3/10/2011

Making Money With Stock Photography

By Dan Feildman


Is photography your hobby or passion? In either case you can easily start minting money if you pursue this passion. All you really require is a digital camera, access to good software programs on your computer and Internet. Mentioned here are a few ways on how to make money through an online photography business.

Due to the Internet we are now living in a global marketplace where people can purchase anything they want, including digital photos. Websites specializing in stock photography provide photos to consumers such as web designers, product marketers, newsletter creators, etc. Each of these consumers are looking for creative, quality photos and it is here where you can earn an incredible income simply by uploading your photos and waiting for them to be purchased. Basic photos are what sell the best so don't worry if you think your photos won't attract consumers.

It is significant that you decide on a theme for clicking photographs. For a photograph to sell, it should be appealing to the customer. So your perception should be worthy as an illustration and should benefit the customer. Basically people are looking for crystal ideas or illustrations that cater to their company's image. For example a lady with red lipstick in one hand and a cherry in other will sell more than a baboon jumping trees. Basically real people photographs sell more. If possible take photographs of models. This will not only generate interest in you, it will attract lots of buyers, and your online photography business will begin to flourish.

Worried you can't produce quality photos? Taking pictures as a hobby is different than trying to market them to professionals. It is best to do some research on what qualifies as a "quality" photo, i.e. lack of noise, clarity, etc., before submitting your photos to the stock photography sites. Online you can find a variety of tutorial e-books that can guide you through this process. turnyourphotosintocash.com is one of the best books that I have found. It has clear instructions on how you can actually start getting great results in digital photography by following a few guidelines.

Photo editing software is important in order to enhance and edit your photos. You can download a trial version of Adobe Elements if you currently don't have a program and a great site for learning this program is at learnelementsnow.com. There are great tutorials and tricks to make the most of your digital photos. The site creator, David Peters, also has an e-book which gives you step-by-step instructions on how to master your skills in Adobe Photoshop Elements in just 2 hours!

After you have done your research and taken some quality photos you will want to submit the photos to the stock photography sites. Each site has its own guidelines for submission but a general rule is that your photos are in .jpg format. You will want to make sure your photos are crystal clear with no grain or noise. Make sure you don't include name brands or labels in your photos as these will automatically be rejected. Don't forget, you can use photo editing software to remove these items and fix lighting and quality problems.

One of the most important parameter that people often overlook is indexing the photograph. Try to name the photo by including appropriate keywords. For this you have to conduct good research. You can even use synonymous words in case your competitor has used a similar word for his photograph. Try looking for these words online or in dictionary. For example, for bar you can use alcohol, wine, whiskey, glass etc. If all goes well, you can get paid up to $100 for just about 200 photos, so get out your calculator now and just work out what that could mean to your online photography business.

Uploading to more than one stock photography site is a good idea and there are many to pick from. Getting your photos sold is the key so by submitting them to a variety of agencies increases your chance to earn a higher income.




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