If Instagram was a country, it would have more citizens than the United States.
400 million digital citizens make an awful lot of photographic memories. 40 billion photos and counting actually. How many are you taking? And what are you doing with them?
Maybe, you are stitching them together as memories. Maybe, you are putting them up against the best in photography contests. Or maybe, you are someone like Mike Gutkin who puts his smartphone and photography skills to good use by making money from them. It’s hard to argue with someone who has 63,000 followers on Instagram!
In a Verizon Wireless story, he has the best advice,
“Dive right in.”
Thanks to the sheer number of apps and stock photography sites, selling your photos for some extra cash has no narrow hoops for us to jump through. The obstacle is the skill level.
Make no mistake – it is hard because it is creative. It is hard because everyone is a smartphone photographer. But as many have already proven, it can be done. Let’s first understand who will buy your photos.
It is cheaper for brands and companies to buy photographs from community-powered stock photography services than from professionals. Buyers look for photos with creativity and realism, rather than the staged images from traditional agencies.
Stock photography can also get boring after a while, and stop saying those 1000 words you want them too. They may not be localized enough to reflect culture and festivals. They might not be timely enough to capture a breaking news event or even something as mundane as a college football match. Brands today often prefer user-generated images that are taken from everyday life. For example, babies, photos of family holidays, people working in natural settings and so on.
Traditional stock photography outlets are also looking beyond digital SLRs. Your camera doesn’t matter any more — anything with emotion sells.
Fotolia which is a well-known stock photography biggie has got into the game with Fotolia Instant. Shutterstock might have a strict rule for contributions, but it also gives registered users the Shutterstock Contributor app for discovering what customers want and contributing to the pool. A similar offering comes from Dreamstime.
If you don’t want to sell your shots, sites like Photoshare will gladly accept your smartphone snaps for educational use.
There are stock photography websites. And then there are specialized photography apps with a community behind them. These apps are a single window solution to taking a photo, automatically getting it authenticated, and then submitting it for a sale.
A large community of mobile photographers use Twenty20 (earlier known as Instacanvas) to explore photography and earn cash from their own photos. Nearly 300,000 photographers and 46 million photos give brands and digital creators a lot to choose from.
Use the free Twenty20 iPhone app to join as a photographer. Those without an iPhone can use the website as there is no Android app as yet.
Twenty20 has a good explanation of the type of photos that get sold.
How do I sell a photo?
How much can I earn?
Twenty20 gives out a commission of 80%. A single photo can sell for $20, $40, or $80 depending on the size of the photo purchased. You earn 80% of the sale price on each buy.
There are other price points that depend on the kind of inclusion. There are four ways to make money from your photos on Twenty20.
Download: Twenty20 for iOS (Free)
Snapwire is a connecting platform for more than 200,000 photographers and buyers who are looking for custom photos. Photographers follow Requests and Challenges from brands, creatives and small businesses who need to license authentic custom photos.
Requests are open only to approved photographers of Shooter level or above. Challenges are open to all. Requests pay more than Challenges.
The crowdsourcing site follows a leveling system that rewards photographers based on their performance. It has seven levels: Explorer, Shooter, Advanced, Expert, Elite, Pro, and Master. Each has its own perks.
Follow the How to Succeed tips and tricks for selling your first photo on the platform.
How do I sell a photo?
How much can I earn?
Snapwire pays out 70% of every photo sold on a buyer’s paid Request and 50% when your photos sell in the Marketplace. You retain the copyright to your photo.
Download: Snapwire for iOS (Free) | Android (Free)
Foap is one of the simplest places to sell your mobile photos. The iPhone and Android photography marketplace is one of the many corners of the web you can turn to for micro-jobs in your free time. Some of the world’s largest brands like MasterCard, Hyatt, Volvo Group, Absolut Vodka can buy your photos.
The payout isn’t terrific ($5 per photo) but the dollars can add up if you are regular contributor. One of the benefits is that you can sell the same photo as many times as you like.
Foap has an excellent community portal. Here’s a brief guide on how to sell well here.
How do I sell a photo?
How much can I earn?
Every photo is priced at $10. Foap pays out $5 each time one of your photos sells. The photographer owns the photos. Missions also offer larger prize purses starting from $100.
Download: Foap for iOS (Free) | Android (Free)
Clashot is an online “photo bank” — which is just another way of saying crowdsourced stock photography site. The free mobile apps for iOS and Android help you make, publish and sell photos. After a quick moderation process, the photos are stocked for sale at Depositphotos.
Question 8 in Section 2 of the FAQ should fill you in on Clashot’s requirements for photographs selected for sale.
How do I sell a photo?
How much can I earn?
Photographers earn up to 44% of the profits from each sale. Prices on the site start from $5. Do remember that one photo can be sold an unlimited number of times to an unlimited number of people.
Download: Clashot for iOS (Free) | Android (Free)
Getty Images is the top stock photography company in the world. Its specialized mobile app for iPhone photos is less known. That’s probably because the app is currently intended for existing Getty Images and iStock contributors. Users without contributor contracts can only view the content submitted by other users. They cannot submit photos.
The company has however made a commitment that this policy will change, so keep an eye on Moment for your own moment to shine.
How do I sell a photo?
How much can I earn?
Royalties will be paid according to any existing Getty contributor agreement. There wasn’t any hard data on actual sale prices.
Download: Moment for iOS (Free)
EyeEM is a creative filter photo app first and a stock photography site second. The EyeEM Marketplace is an offshoot of the community behind the app. You can use the EyeEM camera and its 24 filters to shoot and upload the photos to the Marketplace. You can also just upload any other photo from your camera roll.
EyeEM has an option called Open Edit which helps you learn editing tricks from EyeEm’s top photographers. Notice the Open Edit icon on some photos. You can also reap benefits from EyeEM’s Tutorial Archives.
How do I sell a photo?
How much can I earn?
Prices start from $20. Revenues are split 50/50 between the photographer and the company. The same photo can be sold to different clients. The non-exclusive rights also allow you to use and sell the photos anywhere else.
Download: EyeEM for iOS (Free) | Android (Free)
Scoopshot is a Finland-based hiring platform for photographers around the world. News outlets, bloggers, brands and companies as well as individuals crowdsource requests on Scoopshot. Photographers send them specific photos or videos. Scoopshot as the middleman takes care of image rights transfers and monetary transactions.
The site has gathered 1,800 accredited professional photographers in 55 countries so far. Scoopshot is open to both photographers and videographers.
The Scoopshot blog is a good read to understand what sells on the micro-stock photography site. This very early blog post on sweating it out with a smartphone camera is inspiring too.
How do I sell a photo?
How much can I earn?
On Scoopshot, you can set your own price if the photo has some good news value. Brands set a price around the tasks they announce. This can range from $7 all the way up to $150. Daily Contest photos that get sold receive $5. A photo picked up by an online publisher also receives a percentage of the advertising revenue via Scoopshot’s In-Image Ad Network.
Download: Scoopshot for iOS (Free) | Android (Free)
Let’s not forget the smartphone photo community that started it all. Though there is no direct way to make money on Instagram, some time and effort can yield wonderful results. The secret sauce is in “engagement” — more followers on Instagram could open up opportunities, even among the billions of photos on the social network. I will keep it brief, but look at the two platforms below:
Mobile Prints – Use your Instagram photos on MobilePrints.com to make and sell framed prints, canvas prints, greeting cards, and more. Buyers can use the Pixels.com app for iOS and Android to visualize the artworks before purchase.
The Mobile Media Lab – A creative agency that sources photos from influential Instagrammers around the world. It connects brands to the right Instagrammer for specific campaigns.
You would also do well to follow these eight tips from my fellow author Rob Nightingale on how to get noticed on Instagram. Number #3 on the list is the one to remember always: use only your best photos.
The business model of the seven stock photo apps is similar. Every photo submission is beaded around assignments, themes, and contests. Here are a few more that deserve attention:
Smartphones can take great pictures, you just have to focus beyond selfies and work on your creative eye. The bad news is that the number of photos uploaded each day outstrips the number of people buying them. The good news is that people are earning a decent amount of money from their smartphone photos instead of letting them become memory bytes for the future.
Pick the right app, or more than one app and try your luck. An app like Foap might be good for a smartphone photography beginner. Snapwire might demand a keener photographic eye. Even if you don’t sell a single photo, rest assured your photography will get better by the day as you combine learning with crowd wisdom.
Have you sold a photo yet? What is the best tip you can offer? Tell us about the photography apps on your iPhone.
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