Earn Money as a Photographer: Top 15 Apps & Websites in 2024

Make Money from Photography
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Are you an aspiring photographer or iPhone user with an aesthetic streak? Do you want to earn by selling photos?

Did you know that you can make money by selling your photos online? Yes, you heard it right. You can make money by selling your photos online, and we’re going to show you 12 of the best websites that you can use to do that.

We have listed the top 15 apps and websites for you to earn money by selling photos.

Start selling your photos to these websites and earn extra income with your hobby.

Pixpa

Setting up your own website to showcase and sell your images while paying zero commissions is definitely the way to go for professional photographers.

Pixpa is an all-in-one platform that enables photographers to showcase, share and sell their images online easily. As a photographer, you can not only create your stunning portfolio website, publish a blog and create an online store; you can also sell your images as prints or digital downloads.

Whether it’s selling images to anyone who visits your website or setting up private client galleries, Pixpa makes the process of selling images online easy and secure.

Some of the features that Pixpa offers are:

  • Choose from several beautiful, mobile-friendly themes for your website.
  • You can customize the theme, add your branding and connect your domain name.
  • All Pixpa websites are SSL protected and secure.
  • Get 24×7 live chat and email support.
  • Set up e-commerce-enabled client galleries easily.
  • Create pricing sheets to offer multiple prints and download options for each image.
  • Set up tax rates and shipping rates.
  • Offer discount coupons.
  • Connect your Paypal or Stripe account and accept payments directly in your account.
  • Automate print order fulfillment by connecting with print labs.
  • And much more.

Best of all, Pixpa does not charge any commissions on your sales so you can keep all the profits to yourself.

Twenty20

Twenty20 is the new name of Instacanvas, a website that once allowed you to create a gallery with your social media photos and sell them in different formats (from a digital copy to a print in canvas format).

The service has evolved to allow you to sell all your photos (not just those on Instagram), with the possibility of connecting with various hosting services in the cloud. The photos you send to them are reviewed by a group of editors to ensure a minimum level of quality.

Twenty20 also organizes photographic challenges, related to the subjects that most customers are looking for, and is sometimes sponsored by a company that needs a certain type of image. The most voted ones appear in prominent listings, while the winner takes a cash prize.

How much money can I earn by selling photos on Twenty20?

In Twenty20 you get 40% of the price of the photo if you buy them through a subscription plan, and 32% if it is a single photo sale. Payments are made through Paypal.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, here is a complete guide to creating an account for free.

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Shutterstock

You may hear Shutterstock as a photo download service. But you can also use it for just the opposite: upload your material (not just photos, but also video clips and vector designs) and earn money from them.

Shutterstock has a blog dedicated to its content contributors, where they will publish tips to make better photos, optimize editing tools or find inspiration for new themes. For example, they could provide useful tips on shutter speed, white balance, depth of field, and photo edit techniques. They also have a forum where you can share your experiences with other photographers.

How much money can I earn by selling photos on Shutterstock?

The pay you get on Shutterstock depends on how much you have won, the type of user who bought the photo, and even the license; The minimum is 25 cents, up to 30% of the price of the photo (maximum of 120 dollars per photo).

DepositPhotos

DepositPhotos is another stock image service like the one above, which also allows you to create a special user account with which you can contribute your own photos and make money it. There will be a little verification process. Once it is verified, you can get started with Depositphotos.

From that moment, you can publish your photos, videos, or vectorial designs to make available to users of DepositPhotos, with a price set by the web. All the material you upload must pass through previous quality control.

How much money can I earn by selling photos on DepositPhotos?

The profits depend on your level as a contributor, a scale that is set according to the number of downloads you generate. The more downloads, the more level you have, and the more money you earn with your photos. In the photos purchased on-demand, the margin is between 34% and 42%, and in the photos purchased by subscription, a fixed price is between 30 and 35 cents.

iStockPhoto

IStockPhoto was born in 2000 as a free photo exchange website but has evolved into a platform where photographers around the world sell their images to companies and media that need them. And if you want to make more money with your Photography, you can be one of them.

You can contribute as much with photos as with videos or illustrations, bypassing a small quality test which is conducted previously (at the start). To find out exactly what you are looking for in iStockPhoto, you can review their training manuals.

How much Money do IStockPhoto pay us by selling our photos?

The benefit of the sales will depend on the credits that you have accumulated with the downloads of your photos; The minimum is 15% on the price of the photo and the maximum is 20%. But these numbers increase exponentially (up to 25% and 45% respectively) if you work exclusively with iStockPhoto.

SnapWire

Snapwire is another online service that connects photographers from all over the world who want to sell their material online (almost 300,000 depending on the web) with people looking for little different photos, away from the cliches of the typical stock photos.

Snapwire works in two different ways: On the one hand, you can accept photographic challenges and special requests from clients that need a specific type of image, and on the other hand, you can use the web more “traditional”, as a showcase of your work, allowing users to review your photos and choose the one you like the most.

How much Money does Snapwire pay us by selling our photos?

The percentage of benefit depends on how you use the platform. In general, for challenges and requests is 70%, and for photos sold in your profile is 50%. But the exact amount depends on the size of the photo purchased, and whether the customer has found it directly in your profile or doing a search. The copyright of your photos keeps you at all times.

ScoopShot

The operation of Scoopshot is a bit different from the services we have seen so far since it is intended to be used directly from your mobile with your app for iPhone and Android.

Once you upload the photo from your mobile phone, it goes on sale directly at the Scoopshot store. As an original point, if someone uses that image in an online ad as part of the Scoopshot advertising network, you will also receive some of the benefits of that advertisement.

Scoopshot also organizes daily photo contests on a specific theme. Likewise, clients can send tasks requesting a specific type of photos or videos, to which you can respond with your own material if you are interested. Payments are made by bank transfer or Paypal.

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Alamy

Alamy is another interesting service where you can earn some money with your photos. 

The point that differentiates Alamy from other similar services is that they accept virtually any type of photo. Does not have to be a perfect “ad” image, starring top models. Alamy boasts of having a large collection of photos, and its only quality control is technical, not editorial quality. You can also sell videos and news photos, related to the current situation.

Other original features of Alamy are its special program for students (where they receive 100% of the price of the photo), and its special version for mobile is designed to upload directly (and band) the photos you make with your mobile. At the moment it is only available for the iPhone.

How much Money does Alamy pay us by selling our photos?

In Alamy, they claim to give the largest commission on profits of this type of platform (money is distributed in half, 50% for each), but prices set them, with an average of 90 dollars per image, but it depends on the use that the client is going to give (commercial or editorial). Payments are made via Paypal or by bank transfer.

SmugMug

Beyond being simply a photo-selling platform, SmugMug is also offered as a service that you can use to showcase your photos, to share private images with your family and friends, or as an online backup of your photos.

As an original point, SmugMug allows you to sell not only digital downloads of your photos but also copies printed in various formats such as a poster, canvas, framed photographs, greeting cards, etc.

How much Money does SmugMug pay us by selling our photos?

Focusing on its usefulness as a sales platform, SmugMug offers the largest commission of benefits we have seen so far (85% of each sale), but the small print is that the service has a monthly fee of $ 12, although you can try it Free for two weeks to see if it is convenient for you.

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123RF

123RF is another service for the sale of photos, with quite a standard operation. Again, the photos you send go through a short validation process (maximum 24 hours, according to their website) before being for sale. You can also send illustrations in vector format, video, and even audio.

How much Profit money does 123RF pay us for selling our photos?

The profits in 123RF depend on your level as a contributor, the money (in credits) you have already won on the web, and also if the app purchases are made on-demand or by subscription. The ranges are between 30% and 60% for the first case, and 0.216 and 0.432 dollars for the second.

EyeEm

This service works similarly to another one we mentioned earlier, Scoopshot. Thanks to its photography apps for iPhone and Android, the EyeEM platform also encourages the capture and sale of photos directly from your mobile device, although you can also do it from your website.

In EyeEM you will also find the so-called ” missions “, special orders of certain brands that can increase your profits and highlight your work within the community of users of the platform.

How much Profit does EyeEm pay us for selling photos?

EyeEM offers a fair share of profits ( 50% for each one ), respects the copyright of your photos (which you keep at all times), and also allows you to sell through other image agencies, which multiplies the visibility of your work.

Clashot

Clashot comes to be a bit like the mobile version of DepositPhotos, the service we mentioned before. It is available for both iPhone and Android. This application allows you to put your photos for sale directly from the mobile in the platform of DepositPhotos, as long as they comply with simple quality standards.

How much Money does Clashot pay us for selling photos?

The percentages of profits, according to the explanation given on their web, vary between 50 cents of the dollar and 80 dollars. Since you are actually selling on DepositPhotos, it most likely depends on the same criteria as that platform. Contributor level and a number of downloads generated.

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Foap

The last but not least app to make money as a photographer with Photos online is Foap. In Foap the profits are not to shoot ( $ 5 per shot), but if you take care of your photographer profile to “sell” well and contribute material regularly, you can have extra income. This platform is available for both iPhone and Android, also organizes missions with special prices starting at $100. Some of its clients are Absolut, Volvo, and MasterCard.

These are the 12 best apps to earn money by selling photos online. These photo selling and photo editing apps are applicable to both Android and iOS users. If you have any queries regarding any of the apps which are mentioned in this list, let us know in the below comments. We will help you to solve it as soon as possible.

If you know any other top apps to sell photos and can earn money, write them in the below comments. We will include it in our article in the next update.

Bluemelon

Bluemelon is one of the top websites where we can make some bucks from our Landscape Photography skills among others. Today, in our list Bluemelon is on the top list which is growing rapidly in the current situation.

Bluemelon helps in as many aspects we want, not only just selling the photos but it does have an affiliate network that can add some extra income to us. Also, if you are looking for sharing your photos with safety and security then this would be a great choice.

Why Bluemelon?

Bluemelon included almost all the features that every individual wanted. Main features of making money, safety, increasing branding, sharing photos with security, and affiliate program.

Bluemelon Features

Share, market, present, and connect with your visitors:

  • It is easy to link and share
  • Can easily embed your photos anywhere
  • Address your visitors
  • Can see your website statistics

Get first-class protection for your photographs:

  • It is easy to upload
  • It a very safe to store your photos
  • It is secured when you share
  • You can retrieve it anytime

Get a fully customizable portfolio website:

  • Get over 40 themes
  • Many theme & menu designers
  • You can do custom CSS & HTML
  • Watermark creator

Some Pros of Bluemelon

    • It is easy to use
    • It has a low annual fee (significantly cheaper than competitors under most scenarios
    • Also, blue melon supports both photos and videos
    • There is no fee for selling (whereas other websites like SmugMug charge 15%, Zenfolio 7%)
  • There is no need to request payouts, photographers receive payment directly from clients to their PayPal or 2Checkout account.

Some CONS of Bluemelon

    • It does not offer prints and supports only downloads
    • It has simpler themes and customization compared to the competition

That is all about the Bluemelon. All you need to do is signup to the Bluemelon and start making your money with your photography skills.

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Bonus: Some Things to Consider Before Becoming A Pro Photographer

So, you’ve acquired a good camera, and you’ve been thinking about how you might be able to make money from your newfound hobby. But, read on before you opt to take the plunge. 

We believe we can persuade you to toss that concept out of the balcony. 

On the other hand, you might discover that you’re ready, and it’s time to pursue photography as a career.

Before getting on the photographic bandwagon, consider these practical considerations.

You Could Use Some Practice

You may like photography and receive many comments on your photographs. However, you may not be a skilled enough photographer to charge people money just yet. 

For example, do you ever shoot a photo and realize the raw file turned out to be garbage due to the position of the sun

“I’ll repair that later in Adobe Lightroom editing app,” do you often tell yourself? You’re not ready for Photoshop or Lightroom if your photographs aren’t constantly illuminated correctly, and look excellent in-camera.

Moreover, you are not ready if you look at the work of other professional photographers and wonder how they obtained such perfect images. Regardless, this doesn’t mean you have to be able to take images in the same style as the professional photographers you respect.

However., you should be aware of how they acquire their desired appearance. 

Additionally, you should understand how light angles, the golden hour, depth of field, sun, moon, and other factors affect the shot. You should be able to tell how much of the image has been post-processed.

Not Everyone is Cut-out for Business

Axes, company licenses, contracts, equipment care, scheduling, email, and phone calls are all part of owning a side business. Thus, they consume considerably more work and attention than you would think.

Moreover, being a commercial photographer entails more than simply taking images, earning money, and then blowing it all. There are a lot of expenditures, a lot of expenses. Moreover, some chores are tedious and repetitious. Consequently, hours are spent on behind-the-scenes work.

You will suffer no matter how excellent a photographer you are if you aren’t strong on the financial side of things. Moreover, this is true whether people are wedding photographers or landscape photographers.

You must be capable and ready to run a tight ship when budgeting, collecting money and adhering to regulations. Furthermore, you must set your policies, fees, and business model ahead of time because people will want you to modify everything for them, and you must prepare accordingly.

It’s Not All Rainbows and Butterflies Behind the Lens

People frequently mention how much joy it must be to be a photographer and how much they want they could be one as well. However, when they enter the photography industry without doing a lot of study and self-evaluation, they often get a rude awakening.

This is mostly when they learn the labor it entails. Moreover, many people enter the “professional photography” scene on a whim and leave within a year or two. 

Further, some just stay for a few months. Accordingly, getting clients is a labor of love, and keeping clients is a labor of love. They don’t just fall into your lap, waving 100 dollars and flashing their pearly whites for the camera.

Final Words

Keep these points in mind before you enter the camera industry and make a name fo yourself. Furthermore, don’t loose hope if you’re skilled and ambitious enough, nothing can stop you.

Which app do you use to sell photos online and make money?