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There are many ways to make money online with photography, but a popular and fairly new way is through Micro Stock Photography websites.

Micro stock photography is simply stock photography that’s sold at deep discounts. Clients are able to license stock photos for just $1 or $2, and photographers earn money each time a client chooses one of their photos.

Micro stock photography is considered to be still in it’s infancy, and some people feel it’s wrong to sell photography at such low prices. Particularly since many professional photographers invest a lot of time and money on equipment, learning, and photo shoots.

For the beginning photographer though, micro stock photography agencies can be ideal places to start. Since entry requirements are not overly restrictive, many hobby photographers with inexpensive cameras have already started making a nice second income from their pictures.

How Does It Work?

The process of making money from your photography through micro stock agencies is fairly simple.

1. Research popular micro stock photography agencies online. There are quite a few of them, but you’ll want to start with just one or two until you get the hang of things.
2. Choose your absolute best pictures to submit. Some agencies require you to submit 10 pictures for review when you apply for an account with them, while others only require three the first time. Most don’t have minimum requirements though, and you can start by submitting just one.
3. Your pictures will be reviewed by humans, and accepted or rejected into the micro stock photography site. If they’re accepted, they’ll be available for clients to “buy”.

Technically they’re not fully buying your pictures though. They’re simply licensing the pictures for specific use. Usually micro stock photography is used in websites, though sometimes it’s used in advertisements, brochures and other marketing materials. The photographer always retains full copyrights to their photos though, and is normally able to sell the same photos over and over again to additional clients.

And this is the beauty of stock photography. Once you’ve taken a great picture and had it accepted into a stock photography portfolio, that one picture can continue earning you money month after month… sometimes year after year.

Most micro stock photography agencies pay $0.20 - $0.50 per picture license, or download. This may not seem like much, however a good photographer with several hundred pictures for sale could make a nice second income over time, because it all adds up!

Many new photographers like the idea of making money from their pictures, and micro stock photography agencies tend to be the ones they look at closest, because they’re easier to get started with.

A common beginner question though, is: “Can I really make a living taking pictures?”. And the short answer is: Yes.

There’s more to it than that though. Like any career or business, a lot of time, effort and study must be invested in order to get maximum returns. And the stock photography market is no different.

Having talent and skill to begin with helps of course, but almost anyone can learn the important aspects of creating great pictures, and thus almost anyone can make money in the royalty free micro stock photography industry. You must be willing to put in a lot of time and work though.

First: You must of course learn some basics of photography. These basics include composition, subject matter, focusing techniques, white balance and so on.

Second: You must be willing to take pictures often. Those photographers who make the most money tend to have the largest portfolios. It’s not all about quantity of course - quality is needed too - but generally the more photos you have in your stock photography portfolio, the more money you’re likely to make.

And more photos means taking tons of pictures, consistently. Not every picture you take will be of high enough quality to be accepted into your stock photography portfolio. So just going out and taking 100 pictures in one day won’t do the trick. In fact, if you just go out and take 100 pictures, then upload all of those to a micro stock photography agency, you may risk having your account suspended or cancelled all together.

Only the best, most experienced photographers can take 100 pictures and have most of them be of high enough quality to submit. Even then though, I doubt there are any who have 100% success rates. Beginner photographers will likely find that only 5%-10% of the pictures they take are good enough for the stock photography portfolio. Some may be able to submit as much as 50% of the shots they take. How many useable pictures you get from one day’s shooting will depend on a variety of things.

So, start shooting and keep shooting. The more pictures you’re able to get accepted into your stock portfolio, the faster you’ll be able to make some money.

How much will you actually make? This varies quite widely too. Some photographers are able to make $100 or more each month with just a handful of excellent stock quality photos. Others however, are barely able to make $100 a month with several hundred photos in their stock photography portfolio.

One thing is for certain though: Those photographers who make honest and consistent efforts to improve their photography, and increase their stock photography portfolio, continue to grow their income month after month. Some photographers who have worked consistently for a couple of years report $4000-$6000 per month from their stock photography portfolios.

So it may seem slow in the beginning, but with time and effort good photographers can make excellent full time incomes from their photography.

(By Kathy Burns-Millyard )

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