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How does a photographer earn money online?



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How does a photographer earn money online?

I was just thinking of ways to earn money online using photography.  There's a lot of sites that you could earn from by selling your photos and I've tried them all and I haven't sold one yet.  

All of the photo buying sites I've tried so far doesn't really buy photos.  

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DenisP
I've never really had the passion/drive to make money from photography. Sure I love it as a hobby, but depending on the kind of photography you do, it can take a lot of effort to make a liveable income off of it.

But regardless, I'm sure there are many ways to do so. I know one way is to post your photos on a stock photography site so you receive royalties any time someone uses them.

Another is journalistic photography. If you can be on the scene for big events, a lot of news outlets may be willing to pay you to use your photos.

You could also sell prints as a fine art photographer. It is all going to depend on what kind of photography you do.



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vinaya
I am a hobbyist photographer. I wish I could make money from my photographs, however, I have never tried selling my photographs. I once created an account on a stock photography website, however, I never submitted my photographs.
Anyone interested in selling photographs can try stock photography sites.



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DenisP
While stock photography is definitely an option, I don't think anyone should expect to make a liveable income for it. It might earn you a shiny penny to use as disposable income, but the fact is that it is fairly difficult to earn a lot from it. Most moderately successful stock photographers upload anywhere from hundreds to thousands of photos before they start making any money. The whole idea behind it is uploading as much as possible in hopes of improving your odds of someone needing something you photographed.



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TheArticulate
This is the exact difficulty I've found with my stock photography. In essence, you're right. The larger you image gallery is, the better chance you have of selling your stuff. I currently make $0.25 to $0.50 a month on my stock photos, and my gallery is about 20 images. But I think there's also a science to stock photography. I mainly upload my travel photos and some random "artsy" shots I take, but I think you have to know exactly what you're going for when you shoot something for stock photography. I've begun asking myself: "Who would use this photo for their blog/website/article/etc."? And that can be a really tough question to answer, but someone who understands what images people will want can make good money doing it for sure.

My dad is a professional photographer, and he put some effort into stock photography a while back. If anyone's interested, his portfolio can be seen at shutterstock. His photos have a very "generalized quality" about them, where they can be used for a variety of different purposes if desired.

He's told me he cashes out of Shutterstock every 2 to 3 months for $50 or so. That's about $200 a year or so, which isn't bad for passive income.



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SiamSEO
Stock photography is really painstakingly hard, as simple "background" images don't really sell, and in order to have something that e.g., news outlets would use you'd need models, and they always cost money as nobody is willing to work for royalties only. So you're looking for a quite notable upfront investment before you can even dream of selling anything - and then you need luck to make the sales!



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TheArticulate
You can always tap your friends or relatives to model for you! That's what I've done, and it's worked relatively well. My dad's stock photo gallery consists completely of friends and family, no professional models, and he manages to sell his photos regularly.



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SiamSEO
Sure thing, just make sure to have your paperwork (release agreements and other relevant documentation) in order if you're selling the photos, because nobody can know what the future will hold, so you're better off if you make sure that you have legal approval to sell those photos.



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RhealaineS
I am also into photography but I don't have guts to try to sell my work. I think my photographs aren't good enough to be sold. I look forward to having that guts as time pass by.



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Jral14
in my personal experience, I wouldn't suggest you to earn online from your photographs because basically, it is very hard to sold. Just like in shutterstock, you need to have a lot of photographs before earning 1 dollar. I suggest that find a company which can sell your photos because earning online by your photographs will just waste your effort and time. Consider joining a competition. In this way, once your photo wins, you will be featured and more photographer will have to contact you and then you will earn money.



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TheArticulate
I don't know, I think competitions aren't the best route to go if you want to make money off your photos. Don't get me wrong, competitions are fun, and I LOVE putting my work into Gurushots competitions, but I'm going to be completely honest. The people who win those competitions are phenomenal photographers.

In all honestly, I would counter what you say and recommend submitting work to stock photography sites. While yes, it can take a while to earn money, if you contribute frequently to your portfolio and you have work that is high quality and relatable to a wide variety of people, you can make decent money on the side doing it.



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DarthHazard
There are different ways to make money online as a photographer. The best way obviously is to sell your photos online which seems to not be working for you. This could be because of two reasons. The first is that you are just not advertising your photos/the platform you are selling your photos on properly. You need to promote the pictures, try and create a portfolio for your work which will create some publicity for you. The second is that your pictures just aren't good enough which is why no one is buying them.



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vinaya
There are a lot of sites where you can list your photograph for sale, however, in order to bring buyers to your listing, you should work hard. You need to write title and description with proper keywords and promote on site and off site. I have friends who make money my selling photographs on a site called Fine Art America. On this site, you will upload an image for sale and the buyer has multiple buying options, they can buy your photograph as a poster, cushion cover, iPhone cover, pillow cover etc.



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Judas2018
If you want to earn money as a photographer, you must set up an online space or offer your services on third party websites. Where you can list packages for sale, and display some of your work to entice interested buyers.



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kammy143
I really think it is a bit of a challenge if you try to sell photos online. Offering services as a photographer is more likely to succeed rather than selling random photos online. See, if the consumer doesn't need it, why buy it? It is easier for an individual to serve a site dedicated to services as a photographer or videographer for events.



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TheArticulate
As someone who does freelance photo and video work offline, your comment is spot on. I've dabbled in stock photography avenues, and the money you'll make there doesn't compare to how much you can earn as a freelancer offering your skills to clients.

I'd recommend starting up a personal photo studio, doing senior pictures, engagement photos, wedding photography, etc. The potential to earn money that way is far greater than selling images online.



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vinaya
You have a point. Earning as a photographer offering photography service is easier than earning by selling your photographs. As a photographer, you can also earn by tutoring. In order to sell photographs online, you also need marketing skills and SEO expertise.



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Martinsx1
You made a very good point here, it's definitely going to be more easier to earn money working as a photographer offering your skills to people who needs for snapping purposes than getting some pictures of your own and putting it up for sale. It's going to be very hard getting what might interest someone who didn't give you his or her preferences before hand.



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superlicca
I definitely agree with you. Offering service as a photographer is better than selling photos. A lot of clients will hire a photographer for events such as weddings, birthday party, etc. Offering a discount for referring friends or family is also a big help. It also encourages clients to return if you offer the discount on their next session.



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Kakashi2020
I do photo editing and enhancement jobs but im really searching for ways to earn using photos that I've taken and or other photos.



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Tronia
If the sites where you list those photos aren't working out then perhaps think about the exposure.

Make your own instagram and start uploading all the pictures there and then giving links and so on.



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DarthHazard
Instagram can be a really good place to start because of it's large audience and the fact that it actually revolves around photography, more than other social networks like Facebook or Twitter. And the best thing is that if you can build a large enough following around your Instagram page, then you can start to make money from sponsorships as well!



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kammy143
There are a lot of sites that offers photo editing. For example, this site, pixelclerks, This site is a very wonderful site that offers a lot of chances for people who want to earn using their skills in manipulating images. In selling photos online is kind of tricky because there are a lot of images that can be seen online which can easily be downloaded. Another thing is that most commonly you have to copyright your images if you really want it to be legally branded as yours, which is kinda tedious. Anyways, I wish you the best on the path you are venturing. May you be successful.



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DenisP
With regards to online work related to photography, I think one of the best ways to earn money really is through editing and photo enhancement. It is a skill that's in demand by many magazine companies and websites, and even people on Instagram will sometimes pay you to enhance their photos. Making money from fine arts photography is incredibly hard though. I had a photography professor who took absolutely beautiful photos with amazing creativity and talent, but she still struggled to make any money off of them. The struggling artist stereotype is very real when it comes to fine arts photographers.



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Tronia
I think making money online just as a photographer is not easy. It would be easier perhaps to get in contact with different offline companies near you that need photos.

The sites where you list your photos can be tough because people/businesses that buy there often look for very specific things.



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aeon
Yeah, I think it's really hard to earn online for being photographer, the only way I think is to sell your photos, but make sure that your photo's is one of a kind. You should have the skills in photography to earn by selling your photos online. You're right, offline company is the only way for the photographer to become successful in that business.



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kaka135
I am not a photographer, and I have not sell any of my photos before, but I think after uploading our photos to those photo sites, we still need to do some marketing work in order to let our photos reach more people, hence we might be able to generate more sales. I have a friend who showcase her kids' artwork on some sites, her blog and also on Facebook. I read some of her friends or readers bought the artwork and some work have been sold on the websites too. I am not sure if she does it merely by words of mouth or she also uses other advertising methods, but I think it's good to share them on social media sites to approach more potential customers.



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TheArticulate
Any of my photographs that I think will sell, I'll put on my Shutterstock profile. Unless you're able to do freelance work for clients online, your best bet of making money is to sell your stuff on stock sites like pond5, shutterstock, istockphoto, etc.

I only sell on Shutterstock, but it's nice because once your photos are accepted and put online, all revenue is passive. You don't have to do anything to earn money, it just comes as people download your work. My portfolio only has about 20 images, so I only make around $0.25 to $0.50 every month off of sales, but if you really buckle down and put together a large and impressive portfolio, you could easily be making good money every month from your photography.

Here's a link to my Shutterstock portfolio, so you can see what sort of images are accepted by them: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/codenamefstop?language=en

The images I sell the most are the photo of the mailbox and the photo of the Japanese garden with wooden doors. I will let you know that Shutterstock's application process is somewhat lengthy. You have to submit 10 photos, and 7 of those 10 must be approved by a reviewer in order for you to be accepted and be able to sell through them.



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Barida
You can be a freelance photographer and earn lots of money working through the internet. The thing is that you can do this by using the social media networks that we have and connect to those clients that might be needing your services once in a while which is not really bad for a start.



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Kakashi2020
Well that would be considered as regular work. I'm looking for ways to earn purely online. It's really hard to think of one. Been pondering about it for quite a while now.



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TheArticulate
Unless you're going to produce stock photography for sites like Shutterstock or iStockphoto, you're not going to be able to make much revenue online via photography. If anything, you'll make much, much more by doing "offline" freelance work by booking photo sessions with seniors, families, models, etc. From my experience, that's the best route to go.



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Adesuwa08
there are so many opportunities you have as a photographer online, am not into photography and I don't have friends who use online schemes to make money online, from what I can gather from online reads on this kind of earnings is possibel.


1 firstly you can be a freelancer, submit your cv online to those photography firm, there are so many sites you can get it if you google it.

selling of your pictures can help you go along way online, there are so many sites online that helps people like you .



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Martinsx1
Earning money online using photography is very difficult task for one reason which is intense competition among top professionals who are skilled very well in the art of photography. Maybe who told you about earning money online as a photographer didn't tell you the real hard truth which you found now by yourself. It's very hard to sell pictures in public websites online. Shutterstock is one of the website I'm aware that pays for photos but you may not likely make any sales uploading pictures for more than 1 year on the site, it's really that hard.



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TheArticulate
There's definitely a science behind stock photography. Shutterstock has a lot of stuff on it, so your stuff needs to be in a unique niche or it really needs to stand out to be noticed. For me, my top seller is a picture of a mailbox against a blue sky. No idea why it sells so well, and when I uploaded it I didn't think people would want it, but there it is, making me a couple bucks a month.

I think a lot of it is to keep shooting tons of stuff and upload as much as possible to your portfolio. The more you have uploaded and tagged with keywords, the more likely you are to sell something.



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Martinsx1
"..... For me, my top seller is a picture of a mailbox against a blue sky. No idea why it sells so well, and when I uploaded it I didn't think people would want it, but there it is, making me a couple bucks a month....."

Please I would like to know that if it's on Shutterstock that you had this picture uploaded and it was was fetching you a good couple of bucks on monthly basis? The reason I asked is because from what I have observed lately, it's so hard making sales on Shutterstock.



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TheArticulate
Yes, it's earning me money on a monthly basis. I logged in to check on it for you, and I overestimated how much it's earning me a little, but I earn just about $0.50 a month between two pictures. You have to keep in mind that I don't upload stock photography regularly. My image gallery is maybe 15 images.

If you continually upload work and have a larger portfolio, I guarantee you can be earning a couple dollars a month using Shutterstock. I've been telling myself for a while now that I need to just buckle down and start pumping out stock photos, but I just haven't found the time.

How does a photographer earn money online?



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Martinsx1
@TheArticulate I'm glad seeing you have actually earned a few dollars from uploading pictures on Shutterstock, but just like I said before, the earnings stakes are very poor. It's true that you can argue that you have lesser uploads and it's likely the reason why you haven't earned more than you did but who knows if it would be so or not. Anyways I'm glad seeing you earn from the site.



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TheArticulate
Something to keep in mind is that I don't go out and take pictures with the sole intention of selling them online as stock. My stuff is generally travel photography and that sort of thing. There's a certain science behind true stock photography, coming up with a concept that is generalized enough that people will want to buy them for their website/blog/article/whatever.

My dad does stock photography professionally, and his work is more in line with "true stock photography" if you want to call it that. Not only his is gallery bigger, but his content is much more generalized than mine, which makes it appealing to a larger number of people. He cashed out of Shutterstock for around $50 every couple of months.

If you don't know what you're doing, then yes, the earning stakes are going to be really low.



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Kakashi2020
I thought of something recently and it's to buy and sell cameras online. I think only a few are doing it now. And since many people nowadays are not using their cameras because of smartphones then they can opt to sell it as a used item. Since most old cameras are just in some storage closet anyway.



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TheArticulate
This is a really interesting take on the topic. I follow a model and photographer from LA on Instagram, and in his spare time, he goes around different markets and pawn shops looking for old cameras that he can score good deals on. He then turns these around and sells them for a profit, which is a really good idea, actually. There's just not a market in my city for that, so I'd have to do all of that online if I really wanted to.



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vinaya
I think you can earn more as a digital artist or graphic designer than a photographer. Since these days everyone has a smartphone that takes awesome pictures, there is no market for photography. I have many photographer friends who are using various platforms to sell their works, however, they are no selling enough. Contrarily, I have digital artists and graphic designer friends who are earning well by working as a book illustrator and designer.



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TheArticulate
This is the same issue I've found doing freelance photography in the offline world, too. Nearly everyone today is a "photographer", and professional photographers are a dime a dozen anymore. When it comes to wedding photography (as a wedding videographer) I've worked with very few actual professional photographers. If anything, the photographers at the weddings are a family member or a friend of the family who happens to have a nice camera.

I agree, there's a much larger market for graphic design and digital art/illustration than there is for photography online.



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vinaya
That's true. Since everyone of us has a phone with a camera and the camera practically is as good as a point and shoot camera, everyone of us is a photographer. The quality of cellphone photography cannot be compared with thre photos tken by a DSLR, however, these days people do not care much about the quality of the pictutes. That's why hiring a photographer during the events like wedding is on decline. When I was getting married, I did not hire a videographer, my sister's husband was the videographer and my brother wasd my wedding photographer.



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Kakashi2020
You're right it's very hard to make a living by being a photographer because smartphones nowadays have very good cameras. I think it would be better to concentrate in video editing than taking photographs. The market for amateur photographers is to saturated nowadays.



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TheArticulate
You're spot on, at least for wedding freelancers here in the U.S., and not a day goes by that I'm not thankful that I made the venture into video. I've found that people can pick up a camera, start snapping photos, and immediately market themselves as a "photographer", but it's significantly more difficult do that if you're doing video. The editing process makes it more complicated (in my opinion) than photography, and would hang someone up if they didn't have much experience with what they were doing.

The only problem with video for weddings is that the videographer is generally the first person to be cut from a budget if money is an issue, so there is that, too.



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vinaya
I have never attended a photography course. I learned my skills by doing it myself. I was introduced to photography when I was a 6th grader. I had a lot of passion in photography and I was a fast learner. By the time I was a 10th grader, I was the photographer for the family. I did a photoshoot for my sisters and cousins. I have also tried my hands on wedding photography. I am yet to earn money from my photographs, however, my photography skills have helped me produce better online articles.



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MomoStarr16
I researched this before when I'm finding a way to earn from my garden pictures. And like what they said, stock photography can lead you with a passive income. It may gain you small amount but at least you earn passively. I don't think if I can share some of the site here but there are lots of them in the internet.



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Kakashi2020
Promoting or listing your own photo editing services in various sites is another good way to start earning online. For some editing training you could try paint.net and PIXLR it's both easy to use with professional results.



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Kakashi2020
I just recently found an app that pays you via PayPal for doing some tasks which involves taking photos.

There's a variety of tasks to choose from like going to a mall and taking photos of a restaurant or going to the grocery and take candid shots of a certain product etc.

My first task upon Signup is to take a picture of the sky and surroundings, there's also some questions you have to answer like "whats the weather like in your location?"
It's really easy I just downloaded it from playstore.
The name of the app is...
PREMISE.



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keen2write
There is sites where you can earn for your images such as pixabay but it is more like donation. You could set up a portfolio I suppose and sell your images as many bloggers need real unique images.



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Kakashi2020
A few days ago I encountered an ad that says a new social media site would pay members to post content and photos, so I gave it a try by joining and posting some content and I noticed that people are posting a lot of photos there and are getting paid. I still haven't checked the whole site yet because I'm still finishing a lot of articles, but I'm going to check it again in a couple of days from now.
It's a new social media platform and their beta testing it now. ...www.goopag.com...



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Kakashi2020
I just remembered that there's a lot of photography contests every summer, these contest are usually sponsored by different camera brands and stores and it's a good way of earning that is if you win. The prizes are usually expensive cameras and equipment.



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Steve5
One of the easiest ways is to post it on the internet. I've seen photographers present their work online. They provide online portfolios that showcase their best photographs for everyone to see. Then, they get requests for paid work. It can be difficult at times, but it's where most people would start.



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EfficientNinja
I think you can earn a few dollars uploading to stock photo sites. I don't think the earning potential is very high though. It can be a good additional income online especially if photography is your hobby. But you shouldn't rely on this method as a main source of income.

If you want to earn more from photography, I think offline jobs would work better. Such as wedding photography, photo editing, etc.



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aecel
I haven't experienced selling photographs online but I heard there some sites you can earn from uploading your own photos. I'm also interested in this but I don't know what requirements they needed if they want HD quality or what kind of resolution of the cameras. Maybe start posting on freelance sites about your photography skills you might find a client who's interested in your work.



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Pixie06
I tried to sell my photographs on a renowned site but unfortunately, they were rejected. I subsequently tried many other high paying sites with no success. I then joined a crowdfunding site and I was able to sell some of my photographs at low prices. My friend has advised me to start a photography blog and monetize it but I am not really sure about this idea. I have tried several ways to sell my photos online and all I can say is that it is not easy.



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amelia88
The only way I really was aware of was selling photography, but I don't know how much of a market exists for that these days, especially if you don't already have an established online presence. Maybe offering it cheap on sites like Fiverr and such could work, that have a wider potential reach.



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jennyfermanuel
I know someone who loves photography so much. He didn't take any courses about photography, he is a civil engineering graduate anyway. What he did is he keeps on posting his own shots on social medias like facebook and instagram. Until I found out on my newsfeed that he got hired into a certain photography business.
It didn't take even a year that I saw him having photoshoots for weddings and any other occasions who needs a photographer.
So, just try it. keep on posting your own shots on social media. Keep in touch with those people who loves photography as well. You might get a chance to use it for a living.



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ChristineOh
There is a lot of sites and applications where you can sell your photos. They will pay you and at the same time you can get some advice to enhance your work.



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Gilgamesh
There are some websites out there that have some contests regarding in making logo it usually depends into the client of tge certain website of which criteria will be taken. Ut usually offer a minimal salary to high salary depending into your skills and creativity in making a logo because it will dictate of how frequent your work will be chosen to earn money.



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jetselle
Here are a few ways you can earn a living as a photographer online:
  1. The website Fiverr and Tenerr have a way for people to list their skills for sale. You can post a job on one of these sites and offer your service.
  2. Set up your own blog and offer your services to people. This could be as a wedding photographer, travel photographer, or a photographer for special events. Add some of your best images to the site to attract people that would be interested in hiring you.
  3. There are many magazines that advertise for photographers. They are looking to hire a person to take photos for their upcoming editions.
  4. You can do photo shoots for people looking to get into modeling. Make a website and offer models a set of images they can send to a modeling agency.
  5. Today many websites that offer a way for a person to sell their images online. You can easily join one of these sites so that you can upload and sell your images online. Just keep in mind these sites will take a small percentage of your pay for using the site.
  6. You also have the free photo sharing sites that you can upload and sell your images to people looking for an image to post online.
  7. To start off with, chose a handful of your images to post on Pixabay. This is a free photo download site. In order to get established, you'll need to give away a little to make money. On this site, you can give away some images that you wouldn't sell. This will give people a chance to meet you, know your work, and maybe hire you for more professional assignments.
These are the most popular ways to sell your images online. But if you are looking to make real money, then stick with your own blog or working for magazines.



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Martinsx1
There are so many proven online sites that can fetch a good photographer a decent amount of money when he or she uploads the quality pictures of his or her work on the site. Once such pictures gets downloaded by users online, the photographer is getting paid immediately. If you very good example of such site is Shutterstock. I know a lot of people who are earning money from the site by just uploading their photos.



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rlpzbeermoney
It would be really hard as far as I know to sell photos online. There are a few platforms out there like EyeEm and Shutterstock that sells the license for digital publications and the like to use your photos for commercial and editorial use. And even there the competition is fierce.
In this age of "copy paste", I find it hard to justify buying a license to a photo. Even with a watermark, people have means to remove it in Photoshop and use it for there own gain. Plus add the fact that you can't do anything when someone steals your photo as there own.
I suggest finding am offline job related to Photography instead.



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Kakashi2020
I've seen some photographers promoting sexy photo workshops and it's always over booked. I've never attended one but an amateur photographer friend of mine did and told me that it's always overbooked because of the scantily clad sexy models.



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theresajane
There are a lot of sites online that pay you when you upload your high quality photos and let them be downloaded by users online. When you search on Google, there are plenty of options available.



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emiaj55
I haven't have much luck as well when selling my photos. That is why, it mostly became my hobby for me. But I do earn from them when I get to be invited to shoot for an event. Lately, I have photo shoot mostly weddings.



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