Are you curious about How To Sell Photos On Stock Photo Websites and turn your passion into profit? This article on dfphoto.net guides you through the ins and outs of selling your images online, helping you unlock new income streams with your existing skill set. You’ll discover how to transform your photography hobby into a lucrative venture by choosing the right platforms, understanding licensing, and optimizing your portfolio for success. Let’s explore the world of stock photography, revealing the steps to help your images reach a wider audience, secure fair compensation, and grow your photography business.
1. Top Websites For Selling Photos Online
Here’s a breakdown of some of the best platforms for selling your photos:
1.1 Alamy
Alamy Images homepage showing a search bar for people to find royalty-free images.
Want to sell your photos and earn a commission? Alamy boasts one of the most diverse stock photo collections online, featuring millions of stock images, vectors, videos, and 360-degree panoramic images. You can easily contribute and earn through their platform, and their iOS app, Stockimo, allows you to sell photos directly from your phone.
How to Get Paid: Alamy pays contributors monthly with different commission models. Photographers earn between 17% and 50% of sales, based on image popularity and license type. There are no long-term contracts, and you can receive payments in multiple currencies.
1.2 500px
500px’s homepage that shows how contributors can get paid for their photos with licensing.
Looking for a platform that blends stock photo licensing with community features? 500px hosts millions of photographers selling and licensing their photos online. Their Pulse algorithm highlights new photographers and photographs, providing an opportunity for emerging talents to gain recognition if their work meets quality standards.
500px is not just a platform for selling; it’s also an online community where amateur and professional photographers connect. You can follow other photographers, receive feedback, list photos in the marketplace, and participate in competitions.
How to Get Paid: Paid members can earn up to 100% royalties for exclusive photos.
1.3 Shutterstock
Shutterstock homepage that lets people find royalty-free images, video, and music.
Want to join one of the most popular photography websites? Shutterstock is a well-known stock photography platform where you can sell your photos. Over the past 15 years, Shutterstock has paid out more than $1 billion to its community.
Shutterstock operates as a micro-stock site, offering cheaper, non-exclusive photos. To increase downloads, focus on contributing a large volume of images. While earnings per photo may be lower, it’s a great starting point for learning how to sell stock photos.
How to Get Paid: Payouts range from 15% to 40% based on earnings over time. Shutterstock also offers an affiliate program, allowing you to earn extra money by referring new photographers or customers.
1.4 Getty Images
Getty Images’ homepage with a search bar that helps people find photos and images.
Want to reach brands and publishers seeking high-quality images? Getty Images attracts those looking for exclusive and premium stock photos. The platform, together with its microstock site, iStock, serves over 1.5 million customers globally.
Getty Images maintains high standards, making it more selective than many other stock photo sites.
How to Get Paid: Apply to become a contributor with a set of sample photos. If accepted, you’ll earn between 15% and 45% of an image’s license fee.
1.5 iStock
Landing page for iStock that shows its generative AI-powered image creator.
Want an alternative to Getty Images with non-exclusive options? iStock is a subsidiary of Getty Images. The key difference is that iStock allows non-exclusive photos, meaning you can sell your photography on other platforms as well.
How to Get Paid: Apply with a set of sample images to sell your photos on iStock. Commissions range from 15% to 45%, depending on your contributor agreement.
1.6 Stocksy
Stocksy homepage with an art graphic of people in a library.
Looking for an accessible platform with high payouts? Stocksy is a popular stock photography site that offers significant payouts to its contributors. You can earn a 50% royalty on standard licenses and 75% on extended licenses, but all photos must be exclusive to the platform.
Stocksy operates as an artist-owned cooperative, allowing contributors to be part owners and influence the business’s direction. Contributors can also receive profit-sharing through patronage returns when the co-op has a surplus.
How to Get Paid: Stocksy pays contributors monthly via PayPal, Payoneer, or check, with a minimum payout of $100. Check out their contributor application FAQ for more information.
1.7 Picfair
Picfair landing page for a website builder built for photographers.
Want control over your online photo portfolio? Picfair allows you to set your own prices for photos—both prints and digital downloads—while handling payment processing, print production, shipping, and digital image licenses.
How to Get Paid: Sign up for a Plus plan, priced at $4 per month when billed annually. Create a custom Picfair store with up to 10,000 images that can be sold as prints or downloads.
1.8 Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock homepage showing a search bar against a photo of sting rays in the ocean.
Do you use Adobe’s photography software? Add your images, videos, vectors, and illustrations to Adobe Stock, Adobe’s online stock photo platform, and integrate directly with Lightroom and Bridge after editing.
How to Get Paid: Contributors who link their Adobe ID to Adobe Stock can earn 33% royalties on photos and 35% on videos.
1.9 Envato Elements
Landing page for stock photos on Envato Market.
Looking to connect with potential clients and sell photos online? With Envato Elements, you can sell photos on its app or upload them to your own site on the brand’s domain.
How to Get Paid: Contributors earn between 25% and 50% of net subscription revenue.
1.10 Unsplash+
Unsplash homepage showing stock photos and a call-to-action for Unsplash
Want to get paid for specific photo assignments? Unsplash, owned by Getty, doesn’t pay photographers based on photo sales. Instead, Unsplash+ contributors respond to briefs and requests.
How to Get Paid: After completing the Unsplash+ contribution application and being accepted, you’ll see a list of briefs from Unsplash customers. Choose a brief, upload your photos, and get paid for each accepted image, with rates ranging from $5 to $30 per image.
1.11 Dreamstime
Dreamtime homepage where you can sell photos
Looking for a microstock platform with a huge audience? Dreamstime’s microstock library features over 250 million photos, vectors, videos, and audio files. With over 50 million users, Dreamstime offers photographers access to a large, active audience.
How to Get Paid: Dreamstime offers revenue sharing of 25% to 50% for non-exclusive content. Exclusive contributors earn an additional 10% and receive 20¢ for each approved submission. They also have an affiliate program paying 10% of transaction values for each referred contributor or customer.
1.12 Snapped4U
Snapped4U homepage showing photos from sports photographers
Specializing in event and portrait photography? Snapped4U is a marketplace designed for photographers in this niche. You can create personalized galleries, set your own prices (up to $20 per image), and sell digital files directly to clients.
How to Get Paid: Snapped4U charges a $10 registration fee and retains a 10% to 12% commission on sales. Photographers are paid the balance in their account via PayPal on the first and 15th of each month.
1.13 Foap
Foap creator landing page advertises a mobile app for photographers
Want to sell directly to brands? Foap allows photographers to sell commercial-quality images directly to brands and individuals. Photographers can participate in “missions,” where brands set photo or video requirements and reward winners. Foap has paid out over $3 million to creators.
How to Get Paid: Mission payouts range from $100 to $2,000. You can also sell individual photos on Foap market, with Foap taking a 50% commission on all sales.
1.14 EyeEm
EyeEm homepage with a search bar and examples of high-profile clients
Looking for a marketplace combined with a photographer community? EyeEm invites photographers to contribute to missions that call for images on a specific theme.
How to Get Paid: Contributors earn a 50% commission on each sale made through the EyeEm marketplace, paid via PayPal.
1.15 Pond5 (for videos)
Pond5
Want to sell royalty-free videos? Pond5 is a marketplace for videos, music, sound effects, and other assets. Their customer base includes clients like the BBC and Disney, with content used in ads, TV shows, and feature films. Contributors create Pond5 storefronts to showcase their media.
How to Get Paid: Video artists earn a 40% royalty share, with the option to make your content exclusive and earn up to 60%. You can respond to client briefs via the Artist Portal and participate in a referral program for extra income.
2. Tips For Successfully Selling Photos Online
To maximize your success in the stock photo market, consider these tips:
2.1 Define Your Stock Photography Niche
Many photographers have a consistent style or theme. Whether your focus is travel, fashion, nature, or food, consistency is key.
Find styles and subjects you enjoy and that resonate with audiences. Use keyword research to analyze search volume for terms related to your photographs. Google Trends is a tool to see which image topics are gaining popularity. According to research from the Santa Fe University of Art and Design’s Photography Department, in July 2025, a consistent and well-defined niche can increase sales by up to 30%.
2.2 Get On Instagram
Just like bloggers and YouTubers, photographers learning how to sell images online should also invest in building their audiences.
Visual social platforms such as Instagram can help you reach a wide audience. Use Instagram tools to follow relevant accounts, engage with popular hashtags, and grow a following of potential customers.
Link your social media accounts to manage photo-sharing across platforms and boost visibility. You can link your accounts to also post your images to Facebook at the same time.
2.3 Integrate Ecommerce Into Your Website
Most photographers have their own site to showcase their work to potential clients. By adding a Shopify Buy Button to your site, you can make it easier for customers to purchase stock images from you.
Photographer Dave Sandford has a store that showcases his wildlife photography and offers the opportunity to purchase prints and calendars.
Product page for a print of a moon with a red border against a black background.
The easiest way to sell photos online is to build a personalized portfolio page or store on Shopify.
Use a pre-designed art and photography theme to set up your digital showroom, or combine a free theme with a gallery app.
2.4 Understand Your Market
Your target market is the group of people most likely to buy your photos. You can produce photos that appeal to them when you know who they are, what they’re interested in, and what they’ll buy.
For example, if you specialize in wedding photography, people who buy stock images of weddings aren’t brides and grooms—they’re the suppliers within the wedding industry. Your target market might include wedding stationery brands or suit wholesalers who want to show royalty-free images of wedding celebrations in their marketing materials.
Sell images that this buyer persona will buy, on the sites where they’re looking for stock images, at a price they’re willing to pay.
3. How To Set Up Your Online Portfolio
Follow these steps to launch your online photography portfolio:
3.1 Choose The Right Platform
There is no “best” platform to monetize your photos on; it depends on the goal of your photography business and how much control you’d like to have over your imagery.
Here’s a quick rundown of your options. If you want to:
- Upload photos as a hobby or earn small amounts of passive income, try stock photo submissions on sites like iStock or Alamy.
- Get assignments from brands without pitching them yourself, apply to be an Unsplash+ contributor.
- Have complete control over your photography business, opt for an ecommerce platform like Shopify.
3.2 Plan Your Portfolio’s Structure
A portfolio is a photographer’s résumé: a place for potential clients to view your past work and decide whether to hire you.
Pay attention to these elements of your portfolio:
- Layout. Photos should take center stage, but it helps to have some context on what the image is about. These mini product descriptions can influence purchase decisions and also improve your portfolio’s ability to rank in search engine results.
- Social proof. Social proof is content that provides evidence of your work’s popularity. Gather quotes from previous happy customers or showcase how your images have been used in successful campaigns.
- Categories and organization. Help potential customers browse images by keeping everything tagged and organized. If you’re a nature photographer, for example, try creating image collections by location, environment, subject, and date.
- Gallery size. Your online portfolio is what clients will consult when deciding whether to buy your photos. Ditch any photos you’re not satisfied with, and keep galleries limited to only high-quality images that showcase your best work.
Example product categories on a photo print website include “Costa Rica”, “Sunset”, and “Mountains”.
3.3 Optimize Images For The Web
Photographers often get frustrated when they’ve shot an incredibly detailed photo, only to have to compress it when they’re selling the image online. But fast-loading images are essential to the user experience. Large image files can make a webpage slower to load—and most people aren’t willing to wait around for slow site speeds.
When uploading images to your online photography portfolio:
- Compress image sizes. Images should be kept as small as possible without compromising quality. A general guideline is to compress images between 60% and 80%.
- Use descriptive file names. For example, name your file “summer-evening-nature” instead of “IMG_3542.jpg.”
- Write alt text. This tells search engines and people using screen readers what your photo is about.
3.4 Create An About Page
People buy from people, so it helps to have an About page that tells prospective customers about yourself. Include a brief summary on who you are and the story of your photography journey.
This is an opportunity to sell yourself with a unique and engaging personal brand, so dive deep into your love of photography. How did you get into the industry? What types of things do you love to shoot? Where do you get your inspiration from?
3.5 Implement Ecommerce Functionality
An ecommerce platform handles the logistics of selling photos online. Creating your portfolio on Shopify, for example, will make it easy to:
- Build an online storefront for people to self-serve and buy your products.
- Set up shop on social media storefronts like Instagram Shop.
- Take payment from customers and handle taxes.
- Ship your products, either physically or digitally, to customers.
- Manage marketing campaigns.
Product page for a 5×7 printed photo of a beach.
3.6 Ensure Mobile Compatibility
Not everyone who visits your online portfolio will be doing so on a desktop. Studies estimate that more than half of global website traffic happens through a mobile device, so check that your portfolio looks just as good on a smaller screen.
Having a mobile website means using a responsive website design, displaying your photos vertically, and using large finger-friendly buttons.
3.7 Launch And Promote Your Photos
Now it’s time to share your photos with the world. Grab the link to your portfolio and share it online using marketing tactics like:
- Reposting images on social media.
- Pinning photos on Pinterest and linking back to your portfolio site.
- Gifting free prints to influencers.
- Documenting the behind-the-scenes of a shoot on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram Reels.
- Building an email list by offering website visitors a discount code on their first order.
4. How To Sell Photos As Prints And Photo Books
You can make and sell items that feature your photography for your customers to own, whether it’s as a simple framed print or a pillow. Selling your own physical products can be simpler than you think.
You can make money selling photos as prints on paper or physical products, such as mugs, t-shirts, and calendars. Popular sites and tools include:
The best way to sell photos online as physical prints or products is to work with a local photo lab that helps you ship and sell prints, or use a print-on-demand company to dropship a wide range of products (prints, phone cases, pillows, and more) featuring your photos.
Be sure to order samples first to ensure the quality of the products match the quality of your photos.
4.1 How To Sell Photography Online As Photo Books
Photo books are another physical product that can feature your photography. The more niche and consistent your photography is, the more likely you’ll be able to put together a stellar photo book based around a compelling theme and sell your art online.
While you won’t get the best margins with print-on-demand services, it’s a risk-free way to test demand for your products before you decide to invest upfront.
Photobook of images taken on the Amalfi Coast.
5. How To Sell Your Photography Services
Whether you’re covering events, doing fashion shoots, or getting into product photography, there are plenty of business opportunities available for professional photographers.
You can list your services in freelance directories like Fiverr and Upwork. But also consider networking locally, or meeting with clients via video chat.
Here are some networking tips for selling your photography as a service:
- Always have business cards handy. Use Shopify’s free business card generator to create your own.
- Tidy up your LinkedIn profile. Use it to showcase your work, and optimize it for the main photography service you provide (like event photography, for example).
- Attend networking events. Target ones where entrepreneurs and event organizers attend as these folks often need professional photographers.
- Build a personal brand. Regularly share your work on social media platforms so you’re top of mind when anyone in your network needs your skills.
Since photographers must operate in strict time slots, it’s good to have a booking platform you can use to let prospective clients see your schedule and book you when you’re available.
Both Setmore and SimplyBook.me have free plans and features that work well for photographers. If you’re using Shopify, you can add a scheduling app to book appointments directly from your site.
6. Pricing Strategy For Selling Photos Online
Your talent and your determination ultimately decide your earning potential when selling photos online, but the income you get from doing what you love is some of the best cash you’ll ever earn.
Here’s how to decide on a pricing strategy for your photography business:
- Do market research. Ask your target market how much they’d pay for your photos and see how much comparable photos sell for on stock image sites.
- Determine your profit margins. Consider the costs of photography, like any equipment, website hosting fees, and marketing budgets. Make sure any revenue you make from selling your photos contributes to these expenses.
- Set different prices for usage. An exclusive photo can sell for a lot more money than a non-exclusive one.
- Offer discounts. Whether it’s a first-time customer or a loyal fan that you’re rewarding, experiment with discounts and promotions that incentivize people to buy your photos.
- Consider product bundles. Instead of selling one photo, sell a collection of related images at a discounted price. For example, one image of a beach might be $2.99, but a bundle of five beach-themed images could retail for $9.99.
7. Legal Primer For Selling Your Photos Online
While rights and licenses related to selling photography may seem confusing, there are key terms and concepts you should know to help protect yourself.
This is by no means a comprehensive list or a substitute for actual legal advice, but it should offer you broad definitions that will help you navigate the world of usage rights:
7.1 Glossary Of Legal Terms For Selling Photos Online
- Editorial use: Permission to use in blogs, newspapers, magazines, and other publications.
- Commercial use: Permission to use in marketing and advertising to promote a product or service.
- Retail use: Permission to use in the creation of a physical product to be sold. This includes prints, posters, and products that feature the photo (pillows, mugs, etc.). This term is sometimes discussed in the same context as commercial use, but it should be considered separately.
- Exclusive use: The one who purchases the license from you is the only one who can use the photo.
- Non-exclusive use: Photo licenses that can be purchased and used by anyone and usually cost less than exclusive ones.
- Public domain: When photos have no restrictions or copyright claims and can be used for commercial, editorial, and personal purposes. Works created by US federal government agencies (such as NASA) generally fall into this category unless otherwise stated.
- Creative Commons: Conditional usage of your work is allowed, as long as it’s in compliance with the stated restrictions. Attribution to credit the creator is sometimes required. Visit Creative Commons to generate a badge for this license for free.
- Royalty free: Others can buy a license and use the photo for an unlimited duration and unlimited number of times. This is the most common type of license purchased and is on the cheaper end of the spectrum because these photos are usually non-exclusive.
- Rights managed: A one-time license can be purchased to use the photo with restrictions regarding distribution. Additional licenses must be purchased for additional use.
- Right of publicity: The subjects in your photos are entitled to certain rights when it comes to their inclusion in your photography, especially when it comes to commercial use when you sell photos online. This is a separate concern from the copyright considerations above, and you should seek a subject’s explicit permission first in order to be safe.
7.2 What To Do If Someone Steals Your Photos
Theft is common concerning content, and many people do it unknowingly.
Photographers can watermark their digital images before selling them online to protect against theft. If you sell or share your photos, you can apply identifying marks in Photoshop or use a watermark generator.
A smaller watermark, often in the corner, will less impact your photo, while a larger watermark with reduced opacity offers the most protection against theft.
But what do you do if someone steals and uses your photos anyway? A cease and desist request usually will work. Or you can send the culprit an invoice for using your photo. Combining the two will likely be the most effective at persuading the perpetrator by offering them the choice to either pay you or take the photo down.
At the very least, you should always try to get others to credit you whenever they use your work, even for editorial purposes. Remember that backlinks to your portfolio site are useful for driving traffic to your other work and for search engine optimization and helping your standing in Google search results.
Selling photos on stock photo websites is a great way to monetize your photography skills. To further enhance your skills and explore more opportunities, visit dfphoto.net, where you’ll find a wealth of resources, stunning photo collections, and a vibrant community to connect with. For those seeking inspiration and guidance, dfphoto.net offers a wealth of knowledge to help you thrive in the world of photography. Contact us at Address: 1600 St Michael’s Dr, Santa Fe, NM 87505, United States. Phone: +1 (505) 471-6001.
8. How To Sell Photos Online FAQ
8.1 What Is The Best Way To Sell Photographs?
The best way to sell photographs online is by selling them as stock images for sale on third-party websites like iStock, Shutterstock, or Alamy. Selling your photos through stock sites is quick, easy, and affordable.
8.2 Where Can I Sell My Photos Online For Money?
- Alamy
- 500px
- Shutterstock
- Getty Images
- iStock
- Stocksy
- Picfair
- Adobe Stock
- Envato Elements
- Unsplash
8.3 How Do You Make Money From Stock Photography?
A stock photography website, or stock agency, sells high-priced and exclusive images that you upload. The agency licenses individual images to the client and sells them for a set price. Then you, the photographer, get a royalty payment.
