addition to beingincome.