How to Make Money Online by Selling Stock Photos and Footages

People think they have to spend money in order to make money, but this isn’t always true. In fact, there are multiple ways you can make money online without having to invest any of your own cash – one of them being selling stock photos and footage. This article will show you how selling stock photos and footages can help you make money online without having to spend any of your own money.

 

What Is Stock Photo

A stock photo is a type of stock footage that may be licensed for royalty-free distribution. It is often used in magazines, newspapers, TV programs, and books. Stock footage is the raw video material that has been captured on film or digitally as part of a production. These are then edited down into the final product with specific shots added where needed.  The term stock photography can refer both to these still photos and to their copyright ownership.

 

How To Start

The best way to start making money online is by starting a blog about something you're passionate about. It doesn't matter what you write about, just that you're dedicated enough to share your thoughts on the subject with others. That's the best way to build up an audience of readers who will eventually want to buy your stock photos and footages. Once you have that set up, start selling your photographs and video footages online.

 

Taking Photographs

When taking photographs, you have to be mindful of the light in order to capture the best image. The best time is sunrise or sunset because the light is gentle and soft. In general, you should use natural lighting when possible instead of using artificial lights. If you have the option of using a window as your background, that's also an excellent choice. One thing you want to keep in mind, though, is color correction. 

That means adjusting the photo until it has a uniform color range so that one color doesn't take over too much space. Some programs like Adobe Lightroom make it easy to correct these issues while others will require some editing skills on your part.

 

Where to Sell?

There are a number of websites you can use to sell your stock photos and footages. The following are some popular sites:

- Shutterstock

- iStockphoto

- Dreamstime

- ImageBam

- 123RF

- Depositphotos 

- Photogenica

You can also go through various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to upload your work for sale.

 

File Formats, Image Sizes

Since there are different kinds of images that you can offer for sale, it's important to understand the features and specifications of each one. The image size should be the same as your final product, whether it's a print or a digital file. Formatting is another crucial consideration since the compatibility with various types of projects varies. For example, PNG files will work well in Photoshop but JPEGs work better for web use because they're smaller and compress better. Image sizes vary based on the resolution.

 

Pricing Your Work

You may think that if you offer your work for free, people will be more likely to buy it. But in reality, the opposite is true. No one wants to pay for something when they can get it for free. Here are some pointers on pricing your work:

1) Decide on a fair price that reflects the time and skill required to produce the images/footage

2) Think about what competitors charge

3) Consider what your target audience is willing to pay for

4) Give away three low-res samples so potential customers can see how good their images look before committing to purchase

5) Offer bundle discounts where customers can save money on purchasing more than one image/footage.

 

Payment Methods

For any content creators looking to sell their videos or photos, it’s important to understand the various methods of payment to receive payment for your work. First, you have the option of licensing your images or footage outright through an agreement with a company in exchange for a one-time lump sum. Alternatively, you can license them individually on a per photo or video basis, where companies only pay when they want to use the footage.  Another option is to offer your creations as stock images and footage through online markets such as Shutterstock, Getty Images, Adobe Creative Cloud Market, DepositPhotos and Unsplash.

These sites allow you to list your work at a fixed price so that customers know what they are getting before buying it. The site takes a cut of each sale but this method typically provides higher returns than the former two options because customers don’t need to worry about negotiation with individual creators over prices each time they want to purchase something from that creator.

 

Tips For Better Results

1. Sell high quality images. Quality is a factor that buyers consider before purchasing an image or footages, especially if the images are expensive. Always take a good care of your equipment in order to achieve better shots that will be worth your while in the long run.

2. Be patient with your work. Don't rush it just because you're excited to get started or anxious about not making any sales yet. It's better to have a slow start than none at all. Hope this article was helpful to start your journey.