According to Photutorial, photographers who sell stock images earn approximately $0.02 pic/month, while professionals make $0.05–$0.25 pic/month.
For a month, I earned about $200, even though I uploaded fewer than 100 photos. In this article, I will share my results and describe the best apps to sell photos that will help you increase your earnings.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock allows to earn a 33% commission on photos. The amount depends on the plan selected by a customer and starts from $3.30 per download. What I like the most about it is that it lets me upload photos directly from Lightroom, Bridge, or online.
I’ve been testing a variety of web-based platforms and mobile apps for selling photos for a month. During this period, I sold many lifestyle photos, nature pics, candid shots, business photos, and pics of people using technology gadgets.
When looking for the apps to review for this guide, I considered the requirements of the platforms and applications, payout structures, and the clients’ demand. Some of the applications on this list are stock photography sites for budget-conscious users. They provide microstock photography services and enable photographers to sell their photos for a small amount of money.
In most cases, a photographer still owns the copyright of the images after uploading their photos to a specific platform and can import them across various services to earn more money.
Key advantages:
When I started to sell my photos on Shutterstock, I was able to earn a 15% commission, which makes it the best app to sell photos for those who want to increase their profits quickly.
The amount of your earnings depends on the number of image licenses. If you have a lot of them, you will earn more money. It means that you can earn from $0.10 to $5.80 for pics and $10.20 to $39.80 for long-term licenses.
Check out this Adobe Stock vs Shutterstock comparison, and you’ll notice that these services have similar payouts. Besides, Shutterstock allows its members to earn some extra costs by referring new photographers or customers.
Over the past 15 years, the platform has already paid its contributors over a billion dollars, which is an incredible sum. So, photos uploaded to this app will be visible to millions of customers worldwide.
Key advantages:
To start selling my pics on this service, I signed in to the Foap Marketplace and imported a bunch of photos. The income is split between me and the app in half. Note that your images should be of excellent quality (minimum 1280 x 960 pixels).
The best thing about this app for photo selling is that businesses request photos they want to order. It is great that the Foap organizes contests (or Missions) where shooters present their best images and videos competing with each other. If your submission wins, you will earn extra money.
Key advantages:
iStock is a useful photo-selling service that helped me earn almost $50 per month. You can earn a 15% royalty per image sold. Members of the community who claim that their content is exclusive earn from 25% to 40% per sale. Comparing iStock vs Adobe Stock, I noticed that both services only accept high-quality photos. At first, I needed to wait until my photos got approved.
I downloaded and installed the Contributor by Getty Images app to start selling my pics. The minimum number of images a photographer should upload for the agency to review is three. However, it’s better to upload at least six images.
Key advantages:
With EyeEm, it is easy to make money with stock photos by selling pics on the marketplace. Using its batch upload option, I could import multiple images to the platform and pick those I want to sell.
What makes it the best app to make money selling photos is that the income is split between a user and the service 50/50. Using this service, I earned about $30 per month.
If you want your photos to appear on the top of search results and get a higher income, take part in contests or “Missions” with specific briefs. Once someone purchases your photo, you will be notified. Check your inbox and open an email linking you to the earnings section of your profile. Here you will also find free tutorials and in-app magazines to improve your skills as a photographer.
Key advantages:
500px app allows users to earn 25% on non-exclusive pics and 60% on photos with an exclusive license. Another great thing about it is that Pro-level members can earn 100% of their net sales.
This application has both free and paid versions available. If you opt for a free version, you will be able to access this platform with over 13 million registered users without paying a dime. The only shortcoming is that this version allows you to upload up to 7 images weekly. It might be a great option for those who are just getting started and do not want to upload many photos at once.
Key advantages:
Etsy is a popular e-commerce platform where sellers sell their handmade, vintage, and other items. Photographers use this app to sell mobile photos and prints. I decided to use it to sell my digital and printed work, thus allowing my customers to select an option that suits me best.
You will have to pay $0.20 for each listing. In addition, the platform’s fee for the order amount is 6.5% regardless of the currency you prefer. You will have to post unique pictures to successfully sell photos on Etsy.
It will help you stand out among competitors. Besides, all popular photographers on this platform upload a lot of photos, which allows their customers to select the pictures that suit their needs best.
Key advantages:
Dreamstime provides different conditions for contributors to make more profit. For example, if you sell exclusive rights, I got a 10% bonus. Moreover, Exclusive Contributors, who are not allowed to distribute their assets on other sites while staying a loyal member of Dreamstime, receive a 60% bonus. You will have to earn at least $100 to be eligible for a payout.
I like that photographers can earn money by selling their photos on this stock platform. This service has a variety of other features that enable users to import model and property releases with a few clicks. This platform stands out among the rest for its intuitive stock library. Besides, it has millions of monthly visits.
Key advantages:
If you are looking for the best app to sell your photos, consider this solution, as it can fully replace all the services I have reviewed above. The feature of importing pics to many stock websites at once with one click of a button is a real advantage. It supports Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, and other platforms, as well as popular photo sharing apps.
What is more, Photerloo uses AI algorithms, offering photographers the most appropriate Instagram hashtags for publications to increase their visibility on the platform. Thanks to machine learning technology, the app selects the ranking keywords for your content in a jiffy. The app is available for free or for $60/per year.
Bloggers and the representatives of small and medium-sized businesses are the main consumers of stock photos. If you analyze websites with high traffic, you will see what kinds of photos they publish.
In addition, you may consider what a company wants to convey by using a specific image. When you get a grasp of the message they want to bring across, it will be easier for you to take photos that will be in high demand. Use a stock photo finder to find the needed photo samples.
Below, you will find a list of commonly purchased photos:
|
People |
★★★★★ (5/5) |
Photos of people are always in high demand as they are used in advertising, editorials, and business communications. I recommend you take a look at weird stock photos to understand that such photos may be extremely creative. |
|
People Working |
★★★★★ (5/5) |
Photos of professionals in their work environments can be used for presentations, websites, and marketing materials. |
|
Travel |
★★★★☆ (4.5/5) |
Such pics are suitable for travel blogs, magazines, and marketing materials for tour operators. |
|
Food |
★★★★☆ (4.5/5) |
You may see such pics in ads, blogs, cookbooks, and menus. |
|
Nature |
★★★★☆ (4/5) |
Photos of landscapes, wildlife, and natural phenomena have many uses and look great in materials for environmental campaigns, travel, and lifestyle publications. |
|
Cities |
★★★★☆ (4/5) |
High-quality cityscapes and urban photos are utilized in travel and tourism marketing. You will also see them in materials about urban lifestyle and architecture. |
|
Tools |
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5) |
Such photos can be found in DIY guides, tutorials, and articles for specific markets. |
Even though I decided to upload photos taken with my phone, I knew they should be of high quality. This is why I recommend you purchase a phone with great camera such as Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Check free guidelines on how to take high-quality images. Nowadays, YouTube is full of easy and comprehensive tutorials on how to take excellent pics. Subscribe to such famous photographers as Tania Cervian, Christian Cody, and Neek Mason to find inspiration and come up with interesting ideas.
Import multiple images. Some photos may look the same, but actually be different in terms of brightness, the way they are cropped, and the angle they are taken to be suitable for various social media networks.
The popularity of your pics among customers also depends on such parameters as it is always better to have a ready-to-post image rather than adjusting a pic to publish it according to the requirements of some social media page.
Devote time to improve your photos. You can use Lightroom to adjust the contrast and brightness, fix the white balance, etc. If you are tight on time, it might be better to use ready-made presets created by professional retouchers.
Use keywords effectively. Xpiks, MyKeyworder, or ImStocker Keyworder are the best search tools, whereas Adobe Bridge is a perfect option for adding metadata.
Advertise your pics. Promotion is indispensable when it comes to selling photos. Post them on social media for photographers, in forums, or share them with your friends and family. By expanding your audience, you can boost your chances to sell more.
Be trendy. You can explore popular topics both on stock sites or apps and with the help of such tools as Google Trends. However, niche topics may also sell well. For instance, if you specialize in capturing the beauty of the human body, you may need to find the best apps to sell feet photos, as such services cater to the needs of a specific audience.
Yes. Most of these apps accept images taken on average smartphones. Before submitting your content to a marketplace, be sure to check the requirements.
Many services take a commission whenever a user makes a sale. Its amount depends on the platform. Some platforms also set payout thresholds. Due to this restriction, users need to earn a specific amount of money before they are allowed to withdraw their earnings. Before uploading your photos, read its terms of use to learn detailed information about its fees.
I have earned about $200 per month. Contributors generally earn $0.10 and $99.50 in case of royalty-free sales. With extended licenses, it is possible to make $500.
