How to make money from photos on the Internet without investments - tips and tricks + best services

Today, entry into the photography business is available to everyone. Many people think about how to make money from photographs by posting them on the Internet. To do this, you don’t have to be a professional photographer or have advanced equipment. The competition in the photo industry is quite high, but to stand out among the many authors, you will have to post pictures that contain thought, an interesting angle and original processing. After studying this article, you will learn how to attract clients and build a profitable income from photography.

Who will pay me and why?

Indeed, now you can find images on any topic online. It is enough to use any search engine to verify this.

However, firstly, there is and will always be a need for new, fresh, unique photographs, whose authorship no one will dispute. Secondly, photos in the public domain are often of low quality, and quality is the most important property for the visual environment.

No company that respects its name will take images of unknown origin from somewhere unknown, even for free. The most convenient option for any company is to go to a photo bank and purchase the rights to the necessary material.

Photobank, also known as photostock, is a special service created for the purchase and sale of visual content. In other words, thanks to it, any user can sell their photographic works to those who need them, be it another user or an agency.

Everything we see on the Internet is essentially an image drawn or filmed with subsequent processing. Beautiful photos of landscapes, people and various objects are constantly required for advertising, website design and content, for blogs and magazines.

Unlike Russian-speaking countries, where the interactive environment is just beginning to enter its flourishing phase, in Western countries it has long been the order of things to pay for both images and online books, useful information expressed in a blog or vlog, for other people’s time and most simple services. Due to our mentality, it still seems strange to us to receive money for such ephemeral things, but the difference between paid and free is precisely in quality.

Therefore, at the moment the most profitable platforms for making money are English-language. Many resources have Russian versions of sites; others require minimal knowledge to register, fill out a form and post photos.

I recommend entering the international market, where the likelihood of finding grateful clients is much higher.

Services for making money on the Internet using photographs

Here are the five best stock photos for the job.

Site No. 1. Dreamstime.com

A great project suitable for anyone who wants to sell photographs. Unlike other sites, there are no tests for beginners upon registration.

Photos are accepted only in Jpeg format. Moreover, the smallest photo size should be 3 Megapixels, and the largest – 70 Megapixels.

There is a certain limit on the number of photos uploaded per week. You can read more about this in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section.

You can withdraw earned money from the site in various ways: by bank check, using the PayPal payment system, MasterCard or MoneyBookers debit card.

Site No. 2. Shutterstock.com

One of the most popular photo stocks in the world. Operating since 2003. When registering, each new user is asked to take a test.

The task is to upload 10 test images to the photo bank. If at least 7 of them are approved by the project administration, then the test will be successfully completed. If unsuccessful, the user will have another chance in a month.

Photographs must comply with the rules of the service. One of these requirements is file size. Images must be at least 4 Megapixels.

Withdrawing money is carried out in different ways. The first option is to use the foreign online payment system PalPal or Skrill. The second option is a check.

The option of using an electronic wallet to receive money is the most preferable, since in this case the amount on the balance should be only $35.

Site No. 3. Istockphoto.com

It is the main competitor of the photo stock site Shutterstock.com and, together with it, is one of the best photo banks. He started his work back in 2000.

On the service you can sell photographs, illustrations, video and audio materials.

Just like most photo stocks, the Istockphoto.com service provides a short exam for beginners. To successfully pass it you need to send 3 of the best photos.

Earned funds can be received using PayPal, Payoneer, Moneybookers. The account must have a minimum balance of $100.

Site No. 4. Fotolia.com

Another web resource that is worth paying attention to. You can post photographs, videos, illustrations and vector images on the sales platform.

There is no primary examination task for new project participants.

Payments are made via PayPal or Skrill. To be able to transfer money to an electronic wallet, you need to have $50 on your balance.

Site No. 5. Lori.ru

Russian-language photobank.

Royalties to the author from the sale of materials range from 30% to 50% . For example, if your work was purchased for 200 rubles , then you can count on 60–100 rubles . The rest of the money will be taken by the system.

If the images are not sold on other sites, then they can be included in the exclusive collection of the Lori.ru website. In this case, the author of such works will be guaranteed to receive 50% of the sale.

To work on this project, you must enter into a written agreement with the photo bank . Without it, you are allowed to place no more than 20 images on the site, and they cannot be sold.

The electronic version of the contract should be downloaded from the photo bank website. Fill it out in duplicate, attach a copy of your passport and send the documents by Russian post.

You can withdraw money to a Payoneer card, through PayPaL, or arrange a bank transfer to your account. To use other options for receiving money, you need to contact the project administration.

The minimum amount for payment is 3000 rubles . Money is paid once a month.

Selling photos on copywriting, rewriting and freelancing exchanges

Images can be sold not only on photo banks, but also on other services, for example, on copywriting exchanges.

Copywriting exchanges are primarily focused on trading texts.
But some of them offer the opportunity to make money by selling photographs. Let's get acquainted with one of these exchanges. Exchange Etxt. ru is a reputable content portal with the lowest prices for materials.
The first thing you need to do is register on the site. The procedure takes a few minutes. There are no tests or tests for beginners here.

All operations related to photographs are located in the “Photos” section in the user’s personal account.

In the photo store you can see examples of the work of other authors. By analyzing other people's photographic materials, their quality, cost, subject matter, certain conclusions can be drawn.

To post your image on Etxt.ru, go to the “Add for sale” category. Next, you need to follow the instructions that open.

Click on the link to go to the Etxt.ru website.

You can also find suitable tasks related to photography on freelance exchanges .

Note! Freelance exchanges are online remote work services.

Read more about freelancing in this article.

I recommend that beginners pay attention to such sites.

Service No. 1.
Workzilla Workzilla
hosts a large amount of simple work that does not require special knowledge. Almost every person here will be able to find a suitable assignment for themselves and complete it.

Payment of funds is available to WebMoney and Yandex.Money wallets.

Register here.

Service No. 2.
Kwork
A relatively young remote work exchange (since 2020). But despite this, the project has taken a worthy place in the freelance services market.

The highlight of the web resource is that here any work is valued equally at 500 rubles.

You can withdraw money to Qiwi, WebMoney or a bank card.

You can register on the site here.

What will you need from me?

Absolutely anyone who has a gadget with a good camera or a camera that allows them to take high-resolution photos with quality from 4 megapixels can make money from photography without investment. Nowadays even primitive smartphones are produced with good cameras, but it’s still better if they have good optics, then your chances of earning money will be higher.

So, if you have a camera, desire, a sense of beauty and some free time, you can start making money from your photos.

conclusions

Someone, having read to the conclusions, will say in disappointment: “Well, I wrote so much, but didn’t say the main thing - how much can you earn?” This article was not written to tell you “how to make money quickly.” I described the very basics of how to make money on photo banks. And also to say that achieving success in this business is very difficult. I would like you to clearly understand: there is no easy money, and microstocks are no exception. If you decide, you will have to work very hard, for 5 or 6 years. Any experienced stocker will tell you that regular sales can begin when your portfolio exceeds 1000 high-quality photos on one stock. Precisely high-quality, and not just any! With a portfolio of 5,000 photos, you can already count on this income as real money. That is, the income from photo banks will become tangible for you. And with 10 or 15 thousand, you can think about quitting your job at your tired company and just doing photography!

How much can you earn?

Earning money from photos can be classified as one of the types of passive income, since the same photo can be sold on different photo stocks any number of times. Not every one of them will be bought, but successful photos quickly rise in the rankings. One rare shot can replace more than two dozen ordinary photos in terms of profitability.

You can't get much for one image, especially at the initial stage. Prices can vary from 7 – 10 to 50 – 200 rubles, a lot depends on the quality, size, uniqueness, and demand for the topic.

Therefore, in order to calculate earnings, say, for a month, you need to determine how many good photo cards you can produce for the photo bank.

If you upload 1 - 2 thousand pictures, you can quite count on pleasant additional money in the amount of 10 - 15 thousand.

How much can you earn by selling photos, images and videos?

Typically this is $0.2 to $1 dollar per image per month. If your portfolio contains 3,000 photos that are in demand, you can count on $500-1,000.

For example, we went to the Lori photo bank, where the minimum payment is 45 rubles. On the page with the authors we find one of the leaders - Losevsky Pavel. He has been in the system since the fall of 2007. During this time, the master sold 11,294 times. Let's say at a minimum price of 45 rubles. Profit – 11,294 * 45 rubles = 508,230 rubles. Divide by 10 years, we get 50,823 rubles per year, or 4,235.25 per month. The example is conditional, but you must understand that millions will not fall on your head.

The most “bread” platform is “Shutterstock”.
There are people on it who raise 5,000 - 30,000, 100,000, 500,000 and even 1,000,000 rubles. Often behind one account there is a whole team of designers/photographers/managers.

• Microvector admits that its portfolio on shutterstock.com includes 6,600 vector illustrations. They bring the author about $11,000 a month. You can find the master under the nickname neyro2008.
• Olga Zakharova raised more than $1,000 on stocks in the first month.
• Ivan Baranov creates vectors in his own style, adding 1-2 works per month. It is admitted that 300 basic pictures bring in about $5,000 per month.

In 2008, Yuri Arcurs jumped over the 1,000,000 licenses sold mark and became the best-selling microstock photographer in the world. His income is measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.

Rating photo banks and photo stocks

To start cooperation with any platform, you will need to register and provide your passport data. This is standard practice as it involves transferring copyright and receiving payments, which are made primarily through PayPal or by check.

Therefore, be prepared to document your identity and sign an electronic cooperation agreement. Then you will be able to post materials and receive payments.

I will list the most popular sites where you are guaranteed to get money for selling photos. Provided, of course, that they are approved by the site administration.

Before working with any photo bank, I recommend studying reviews and conducting a comparative analysis.

• Shutterstock,
• Stockphoto,
• Fotolia,
• Bigstock
• Dreamtime,
• Alamy,
• Crestock,
• Corbis,
• Getty Images,
• thinkstock,
• Jupiterimages.

We will look at photo stocks for making money in a separate article, which will contain detailed descriptions of how to work with them.

Earn money from photography for devices running on Android and IOS platforms

Foap – use for free and get up to 50% of your payout

The application runs Android 4.0.3 (or later), the number of downloads has exceeded 1,000,000–5,000,000. The rating in the store is 3.8.

Clashot is a photo bank in your pocket that will help you sell on Depositphotos!

There is an application for iPhone and Android devices, it works in Russian and English. The reviews are not the best, but you can take a risk.

Snapwire - create and make money at the same time!

It is available in both iTunes and play.google, but there is no version in Russian (only French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish and others). The rating in app stores is 3.9, but users from the CIS are begging for the Russian language to be added.

Scoopshot - View photos, gauge demand, get custom assignments

Available on Google Play and the App Store, available in Russian. There is an opportunity to participate in daily competitions, receive prizes, subscribe to brands and earn money by completing tasks/selling photos. Rating – 3.2.

Popular photo themes

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to have intimate photographs of popular people to successfully sell your photos. Let's define the main categories.

You can sell:

• photos,
• vector images,
• 3D graphics,
• video.

You can quickly develop your career as a photo dealer if you shoot various objects on a plain background (white, black or any other) - household items, tools, vegetables and fruits, ceramics, things in rich bright colors, brushes and paints, materials, animals, everything whatever. Such frames are in great demand in advertising and design, since they allow you to work with the depicted object itself, simply “cutting” it out from the background.

Photos of various textures are relevant - wood, metal of different colors, smooth, bubble, corrugated, mesh, various types of weaving.

The popularity of high-quality photos of food and drinks never decreases.

We also always need photographs of people, especially those with strong emotions and narrow specializations, for example, people in sportswear or in yoga classes, artists in the studio and at work, dancers, doctors.

If you like to travel and photograph various architecture, you can easily sell such material on any photo stock site. Not only panoramic views are appreciated, but also interesting pieces and details taken close-up, where you can see the details of the tower’s ornament or the unusual structure of spans, floor transitions, ancient doors and windows, or ornate patterns of porches. The main thing here is quality and good composition, which any amateur begins to see with time and experience.

Photo series are in demand, that is, photographs in the same style and composition. For example, a series of photographs of a pier with appropriately unique lighting and objects, or a series of images of wicker dolls. They can be found and photographed all over the world, the most important thing is the uniqueness of the idea and first-class implementation.

With the development of computer technology, it has become possible to create images literally from scratch, in special raster and vector programs such as Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw. The demand for them is growing more and more. If you're good at drawing, you might want to consider a part-time job in computer photography and illustration.

From a global perspective, it is the gateway to web design, graphic design and interface design. To develop successfully, you will definitely need a portfolio of good work.

How to make money as a photographer: basic requirements of photo stocks for a photo

How to make money from photography on the Internet?
To get started, novice freelancers should definitely learn about the basic requirements for photographs for their further implementation. Requirements for the photos you want to try to make money on:

1. The picture must be clear.
2. Only original works and unique photographs are accepted.
3. The standard format for most stock photos is JPG.
4. The quality must be the highest.
5. If you want to make money from a person’s photograph, then you definitely need your model’s consent to distribute photographs with his participation.
6. For trying to sell someone else’s photo that is already on the Internet, photo stocks fine or block the artist’s account.
7. It is not forbidden to process photographs in Photoshop, but you need to know when to stop - no one is interested in pictures whose contents are difficult to see under a bunch of filters.

Before placing your masterpiece on the photo bank, you will need to fill out the following fields:

1. Title (title of the image). The maximum allowed number of characters is 30.
2. Description (image characteristics). The description of what exactly is shown in the photo must contain no more than 100 characters. It is advisable to write specifically and without unnecessary words.
3. Keywords (keywords). The maximum is 50 words, which must be separated by a comma.

Whatever service you choose to work with, almost everywhere you will find exactly these fields to fill out.

By filling out these fields, you can help the buyer find your photo as quickly as possible from the thousands offered by other authors. So pay enough attention to this moment.

If you cooperate with a foreign photo bank, then all descriptions must be in English only.

Recommendations for getting started

Start with what you have

Beginners should not immediately rush to buy expensive equipment, light and other gadgets. Look at sites for making money from photos, register on several of them and post your first works. Having received a response to them, it is already possible to outline further development prospects.

To gain experience in photography, what you currently have is often enough - an ordinary camera, an idea and implementation. So go ahead! Shoot and try, but do not strive to immediately grab the stars from the sky.

Try new things

It makes sense to experiment: try new light, take unusual themes and mix styles. If you have only photographed nature before, be sure to try photographing people or animals. It is also important to adopt other people’s experience, analyzing what exactly hooked you, what seemed successful and whether it can be used in some other way. In the same way, it’s good to take apart your sought-after works “bone by bone” in order to understand exactly how a beautiful and relevant frame is created.

Improve your professionalism

The higher your shooting skills, of course, the more and faster you can earn. Do not be afraid of high competition, because the need for fresh content will always remain high in a consumer society. New forms, new approaches, new emotions and unusual faces emerge. Old themes are replayed and rediscovered. It all depends, again, on your willingness to find trends and opportunities to express cool ideas.

Save contacts

You shouldn’t lose touch with the sites and people where and with whom good deals took place. You will definitely need them, even if you do not plan to sell your photographs professionally. You can post travel photos from time to time and earn a small passive income.

What do we have to do

Initially, you need to register on the site. It’s better to announce yourself on several sites at the same time, since in most cases the sites have a limit on the number of uploaded photos per month. The next step is to upload interesting photos. For beginners, a high-quality portfolio is very important, without which there is little chance of progress.

Some resources provide an exam. After successful completion, your images will become available for licensing and downloading. From now on, the images will generate passive income, and its size will depend on the number of talented images and clients willing to use them in:

• advertising;
• marketing;
• applications;
• websites;
• television;
• films;
• presentations;
• magazines;
• newspapers;
• books;
• on product packaging.

Now everything is in your hands. Take photos in good quality. Select keywords that potential buyers will use to search for your photos.

Write a description for the image, then upload the pictures and wait for sales.

Earning money from image processing

This area includes working with design programs and all kinds of editors, processing, color correction, formatting. Photo banks and photo stocks accept processed material, but it is important not to overdo it. In addition, they will not pay separately for processing, so this type of activity is more likely to be freelancing.

On freelance exchanges you can always find a customer who needs to process personal material or material for a website. A good option, if you have sufficient skills, is to try yourself in layout or printing.

How to work on photo stocks

I’ll tell you using the example of the Shutterstock photo stock; the process is similar for others. The sequence is as follows:

1. Register;
2. Pass the exam - to do this, upload your 10 best photos for review by moderators. I’ll say right away that I didn’t manage to pass the exam the first time, but I didn’t give up, replaced the rejected frames and passed the second time;
3. Fill out the tax form Form W-8BEN - relevant for foreign stock. There is no need to be afraid, you indicate that you are not a US citizen and they will not charge you a 30% tax;
4. Upload photos;
5. Keep track of your income statistics.

What will you be paid for? For each photo download you are credited with $0.25. It seems that this is a minuscule amount, but the trick of making money on photo stocks is that photos can be downloaded an unlimited number of times. Imagine that you have 200 pictures in your portfolio. Let's assume that 25% are downloaded per day - 50. Multiply 50 times by 0.25 = $12.5 per day. It’s $375 per month. Okay, do you agree?

Further, your earnings depend on your portfolio: quality and quantity. Regularity is important here.