Monetize your mobile photos

As a blogger, I follow a lot of amazing Instagram accounts, I’m sure you do too. I’m quite sure that you yourself also made some beautiful and unique images and posted them on one social platform or another for everyone to admire.

So why not to earn money with your mobile photos?

To understand how we, bloggers, can turn our Instagram feeds into additional source of income, let’s go through some basics of the Microstocks.

What is a microstock agency?

Microstock agencies are companies that give platform for photographers, videographers, illustrators and other artists to sell their work to small businesses and private persons (occasionally big companies buy images there too).

Some of you might think – why should anyone pay for images that can be found on Google, saved and then used? The truth is, using images without the author permission is not allowed, wheather it is to illustrate a blog article or for commercial purposes. Naturally, these authors also expect to get paid for the hard work they do. Microstocks help connecting the authors with the businesses, by selling lisences. Lisence is basically a contract, saying how and where the buyer is allowed to use the image. The author does not sell his work – he sells permission to use his work.

Without a doubt, we’re talking about a lot of money here – and this is the money that you can also earn, if you join the exciting world of microstocks.

So what’s in it for us, bloggers?

Nowadays regular microstock agencies demand very high quality images, which not many of us can provide, either because we don’t have time to learn all the aspects of exposure, crop, noise and the rest of photography fine-tuning or we simply don’t have the gear. But we all do have smartphones with a camera, and we’re good enough to create an amazing Instagram feed, aren’t we? Turns out, this might be enough.

In the last years stock agencies turned to mobile photography for many reasons. Smartphone cameras provide great quality images, and since the mobile phone is much more accessible than a photo camera (unless you’re a professional photographer on a photoshoot), many of the great shots are done with a smartphone these days. Imagine yourself walking on a street when you see something extraordinary happening – street musicians playing and dancing, people protesting the new law, cute couple kissing on a bridge, lit by the street lights – you can reach out for your phone and snap an amazing shot.

And after we did that, where can we sell our images?

CLASHOT

Clashot is a mobile photography platform that belongs to Depositphotos microstock agency. The best photos receive likes from the Clashot experts and can even sell at Depositphotos main site.

Starting up is very simple – download Clashot app on your phone, sign up and upload your image or a set of images joined together as a “rapportage”; then add title, which is translated into tags on Android app or manually add tags on iPhone, and post. Your photos sell 0.99$ each, you get 0.44$. It might look like a very low price, but a good photograph can sell many times, eventually earning hundreds of dollars. If your photo is really good and someone buys it from Depositphotos with extended license, you might get as much as 35$ for one sale.

You can withdraw your payment to your Paypal or Skrill account once you’ve reached 3$. Your photos are sold under editorial license only, meaning they cannot be used commercially. Therefore, you can post photos of people without asking for their written permission (called “model release”), photos of famous places and events, and even trademarks like “Chanel” logo – which means do post your cute Chanel bags, Balenciaga boots and Zara biker coats. Your fotos will be posted for sale immidiately without any approval time, but if Clashot experts think that you foto might contain copyrighted or offencive details, they might take the photo down. I had one photo taken down, and I really have no idea why – it was a photo of my legs in jeans and red heels. In this case it’s possible to email support and ask them why the image was refused, if you’re up to the task.

123RF ON-THE-GO

123RF On-The-Go belongs to one of the 6 biggest microstock agencies. This app seamlessly integrates your photos into 123RF site – meaning that while Clashot sells only mobile imagery, 123RF also attracts clients who buy regular stock imagery, which translates into greater exposure of your work. On the other hand, this means that all the regular rules of a microstock agency apply to you – you have to submit your scanned ID to identify yourself (don’t worry, it’s a normal practice), your photo must comply to certain rules:

• image size must be 5 megapixels or above - modern mobile phone camera like the one in Samsung smartphones or iPhones produces at least 8 megapixels, so you don’t have to worry about that.
• minimum noise levels – this basically means you have to shoot at good light to reduce annoying grain noise.
• not over- or under-exposed – speaking of good light, do not use too much light and do not submit super-dark images either.
• images should be well-composed – while you can spend a lot of time studying what good composition is, I suggest you follow your gut feeling and learn as you go. If you decide to expand your knowledge on composition, I recommend this book.
• images should have commercial value or be newsworthy – while our Instagram followers might like a photo of our food or shoes on our feet, I doubt anyone can actually use them in an article. Unless they’re very original and exceptionally beautiful. Before posting you image for sale try to ask yourself who can use it. Browsing through images that already set on sale can also help to get the idea of what sells (I posted some of the best images below).

The earnings plan is not as simple as the one of Clashot and is similar to the regular microstock earnings. After you upload your image you will also have to specify whether the image contains recognizible people, places or trademarks. If so – the photos will be sold only for editorial use (just like those sold by Clashot). If not – you image can be sold for commercial use too, which means more chances for this image to sell, and more chances for high prices.

FOTOLIA INSTANT

Fotolia Instant app was launched by one of the biggest microstocks out there – Fotolia, but sadly it’s only available on iPhone. Fotolia announced the Android version to come out months ago, but it’s still not ready… we keep on waiting. The idea of Fotolia Instant is the same as 123RF app – so if you have an iPhone, you can start right away!

Which images will sell?

Every now and then Clashot posts best selling images on Clashot Facebook feed. Here are some examples:

As you see, the best photos illustrate something that is happening in the world, or can be used in an article about food, health and so on. Ask youself where your photo can be used and don’t get desperate if your photos don’t sell at first. Once you get the idea, microstocks can become a great back up income for you.

Also, take a look at 5 top mobile apps for Android and for iOS that will help you to succeed with selling your images.