Where to post photos. How to make money online by selling photos. Be careful with microblogs

Do you want to make money doing what you love? Easy! We talk about how to make money selling photos online.

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age.

Are you over 18 already?

Everyone can sell photos on the Internet, but some people are unaware of the existence of such a business. If you make an effort and show perseverance, you will be able to make an excellent source of income. It will be profitable even when the owner is looking for new places to shoot.

How to start selling photos online?

In order to sell your photos expensively, you must first register in one or several photobanks at once. It is through them that the largest flow of photographs goes. Designers and editors from all over the world often look into such photo banks in search of the right pictures and inspiration.

It is also important to decide on the material that will be uploaded to the site. As practice shows, those photos that are distinguished by the originality of the plot are in great demand. Landscapes are popular. There is also a demand for food. It can be both ready meals and products. If you decide to capture the sky, then it should be processed with high quality so that it can be bought at a photo stock.

If you don’t know how to make inscriptions for images in English, then you can use special translators. But still, for the successful promotion of photos, it is recommended to own English language at least at an average level. If you make the description correctly, you can increase the saleability of the photo.

To do beautiful pictures You need to have a professional camera. 4 MP camera will allow you to do quality images. In addition, they will need to be processed in Photoshop to make them even better.

Many people are wondering if you can sell your photos multiple times. It's possible. As evidenced by the practice of successful photo stockers, some images are sold dozens of times, while half or even more of those uploaded in the portfolio have never been bought.

There are several sites that offer this type of earnings. The most famous:

• Shutterstock ;
• iStockphoto ;
• Fotolia;
• dream time;
• Bigstock.

If you are interested in stock images in Russia, then it is recommended to go to Lori. The biggest earnings will be on the global US site Shutterstock. The French Fotolia and the Canadian iStockphoto rank slightly behind him.

To make money selling photos, you have to be very diligent. This job requires a lot of patience. Most novice photo stockers abandon this lesson even during the period of registration on the resource or after their images did not pass the exam. An exam is an optional procedure, but it is present on most resources. For each resource, you need to make a summary with a specific set of images. The inspector checks them.

To start making money in this business on your own, it is not necessary to travel the world and take pictures. You can start filming environment. It is not recommended to photograph people at the initial stage of their professional development. In order for such images to be placed in the portfolio on the resource, there must be a written permission from those people who are captured.

Stock photos that are popular are the photo sections:

• people;
• animals;
• plants;
• sport;
• health;
• nature.

Where to sell your photos online?

The photographs taken can be sold online. This is the fastest way to get money. Most resources offer to withdraw money to electronic wallets, and then transfer to bank cards.

Photos are needed all over the world. Even more acute is the problem of video clips. They are often accepted without examinations. Photos are needed in magazines, newspapers, on Internet resources. Screensaver pictures are very popular. A beginner photo stocker can start by shooting the texture of the walls, a fallen yellow leaf or dew on the grass. The captured surface of a lake or river will also bring income. These pictures are in demand, they are used for screensavers.

If you don’t know the answer to the question of where pictures are needed, then there is only one answer - images are needed everywhere. They serve as an addition to the printed material, allowing you to expand on the topic and supplement it.

How to sell photos on a photobank

On the Shutterstock photo stock, you need to take a special exam, which we wrote about above. How it happens: you need to add 10 photos to the photostock, if less than 7 pictures are selected from them, then the exam is considered not passed. You can only try again in a month, but the plus is that there can be an unlimited number of such attempts.

Designers, editors and photographers come to Shutterstock in search of new pictures, as it is the most popular and most profitable resource worldwide.

If you are interested not in selling, but in buying images, then you will need to buy a subscription here. It allows you to download 25 photos daily. The fee for this is just under $200. Here you can sell video clips. The system on this resource is built in such a way as to stimulate buyers and bring even more income.

The stocks sell original photographs that you will not find anywhere else. It is recommended to look there for everyone who is interested in art.

Creativemarketcom also requires you to take an exam. This is a site that sells vector animation. On this platform, you need to create a store where you can place products. When registering, be sure to write why you want to sell here.

You need to take 3 photos on IStockphoto, but they must be very High Quality and exactly match the declared category. You can retake the exam at any time at any time.

For Depositphoto you need to prepare 5 test photos. This is a high growth platform so it is recommended to sign up here for future earnings.

If you are interested in an artistic photo, then you can sell it at 500px. This exchange is not like the previous ones: there is no exam. It is important that the name of the photographer is known, and his work has already appeared on Internet resources. You can start promoting your work through Instagram, LiveJournal, VKontakte or Facebook.

How to sell photos for money?

If you don’t know how much you can sell photos for, then the symbolic price in photo stocks is 1-6 dollars. At first glance, this seems like a very small amount, but profit is achieved by selling the same product multiple times.

If you own an old family photos they will also help generate income. All that is required is to make copies of old images and send them to the resource. They are in demand, so they will become a profitable business.

Family pre-revolutionary photographs must be in good condition. They are needed by collectors and can be redeemed for a lot of money. In order not to sell too cheap, it is necessary to consult with professionals to evaluate the image, and then make a deal.

How to sell photos to a newbie on the Internet?

Best selling photos on photo stocks

The most expensive photographs sold at auction cost several million dollars for each copy. There is something to strive for a novice photographer. Andreas Gursky took a picture of the Rhine River in rainy weather that sold for $4,338,500. The stage worker Cindy Sherman has taken some of the most expensive pictures in human history. Among them is Untitled #96 (1981), which was sold for $3,890,500.

You can take pictures of everything that comes in head and will fall for eyes:

• nature;
• celebrities;
• body parts;
• objects.

But, probably, one of the more profitable and popular are nude photos. Street art is gaining popularity in photography. Such pictures will also be profitable. If you are interested in how much a wedding photo can be sold for, then it is recommended to look at their prices on the Web. You can sell pictures from a corporate party. If there is no professional equipment, then you can take pictures using your phone. The Photolia application allows you to sell pictures from your phone by downloading and installing it.

A photo bank is a repository of images that simultaneously acts as an intermediary between the photographer and the buyer: websites, print media, design and advertising agencies. He negotiates with existing clients, looks for new ones, makes all financial calculations.

According to the ratings of photobanks, frames with everyday scenes, emotional showdown are in great demand. Business sketches will not be left without attention: working meetings, the head at the table, employees in time pressure. The topic of happy old age is relevant - grandparents surrounded by grandchildren. And always in demand object shooting fruits, decorations, interior details. Uploaded photos are checked by the editor and only after his approval are published in the catalog. You can upload pictures to several photobanks at once, if this is not prohibited by the terms of the copyright transfer agreement.

All images must be accompanied by keywords (usually at least five) that make it clear what is captured in the photo and allow you to quickly find the right picture. Many photographers duplicate the description in English in order to collaborate not only with Russian-speaking buyers.

Keep in mind that if the photo is of a person, you must attach a model release without fail. This is the agreement of the model for the free use of the image. If you photographed minors, you will need a contract signed by their parents. A sample of this document can be found on the website of the photo bank.

head of PR department at Fotobank/Getty Images:

In print and online publications

Major newspapers and magazines either use the services of trusted photographers or collaborate with certain photo banks. Therefore, it is quite difficult for a beginner or inexperienced amateur photographer to publish in them. But smaller ones may well buy your pictures. Do you have a favorite magazine or news site? Contact the editor and offer your services. Don't forget to attach a link to your portfolio, without it the photo editor most likely won't consider your application.

Publishers and advertising agencies

Do not limit the circle of customers. Your photos may be in demand, for example, by publishers of postcards and calendars or by advertising agencies. They have their own bases of photographers, and it is from them that they begin their search. Getting into this number is not very difficult: offer your work. Remember at the same time that it is easier and faster for editors to view them on your website or in a profile on a special resource than through an archive attached to a letter.

At the device

Remember: before you start making money from your pictures and videos, you will have to buy quality equipment.

In your right

The main document in cooperation with a photo bank is an agreement on the transfer of copyright. When transferring exclusive rights, you should delete the photo from the databases of other photo banks for the period specified in the agreement - you will not be able to sell this photo within the specified period, but the fee will be higher. Non-exclusive rights do not impose such restrictions: you will receive money for your picture as many times as it is bought from you.

Showed everyone

Commercials and documentaries often use videos made by non-professionals, and instructional videos, for example, on how to do your hair, are popular. Local TV channels and news websites sometimes buy footage from the scene that illustrates or even becomes a story. Main requirements: the video must be shot by you personally, and it must not contain copyrighted content.

Remember that the photo must be:

• copyright;
• high-quality (without overexposure and dips in the shadows, without digital noise and compression artifacts);
• without dates, signatures, copyrights, frames, borders;
• with well built composition and plot.

Photo prices

Photo banks: the price varies depending on the size of the image and the purpose of its use. The photo bank will evaluate your picture according to its price list and after the sale will pay you a fee in the amount of 30-50% of the total cost - from 10 to several thousand rubles per photo.

Printed and online editions: depends on the magazine/newspaper/website. On average, one photo can earn from 300 rubles.

Publishers and advertising agencies: here you can bargain, but remember that it will be more profitable for you to sell more frames at a low price than not to sell one because of the exorbitant cost. Advertisers and publishers pay about 500 rubles per picture.

You can post your work...

In photobanks:

• http://www.fotobank.ru/
• http://www.profimages.ru/
• http://lori.ru/
• http://www.microstock.ru/
• http://www.clipartbank.ru/
• http://www.fotostoki.ru/
• http://club.foto.ru/
• http://photoxpress.ru/
• http://ru.depositphotos.com/

In videobanks:

• http://lori.ru/
• http://shop.565.ru/
• http://www.shutterstock.com/
• http://www.pond5.com/
• http://www.revostock.com/

TEXT: Irina Styufeeva

Image selection behind, headache ahead - where to put your portfolio? Photo sites are the first thing that comes to mind, but most of them are visited by colleagues: they also post, promote and update their portfolio. Likes, comments, acquaintances - you can probably calm yourself with this, but a stable income is more important than media exposure. If you think about it, even for a minute, you begin to understand that Behance is an excellent project, but in Russia, for life in the outback, it is completely unsuitable: a private customer prefers a “dress”; not against, or willing to search, but only within the issuance of search engines.

A printed portfolio is an asset, but only with personal contact. Leave, exhibit, regard as passive advertising, a folder of photos or a photo book, you cannot; and again the photographer has a problem - where to place your portfolio? Of course, you can “pull out one or two pages from the portfolio”, turn them into a banner, for example, but this is not a portfolio, but an advertisement, a single photo for review. Will anyone notice? Big question. The idea creeps in, and for a very long time, that the industry is arranged differently than it is commonly believed, and there is no doubt that promotion is self-deception, the photographer simply serves services and companies.

In the Internet

Search for a customer - the opportunity to work, create your own photo; income is a consequence and it is better to stop attempts to replace the result with promotion so as not to fall into the temptation - not of bread, but of glory. Social status- an unstable, meaningless goal, for the sake of which, to his own detriment, the photographer receives crusts, reviews, temporary recognition.

I’m afraid, but I’ll notice that a photographer can attribute himself to the intelligentsia, but it’s just that a lot will have to be changed, understood and corrected in oneself. After all, an intellectual is activity, education; It's not about the crust, but about the content of the person. There are few of them among photographers. Valery Plotnikov is the most significant and at the same time the least visible of all.

There are few of his works on the Internet, but in his portfolio the whole world of a bygone era is enough to pick up one of his books and turn the page; and further. A person works, honestly eats his bread and at the same time does not collect fame. Of course, the author's world is shaped by life, but who to be - this is "managed" by a person.

You can place your first portfolio online to test the tastes of local clients and adjust your online strategy. Social media is not about portfolios; the quality, like the format, has changed - everything is very sad and relaxed. Passive promotion is gone and leads have taken its place - track, help and lure. Works, but "eats" time.

Of the photo sites, PhotoVogue can be distinguished. In its format, the portfolio is a bet on the future: a direct partnership or the opportunity to present your work as part of the annual exhibition "101 photographers". Yes, the prospect is time, an investment, but Vogue quickly pays off the costs, and if you please the editors "there", then "here" the clientele will change, they will begin to "understand".

The main portfolio can be placed on the site and it is convenient, but costly, without comments and fame. It is not clear to another - why maintain your resource when everything around is free, and the cheese is sweeter from this. A personal site is a showcase: locals get used to it, a client finds it, and it helps to earn money if it is purposefully dealt with.

And beyond

Beyond the Internet - life. It will take another ten years and many will doubt it. May be. I do not want to get ahead of myself, I just look with interest at the possibilities:

• Foyer. Traditionally, it is decorated with paintings, but what prevents an agreement is to cite, as an example, the registry office, which has long been turned into a gallery, often a personal one.
• Books. Regions love themselves, they are flattered when a chronicle is published in small circulation: streets and facades of buildings, prominent figures and events of good years. Expensive, but forever!
• Calendars. Corporate - product and payment, social copyright - portfolio, in a sense - a pocket version. Pavel Apletin,

"Micro" in the word "microstocks" means, sadly, a fee. You only get a small percentage of your photos sold on microstock. However, you will not need to look for buyers - they will find you themselves. In addition, you won't have to compete with famous photographers: buyers come to microstocks primarily for the image, and not for the popular name of the photographer.

Microstocks are also ideal for beginners because they allow you to practically understand which of your photos are more commercially in demand.

Sergei Zolkin/Unsplash.com

Before you upload your photos to microstocks, you should carefully read the rules (including the fine print) to make sure you are comfortable following them. The following rules are the same for all:

• You must be over 18 years of age.
• You must be the author of all files you upload.
• You must have all rights and permissions to the depicted elements (objects, people, places, and so on).
• You must not sell images containing logos or protected trademarks.
• You must not sell photographs that contain images of structures, buildings, or other places protected by intellectual property law.

Oliver Berghold/Unsplash.com

The biggest and most popular microstocks are Fotolia, DreamsTime, Shutterstock, Depositphotos and, of course, iStockPhoto. Let's see what awaits you upon registration.

Fotolia

The registration form is quite simple, but in order to become an image seller, you need to upload a scan of an identity document (passport, driver's license). Without a copy of the document, your files will not be accepted for consideration. On the other hand, there is no exam. Unfortunately, new photos are not sold very quickly here, and your earnings depend on the ranking on the site. Income is calculated in points, which can be cashed out after the figure reaches 50. You can get from 20 to 63% for the sale of images by the piece, or from 0.25 to 0.40 points for the sale of images by subscription. Payouts are made using PayPal or Skrill. The site supports Russian.

Dreamtime

DreamsTime is very good for beginners, as here the verification process is perhaps the mildest among the top sellers: registration does not require confirmation by documents, there is no exam. But the requirements for image quality are quite high. Website commission ranges from 70 to 40%, while an image can be sold for 0.2%. Payment can be received via Payoneer, PayPal, Skrill. Among the shortcomings of this photo bank, it should be noted that the interface is not very convenient, as well as possible problems with uploading images in some browsers (Firefox).

Shutterstock

Shutterstock pays the most and sells the fastest. For registration, you must provide a scan of your passport. The service has a wide audience, which contributes to high sales. But at the same time, it requires higher quality and uniqueness of images. To become a Shutterstock Contributor, you will have to pass an exam - 10 shots, of which a minimum of seven must be accepted. Beginning authors usually receive $0.25 per work through PayPal, Skrill. But the works are sold quickly due to the fact that the site is focused on new images. The amount of payment increases with the growth of the total amount of earnings. Automatic payouts start when the minimum amount of $100 is reached. Of the shortcomings, it is worth noting the low speed of work.

Matthew Wiebe/Unsplash.com

Depositphotos

Registration on the actively developing Depositphotos requires the provision of a scan of any identity document. The exam consists of five papers and is very strict. But working with Depositphotos is quite pleasant. According to the site incentive program, for each accepted image, the author receives $0.2. It is possible to receive payment not only through PayPal and Skrill. Thanks to its Russian roots, Depositphotos has a user-friendly Russian interface, which will be very useful in the initial stages of working with microstocks.

iStockPhoto

iStockPhoto has the most stringent review and exam policy. At the same time, he also pays the highest. For registration, you must provide a scan of the document (passport, international passport or driving license). The exam consists of ten photographs. Photographers receive from 15 to 45%, but when concluding exclusive contracts, earnings can be quite high. Payment methods: PayPal, Payoneer. There is also a Russian version of the site.

Also worth noting are a couple of rapidly developing resources - 123 Royalty Free and BigStockPhoto. Registration on 123RF requires confirmation by scanned documents. However, the 10-photo exam is much easier to pass than the aforementioned iStockPhoto or Shutterstock. Payment is possible via Payoneer, PayPal or Skrill. And the BigStockPhoto exam is a theoretical test (without supporting documents).

Users of one of the most popular sites for photographers, art lovers, and design ambiguously evaluate the redesign, moreover, for many, it has become an occasion to start looking for a new platform for publishing their work.

Look At Me explored alternative photo sharing platforms for personal and professional use and the communities that have developed around them.

Exposure, unlike Stampsy, was created as a platform for photographers with an emphasis on narratives, series of photographs united by one thought. In general, for photographers who want to tell stories, and not just upload photos as they come. This description includes not only sequentially arranged photographs, but also the actual description of what is happening on them. Of several such photo stories, in principle, it’s more than realistic to put together a kind of portfolio (even without buying a pro account - a free one allows you to publish three photo stories), if you don’t get around to making your own website. Although the latter, in general, in 2014 is a rather pointless undertaking.

Main plus

The ability to tell stories that are easy to read thanks to the illustrative series, and not just upload photos.

Also a kind of online photo storage, something like Tumblr, but for author's photos; the main difference from its predecessors is the ability to sell photos directly through the site. To do this, you need to select the For Professionals option, and then set the price of the photo, etc. The service promises to take on all sorts of legal aspects, take care of protecting your copyrights and provide round-the-clock support if, for example, selling photos is new to you.

Main plus

Ability to sell photos directly through the site.

A platform for creating your own portfolio website for mobile and web versions, with a separate focus on iPhone and iPad. On the basis of the Viewbook, in fact, your own site is created, within the framework of the given design variations. Viewbook has 3 types of memberships, the cheapest one starts at $4 per month.

Main plus

Create a website with your own url.

The French-based site is arguably most popular among those who fled Flickr out of dissatisfaction with being out of control. appearance your page. Ipernity, indeed, is very similar in appearance and functionality to Flickr and, most importantly for the established community, the presence of groups (where any user can add their photos) and discussions - in general, it is the exchange of experience within the forum, supported by the visual part, and Flickr was strong the most.

Main plus

A photography community where many former Flickr users migrated to.

The VSCO app is remarkable not only for its filters (and tutorials on how to use them) and the purpose of reminding you that photos can still be beautiful, even if no one needs cameras anymore, but also for its attempts (quite successful) to develop a photo community. To do this, the team maintains VSCO Journal, where it shares the best photos, selected over the last week or weekend, and also created a special social network and at the same time a photo platform - VSCO Grid, in which each user of the application can upload their photos, and the most beautiful of them can get into the "editor's choice".

Main plus

VSCO does not just provide a platform for photos, but constantly publishes tutorials and interviews with professionals, that is, it tries to give users new knowledge.

Simply put, it's Learn from photography. Website slogan: a photo a day. The photos are sorted by the date you posted them and are side by side on a calendar. That is, it’s more likely not even a platform, but a photo diary, which, with its functionality, reminds you that it’s time to update a couple of photos already. Well, the feedback system works according to the same principle: subscribers write comments by analogy with the same Livejournal.