Turning your passion for photography into a profitable venture is more achievable than ever. If you’re wondering How To Make Money Selling Your Photos, the internet offers a vast marketplace to showcase and monetize your visual creations. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, numerous platforms connect photographers with individuals and businesses seeking high-quality images.
Stock photo websites act as intermediaries, licensing your photographs to brands, agencies, and various clients for commercial purposes. In return, you earn a percentage of the revenue generated. This guide explores 15 of the top websites for selling your photos online, offering a step-by-step roadmap to transform your photography skills into a sustainable income stream.
Top Platforms for Selling Your Photos
1. Alamy
Alamy stock photo website homepage for royalty-free image search and sales.
Alamy stands out with its incredibly diverse collection, boasting millions of stock images, vectors, videos, and even 360-degree panoramic visuals. This vast library presents numerous opportunities for photographers to contribute and sell their work. Alamy also provides Stockimo, a user-friendly iOS app, enabling you to upload and sell photos directly from your smartphone.
How to Get Paid:
Alamy offers monthly payouts to contributors and features a flexible commission structure. Photographers can earn between 17% and 50% of each sale, with the commission rate influenced by image popularity and the specific license type. Notably, Alamy doesn’t require long-term contracts, and they support payments in multiple currencies, making it a globally accessible platform.
2. 500px
500px licensing platform for photographers to earn money from their photos.
500px uniquely blends stock photo licensing with a vibrant community atmosphere. This platform is home to millions of photographers who actively sell and license their photos. 500px utilizes a sophisticated “Pulse algorithm” designed to highlight emerging talent and fresh photographs to potential buyers. This algorithm provides a pathway for photographers, even those less experienced, to gain visibility, provided their images meet the platform’s quality benchmarks.
Beyond its marketplace, 500px fosters a thriving online community for both amateur and professional photographers. You can connect with other creatives, receive constructive feedback on your portfolio, list your photos for sale, and participate in exciting photography competitions with attractive prizes.
How to Get Paid:
For photographers with paid memberships, 500px offers a compelling incentive: up to 100% royalties on exclusive photos. This high commission rate makes 500px particularly appealing for those seeking to maximize their earnings per image.
3. Shutterstock
Shutterstock's online platform offering royalty-free images, videos, and music for licensing.
Shutterstock reigns as one of the most recognized and widely used stock photography websites globally. It’s a powerhouse platform for selling photos online, having distributed over $1 billion to its contributor community in the past 15 years, demonstrating its vast reach and earning potential.
Shutterstock operates as a micro-stock site, characterized by offering photos at more affordable prices and often under non-exclusive licenses. Success on Shutterstock often hinges on contributing a large volume of high-quality images to increase download frequency. While individual image earnings may be lower compared to some platforms, the sheer volume of potential sales makes it a valuable starting point, especially for photographers learning the intricacies of the stock photo market.
How to Get Paid:
Shutterstock’s payout structure is based on cumulative earnings, with commission rates ranging from 15% to 40%. They also offer an affiliate program, providing an additional avenue to earn by referring new photographers or customers to the platform, expanding your income possibilities.
4. Getty Images
Getty Images website with a search bar for high-quality stock photos and images.
Getty Images is synonymous with premium stock photography, attracting prominent brands and online publishers seeking exceptional, exclusive, and often hard-to-find imagery for licensing. Getty Images, along with its microstock subsidiary iStock (detailed below), commands an extensive global reach, serving over 1.5 million customers worldwide.
Maintaining its esteemed reputation within the publishing industry, Getty Images upholds rigorous standards for photographers seeking to sell their work on the platform. The acceptance process is more selective compared to many other stock photo sites, prioritizing exceptional quality and unique content.
How to Get Paid:
To become a Getty Images contributor, you’ll need to apply with a portfolio of sample photographs showcasing your best work. Upon acceptance, you can earn between 15% and 45% of the image’s license fee, reflecting the premium nature of the platform and its clientele.
5. iStock
iStock's generative AI image creator on their stock photo platform.
iStock functions as a non-exclusive contributor alternative within the Getty Images ecosystem. As an offshoot of Getty Images, iStock shares the parent company’s market presence but distinguishes itself by primarily offering non-exclusive licensing options. This means you can sell your photography on iStock while also licensing it through other agencies, providing greater flexibility and potential for broader distribution.
How to Get Paid:
Similar to Getty Images, joining iStock as a contributor requires an application process involving submitting a portfolio of sample images. Commission rates on iStock range from 15% to 45%, depending on the specifics of your contributor agreement, reflecting the platform’s tiered approach to image licensing.
6. Stocksy
Stocksy stock photo site with artistic library graphic and people in a library.
Stocksy presents itself as an accessible and appealing platform, particularly for photographers who are newer to the stock photography market and looking to sell photos online. It’s known for offering generous payouts to its contributors, setting it apart from some competitors. Photographers on Stocksy can earn a 50% royalty for standard licenses and an even higher 75% royalty for extended licenses. However, exclusivity is a key requirement – all photos sold on Stocksy must be exclusive to the platform.
Stocksy operates as an artist-owned cooperative, a distinctive model where contributors are also part owners of the business. This unique structure empowers contributors to have a voice in the company’s direction. Furthermore, when Stocksy achieves a surplus, contributors may receive profit-sharing in the form of patronage returns, adding another layer of potential income.
How to Get Paid:
Stocksy ensures timely monthly payments to contributors via popular platforms like PayPal and Payoneer, as well as through traditional checks. The minimum payout threshold is $100. For photographers interested in joining, Stocksy provides a comprehensive contributor application FAQ to guide you through the process.
7. Picfair
Picfair website builder for photographers to create their own ecommerce platform.
Picfair offers a distinct approach, appealing to photographers who desire greater control over their online presence and photo sales. It’s a strong option if you want to cultivate a degree of autonomy over your online photo portfolio. Picfair empowers you to set your own prices for your photos, whether you’re selling prints or digital downloads. Picfair handles the complexities of payment processing, simplifying the transaction process. Moreover, Picfair manages print production, shipping logistics, and licenses for digital images, relieving you of these administrative burdens.
How to Get Paid:
To fully leverage Picfair’s features, you’ll need to subscribe to their Plus plan, priced at $5 per month when billed annually. This plan enables you to establish a customized Picfair store with a capacity of up to 10,000 images, all readily available for sale as prints or digital downloads, offering a comprehensive e-commerce solution.
8. Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock homepage with stingrays photo and search bar for stock assets.
Adobe Stock seamlessly integrates with Adobe’s widely used suite of creative software, a significant advantage for photographers who are already immersed in the Adobe ecosystem. If you utilize Adobe products like Photoshop, Lightroom, or Illustrator for your photography workflow, Adobe Stock provides a streamlined platform to add your images, videos, vectors, and illustrations to their online stock photo marketplace.
How to Get Paid:
Adobe Stock simplifies the upload process. You can directly upload your assets from within Lightroom and Bridge once your editing is complete, ensuring a smooth transition from creation to sales. Contributors who link their Adobe ID to Adobe Stock can earn a competitive 33% royalty on photo sales and 35% on video sales, making it a lucrative option for Adobe users.
9. Envato Elements
Envato Elements stock photo landing page showcasing various creative assets.
Envato Elements presents a unique subscription-based model for stock photography, offering a different approach to selling photos online. By joining Envato Elements, you gain access to a platform where you can sell your photos and connect with a broad base of potential clients actively seeking visual content.
With Envato Elements, you have options for selling your photos. You can sell directly through their app, leveraging their established user base, or you can embed photos on your own website using Envato’s domain, providing flexibility in how you market and distribute your work. Either way, Envato Elements is a popular destination for those looking to buy stock photos, presenting a significant opportunity to make money online doing what you love.
How to Get Paid:
Envato Elements contributors participate in a revenue-sharing model, earning between 25% and 50% of the net subscription revenue generated by the platform. This model aligns your earnings with the overall success of Envato Elements, offering potential for consistent income as the platform grows.
10. Unsplash+
Unsplash homepage with stock photos and a call to action for Unsplash+ contributions.
Unsplash, known for its vast library of free stock photos, also offers a paid contributor program called Unsplash+. Owned by Getty Images, Unsplash+ operates on a different model than traditional stock photo sites. Instead of paying photographers based on individual photo sales, Unsplash+ partners with contributors through assignments and briefs. This means photographers respond to specific requests from Unsplash customers, creating content tailored to their needs.
How to Get Paid:
To become an Unsplash+ contributor, you need to complete their contribution application and be accepted into the program. Once approved, you’ll gain access to a list of briefs created by Unsplash customers outlining their image requirements. You can then select briefs that match your skills and photographic style, upload relevant photos, and get paid for each image that is accepted. Payment rates for accepted photos vary, averaging between $5 and $30 per image, offering a project-based income opportunity.
11. Dreamstime
Dreamstime's microstock library and royalty-free media platform.
Dreamstime is a well-established microstock platform with an expansive library, featuring over 250 million royalty-free media assets, including stock photos, vectors, videos, and audio files. With a substantial user base exceeding 50 million, Dreamstime provides photographers with access to a large and active audience seeking diverse visual content.
How to Get Paid:
Dreamstime offers a revenue-sharing model ranging from 25% to 50% for non-exclusive content. Photographers who commit to exclusivity with Dreamstime can earn an additional 10% commission and also receive a bonus of 20¢ for each approved submission, incentivizing exclusive content. Dreamstime also features an affiliate program, allowing you to earn 10% of transaction values for each new contributor or customer you refer to the platform, further expanding your earning potential.
12. Snapped4U
Dreamstime's microstock library and royalty-free media platform.
Snapped4U specializes in connecting event and portrait photographers with clients seeking photos from specific occasions. It’s a marketplace tailored for photographers focusing on portrait and event photography niches. Snapped4U empowers photographers to create personalized online galleries, set their own prices for images (up to $20 per image), and directly sell digital files to their clients.
Snapped4U is specifically designed for photographers selling photos to individuals who attended events or portrait sessions. The platform is less suited for photographers specializing in travel, landscape, or still-life photography, as these genres are not the primary focus of the marketplace.
How to Get Paid:
Snapped4U implements a straightforward fee structure. There is a one-time $10 registration fee during the initial sign-up process. Snapped4U then retains a commission ranging from 10% to 12% on each sale. Photographers receive their earnings balance via PayPal on the 1st and 15th of each month, ensuring regular payment cycles.
13. Foap
Foap creator mobile app advertisement for photographers to sell photos to brands.
Foap distinguishes itself by enabling photographers to sell their images directly to brands and marketing agencies, offering a unique pathway to make money selling photos. It’s a platform that bridges the gap between photographers and commercial clients. Photographers on Foap can participate in “missions,” where brands outline specific photo or video requirements for campaigns. Winners of these missions are rewarded with payouts, often significantly higher than standard stock photo sales. To date, Foap has distributed over $3 million to its creator community, demonstrating its success in connecting photographers with brand opportunities.
How to Get Paid:
“Mission” payouts on Foap can range considerably, from $100 to as high as $2,000, depending on the complexity and scope of the brand’s requirements. Photographers can also opt to sell individual photos directly on the Foap market, providing a dual approach to earning. Foap operates on a 50% commission basis for all sales, regardless of whether they are mission-based or direct market sales.
14. EyeEm
EyeEm homepage with client logos and search bar highlighting their photo community.
EyeEm uniquely blends a stock photo marketplace with a strong photographer community, creating a collaborative ecosystem for selling photos online. The platform actively encourages photographers to participate in “missions,” which are themed calls for images on specific subjects or concepts. These missions provide direction and inspiration for photographers, while also catering to the visual needs of brands and agencies.
How to Get Paid:
EyeEm contributors earn a 50% commission on each photo licensed through the EyeEm marketplace. Payments are conveniently processed via PayPal, making it easy for photographers worldwide to receive their earnings.
15. Pond5 (for videos)
Pond5 logo representing a marketplace for royalty-free video and media assets.
Pond5 carves out a niche as a premier marketplace specifically for video content, attracting major brand clients and media producers. Unlike the predominantly photo-focused sites listed above, Pond5 specializes in royalty-free videos, music tracks, sound effects, and other multimedia assets. Pond5 boasts a customer base of one million, including industry giants like the BBC and Disney, highlighting its credibility and reach. Contributor content on Pond5 is utilized in diverse projects, from advertisements and TV shows to feature-length films. Contributors on Pond5 create personalized storefronts to showcase their media portfolios.
How to Get Paid:
Video artists on Pond5 earn a 40% royalty share for their content. There’s also an option to make your content exclusive to Pond5, which can increase your royalty rate up to 60%, rewarding exclusivity. Pond5 provides an Artist Portal where contributors can respond to specific client briefs, fostering direct collaborations. Additionally, Pond5 offers a referral program, providing another avenue for artists to generate supplementary income.
Essential Tips for Success in Stock Photography
Here are key strategies to build a thriving stock photo business:
Define Your Stock Photography Niche
Many successful stock photographers cultivate a distinctive style or thematic focus that permeates their portfolio. Whether your passion lies in travel photography, fashion imagery, nature scenes, or culinary captures, consistency is paramount.
Often, photographers organically discover their niche by exploring styles and subjects they genuinely enjoy shooting, which also resonate with a target audience. To assess market demand for specific topics, leverage keyword research to analyze search volume for terms related to your photographic interests. Tools like Google Trends offer valuable insights into trending image topics and growing popularities.
Leverage Instagram
Similar to bloggers and YouTubers who cultivate online audiences, photographers aiming to sell images online should prioritize building their own audience base.
Visually-driven social media platforms like Instagram are powerful tools for reaching a broad audience. Utilize Instagram tools to identify relevant accounts to follow, engage with popular hashtags within your niche, and cultivate a following of potential customers and clients.
Integrating your social media accounts streamlines your photo-sharing efforts across multiple platforms and significantly enhances your online visibility. Instagram, for instance, allows you to seamlessly link your accounts to simultaneously post images to Facebook, expanding your reach and efficiency.
Integrate Ecommerce into Your Website
Most photographers maintain their own websites to showcase their portfolios to potential clients. By integrating a Shopify Buy Button directly into your site, you create a seamless pathway for customers to purchase stock images directly from you.
Consider the example of photographer Dave Sandford, who effectively uses his website to both display his stunning wildlife photography and offer prints and calendars for sale.
Ecommerce product page on Dave Sandford Photos website showcasing a moon print for sale.
The most direct way to sell photos online is to build a personalized portfolio page or online store using a platform like Shopify.
Utilize pre-designed art and photography themes to quickly establish your digital showroom, or combine a free theme with a dedicated gallery app to create a visually engaging and functional online store.
Understand Your Market
Your target market represents the specific group of people who are most likely to purchase your photos. By understanding their needs, interests, and purchasing behaviors, you can tailor your photography to directly appeal to them.
For example, if you specialize in wedding photography, the primary buyers of your stock images aren’t likely to be engaged couples. Instead, your target market would be businesses within the wedding industry itself. This could include wedding stationery brands or suit wholesalers who need royalty-free images of wedding celebrations for their marketing collateral.
With this market understanding, you can strategically create images that resonate with your buyer persona, focusing on the platforms where they actively search for stock images and pricing your work appropriately for their budgets.
Setting Up Your Online Photography Portfolio: A Step-by-Step Guide
Follow these steps to launch a compelling online photography portfolio optimized for sales:
1. Choose the Right Platform
There’s no single “best” platform for monetizing your photos; the ideal choice depends on your specific goals and desired level of control over your photography business.
Here’s a quick platform guide based on your objectives:
- Hobby or Passive Income: For casual photo uploads and small passive income streams, consider stock photo submissions to platforms like iStock or Alamy.
- Brand Assignments: To receive assignments from brands without direct pitching, explore becoming an Unsplash+ contributor.
- Full Business Control: For complete control over your photography business, opt for an e-commerce platform like Shopify.
2. Plan Your Portfolio’s Structure
Your portfolio serves as your photographer’s résumé – a curated showcase of your best work for potential clients to assess your style and capabilities.
Pay close attention to these portfolio elements:
- Layout: While photos are the focal point, providing context is valuable. Concise image descriptions can influence purchase decisions and enhance your portfolio’s search engine optimization.
- Social Proof: Social proof, such as testimonials or examples of your images used in successful campaigns, builds credibility. Gather positive client quotes or showcase impactful uses of your work.
- Categories and Organization: Make browsing easy by tagging and organizing your images logically. For nature photography, categorize by location, environment, subject, and date.
- Gallery Size: Your online portfolio should only feature your strongest work. Remove any photos you’re not fully satisfied with, limiting galleries to high-quality images that showcase your best skills.
Product categories on The Sunset Shop website for photo prints, including destinations and aesthetics.
3. Optimize Images for the Web
While photographers value high-resolution images, web optimization is crucial for online portfolios. Fast-loading images are vital for a positive user experience. Large image files slow down webpage loading times, and most visitors won’t wait for slow site speeds.
When uploading images to your online portfolio:
- Compress Image Sizes: Reduce file sizes without sacrificing image quality. Aim for compression between 60% and 80%.
- Use Descriptive File Names: Instead of generic names like “IMG_3542.jpg,” use descriptive names like “summer-evening-nature.jpg.”
- Write Alt Text: Alt text describes your photo to search engines and screen readers, improving accessibility and SEO.
4. Create an About Page
People connect with personalities. An About page that tells your story helps prospective customers learn about you. Include a concise summary of who you are and your photography journey.
This is your opportunity to establish a unique and engaging personal brand. Share your passion for photography, how you entered the industry, your favorite subjects, and your sources of inspiration.
5. Implement Ecommerce Functionality
An e-commerce platform manages the logistics of selling photos online. Using Shopify to build your portfolio simplifies:
- Building an online storefront for self-service purchases.
- Setting up shop on social media platforms like Instagram Shop.
- Securely processing payments and managing sales taxes.
- Delivering products, digitally or physically, to customers.
- Managing marketing campaigns to promote your work.
Shopify-powered product page on The Bee & The Fox website selling a 5×7 beach photo print.
6. Ensure Mobile Compatibility
A significant portion of website traffic originates from mobile devices. Ensure your portfolio looks and functions flawlessly on smaller screens.
Having a mobile website means using responsive design, displaying photos vertically, and implementing large, finger-friendly buttons for easy navigation on touchscreens.
7. Launch and Promote Your Photos
It’s time to share your portfolio with the world! Utilize marketing tactics to drive traffic and sales:
- Repost images and portfolio links on social media.
- Pin photos on Pinterest, linking back to your portfolio site.
- Offer free prints to relevant influencers for promotion.
- Share behind-the-scenes content on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram Reels.
- Build an email list by offering website visitors a discount on their first order.
Expanding Your Income: Selling Prints and Photo Books
You can significantly expand your income by making and selling items featuring your photography, from simple prints to merchandise. Selling physical products can be surprisingly straightforward.
You can make money selling photos as prints on various materials or physical products like mugs, t-shirts, and calendars. Popular platforms and tools include:
The most effective approach to sell photos online as physical prints or products is to partner with a local photo lab for shipping and fulfillment or utilize a print-on-demand company to dropship a wide range of products (prints, phone cases, pillows, etc.) featuring your images.
Always order samples initially to ensure product quality aligns with your photography’s high standards.
Selling Photography Online as Photo Books
Photo books offer another appealing physical product format for your photography. A niche and consistent photography style is particularly well-suited to create compelling photo books around specific themes to sell your art online.
While print-on-demand services might offer lower profit margins, they provide a risk-free avenue to test market demand for your photo books before making larger upfront investments in printing.
Premium photobook of Amalfi Coast images sold by Assouline.
Diversify Your Revenue: Selling Photography Services
Beyond stock photos and products, offering your photography services opens up further revenue streams. Whether you specialize in event coverage, fashion shoots, or product photography, diverse business opportunities exist for professional photographers.
List your services on freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork to reach a wider client base. Also, consider local networking and client meetings via video conferencing.
Here are networking tips for selling your photography services:
- Always carry business cards. Use Shopify’s free business card generator to create professional cards.
- Optimize your LinkedIn profile. Showcase your work and optimize it for your primary photography service (e.g., event photography).
- Attend relevant networking events. Focus on events frequented by entrepreneurs and event organizers who often require photography services.
- Build a strong personal brand. Regularly share your work on social media to stay top-of-mind for potential clients in your network.
Given photographers often work within strict schedules, utilize a booking platform to allow prospective clients to view your availability and book sessions directly.
Platforms like Setmore and SimplyBook.me offer free plans with features ideal for photographers. If you use Shopify, integrate a scheduling app to enable appointment booking directly from your website.
Pricing Your Photography: Strategies for Profitability
While your talent and dedication are key determinants of your earning potential when selling photos online, strategic pricing is crucial for maximizing profitability.
Here’s a guide to developing a pricing strategy for your photography business:
- Conduct Market Research: Ask your target market about their price expectations and research comparable photo prices on stock image sites.
- Determine Profit Margins: Factor in your photography costs – equipment, website hosting, marketing budgets. Ensure photo sales contribute to covering these expenses and generating profit.
- Implement Usage-Based Pricing: Exclusive photos command higher prices than non-exclusive licenses.
- Offer Strategic Discounts: Experiment with discounts and promotions to incentivize purchases, whether for first-time buyers or loyal customers.
- Consider Product Bundles: Instead of selling single photos, offer collections of related images at a discounted bundle price.
Legal Aspects of Selling Photos Online: Rights and Protection
Navigating legal aspects is essential when selling photography online. While this isn’t legal advice, understanding key terms and concepts is crucial for self-protection.
Glossary of Legal Terms
- Editorial Use: Permission for use in blogs, newspapers, magazines, and publications.
- Commercial Use: Permission for use in marketing and advertising to promote products or services.
- Retail Use: Permission for use in creating physical products for sale (prints, posters, merchandise).
- Exclusive Use: The licensee is the sole user of the photo.
- Non-Exclusive Use: Multiple licenses can be sold for the same photo.
- Public Domain: Photos with no copyright restrictions, free for any use.
- Creative Commons: Conditional usage allowed with stated restrictions (attribution often required).
- Royalty Free: License allows unlimited use for a one-time fee.
- Rights Managed: One-time license with specific use restrictions; additional licenses needed for further use.
- Right of Publicity: Subjects in photos have rights regarding their image, especially for commercial use. Obtain explicit permission from subjects for commercial purposes.
What to Do If Someone Steals Your Photos
Photo theft is unfortunately common.
Watermark your digital images before selling them online to deter theft. Use Photoshop or a watermark generator to apply identifying marks.
If theft occurs, a cease and desist request is often effective. Alternatively, send an invoice for unauthorized photo usage. Combining both approaches can be most persuasive, offering the choice to pay or remove the image.
At minimum, strive for attribution whenever your work is used, even for editorial purposes. Backlinks to your portfolio site are valuable for driving traffic and improving your search engine optimization.
From beginners to large retailers, Shopify provides tools for everyone to succeed in e-commerce.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the best way to sell photographs?
The best way to sell photographs online for many is by selling them as stock images on third-party websites like iStock, Shutterstock, or Alamy due to their ease of use and broad market reach.
Where can I sell my photos online for money?
Top platforms to sell your photos online include:
- Alamy
- 500px
- Shutterstock
- Getty Images
- iStock
- Stocksy
- Picfair
- Adobe Stock
- Envato Elements
- Unsplash+
How do you make money from stock photography?
Stock photography websites act as agencies, selling licenses for your uploaded high-quality images. Clients purchase licenses for individual images, and you, the photographer, receive royalty payments for each license sold.
