How To Make Money By Selling Your Travel Photos Online

How to Sell Your Travel Photos and Make Money Online

Did you know you can turn your passion for traveling and capturing amazing photographs into a money-making machine? We are living in the 21st century, better known as the digital golden age, where the avenues to monetize your passion are unlimited. And one of the ways you can make money is by selling your travel photos online!

In this guide, let’s discuss a few mediums where you can sell your travel-niche photographs and make money.

Selling Photos to Stock Photo Websites

Selling to stock photo websites is the easiest way to make money on the side. There are various photo sharing services where you can sell your pictures online. However, before we mention any of the stock photo sites, let’s discuss some of the unspoken rules that many of these sites follow:

Most stock photo websites give you a particular percentage of each sold photograph. They also have a referral program where you can earn some bucks by getting people to sign up.
Most of the stock photo sites have an editor who assesses the submissions by the contributors. These editors have pretty high standards. They can reject photos if it’s not up to the mark.
Generally, stock photo websites pay more for exclusive images as compared to non-exclusive ones. Keep in mind; you can submit non-exclusive photos to multiple sites.
The websites usually require the contributors to keep their photos on the website for a certain period. You cannot randomly shut your account and take off your photographs.

Now you have some basic idea about submissions to stock photo websites, let’s take a look at the most lucrative ones;

iStock

iStock is affiliated with the famous Getty Images. By submitting your work to iStock, you can access the global client base of Getty Images as well as iStock. For exclusive submissions, iStock offers up to 45% profit to the contributor. For non-exclusive submissions, you can expect to make a 15 to 20 % commission. iStock requires you to send your portfolio to get accepted as a contributor.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock is one of the most prominent stock photo websites out there. They have an extensive program for contributors to submit photos, vectors, illustrations, and videos.

One can make a 15 to 30 % profit on each asset sold. Shutterstock values lifetime earnings, and as they go up, your income per image also grows. They also have a very good referral program to earn extra cash by bringing more contributors to the platform.

Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock is a project by Adobe, and it has millions of photos and videos. It is an inbuilt stock photo feature present in the Adobe platforms. Millions of people use it. You can tap this market by submitting your work in Adobe Stock.

The company pays 20 to 60% of the sale price to the contributors. You can expect to make 33% for the images and 35% for the videos from subscriptions. The payout is pretty decent as compared to other stock photo websites.

Foap

Foap can be accessed by downloading an app on your phone. You can upload your photos on the app and post them for sale. Generally, contributors earn 50% of each sale profit and are pretty famous for their high-paying percentages.

Foap also arranges many competitions with high winning prices. You can submit your best work to win the match and claim the winning amount.

Can Stock Photo

Can Stock Photo has adopted a quick method to help you sell photos. They have a feature called SpeedSubmit, which allows you to upload your images in a few seconds. The sign-up process is also straightforward – you are just supposed to add a couple of your photos to get accepted.

The photos on Can Stock automatically appear in Fotosearch, which is one of the best stock photo agencies. They pay up to 50 % for exclusive images.

Selling Photos To Travel Magazines

You must be aware of iconic travel magazines like National Geographic or Travel + Leisure. These magazines pay thousands of dollars to photographers for their contributions. However, as you must have guessed, it is not easy to get published in these magazines.

They have professional photographers on the payroll. Also, many photographers freelance for them. Unless you’re exceptional at your job or have spell-bounding photographs, you cannot get published in top travel magazines. Another way is to find local travel magazines of a particular destination and reach them out with your assets. If they like your work, they will buy from you.

The procedure to sell photos via this method is very long and tiring. Also, it does not guarantee that your photographs will sell. You have to repeat the procedure from step 1 till the end every time – like you have to search the magazines, approach them with your images and wait for their response. It is time-consuming, and the payout will not be as great as the effort. Also, the magazine will have exclusive rights to your photos. Honestly, we are not a fan of selling travel photos to travel magazines.

Selling Travel Photos on Your Website

Selling travel photos on your website is the ultimate goal. It guarantees you the best money. With every picture sold, you create your circle of customers who will likely come back for more. However, the problem with this method is it will take a lot of time and effort. If you’re serious about selling your own travel photos, you must begin to build your social and online presence slowly and steadily.

You should have a website and social handles on different platforms and update them with amazing and unique content regularly to develop a dedicated following. Suppose you succeed in raising millions of followers. In that case, you can make more than enough money to quit your day job and adopt travel photography as a full-time profession.

Final Words

We have mentioned a few ways to make money by selling your travel photos. There are many more methods, but we found the ones mentioned above to be the most effective.

As a beginner, you should start with stock photos websites. It will give you a fair idea of what kind of photos sell the most. Also, having published photographs in a travel magazine is an achievement.

Once you attain enough experience, you can start working on your brand by building a website and social media presence. Selling travel photos via personal channels has proven to be the most profitable for many travel photographers. Ultimately, travel photos are all about exploring new places and capturing the untapped beauty to share with the world.