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“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.” – Joan Miro
A combination of two Greek words, phōtós (light) and graphé (drawing), photography literally means drawing with light. It is a financially and artistically fulfilling career opportunity, especially if you have a good eye for capturing emotions. Don’t believe me? Take inspiration from Sean Audet, a 30-year-old food photographer making $134,000 annually shooting mouth-watering pictures of food.
Photographing food is one of the most profitable photography niches, but not the only one. Be it shooting portraits, weddings, products, or even food, there are different ways to make money with photography. If you are also looking to turn your photography hobby into a paid side gig, these are some of the best ways to accomplish the same.
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1. Sell Stock Photos
Stock photography is a great way to make money as a photographer. A stock photographer allows businesses or individuals to buy a license to use their photographs commercially. As you know, we are all about creative ways to earn money online and one of these methods is using platforms like Adobe Stock, iStock, and Shutterstock. Remember to always focus on capturing versatile, high-quality, and properly lit images that multiple businesses can use like architecture or landscape photos.
Whether you capture images on an iPhone or a DSLR, the quality of the photos should always be your priority as they might be printed or scaled up. Stock photographers will always be in demand as a new business might not have the budget to hire a professional photographer and that’s where you come in!
Bonus tip: Tools like Shutterstock Contributor Dashboard or Google Trends can help you research and add keyword tags to your photos on stock image platforms and boost their visibility.
2. Offer Portrait Photography
Shooting portraits is one of the best work-from-home jobs to earn money with a camera. You can build a professional studio in your home to capture headshots, family portraits, or personal branding photos.
To have more creative freedom, consider working with local and global lifestyle and fashion brands like Zara or Nike. They are always on the lookout for talented in-house and freelance photographers to shoot portraits of models flaunting their products.
To build your portfolio and get clients, shoot pictures of your friends for free in your preferred sub-niche (headshots, portfolio pictures, or lifestyle photography). Meanwhile launching creative promotions like “Pay What You Can” or “10% discount on bringing a friend to the session” will help build word-of-mouth referrals and get more clients.
Bonus tip: Optimizing your website with location-based keywords will help you target a larger audience.
3. Start a Photography Blog
If you are an experienced photographer, blogging can be a great side income or even a full-time career option.
From explaining “how to use manual mode” to “understanding exposure triangle”, there are different topics that you can cover. However, picking a category will keep you more consistent and help build a loyal audience. Initially, leverage Reddit and Quora to search commonly asked photography questions and turn them into blogs. Then, based on the interaction and demand, you can hone into your preferred niche.
Many brands like Canon or Nikon collaborate with photography blogs with a loyal audience to promote their products and services. Use subscription-based newsletters to promote their products and offer benefits such as Lightroom presets and book recommendations. This will help you establish a regular source of income, while ad revenues using Google AdSense and Mediavine will serve as a cherry on top. Showcasing your portfolio on the blog can get you more clients as well. Additionally, photography forums like r/AskPhotography and social media are some of the platforms where you can share your blog posts.
4. Sell Prints Online
If you already have a website, use it for another income source by selling digital prints online. Perhaps you’re still building a website and are looking for profitable places to sell prints online.
Well, Etsy is a popular marketplace for handmade products. It’s also one of the best places to sell photos online where you can list your framed pictures of abstract art or even artistic portraits on mugs.
When building a business, following a “slow and steady” approach is usually the road to long-term success.
You can also get a kickstart by marketing via social media and partnering with local cafes, hotels, and yoga studios to display and sell your prints.
5. Become a Wedding Photographer
A wedding photographer is in the business of capturing and immortalizing precious moments. It’s one of the most creative photography careers that offer steady work and potential earnings of up to $100K per year.
You’ll be working with new clients with different expectations, so it’s naturally a great way to hone your skills in a fast-paced environment.
To start, you will need a portfolio and you can do the same by offering free or discounted shoots to your friends and assisting experienced wedding photographers. You can then use this portfolio to get clients from Facebook wedding groups, through local community groups, or by building an impressive Instagram wedding photography page like Christian Oth Studio.
6. Offer Event Photography Services
Weddings are undoubtedly fun to shoot, but why not photograph birthdays, baby showers, local festivals, and corporate events too?
If you are looking for weekend jobs, this will be perfect for you as most events happen on weekends. A versatile and professional portfolio will help showcase your skills and list the different services you offer. Getting clients can be challenging at first, but the age-old strategy of cold-emailing HR managers with samples of your work still works magic.
Coming up with creative discounts based on referrals is a great idea to build your business and so is helping out local businesses by covering their events for lower fees. Platforms like Ticketmaster or StubHub will help you find upcoming events in your area, such as a music festival, and connect with its organizers. Offering to shoot free events for well-connected hosts can help you connect with professionals in the industry and build a portfolio. These events, especially local festivals and family functions, are great places to connect with organizers and vendors.
7. Teach Photography Workshops or Online Courses
Using your years of experience, you can build another source of income by teaching while working on your photography business. For example, upload beginner or professional-level courses teaching photography and its tricks on Udemy, Coursera, or your blog to make $300 a day easily.
On the other hand, hosting live masterclasses and workshops such as an introductory session on Lightroom editing can help you engage with participants more personally and build stronger connections.
Social media is an awesome means for promoting and marketing your classes that lie outside of the regular circle. For instance, creating reels with simple photography tricks can help you attract and grow your audience.
To engage with the local community, newspaper advertisements and participating in community activities will help.
8. Work as a Travel Photographer
As a travel photographer, you get paid to take pictures, travel, and explore new locations, making it a dream job that pays well. Taking inspiration from the likes of Chris Burkard and Morgan Phillips, you can also shoot nature and wildlife pictures and sell them to magazines like National Geographic, Lonely Planet, or Condé Nast. Or, you can partner with hotels, resorts, and Airbnb to stay and offer rights-managed professional pictures of their properties at premium prices.
When traveling to scenic mountains and beaches, double down on the opportunity by shooting YouTube vlogs. These vlogs can be monetized with advertisements and sponsorships. If you don’t have a professional camera and want to earn money taking pictures with your phone, Instagram is your best friend. Did you know, travel influencers get paid for every sponsored post on Instagram?
9. Work as a Photo Editor
Editing photos is a great way to earn side income by offering services to brands and photographers. If you think editing is only about design, you might not be familiar with color correction.
It can include opportunities like retouching portraits and editing real estate photos, product photos, or even wedding pictures. You will need to learn commonly used editing tools such as Lightroom and Photoshop, which can be easily done through YouTube tutorials.
Using Fiverr and Upwork will help you get new clients and so will engaging with photography communities like r/Photography on Reddit by posting your work. This will also help you build a portfolio that you can use to connect with new clients, like wedding studios, brands, or the photographers you love. A great tip to build an audience quickly is to post before-and-after edit reels on TikTok and Instagram.
10. Sell Photography Merchandise
Photography could become a lucrative career. In addition to what I mentioned above, selling photography merchandise allows you to diversify your income stream. It is one of the best passive income ideas as you can leverage print-on-demand services like Printful or Society6. These marketplaces help you brand and sell commonly gifted items like mugs, notebooks, phone cases, and t-shirts.
While you can make a great living, these platforms will charge a fee for every order. To avoid fees from adding up, you can start your own website on Shopify or Big Cartel to save on those dreadful costs. This way you will be able to sell directly while being in full control of your branding, orders, and profits!
Bonus Tip: Setting up a store at local art fairs and flea markets will help you sell your merchandise quicker and promote your business.
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