How to make money from photography

DON’T FORGET: As soon as you commercialise your photographs, you are exposed to certain copyright risks, so be sure to thoroughly research copyright laws in both the location you are selling the images and the location they were taken. We would highly recommend taking professional legal advice before undertaking any new business venture.

Making money from your pastime – it’s the dream. But it doesn’t have to remain a dream. With the right strategy and planning, turning your passion for photography into gainful employment can be easier than you might think. 

In this article, we’ll provide you with ways to make it happen and hopefully inspire you to take the leap. One thing is for sure: whether you love or hate it, it’s impossible to make money without selling something. The question is, what can you sell? 

Sell your photos

The beauty of selling your photos as pieces of art is that you have complete creative control. Another advantage is that most of us have banks of images just kicking around on hard drives doing nothing, so you’ll likely already have plenty of stock to work with.

Create photo products

Photo products can be a great way to monetise your photos. Think greeting cards, calendars, magnets, photo books and more. If you have nice photos of your local town – or any town you’ve visited – why not approach the local tourism organisation or shopkeepers to see if they’d be interested in supporting or stocking your products?

Host an exhibition

Exhibitions are a fantastic way to showcase your work to a new, completely random audience. By finding an exhibition space with a decent amount of footfall, you’ll no longer be at the mercy of algorithms feeding people things they already know they like. Anyone could walk past, and anything could happen if you make it. Bear in mind that hiring space and producing prints requires investment.

Contribute to a stock library

Stock libraries don’t have the best reputation when it comes to making money. Indeed, the proliferation of free stock websites has made the industry even less lucrative. However, while it’s unlikely you’ll be taking early retirement on the royalties, having your images visible to potential customers is better than leaving them invisible on that hard drive. If all it takes is a quick upload, it’s worth a try.

License your photos

We’ve spoken a lot about doing something with photos you’ve already taken, but on the flip side, why not take some initiative? By this, we mean getting yourself into the position to achieve a particular shot, then selling it to a newspaper or magazine afterwards. It could be a celebrity, a sporting event or something else newsworthy, but working speculatively like this can reap significant rewards.

Sell a service

Instead of selling the actual images, you can sell an image-making service. This could be portraits of anything from pets or babies to corporate headshots; commercial photography like product, fashion or advertising; or editorial work for news or magazine articles.

Commercial, product and editorial

For many people, the title ‘professional photographer’ conjures visions of a studio environment with lights, props and large backdrops. With enough skill and motivation, this can certainly become a reality, but the biggest barriers are often a lack of money and space. To eventually compete on a serious level, you’ll need to find a dedicated studio and all the gear to match. Hiring is an option but can be expensive.

Events and weddings

A much more accessible way to sell a service is to get into event photography like weddings, conferences or concerts. The beauty of this is that you don’t need a studio. It’s just you, your camera set-up and your quick reactions. Remember that you’ll likely still need transport and professional photo-editing software to survive in this competitive industry. Great choices of programmes are Affinity Photo 2 or ZPS X because they’re packed with professional features at an affordable price. Oh, and a pair of comfortable shoes is also a must.

Sell your expertise

It’s one thing to sell great photography to others, but it’s quite another to share with someone the skills to make great images themselves. Imparting knowledge and experience can be not just lucrative but also highly rewarding.

Run workshops

Workshops are enormously popular in photography because they teach attendees new skills while also helping them meet like-minded people. Be warned, however, that while it might seem straightforward at first thought, setting up and running a successful workshop requires a huge amount of planning – and that’s before you even consider the bureaucracy involved. So be sure to do your homework!

Create look-up tables (LUTs)

Are you a post-processing whizz? If so, why not capitalise on that skill? LUTs and presets are essentially cheat codes for working in image-editing software. Dialling in these presets allows photographers to streamline their workflow or create a specific look. If you have a unique look or process, why not package it up and sell that? One thing to note, though, is that if your look underpins your brand, you might want to think twice before giving away that secret recipe to others.

Get more ideas in our Inspiration section.