Saturday, January 29, 2011

Hey Shutterbug!

Are you a good photographer?  Are you one of those people who live to point that camera and take a picture of just about anything from a beautiful sunrise or sunset, to animals, old barns, and baskets of fruit on a table to a picture of a juicy steak on a plate? If so, you need to be turning your photography skills into a little extra cash for your pocket.

There are many websites on the Internet that will pay you for your pictures, no matter what the subject matter is. There are people who will pay a fee to download your pictures and use them on their websites and you are paid for that downloaded picture.  How great is that?

In most cases, you will be required to complete an application with the websites you want to use to carry your pictures. Pay can range from 20 cents or 25 cents per download to as much as $7.50 or more, depending on the websites. Some require that you hit at least $50 in downloads before a payment is issued to you, but do not let that discourage you, if you have a good variety of subject matter that money adds up quickly. You can give a website either exclusive or non-exclusive rights to your materials. Be sure to read their contract agreement so that you can determine whether you are giving them the rights to your photos or if you are able to retain ownership.

Believe me when I say, there are people out there right now who are making a nice monthly income just off of the photographs that they are putting up on the Internet for sale. Here is a list of some of the better known sites although I am sure there plenty more that could and will be added to this list over the coming months as more and more people begin creating websites who are in need of art work for their website.
These websites are not listed in any particular order.
ThinkStock.com
123rf.com  (rf stands for royalty free)
Crestock.com - with this company you can retain the rights to your photographs
Shutterstock.com
Dreamstime.com
IStockphoto.com
Bigstockphoto.com
cutcaster.com
fotosearch.com

So go ahead, take a picture of that bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce or that cute kid with the dirty face from eating it!  Alternatively, a picture of that sink full of dirty dishes to the dogs out playing in the sprinkler.  You never know what someone is looking for from the most mundane subject material to those that you would most likely think someone would want to use on their websites.

Are you in need of ideas for subject matter for your photos?  Just go browse the Internet for ideas, believe me, you will have so many ideas running through your head by the time you have spent an hour or two looking, you will feel like you are on a merry-go-round!  Oh hey, there is a shot for you!

Get out that digital camera and get clicking and you will soon be on your way.

No comments:

Post a Comment