How to Make Money With Photographs

Did you know that you can make money selling your digital photographs? Many of the digital photos you have filed on your computer can be sold and earn you a regular, monthly income. This article examines how to make money from photography.

Think about the number of photographs you see daily in magazines, advertising brochures, books and websites. Millions of photographs are required every day by publishers, magazines, newspapers, advertising agents, filmmakers, writers, web designers, graphic artists and many others throughout the world. It is more economical and more efficient for them to pay for existing photographs then use their own photographers. They regularly use ‘stock’ photographs for their work, and pay to use those photos.

Stock photographs are purchased from ‘Stock Photography’ websites. These websites have a high demand for new photos. All you need to do is help supply the demand by submitting your photos (for free) to these stock photography sites. Every time your photo is downloaded by a publisher, writer, advertising agent, etc, you will be paid for the use of your photograph. Your photo stays in the stock photography database (as long as you wish) and can be used over and over and over again - and you are paid each time it is used.

Before you think that your photos are not that outstanding and would not sell, consider the following:

A photo of lawn grass in the first month it was sold, earned the owner $638! That’s right - $638 for a photo of grass!

A photo of 3 business people working at their desk is earning its owner $479 per month, every month!

A photo of two children working on computers at school is earning its owner $103 per month, every month!

These numbers can be verified by visiting www.istockphotocom. Some other stock photography websites include bigstockphoto.com, dreamstine.com, shutterstock.com to name just a few.

Stock photography sites make their money by selling photos from their database. In turn, they pay a commission to the owner of that photo when it is sold (downloaded). The commission depends on the size of the image the purchaser downloads - the larger the image, the greater the commission you receive. The key to how much you make from a particular photo is the number of times it is downloaded. One photograph could be downloaded many times over by different people and companies.

Your photos do not have to be outstanding, professionally taken masterpieces. There is a need for simple day-to-day photos. Photos like a pile of old bricks, a man jogging, a beautiful girl smiling, and a kitchen sink are just some examples of photos that have been downloaded and purchased. The different kinds of photos needed and used are endless. If you can take simple, clear photographs, then you can potentially earn money from those photos.

Spend some time looking at the different stock photography sites. Find out what type of pictures are being submitted and downloaded. Learn the specifications required to submit your photos, and then submit your photos as specified by the website. Joining the site, and submitting your photos is free.

You will also need to title your photos - the title is important. You will want to provide keyword titles, so that when someone is searching for a particular kind of photo, yours will have a good probability of coming up. The keyword title should describe your photo. The more descriptive your keywords are, the better the chances of your photo coming up.

Why not make money with your photos? Take some time to search and look through several stock photography websites. Read their requirements and specifications. Then consider the photos that you have filed on your computer. If you enjoy taking pictures with your digital camera, start clicking away - you will have some idea what types of images you want to capture with your camera after examining the stock photography sites.

Have fun with it…and…make yourself some money!