Sell Pictures Online, Freelance Photography Opportunities

For dozens of tips about starting your own photography business, see the ebooks listed on our main page.

I love taking pictures. I just can’t get enough. The more pictures I take the better I want to get. This also means that the more pictures I take; the more high quality equipment I want. It’s an addiction.

Many photography hobbyists have the same problem I do. If you don’t want to pour all your money into your photography hobby, there is another option. You can turn that photography hobby into a successful photography business. A great way to get started doing this is through stock photography.

Businesses all over are looking for pictures to use in brochures, websites, advertisements, and more. These businesses will happily pay for your pictures rather than hire a photographer to take pictures for them. Here are some tips on how to get started on making money from your photography.

The first thing you need to do to start your stock photography business is to decide if you want to sell your pictures on micro or macro stock photography sites. Micro stock sites (ie. istock, dreamstime, and shutterstock) operate on the premise that if you offer photography at a low price, you’ll get more sales (which they do). These sites sell pictures for as low as a dollar for small sizes, up to ten or twenty dollars for a large copy of your picture. They also offer other options like allowing prints, and exclusive license (they pay you a lot more but you can no longer sell the picture to anyone else). Photographers get a percentage of the sale, which can vary from 20 to 80 percent of the sale price. Many photographers don’t like these sites because they sell photography for much less than they feel it’s worth, but many small businesses rely on them for affordable stock pictures. The other option is macro stock photography (ie Alamy and MyLoupe). You will probably sell A LOT fewer pictures on macro stock sites, but on these sites you make significantly more per picture, usually around $250 per photo (as opposed to the 60 cents I made off my first micro sale). Most of these sites will only accept pictures with over 6MP, but if your camera has fewer pixels, you can learn to upsize your photo in an editing program. While it is your own choice which route to take, many photographers start out on micro sites and then start moving their best pictures over to macro photography sites as their skills improve. You should note that some macro sites will not do business with photographers who sell their work on micro sites, so be sure to check their policies before uploading.

Once you’ve started uploading pictures, you need to remember not to stop. The more pictures you have online, the more sales you will make. Most sites have uploading limits and if you can, you should try to put up as many pictures as you are allowed. You should also put your pictures on as many sites as possible. Many people have their favorite stock site and only look for pictures there. This means you can put shots up on multiple sites; although many sites will guarantee you a higher percentage if you decide to upload a picture to their site exclusively. I would try not to overlap picture on macro and micro sites since someone probably wont pay $300 for a picture they can get for $1.

The next key to becoming a top seller is to take pictures with content that sells. Whatever you’re subject is, you will almost assuredly sell more pictures if the background is a solid color. Black and white are the best, but any solid color will work. Generally people want a subject without a background. If the background is a solid color, it’s much easier to remove with an editing program. If you want to know what subjects sell best, most sites have a section where you can see their most popular downloads. Just remember to get inspiration from these photographs, don’t copy them. If all else fails, you can never go wrong with pictures of people. You will need to get releases signed ahead of time for pictures of people with recognizable faces and also of recognizable property.

Hopefully these tips will help you get started making money with your photography. Just remember that, just like getting the perfect shot, starting your business takes time. You just need to work hard and not give up, no matter how slowly it starts. Many people started out slowly and are now making enough on stock photography sites to take photographs full time.

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For 3 affordable ebooks with dozens of ways to make money selling pictures online, please visit our main page.

If you’re a budding photographer or even just a person with a camera, you’re probably wondering to yourself, ‘Where can I sell my photographs?’ Well, that depends on the kind of photographs they are; and more importantly, the kind of photographer you are.

People who often ask, ‘Where can I sell my photographs?’ should be admired. For one, it shows that they have a passion for their craft. And for another, it shows that they don’t want their pictures to end up in just anywhere without due credit.

1) Stock Photo Websites.

If you’re the kind of photographer who likes taking random pictures, then you might find stock photo websites to be just the thing for you.

Many stock photo websites specialize in producing photos for business or academic power point presentations. A lot of clients pay good money for an image of a firm handshake or of that of a kid holding a balloon.

Some of these sites include:
photostockplus.com
fotolia.com
dreamstime.com
stockxpert.com
bigstockphoto.com
istockphoto.com
canstockphoto.com
123rf.com

2) Be A Magazine Subscriber.

There are millions of magazines all over the world. In your area, there are a good number of magazines ranging from real estate to fashion!

This gives you a variety of choices. Asking ‘Where can I sell my photographs?’ also means asking yourself, ‘What kind of photographs do I want to take?’

As soon as you find your answer, I suggest you start buying magazines that fit your interest and start submitting samples. After all, magazines are always on the lookout for fresh creativity!

‘Where can I sell my photographs?’ you ask. Well, now that you have your answer, you really shouldn’t be dilly dallying here. Go and start taking pictures, and never be discouraged by rejection. Keep moving forward and success will surely follow.

By: Lee, Michael

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Want to know the secrets to make money taking photos? Yes, you too can sell your digital photos online and easily earn massive income with your camera. Discover the secrets at: www.squidoo.com/sellyourdigitalphotosonline

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The digital photography industry is booming and many people are cashing in by setting up their own freelance photography businesses. The good news is that freelance photography is a career that you can pursue either part-time or full-time.

Turn on the news or pick up a magazine and you’ll discover stories of moms running home-based businesses selling photos online. They are not only having fun and doing something they love. They are receiving regular payments from stock photography sites and checks for hundreds of dollars from selling photos to magazines and other publications.

When you work as a freelance photographer it is ultimately up to you how many hours per week you put into your digital photography business.

Many freelance photographers choose to keep working in a regular job while they build their freelance photography business. By doing this they can build up their portfolio and start to earn some income from their photos, before making a decision to quit their job and work full-time as a freelance photographer.

Working part-time doesn’t put you at a disadvantage. In fact, freelance photographers typically work odd hours anyway. So it is not unusual for a photographer to have an irregular shooting schedule, or a photo session at odd hours of the day or night. Most freelancers enjoy the flexibility that this allows.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your digital camera and start taking some great digital photographs. Once you have a few good shots, start uploading and selling your photos online!

Author: Michael J Kryzer

Nigeria’s No. 1 Job Site 

JOB TITLE: PHOTOGRAPHERS REQUIREMENTS • Graduate with a passion for photography and who are computer literate may apply.

Engagement!: Weddingbee PRO 

In this, her first year of business, she’s booked 30 weddings all around the world, in New York City, California, Jamaica, Venezuela and Nigeria. Her images have been described as emotional, whimsical and elegant.

CosWeAfricanWomenAreDoin&DoinItWell

I’m also inspired by other photographers on http://www.shutterchance.com/ and by friends interested in photography as well. Djaa my nigerian sistas sont dedans dee:)

Terry Spencer RIP

After their marriage they bought an old Piper Cub aircraft and established a profitable aerial photography business in Johannesburg, photographing the houses and farms of wealthy South Africans from low level. 

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One of the nice things about photographs is that you are able to capture the most special moments in life and are able to preserve it for years to come.

The world of photography is very vast and many people are very much interested in the field. Some take it as a hobby, while others consider it as a job. The amount of time, effort and cost invested in photography can vary for every individual.

Photography is also very much an art. It is true that anyone can just point and shoot a camera, but it really takes talent to capture a certain emotion or scene that will depict something that is worth to treasure for a lifetime. People who have this talent are the ones who invest much into their craft and these are also the people you see having freelance photography jobs.

Freelance photography is the ultimate expression of one’s love of photography. For most photographers, this is the best job they could ever think of because they are being paid for something which they love doing. Also, there are no work hours to be met, no bosses to be pleased and most of all, it gives them extensive exposure to the many different subjects that they can capture. Sometimes, the services of these freelance photographers are up for hire and they are given the chance to feature their works in magazines.

If you feel that you have what it takes to be one of the millions of people that have freelance photography jobs, it will take just a bit of your time to set-up your own gig.

One very important thing that you must have if you want to become a freelancer is your portfolio. Basically, a portfolio will contain samples of your work as a photographer. Your portfolio will serve as the ultimate advertising material for your skills so better put together one that is very impressive to look at.

Once you get your first project as freelance photographer, you must see to it that you maintain the quality of your works throughout all your succeeding projects. Learning the craft in a more detailed approach is important to do now more than ever since people will be able to identify your works already.

To further enhance your skills in photography, you can take additional classes for the technical aspects of the art since photography has more aspects to it than beauty. You might have the talent and the knack for it, but if you do not do anything to improve your skills, then you will eventually get trapped and will not be able to adjust to the newer ways of improving your photos.

Freelance photography jobs are aplenty and can be very rewarding to those who have the patience, talent and skills to succeed in the field. One photographer’s photo will always be different from the other photographer because each one sees something totally different even through the same lens of the same camera.

Author: Terry Edwards

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If you ask most freelance photographers how they get work, you will likely hear some variation on the same three answers: word of mouth, referrals, and networking.

Most freelancers in any field will tell you that they typically spend as much time marketing their services as they do providing service. But what other options are there? This article will look at 5 ways to find and generate more freelance photography opportunities. Let’s begin.

  1. Get a copy of the current year’s Photographer’s Market.
Photographer’s Market is an outstanding resource. It is published every year and lists approximately 1500 active buyers in a number of different categories. In addition to providing full contact information and valuable details about various markets, it will definitely expose you to possibilities that you never knew existed. Get Photographer’s Market, gather a list of a few dozen potential clients and start sending queries.

2. Set up a portfolio website, keep it up-to-date and market it well. Include your website address in all of your correspondence, both print and electronic. If you participate in online forums that allow for signature files, put your portfolio website address in your signature. If you follow other photographers’ blogs, there is usually an option, if you leave a comment on the blog, to include a web address that can be associated with your name. When you leave an insightful comment on posts you find especially interesting or informative, an active link to your website will remain with your comment, allowing others to find their way to you. They key is to create an online portfolio and then spread the word to get people there. Think of it as your business card for the twenty-first century.

3. Write articles. Pick topics about which you are comfortable writing and offer advice and guidance. How-to articles are an excellent starting point for articles. They are simple to organize and easy to compose from experience. Starting out you can submit your articles to online article directories and hopefully get some feedback. As you grow more confident in your writing abilities, branch out to your local newspaper, regional magazines and other online avenues. Once you have built up a portfolio of articles, query national magazines with article ideas. The key here is to establish yourself as an expert and get a byline.

4. Do interviews. Once you have established yourself as an expert in a certain area of photography, look for opportunities to do interviews. Look for opportunities both online and offline. Also, as you check out various job boards for photography work, be sure to keep an eye out for individuals looking for industry experts to interview. Once again, you are looking for ways to establish yourself as an authority and get our name and contact information in front of more people.

5. Teach an adult education class in photography. These are usually non-credit classes and workshops offered through community groups or colleges and universities. Depending on the interest level of the participants you might even expand this is into a series of classes covering different topics. Teaching adult education is another way to establish some credentials for yourself while making contacts in the community and getting your name better known. The great thing about adult education is that the people who participate in the classes have a strong desire to learn and are very receptive and appreciative.

Bonus Tip: If you have a local public radio station in your town, offer to do a 5-minute segment once a week geared toward amateur photographers. Most public radio stations welcome programming ideas and are often looking for new and interesting spots to attract local listeners.

Author: Kelly Gammon

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Freelance photography is an exciting way to make a living. Are you passionate about photography? Do you take your camera everywhere you go and never miss an opportunity to take a picture? Are you proud of your photographs?

 If the answer is yes, and you possess some skill at camera work , then you probably have what it takes to do well in freelance photography .

Many people successfully turn their hobby into a thriving full time business, or simply make a lot of extra cash doing something they would be doing anyway!

Photography is a good example of this, and if it is your hobby and passion, then there are numerous opportunities out there for you to pursue. If you have the motivation, this is an area that has plenty of room for new talent.

From the very start of photography, people have always loved pictures, and almost any occasion has been an opportunity for a photographer to earn some extra money .

These days, cameras are so user friendly, you don’t even have to be an expert, just able to read and follow directions. Of course, having some basic knowledge about composition, depth of field, aperture settings and shutter speeds etc, is always going to give you the edge over someone using a "point-and-shoot" camera. But this information is easily gained, and once learnt can be practiced without cost, thanks to the digital revolution.

But running a successful photography business is not just about taking pictures. You will also have to have other skills such as marketing, promotion, advertising, accountancy and possibly web design ! Again, these are all things that can be easily learnt at evening classes. Or maybe you have a friend or family member who could take on these jobs, while you concentrate on taking stunning photographs.

Established photographers in your area could have expensive studios and staff to finance. Chances are, you already own most of the equipment needed to start, and by keeping your overheads low, you can pass those savings on and still produce the quality images your customers will love.

Whether it’s weddings, portraits, stock shots, greeting cards, newspapers, magazines or some other form of photography, the opportunities are endless for the person willing to have a go. You may even find a certain type of photography that you enjoy best, and stick to it almost exclusively.

Photography is here to stay, and the demand is growing - even during these tougher financial times.

Author: Steve L Thompson

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Although this may have been true some years back, nowadays you don’t necessarily need to purchase ultra-expensive photography equipment or printers to become a freelance photographer.

With affordable digital cameras flooding the market and able to produce large, good quality images, many freelance photographers are exchanging their old SLR cameras for a digital camera.

The best way to start off your freelance photography career is by becoming an assistant of an established photographer. Opportunities to be an assistant are not that many and most of them are offered on a part time basis, which may be good in that it allows you to work for several photographers on a per job basis and thus learn from their different experiences.

If you’re beginning on your own, it will be important that you choose your field of photography - generalizing can hinder your progress. You can start off by doing advertising, aerial, architectural, commercial, corporate, entertainment (celebrity), fashion, fine art, glamour, industrial, military, photo journalism features, photo journalism news, portraits, sports, stock, travel, underwater, wedding and wildlife. Once you have gained good experience and built yourself a reputation in one field, you can then try something else.

The camera and equipment you will need will depend on the field of photography which you pick. While digital cameras can be used in a lot of fields, they may not produce the highest quality photos for aerial and architectural projects. If you can afford it, it may be a great idea - actually it can put you a step ahead of your competition - to own at least 2 cameras, one being a digital camera and the other a purpose-designed camera.

As a freelance photographer, you will actually be running a business, so it is necessary that you draw up a business plan. Furthermore, you must be capable of managing finances and undertaking research, marketing and administration as well as doing the actual job of taking pictures.

Being self-employed, you will have to take responsibility for your own professional development, pension, professional and personal insurances, taxes and health and safety requirements.

Build A Portfolio - A portfolio is quite essential for anyone starting out as a freelance photographer as it can be used as advertising material. You can build one either in print or online by assembling all your best work together, even pictures that have not been sold or published before. You can also benefit by entering your photos in freelance photography contests.

How To Get Work - The best way to get work at the beginning is by submitting your photos in freelance photography contests. If you decide to submit your images to a magazine, always research what kind of pictures they normally publish before sending your work. You can do this by looking through their past issues.

Author: Greg Schueler

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For more help and dozens more selling photos ideas, check out the ebooks mentioned on our main page. 

So let’s assume you’re in and you’ve gotten the nod to shoot your first sports assignment.

Sorry, those professional baseball, basketball and Big 10 college football games will be covered by the staff photographers because they’ll appear on the cover of the section.

Don’t despair, as you get better, you’ll get to the front page of the Sports section. If you have a really good picture, it may run on the front page, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. So this will likely be the typical assignment you might get.

• High School football, basketball or volleyball
• Kick off, tip off (whatever the term is for the sport) 7 pm (earlier if you’re lucky, gives you more time to shoot)
• Coverage of Cougars’ season opener against Rams. (substitute names for your local high school mascots)
• Deadline for picture 8:45 pm

Preparations

Get to know the route to and from the stadium. Arrive early enough to figure out how long it will take to get to the nearest area where you have WiFi or an ethernet cable which you can plug into your laptop for internet access.

Grab a team lineup or roster for both teams. If you can’t get a copy to take with you, photograph the roster so that you can quickly bring that up for captioning when you’re editing. If you’re lucky, the Athletic Director of the school may make his office available for you. But let’s assume you have to drive to a Starbucks. Let’s say it will take you 5 mins.

That means you have to leave the stadium no later than 8 pm if they want one picture. You may be thinking that’s more than enough time. Don’t forget you have to set up your laptop which you should be "sleeping" and not turning on from a cold start. If you’re not going to be near AC power, make sure to charge up your laptop’s battery beforehand.

Be careful where you park

Be sure you are not going to be blocked by another vehicle because you will be leaving earlier than everyone else. This is also a safety issue. Have your gear ready to go once you arrive.

It’s not a good idea to be digging in your trunk. Opportunistic thieves will see this.

Watch your time.

As you gain experience, you can push those time limits more.

A lot depends on how much you shoot and how fast your laptop is. If you shoot too much and at too a high a jpeg resolution and if your computer is "older," it will slow you down. Large files take longer to download.

Those files will take Photoshop more time to open, render and save. A few seconds here and there may not seem like much, but over a 100 or 200 images, that will become significant.

The majority of professional sports photographers do not tweak their images very much. They check sharpness, dodge and burn, caption, crop, save and they transmit.

Don’t forget you will be sorting and deciding on one picture where you will need to identify all the players in it. So when you’re shooting, everytime you think you have a good action sequence, be sure to photograph the back of the jerseys of the players involved in the "play" to help you id them later.

Football and ice hockey players have an annoying knack of looking alike once they don their gear, or don’t you know that? If that never occurred to you, don’t feel bad. I made that mistake when I was a rookie. I ended up driving to the coach’s house with a wet print in hand at the eleventh hour. And mind you that was in the days when we shot film and made prints.

Shooting

• Expose well so that you don’t have to do much dodging and burning in Photoshop.
• Stealing a peek every now and then to see how the histogram looks is fine, but don’t make it a crutch.You might be draining your batteries or you might miss something you should be capturing in the camera.
• Keep track of your memory cards by numbering them so that you know what order they were used.

In photojournalism where deadlines are critical, the most recent pictures tend to be more important. Game winning plays andpost-game jubilationare such examples. Later, as you’re editing, you might find another player had a very good game with outstanding statistics, then go back and look for extraordinary images of that player.

Editing & Writing

Use the team roster

Open the picture you took earlier of the team rosters. Minimize it and keep that handy. You’ll be referring to that for correct spellings and jersey numbers.

Don’t sweat the color

Most photographers don’t try to fine-tune the color because they are not in the most "ideal" locations when working on their pictures.

Pick the picture you like

If you’re told they need only one picture, pick the one you like the most. Remember, the editors at the paper weren’t there. They may ask if you have this and that, but in the end, it 1ff8 ’s your name that goes underneath the picture.

You should feel good about your choice. In all my years at the paper, I lived by that motto. It has always worked for me. The trouble with giving in to what the editors want is this: they have a picture in mind and that’s a tainted, it’s not necessarily the best picture. You were there, only you can be the judge of that.

Identifying people

Whenever possible, identify people in your pictures left to right. Names with ages and the city they live in and other facts which might add to the picture. In the case of a soccer game, the name and the player’s position e.g AC Milan midfielder Ronaldinho (left) celebrates with teammate Kaka after scoring the equilizer in the dying minutes of the game against Barcelona.

There may be more to this but generally speaking, after you hit click the mouse to "Send" or the "Return" key to transmit your picture, you can relax. Call your supervisor/photo editor to make sure they receive it after a few minutes.

Author: Peter Phun

Technorati Tags: make money taking photos

Want dozens of ideas for a home based photography business? Check out 3 affordable ebooks listed on our main page. 

Anyone can become a freelance photographer. But you will need to have a good digital camera, the skills to take very good photographs, and a strong determination to work hard in order to build up a successful freelance photography business.

If you decide to work as a freelance digital photographer you will get to be your own boss and will spend your time taking and selling digital photos - both online and offline. Sometimes you might work on assignment for large organizations or even for popular magazines. You might even get some all expenses paid trips. Freelance photography is certainly never a boring career choice.

If you don’t already have good photography skills then you can still acquire the knowledge and skills required to be a good photographer.

You will probably need to read some good photography books, or study further at web sites that cover professional photography techniques. And you should consider taking a photography class in your local area. Many community colleges offer digital photography courses at very reasonable rates.

Don’t forget that nothing is better for improving your photography than actually getting out there, taking some photos, experimenting with different camera and composition techniques, and gaining valuable experience shooting behind the camera lens.

These days, thanks to the World Wide Web, there are so many freelance digital photography opportunities that are predominantly digital and online. You can take your pictures with a digital camera and then upload your photos directly to the Internet where you can sell them!

Author: Michael J Kryzer

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Freelance Jobs in Photography

There is a wide world of photography. It touches each of us in our lives on a daily basis in some form or another. Photography is so much a part of our culture now that we hardly even notice all the places that it exists.

When you watch television, look at a magazine or even view a billboard on the highway, this is all because of photography. There are so many ways that photography crosses our lives each day. There are a lot of opportunities for someone looking for photography jobs.

What Photography Jobs are Available?

If you enjoy photography and are thinking of it as a career, there are actually many different directions you can choose from. Obviously, there is professional photography but even in that choice there are many other smaller options that you have as well.

You can become a photographer in a special field such as wedding or family photographer. You can choose to make money taking pictures of things you love such as animals, nature or ships. If you enjoy scuba diving, you can become an underwater photographer. Pretty much anything you can think of, there is room to take and sell pictures of it.

If you love taking pictures and the idea of a career in photography sounds good to you, just how do you begin finding photography jobs?

How Do You Find Photography Jobs?

There are different ways of finding photography jobs, depending on the type of job you are looking for and your experience. You can begin by creating a resume and portfolio of your work. Then you can search on the internet at freelance photography job boards or photography websites and message boards. Get specific into types of photographing you have done and look on the internet for those.

You can go locally and look for internships or local firms or companies that may need photographers. You can get the word out by doing small events such as birthday parties and such. Get your name out as someone who will work these functions. Show friends and family samples of your work and ask them to spread the word. You may even want to participate in a charitable or non-profit event to boost your portfolio.

You can also begin submitting your work to contests and magazines to get yourself known and build your portfolio. Placing or winning in contests and getting published in magazines can help you build clips that you can use for getting bigger and better jobs.

Lastly, you can actually apply to jobs directly. It is best to do this only if you have the proper qualifications for the job. You don’t want to set your goals so high that you get let down but there is nothing wrong with going for what you want. Most importantly, get as involved with what you love as possible. Learn as much as you can about photography and what makes good photography. Subscribe to magazines, read books, look at winners of photography contests

About The Author

Looking for information about Photography?
Go to: http://www.asaphotography.com
‘ASA Photography’ is published by Colin Hartness -
An excellent resource for Photography!
Check out more cruise articles at: http://www.asaphotography.com/archive

This article was posted on November 30, 2004

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