Earn Money Selling Your Photos at Shutterstock

Do you like photography? Do you have good photographic instruments (a good phone camera can be enough)?  If so you can convert your little interest into a real source of income.

Shutterstock is a photography website that provides you with platforms to sell your photos. They may offer either a percentage or a flat fee of each photo that is sold to a site client. You can earn today by contributing to Shutterstock and make money doing what you love.

This is a preview of total earnings of a pro photographer collected from microstockguru blog. You can see the total income is really healthy for the account. You may go there eventually too.

A single attractive photo can represent a residual income opportunity since it can be sold again and again. You simply need to create your photo portfolio, upload images to the photo platform, and then the activity becomes completely passive. All the technicalities of photo sales are handled through the web platform. You simply collect a check (or PayPal payment) each month for the royalties you receive on your photos.

However, the pay per photo is a little low on Shutterstock compared to some of the other stock photography websites. But the sheer amount of buyers who are monthly subscribers lends itself to consistent downloads so the overall income is much higher.

First, create an account with Shutterstock. You will need to submit a sample portfolio of several photos. It’s important for your account to be approved. Some helpful tips would be great for you. These tips are provided by Casey Botticello.

• Don’t choose ten images all from the same theme. For example, don’t have two or three different versions of the same animal in numerous positions. Just choose the best of each subject. Otherwise they could get rejected for duplicate images.
• To be safe when applying, don’t submit popular subjects like flowers (as seen above), cats or water drops. They have a high chance of being rejected simply because they have enough of those subjects in their database already. Once you are accepted by Shutterstock, then submit all the photos you like. The hardest part of Shutterstock is getting in.
• Don’t try and wow them with anything fancy to begin with. For example, don’t submit images of panning with cars. Leave that for when you are accepted. Again, play it safe. Usually ten boring but safe shots are the best.
• Make sure there are absolutely no trademarks or brand names seen in the scenery. It is easy to miss small brands that may appear in the background of photos.
• For those first ten application images do not use photos of public places, people, or man made objects. These are often rejected due to various copyright issues.
• Don’t crop any of your first ten images tightly. Leave space around the main subject. Don’t submit square or odd size images. Again this comes down to the markers preference so best not to do it initially.
• Leave out photos that contain lens flare, or vignetting in the corners of the sky. Or fix the vignetting in Photoshop before submitting.

There is another way of earning through Shutterstock. The Shutterstock Referral Program allows you to earn money by referring other contributors, as well as customers to purchase content on Shutterstock. As creatives, chances are you work alongside many other artists in your industry.

By bringing those talented individuals to Shutterstock, you earn money. It really is that easy. And those clients who want to purchase more work from you? When you share your portfolio with your referral link and have them sign up, you earn money from your content as well as others’ that they may purchase when they use the platform.