8 Websites That Let You Make Money Off Your Photos

7. DepositPhotos

Housing tens of millions of photographs and images, DepositPhotos is a royalty-free microstock photography agency created by Dmitry Sergeev. In 2013 the company launched a free app for mobile phones called Clashot that enables users to sell pictures they snap on-the-go directly from their phone. Depending on the sale price and licensing agreement for your photos, users can generally expect to take home a cut of roughly 44 to 52 percent of the total selling price for their photos.

6. Redbubble

Redbubble is similar to DeviantArt in that it’s a community for artists in general rather than photographers specifically. The site operates primarily as an online marketplace that allows its members to sell their art as decorations that can stand alone as digital prints or imprinted on objects such as articles of clothing. After a base fee is taken to cover the costs of transaction management, full memberships are free to all artists as long as they maintain the copyrights to their art, regulate their prices, and decide which products are allowed to display their images. For those who can build an audience and branded style for their work, Redbubble can be quite lucrative.

5. Shutterstock

Operating in more than 150 countries and 20 languages, Shutterstock is a leading global provider of digital imagery licensing. The site functions as a two-sided marketplace that connects creative business professionals with the best photos, illustrations, and videos from thousands of contributors worldwide. Because it’s such a well-established platform, Shutterstock has a more stringent vetting process for uploading photos than other sites and typically offers lower returns for photos in exchange for a much bigger pool of potential clients. But, if you’re a serious photographer and confident you can take a lot of high-quality photos, it’s definitely worth checking out.

4. Etsy

Most people think of Etsy as a website where crafty people with lots of yarn go to hawk their unique handmade or vintage items. The reality is it’s actually a pretty great place for photographers to display their work and make a profit from the sale of prints. Etsy uses an eBay-like fee structure that sees the site take $0.20 for each item you list and 3.5 percent of each final sale. But, if you do some research on price setting and figure out a way to cleverly promote your work, it can be extremely profitable.

3. ScoopShot

Scoopshot is a mobile media platform for photo and video crowdsourcing that works a little differently than the other sites mentioned here. Instead of paying for each individual photo that sells, Scoopshot lets photographers earn money from in-image advertising. Potential clients can search the websites photo inventory for the pictures they want, and, if your images are selected for an advert, you get a share of the advertising revenue — rather than the flat fee commonly offered by these types of photo-sharing sites. ScoopShot can also provide photographers with paid photo shoot opportunities, as clients often request specific videos and photos be taken for their particular purposes.

2. SmugMug Pro

Launched in 2002, SmugMug Pro is a paid photo-sharing and image hosting website where users can upload both HD photos and video. The site is designed specifically to make your pictures look good on the web, but it also offers a Pro subscription option that gives you access to various tools and software to help you sell your photos (and retain 85 percent of proceeds). SmugMug does require you to do a little work in terms of setting out your stall and choosing prices, but the investment in time and effort can result in potentially larger returns for your photos and videos.

1. 500px Prime

500px Prime is a premium marketplace for photography licensing. The site lets you buy or sell royalty-free stock photos directly sourced from the world-class 500px community. 70 percent of sales go directly to the photographer and many of the photos on the site have been used in actual commercials and marketing campaigns. But the best part of service is you can continue to license your photos elsewhere even after they have been sold through the site. Or, if you want a higher pay out from the site, you can always choose to give 500px exclusive rights in return for higher licensing fees.

Wes Walcott

Wes is a devourer of media. He ravenously consumes podcasts, books, and TV shows with seemingly no regard for review scores or subject matter. If encountered in the wild, Wes is said to respond positively to verbal cues relating to X-Men or the SNES. The subject can be easily captured and tamed using Transformers or Gundam models.