To make as much money as you can selling photos online, try these stock image websites:
Alamy
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We recommend trying Alamy first to begin selling stock photos. Their student contributor scheme gives you 100% of the sales price of your images for 2 years – ideal! Your uni will need to be part of the scheme, but loads of UK institutions are already registered.
Alamy reckons images typically sell for about £70 each, but photos could get anywhere from £16–£400 depending on what your photos are used for. If you're not a student or your uni isn't registered, the payout is still a fairly decent 50%. Selling phone pics through their Stockimo app (App Store only) earns you a 20% cut.
Picfair
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Picfair comes with a twist: you decide how much your images sell for. Of course, the lower you set the price the more likely people may be to buy your images. But, if you have some top-quality pics that deserve top prices, this site is ideal.
Picfair adds 20% on top for their cut, but the sales price you set is what you get if your image sells.
EyeEm
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If Instagram and Alamy had a love child, it would look like EyeEm. EyeEm is a photo-sharing site but, if you want to earn more than 'likes', you can also sell your images through the marketplace.
EyeEm splits every sale with you 50/50, with photos selling from around £30–£200.
EyeEm Bonus: regular how-to articles, themed missions run by big brands, plus you can upload pics via the web or phone.
Foap
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Foap is built around phone photographers, with everything handled through the app (free on Android and App Store). Foap sells photos for around £8 and splits it 50/50 after reductions of any taxes and dues.
They also run monthly Missions, where you can submit photos on a theme to be in with a chance of winning extra money and perks.
Dreamstime
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Dreamstime offers up to 60% for exclusives.
How much your photo sells for also goes up the more it's downloaded: newbie images sell for around £0.25 – £1.80.
If you're selling photographs taken on a phone, start with the free Dreamstime app (on Android and iPhone).
Getty Images
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Getty Images hands over 15% of an image's sales price, but promise a bigger cut if you make the pic exclusive to the site.
Single images cost from £50 to buy, but the type of licence or subscription plan the customer buys determines how your slice is calculated.
Shutterstock
shutterstock photo
Shutterstock is one of the best-known stock image sites to sell to. The amount you will earn per photo depends on the licence or subscription type, as well as your lifetime earnings (the total amount you've earned on Shutterstock as a contributor).
However, it's worth noting that you'll only earn 20% for Enhanced licence downloads when you start out as a Shutterstock contributor. Enhanced image licences give the buy rights to download images for merchandising and high-viewership commercial uses.
But, as your lifetime earnings pass various levels, you will earn an increasing percentage of the photo sales.
Tips to make extra money selling stock photos
help me, I'm poor Bridesmaids
Credit: Universal Pictures
Here are the best ways to make more money selling stock photos online:
Upload quality images to multiple stock photo sites.
Include people in your photos – but it's worth noting that anyone you pap may need to sign a model release form to say they're okay with you using it. Your stock library will have template forms you can print, sign and submit.
Check the T&Cs before selling photos to stock image sites, including when you'll be paid, how much and in what currency. Also, find out what happens to your photos if you want to cancel your account later on. You may find that you could make more money by selling to a different stock library.
Sign up for contributor newsletters from stock photo sites for insights into what pictures are in demand and how to improve your camera and editing skills.
Use relevant keywords when uploading photos to stock images sites as this will help more people find (and buy!) them.