One of the best ways to earn income online is to start selling photos. Whether you’re a seasoned photographer, photo enthusiast, or curious content creator, there are plenty of ways to monetize your work.
Below, we’ll showcase four different approaches for selling photos and explore several actionable ways to start turning profits from your passion. Let’s dive into it!
Why Should I Start Selling Photos Online?
Learning how to sell photos online isn’t just great for your pockets. Here’s why all photographers should find ways to expand their online presence.
- Expand Your Portfolio: Building your own photo storefront gives you additional incentive to create and shoot on a regular basis. It can also help you explore different types of photography like stock photography, portrait sessions, or crafting branded content.
- Passive Profits: There is no limit to how many images or prints you can sell once you’ve built your storefront. Fortunately, Koji presents ways for you to sell photos online even without a formal website.
- Drawing In New Clients: Whether you aim to get placed on stock photo sites or earn portrait commissions, you inherently do outreach when you sell pictures online. Expanding your reach to new photo markets helps you become discovered on a larger basis.
How To Start Selling Photos Online: 4 Approaches
There isn’t one right way to earn money from digital or in-person photography. Fortunately, you don’t need a formal photography website to start monetizing your passion. Consider the following approaches to jumpstart your photo business:
1. Sell Your Photos Directly
Choosing to sell your photos online directly is a great way to learn about your fans while earning direct income from your work. You can easily build your own shoppable gallery with storefronts like Sell Digital Products.
2. Create Stock Photos
You can create your own stock photography store utilizing Koji’s free storefronts and galleries. Stock photos can be sold through third-party services like Adobe Stock or Shutterstock, but you can also earn directly by selling high-quality photos through your own Kojis.
3. Sell Your Services
You can certainly run your own in-person photography business alongside selling digital prints or photos. Configuring your own Sell A Service Koji makes it easy to offer sessions and custom UGC content or stock photography for brands. Each Koji can act as your own site for different aspects of your photography business.
4. Monetize Your Photography Insights
Your customer base doesn’t have to be limited to fans of your work– you can connect with other aspiring photographers in your field all while turning over a profit. Whether you’re building an insightful video course or selling your lighting presets, there are plenty of ways to pass on your knowledge while getting paid.
9 Ways To Start Selling Your Photos Online
Earning an income from photography isn’t solely limited to selling stock images or photography sessions. Here are nine different ways to start earning income from your digital photos or photo prints.
1. Create An Online Gallery
One of the easiest ways to sell photos is to create your own shoppable gallery with Sell Digital Products. Simply upload a set of photos, set your price, and send out your gallery storefront anywhere on the internet.
You can also build mystique by selling bundles of photos that can only be purchased or sold through an exclusive link using Link Locker.
2. Lighting Presets
Do you have a distinct style to your work? Start selling your LUTS to help other photographers. You can also monetize your style with Sell Lightroom Presets.
3. Exclusive or Behind The Scenes Content
Behind every photo is a story. If you enjoy diving into the process, monetize behind-the-scenes content or exclusive images with Locked Photo.
4. Sell Online Educational Courses
Teach your audience how to start taking high-quality images. Build your own monetizable photography courses through Sell Video Courses.
5. Gear Recommendations
Are you constantly being asked what you use to take photos? Turn your recommendations into some extra cash. You can link out your top tech picks with Affiliate Links, or link out multiple pieces of gear from a single photo with Shop the Look.
6. Sell Your Photography Services
If you’re looking to run a photography business, list your services with Sell a Service. You could build consistent, considerable income by investing in event photography or portraits. Make sure you populate your listing with high-quality images to help distinguish your work as a professional photographer.
7. Prints
One of the most intuitive ways to monetize your photography is through selling prints. You can sell digital downloads with Sell Digital Products or sell a limited run of physical prints on Sell Physical Products.
8. Photography Guides
Even if you’re not interested in selling your photos, you can still monetize your skillset. Consider creating digital photo books or a how-to E-book on your journey and method as a photographer. Start selling your insights with Sell E-books.
9. Stock Photography
One of the best ways to start selling images online is to start selling stock photos. Instead of waiting to earn a reputation on other stock photo sites, why not sell photos directly to your clients?
You can sell stock photos one by one or individually using the Sell Digital Files Koji. If you’re just getting your foot in the door or need to figure out what your going rate should be, let your clients decide! You can use Name Your Price to sell stock photography to your customers at their own pace. These Kojis act as your own stock photo website where customers can view, download, and purchase images at a price of your choosing.
How To Sell Photos Online FAQ
Ready to start your photo-selling business? Here are some common questions and answers to help you kick off your seller journey:
How much money can you make from selling photos online?
There is no limit to how much money you can make from selling photos online since you’re in charge of your own prices and prints with Koji. Photographers who diversify their businesses can bring in money in different ways; for instance, you might earn money from selling photo editing software presets alongside exclusive images.
What type of photos sell best?
The best way to earn money from your photos is to create images that appeal to your specific audience. For instance, a photographer known for creating content for stock sites will have a very different portfolio than a portrait photographer. The key is to get your digital images to the right set of eyes.
How can I make money from photos?
There are several ways to make money from your photos. Whether you’re selling stock photos online, running a photography business, or passing along your knowledge of images, there are plenty of ways to make money selling photos online.
What is the best site to sell pictures on?
Koji is one of the best places to sell photos. Our platform makes it easy for you to sell prints, photos, digital downloads, courses, lighting presets, and anything else related to photography anywhere on the internet.
Earning money selling pictures doesn’t have to be complicated. Hopefully, this guide inspires you to create your own online marketplace by selling your skills, prints, and valuable insights as a photographer.