Have a passion for photography? Wondering how you can make money from your photos?
There are lots of websites which will pay you for your travel pictures even if you aren’t a professional photographer or have really expensive equipment. All you need to do is take good photos, create online accounts and upload your best shots.
These are the best websites to start making money from your travel photography.
1. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the largest global providers of stock photography, footage, videos and music. Join Shutterstock’s global community of contributors and start earning money doing what you love.
Getting started is easy, produce high-quality images and videos, upload your content and make money every time your content is downloaded by a worldwide customer.
Over the last 15 years, Shutterstock have paid out a staggering $1 billion dollars to contributors.
2. Fine Art America
Fine Art America is the world’s largest art marketplace and print-on-demand technology company. This is the premier online marketplace for buying and selling original art, prints, home decor, apparel, and more.
With just a few clicks, you can open an account, upload your images, select the products that you want to sell, set your prices, and begin selling your art to the millions of buyers all over the world.
There is the option to turn your photos into canvas prints, framed prints, metal prints, acrylic prints, posters, throw pillows, tote bags, iPhone cases, galaxy cases, t-shirts, tank tops, yoga mats, coffee mugs and more.
3. Dreamstime
Dreamstime was established in 2000 and is the worlds’ largest community for royalty-free photos and stock photography from talented contributors from all over the world. Dreamstime database of images, stock video footages and audio files continue to grow, with hundreds of new additions uploaded daily!
As a contributor you can upload your media and receive 25-50% Revenue Share, which is calculated based on the net amount for the transaction. Exclusive files receive an additional 10% bonus, while exclusive contributors enjoy a 60% Revenue Share for all sales and an additional bonus of $0.20 for each approved submission.
This upload bonus is awarded for the first 100 approved files in all circumstances and only for the first 10,000 approved files if your download rate is higher than 0.1
4. Foap
Do you want to make extra money from your videos and photos? Download the Foap app on your iOS or Android Device to start earring today. Simply upload your videos and photos and earn cash.
When a brand, agency or just anyone who finds your work outstanding purchases a video or photo from your online portfolio, Foap share the profit with you 50/50. Foap is a great way to turn your videos and pictures into money you can spend on buying better equipment and becoming even a better video and photographer.
Join the Foap community and be inspired by the creativity of over 3 million creators.
5. Adobe Stock
Expand your creative career with Adobe Stock and sell your content to the world’s largest creative community. Adobe is a leading creative brand that values creators and puts your needs first.
You can earn more by licensing your work to millions of buyers, right within their favorite Adobe apps through the native Creative Cloud integration. If you have high-quality photos, videos, or vector content, and you own all the rights, you can sign up to become an Adobe Stock artist with your Adobe ID and start uploading. It’s free!
You can sell original photographs, video clips, vectors, and illustrations online when you join the Adobe creator community. Customers are looking for diverse, high-quality content in all subject areas, including, videos, drone footage, technology, medical, food, portraiture, lifestyle, business, and more.
6. Pond5
Pond5 exists to create world-class storytellers, and they do so by building the world’s most accessible marketplace of media assets video creators need to tell stories, share knowledge, and inspire audiences.
With 25 million video clips, award-winning tools including patented Visual Search for video, and integrations for all major video-editing software, Pond5 is the go-to video marketplace for filmmakers, media organizations, and marketers worldwide.
Driven by its commitment to the creative community, Pond5 proudly provides a platform where creativity can flourish and contributors can make a sustainable living licensing their work to buyers around the world.
All contributors licensing their content on Pond5 receive an industry-leading revenue share. As a Pond5 contributor you can set your own prices and earn an industry-leading percentage of every sale.
7. 500px
500px is a global online photo-sharing platform that is a subsidiary of Visual China Group and based in Toronto, Canada.
They offer you the chance to gain exposure and get paid for your work. You’ll earn 60% royalties (one of the industry’s highest rates) when you license your photos exclusively with the global distribution partners.
500px distribution partners serve over 1M customers throughout the world and are the go-to choice for professionals to discover and purchase creative content. All content submitted to 500px for licensing is royalty-free, but you always own your copyright when you work with 500px.
8. Bigstock
Bigstock is a fast, easy-to-use marketplace for quality stock images with over 109 million royalty-free photographs and illustrations from talented photographers and artists around the globe.
Sign up as a Bigstock contributor for free and earn money from your original photos and illustrations. Bigstock review team will inspect your images and, if necessary, your model and property releases. If they can use your images, they’ll be added to the Bigstock collection and you always keep the copyrights to your work.
You can improve your earnings by submitting more images, track your sales and share advice with fellow contributors on the Bigstock forums.
9. Depositphotos
Depositphotos has over 209 million files uploaded to their website including royalty-free images, videos, vectors, illustrations, and music. Depositphotos are trusted by leading international companies that use the library for visual and audio content.
You can become a Depositphotos contributor and start earning with your photos, illustrations, and videos. Simply focus on what you love doing most and discover a new way to showcase your work for extra income.
To become a contributor, you need to sign up and submit images for review. Once approved, you can start uploading files to your portfolio right away.
10. 123rf
123RF is a stock content agency founded in 2005 which sells royalty-free images. In the past few years, 123RF expanded the portfolio to serve the growing market of the web-based content industry. You can showcase your best creative work to the world via the 123rf contributor platform and earn income.
There are over 5 million ready buyers are waiting to license your portfolio and your content will be marketed across 44 countries and in 17 local languages. Benefits include lucrative commissions earning between 30% – 60% from each license sold.
You’re just a few clicks away from selling your best creative works to a ready global audience. What are you waiting for? Sign up to become a 123RF contributor now.
11. Snapwire
Snapwire is a platform that allows users to take photos and videos in response to a request for brands, publishers, small businesses, and creatives who seek images that fulfill certain requirements that they set. Snapwire have expanded their global creative network and are looking for talented photographers, videographers, producers, designers, animators, editors, and production companies. Apply today and get paid to create custom visual content for major brands.
12. SmugMug
If you want a website, portfolio, or just a personal corner of the internet, SmugMug puts your photos into the world on your terms. SmugMug is a paid image sharing, image hosting service, and online video platform on which users can upload photos and videos. The company also facilitates the sale of digital and print media for amateur and professional photographers. You can start making money in moments.
13. Getty Images & iStock
Getty Images and iStock are one of the industry leaders serving over 1.5 million customers in more than 200 countries. They have the largest global distribution network – giving you greater opportunities to have your content seen and licensed around the world. Getty and iStock have a community of over 200,000 talented contributors, including photographers, filmmakers, and illustrators.
14. Can Stock Photo
Can Stock Photo is one of the world’s largest and oldest “microstock” photography agencies founded in 2004. Can Stock Photo has over 99,299 contributors, and over 1,023,924 members from around the world and represent some of the most skilled photographers and artists, and support clients from small businesses to major television networks and governments.
Can Stock Photo was founded on the basis of offering a fair-trade alternative to the “other guys”, by paying contributors fairly and treating them with mutual respect. You’ll notice in the straight-forward Payout Schedule that Can Stock pay some of the highest real commissions in the industry, without any unrealistic tiers or confusing math.
You can submit directly using a built-in web app, or by using FTP. There are no limits, so you can submit as many files as you’d like. With a few simple clicks you can submit hundreds of images at once, without entering any additional information. Approvals are super fast, so your files will normally be approved the same day for sale!
After you upload your files and start earning money, you can request a payment at any time when your account reaches $50.00 USD (PayPal), or $100.00 USD (Moneybookers/Skrill, Cheque). And since you retain full copyright and control over your content, you can edit or remove your files at any time.
15. Pixabay
Pixabay is a website of copyright free images, videos and music. All contents are released under the Pixabay License, which makes it completely free to download and use. You can become a member of Pixabay and upload your photos. Although you won’t get paid to add your photos, there is the option for people to send you donations via PayPal.
Top Tips How to Sell Travel Photos
Check out these top tips to becoming a travel photographer and to start making money from your travel photography.
· Get good quality equipment like a modern camera or phone
· Practice and develop an eye for a good photograph
· Visit new places and start producing images quality images
· Submit photos to websites like the ones we listed above
· Create a social media presence / portfolio on websites like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. This is a great way for companies and people to find and contact you regarding potential work and partnerships
