As we all know, there are many ways to earn money at home. They range from cheeky scams to good sensible ideas like craft jobs, home laundry service, dog walking, etc. Many of these ideas require some money to get started, and in some cases, a lot of hard work! I’d like to focus here on what I think is one of the best opportunities and it’s one that I use to earn extra money.
This idea does not require any capital to get started IF you already have a digital camera and an internet connection. I am assuming that as you read this on the internet, you at least have an internet connection! You may not know it, but there are many photo libraries on the Internet that are desperate for YOUR photos.
Once you have uploaded your photos to their site, they will market them and when they sell them you will be paid a commission. Each photo can be sold repeatedly and each time they are sold, you will receive another commission! Your images can be sold to newspapers, magazines, book publishers, advertising agencies, etc. You can usually upload your images to multiple sites. Think about it. If you upload 400 images to five different sites, it will be like having 2000 images for sale! You do not have to pay anything to the library to register with them.
So what kind of images are they looking for? Here is a list of some popular topics;
Popular Topics
Anything that has to do with business or finances. That means images of people in meetings, using computers, sitting at desks. Photos of money, credit cards, financial charts, etc.
Anything to do with medicine. That means images of doctors, nurses, medicines, medical equipment, etc.
Images of people in everyday situations, playing, eating, shopping, etc.
Food images. Food dishes. A table set for a meal.
Close-up shots of everyday objects.
This is by no means a complete list. I suggest you visit some of the libraries and see what is on sale. I have listed some libraries below. Photo libraries say they don’t want more pictures of sunsets, nature, pets, and insects.
Photo Libraries
I can recommend the following photo libraries;
Fotolia.com
Image nation.co.uk
Crestock.com
Shutterpoint.com
Advice
When sending photos, they should be well in focus, well composed, and have good color saturation. Do not send what you might call “vacation photos”. As cute as your pet is, libraries won’t be interested in photos of her unless she’s in a studio or doesn’t look like your pet, if you follow me. Think about the photos you see of cats, dogs, and other animals that you see on calendars. That is the animal image standard they are looking for.
When submitting photographs of people, you should have what is called a “model release” form signed by the person or persons in the photograph, if they are recognizable. This is a legal form (which you can download from the image library site) where the person / persons in the image give their permission for their image to be published. This, of course, provides you, the photographer, a problem if you have a few superphotos of a soccer crowd. Getting the signatures of several hundred / thousand people can just put you off!
I enjoy this way of making money because after uploading my photos I can forget about them and wait for the commission to arrive. I’ve been doing this for quite some time and it’s great to get paid repeatedly for images that I uploaded a long time ago.
In conclusion
I think this is probably one of the best ways to earn money at home because it costs nothing to get started, if you already have a digital camera. Of course, you can take special trips outside and about to take photos, but I only take photos “away from home” if I’m shopping or on vacation. If you want to see some of my images that are sold regularly, (you might be surprised) visit my website, where you will also have the opportunity to subscribe to a FREE weekly newsletter on money making photography tips. The link is at the bottom of this page. Shoot and win some money!
Good luck peter girling