Are you passionate about photography?
Do you have lots of interesting photos taken during a holiday or of nature, events or other interesting themes?
If so, you can easily sell these pictures online on any stock photo website and make a lot of money in India.
Now, you’re probably wondering which websites allow you to sell stock photos.
In this Guide, we list some Top Websites to Sell Stock Photos and help you to Make Money in India.
Selling Photos Online?
Yes, it is a common practice worldwide to sell photos online. In fact, there are dozens of websites that specifically allow you to upload and sell your photos.
You can bid a price for your photos. Depending on the website you choose, it is possible to earn between 25 US Cents to 50US Cents per image per month.
If your pictures are rare and high quality, this price can shoot as high as US$2 to US$5 per month.
Top 10 Websites to Sell Stock Photos :
Generally, most people who sell pictures use at least two stock photo websites for higher earnings. You can select from any of these websites.
1. iStock
iStock has been in the stock photo business for over 15 years. The website has over 160,000 contributors around the world. It is part of the larger group, Getty Images.
You can upload pictures, graphics, and videos that will be viewed by over 1.5 million customers in over 200 countries.
2. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is an American company that allows you to sell stock photos, vectors, graphics, videos and other images.
The website also offers online resources to sell photos online and tools for photographers, videographers, and graphic designers to provide finishing touches to their works.
Shutterstock’s popularity can be gauged from the fact that over one million new pictures are added every week to the website. This is one of the best websites to sell stock photos.
3. Photos of India
Photos of India is based in Gurgaon, Haryana and is emerging as favorite among amateur and professional photographers to sell stock images including pictures, videos, and graphics.
The company has its own photographers and partners with others in this country and worldwide to sell stock pictures.
If your pictures are of interest to Indian audiences only, you can enroll on this website. A lot of foreign clients that require pictures of various things in India including arts, monuments, culture and heritage, public figures, festivals and wildlife among others also buy from Photos India.
4. Getty Images
Getty Images is a world leader of sorts in the stock photo industry. You can consider this website provided you have excellent, professional pictures.
Getty Images states it has over 200 million assets available through its industry-leading sites www.gettyimages.com and www.istock.com.
The Getty Images website serves creative, business and media customers in almost 200 countries and is the first place people turn to discover, purchase and share powerful content from the world’s best photographers and videographers.
“ Getty Images works with over 200,000 contributors and hundreds of image partners to provide comprehensive coverage of more than 130,000 news, sport and entertainment events,” its website adds.
*** The company also owns another stock photo giant, Alamy.
5. Dreamstime
Dreamstime website states that in April 2018, the website 21,000,000 registered members. It has over 400,000 contributing photographers and features more than 77,000,000 photos, illustrations, clip-arts, and vectors.
Dreamstime claims its unique visitors number more than 11,000,000 monthly. These figures indicate that Dreamstime is one of topmost stock photos websites of the world. You can sell your pictures on this website for very high returns.
6. Stocksy United
Stocksy United is commonly known as Stocksy. It is a Canada-based stock photography site that allows amateur and professional photographers and graphic designers among others to upload high-quality images for sale.
Stocksy’s images are preferred by top companies and other businesses looking for very high-quality images on a wide number of themes.
7. Thinkstock
Thinkstock is operated by Getty Images. Thinkstock has a dedicated portal for India that allows photographers in this country to upload high-quality pictures.
Graphic designers can also upload their creations on Thinkstock. This website has a very wide following in India since it offers packages specific to this country.
Further, Getty Images blends its global expertise in Thinkstock to offer Indian photographers and businesses to connect.
8. Imagedb
Imagedb is an excellent Indian website for anyone who wishes to make extra money by selling their pictures online.
Imagedb lists several themes of pictures. You can take a look at these themes and click pictures during your spare time for sale as stock photos.
Since customers are offered stock pictures through affordable membership fees, you stand good chances to make money faster with Imagedb.
9. Adobe Stock
As the name suggests, Adobe Stock is owned by the global IT giant, Adobe, the company that makes Photoshop, Acrobat and other software we use daily.
Adobe Stock is a highly respected selling stock photo website. Hence, it is advisable for professionals to sell their pictures on this website.
Amateurs too can sell pictures on Adobe Stock provided they are off-beat and unique or rare. Customers of Adobe Stock are large companies that require superior images.
10. 123RF
123RF is in the stock photo industry since 2005. 123RF has some of the topmost companies of the world that also feature as Fortune 500 brands, as customers for stock photos.
These include Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, American Express and Deloitte. This too is an excellent website if you have professional level skills in photography and wish to earn extra income.
Stock photos at 123RF command a very high price that translates as very lucrative earnings for you.
Understanding Stock Photo Trade: Complete Guide
Before you rush to register on one or more websites, it is important to know a few basics of the stock photo market.
- You can sell pictures on royalty basis: which means that customers who buy these images will pay you every time they use it. Selling on royalty basis can fine provide your pictures are very unique or rare and cannot be found elsewhere.
- The other way is by offering temporary or permanent usage rights to the customer. This depends upon the price. If you allow temporary rights for a month or two, it is possible to resell these images. However, chances are you will find few takers since the customer will have utilized it on their promotional material.
- Giving permanent usage rights gets you more money since you are allowing the customer to use them lifelong. It involves allowing the customer to use your copyrighted images.
- Most photographers that sell stock pictures also offer a few free samples provided the user gives you the credit for clicking them. This helps in creating awareness about your skills and attracts clients to view pictures you are selling.
- You can price your stock pictures based on a number of images. This means, bundling a few pictures together and selling them for a fixed rate. You may earn a little lesser by creating stocks of your images but it attracts more customers: they have the flexibility to buy only the ones they need.
- Before venturing to sell stock images, find out fees and other charges you will have to part with to the website. Calculate your price based on the amount you will have to pay the website. This is usually on a percentage Hence, astute calculations are helpful.
- You will not find customers for stock pictures daily. Selling stock images can sometimes prove time-consuming. Hence, it is not advisable to rely on stock picture sales as your primary source of income. At best, it can be developed as a secondary source of money, like a home-based business.
In Conclusion
Thanks to Make in India initiative of the Indian government and business-friendly ecosystem in the country, a lot of foreign companies are opening doors in this country.
To reach local populations, they need excellent pictures of various elements of India. Hence, this is an ideal time to start using your photographic skills and creativity to make extra money.
Before concluding this article, we also recommend that only photographers who possess excellent creativity and required skills should venture into stock photo selling.
Never invest in an expensive camera to take pictures only for selling on these stock photo websites. As explained earlier, there are no guarantees that pictures you have taken will find customers.
You might lose the investment you make on a pricey camera and related equipment. However, for those skilled in taking pictures, top websites selling stock photos can provide an excellent secondary source of money.