Are you a photographer looking for a way to supplement your income? Perhaps you enjoy snapping selfies and want to get paid for them. After all, you can actually make some real money with that pretty face of yours. Does it seem too good to be true? We too are excited to share with you how you can sell pictures of yourself online and make money doing it!
There are various ways you can make money from your photos. These depend on the quality of your images, the time you have to invest in the process, and the amount of money you hope to earn. In this blog post, we’ll describe some tried-and-true options for selling your own photographs online. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to make some extra cash or even make a living off of selling photos online. So, let’s dive in!
How to Sell Pictures of Yourself Online for Money
Photographing for stock websites can be the easiest way to start making money from your pictures right away. But whatever approach you prefer, the equipment needed and the steps to follow almost always stay the same. Let’s talk about the basic requirements and procedures for selling your photos online.
Things You May Need
There are a few things you’ll need to have in order to get started. For example:
- An online portfolio
- A professional camera (maybe digital or manual)
- Lenses
- Smartphone (a good camera smartphone can work as an alternative to camera)
- Tripod
- Lighting, shades, backdrops, and props
- Laptop or desktop computer
- Photo editing software
- Internet connection
Basic Steps to Follow
Regardless of the platform you use to sell your photos online, the following basic steps must be followed:
1. Find a Platform to Sell Your Photos On
You can sell your own pictures online on a variety of platforms. For instance, you may charge clients to purchase your photos on a freelance platform like Upwork or Fiverr. A simple but time-consuming option is to start your own photography blog or website and upload your pictures there. Alternatively, you can get paid for your selfies by using apps like Pay Your Selfie.
Another online marketplace where you can sell your photos and earn money is Etsy. Of all the platforms, we recommend using an online stock photo website like Shutterstock or iStockPhoto to sell your photos. The majority of these websites are quite user-friendly for beginners and have a large community of buyers.
2. Create a Portfolio
Before you can actually start selling your photos, you’ll need to create a portfolio. Your portfolio is a collection of your best photos that you can show to potential buyers. So, whether you intend to sell your pictures on a stock website, start your own website, or sell them on a freelance platform, a professional portfolio is always necessary to highlight your photography skills.
3. Set Your Prices
The next step is to set the prices for your photos if you have the choice to do so. You may not have the option to choose your own price for the photos on all platforms. Some of these, particularly the stock photography websites, provide set prices for each image. Others may vary the prices based on the level of the seller, the content, or the quality of the pictures. Apps like Pay Your Selfie, for example, pay you based on the cost of each task you complete. This price is somewhere between $0.25 and $1 per challenge.
But if you do have the choice, you must avail yourself of it. You must take a few factors into account when deciding on your prices. Of these, the photographs’ quality comes first: You can charge more for photos if they are of higher quality. Second, consider the content of your photos: images created to support a particular brand or brands may be more valuable than others. Finally, you can offer your customers value by charging less for each photo if you have a lot of photos.
4. Promote Your Photos
Once you’ve created your portfolio and set your prices, you’ll need to promote your photos. It not only allows you to connect and interact with potential buyers, but it also advertises your services on your platform’s grounds. There are several ways to spread the word about your pictures. For instance, creating profiles on social media sites will allow you to connect with your audience. When posting your photos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc., you can use hashtags to enhance their visibility.
5. Start Selling
Once you’ve promoted your photos and set your prices, you’re ready to start selling! You can start by selling your photos to friends and family. It will help you get some feedback about the quality of your photos. Later on, you can try to sell them to other people. If you want to sell your photos in the most flexible way possible, we recommend using platforms like Etsy, Upwork, or Fiverr. All of these platforms allow you to set your own prices and sell your photos to a wide range of audiences.
Online Ways To Make Money From Your Pictures
The following are some of the proven ways to sell pictures of yourself online for money:
1. Sell Your Pictures On a Stock Website
Stock websites sell images that have been licensed for a specific use, such as commercial use, use on blogs or websites, or for promotion and branding. You can sell your pictures on these websites, as they both have a seller and a buyer side. Moreover, these websites already have an audience, so there are more chances of you being visible to the customers. The only downside is that the rates on these sites are preset, and since the websites deduct their commission from them, you can’t keep the entire profit from your photos.
Some of the popular stock websites to sell your pictures on are:
- Adobe Stock
- Alamy
- Stocksy
- Dreamstime
- Foap
- Getty Images
- iStockphoto
- Pay Your Selfie
- Shutterstock
- SmugMug
2. Make Your Own Web Page
Consider setting up your own website if you are passionate about photography and want to make money off of your images. In fact, this is the most personalized way to showcase your photos on the internet. The idea is to launch a blog or website that is focused on photography, specifically self-portraiture. After that, you may upload your photos to your blog posts or include them in collections of featured photos that you can sell.
Later on, you can earn money from your website in a variety of ways. Some of these may be:
- Displaying ads
- Affiliate programs
- Premium images
- Paid photography tutorials
Although it could take some time, this is the most reliable and consistent approach to generating long-term side income from your own photographs.
3. Become an Influencer
Influencers are well-known people on social media who make use of their reputations to earn money. Many of them aren’t even stars; they’re just average people looking to supplement their income by pursuing their interests in fitness, travel, fashion, or food. But how can you make money through your photographs as a social media influencer?
The key is to use your popularity to promote the goods and services of others on your social media profiles. You’ll be able to work with multiple brands that interest you as an influencer. Affiliate links are provided by the brands. You take photos of yourself posing with various products from the brands with which you collaborated. Your photos will be linked to the respective brands. Whenever anyone buys a product using your affiliate link, you’ll be earning a commission.
4. Become a Freelance Photographer
There are many freelance platforms where you can offer your own on-demand photos. Numerous companies are turning to hiring independent contractors to market their businesses as a result of the intense competition in the business sector and the rising cost of engaging brand ambassadors. These businesses hire freelance photographers to accomplish their photography projects. For example, they demand that you take your headshots while photographing the launch of their new products.
Here are a few examples of international freelance websites where you can sell your images to different companies around the globe:
On the other hand, Facebook groups are a great place to work with local buyers. All you have to do is make an account, put together a portfolio, start applying, and put pictures of yourself out there for sale!
5. Join Photo Contests
Last, but certainly not least, you can get paid for your photos by submitting them to online photo contests. But your selfies must be up to par in order to win these competitions and earn cash prizes. Nevertheless, taking part in photo contests is not a reliable source of income. However, you can join them if you wish to make a large sum of money from your shots once in a while.
Every year, a variety of contests are held in various locations or online. The popular ones include:
- The Agora Awards: one of the top photo competitions, offering prizes of up to $25k to the winners.
- iPhone Photography Awards: require you to use an iPhone to take your photos and submit them via the iOS app or the Apple website.
Some others are:
Conclusion
Every photographer dreams of making money online by selling their own photos. In reality, it can actually bring in some high income, particularly if you are an expert at taking self-portraits. You can either sell your photos on stock photography websites or on freelance platforms. The other options are to participate in different photo competitions or to launch and monetize your own photography blog. We sincerely hope that this information was useful in getting you started with selling your own pictures online. For more useful information, keep visiting our website!
