How to make money as a Stock Photographer

If you are a photographer or if you are just getting started as a photographer and you are looking for another venue that you can use to make money - why not try your at stock photography?

If you are good and can follow the guidelines set by the stock photography sites, shooting stock photography can be an incredible way to make some extra money while expanding your portfolio.

One site that I am a member of and have used many times in my Graphic Design and advertising career that allows you to sell stock photography is called iStockPhoto.com. This site is huge and has an enormous selection of photos to choose from. They also have some top-notch quality standards so you know that you are getting involved with an extremely professional company. Again, I know a ton of advertising and design industry creative professionals that use this site as a stock photography source - including me.

So, if you want to get started selling your photos as stock, just create an account, and apply to their program. You will have to read their submission information, but it is all helpful information that you should know if you do not already, and it will help you to improve the quality of your own work. Once you submit some photos, they will review your material and let you know if you have been accepted into the program or not. Once you are accepted, you can start making money by building your portfolio and submitting photos that meet their guidelines. I recommend that you read the forums on the site to find photos that are being requested by the users because they are the ones to most likely get downloaded. It will also give you some good ideas for what trends you should be looking to shoot and how to help you build your own portfolio.

So once you start building your portfolio and submitting material that you know people are looking for, you will not get paid a ton of cash right away - it takes a little bit of time. You will get paid a set price per image downloaded by the user community who wants to use your photos - starting as low as $0.30 cents an image, but depending on the quality of the image, the popularity of the image, and the amount of people who want to use it - you can start to see some pretty good returns over the following months.

To be successful, my advice is to keep building your portfolio, keep looking at the top selling photo sets and the top photographers. Take a look at what is popular and what is being downloaded the most. This will give you some guidance into the trends for photos that are selling, and will help you to develop your own style and marketability on the site.