Camera Profits http://clickphotographycourse.com
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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION... 3 CHOOSING A DIGITAL CAMERA... 3 STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY... 5 OFFERING SERVICES... 10 SELLING COMPILATIONS... 12 THE RIGHT TYPE OF PHOTO... 14 RESOURCES... 16-2 -
Introduction If you love taking pictures with your digital camera, making some cash with it is just an additional bonus, but you can turn it into a full-time business if you want! There are many different ways to make money with your camera. You can sell your photos on stock photo websites, offer various photography services, or sell your photos as compilations. In this report, I m going to teach you some of the best ways to make money with your digital camera. I ll also give you the truth about what type of camera you ll need. (You may be surprised!) You ll also learn what type of photos you should take, and which types of photos you should avoid if you want to make the most money. Many photographers struggle because they don t have this information! If you ve been looking for a way to make some extra cash, this could be just what you re looking for! Choosing a Digital Camera Many people think they need a really expensive camera in order to take professional photographs, but that s not necessarily the case. In many - 3 -
cases, a point-and-shoot camera can take pictures that are better than high-end professional cameras. The fact is, you don t need an expensive camera to take photos for stock agencies. 10 megapixels is not necessary! While you can t expect your photos to be accepted if you re using a 1.3 megapixel camera, you certainly don t need a 10 megapixel camera just to take photos for stock. A good point-and-shoot camera around 5 megapixels is more than adequate for general stock photography. Remember, they are made to make shooting pictures fool proof. Unless you are a professional photographer, using a high-end professional camera will only complicate things and make it more like that your photos won t turn out the way you hope. Instead of spending more money on a camera, invest in a cheaper model and spend the money you save on lighting. Good lighting is absolutely crucial for great photography. - 4 -
Stock Photography The most common way to make money with a digital camera is by selling photos through stock photo agencies. You upload your photos to their system, and after they have approved your photos, they will appear on the site to be purchased by anyone who wishes to do so. Your photos will be available for people to use on websites, blogs, graphics, and potentially even in print. They could be purchased by major websites and used all over the world. You won t get a lot of credit for your work. Other than the buyer potentially seeing your username on the site, the only recognition you will be likely to get is compensation. Stock agencies don t pay much, but if you have thousands of photos available, the royalties can add up. Each photo generally sells for only a few dollars. The price generally depends on the size the buyer chooses, and usually ranges from around $1 up to $10 or more. You will receive a portion of that, depending on the percentage the agencies pays photographers. With stock photography, there are two major factors that influence income: 1. The quality and subjects of your photos - 5 -
2. Volume I ll talk about photo subjects later, but for now I wanted to talk about volume. One of the key factors in how much money you will make is how many photos you upload. You need thousands of quality photos on good subjects to make a living. The more photos you upload, the more money you make. Proper Licensing For Your Images If you upload images (including artwork) that include models, you will need to obtain a signed model or property release statement indicating that you have the rights to distribute and sell these images. As far as what you are permitted to shoot, according to the "Reporters Committee for Freedom of The Press", you can take images of anything that is visible without entering a restricted space or modifying your surroundings, meaning that you are not allowed to trespass in order to take your photos and you are not legally permitted to modify property that isn't yours in order to take photos. Source: http://www.rcfp.org/photoguide - 6 -
The potential to earn with stock photo sites is literally as scalable as you can imagine, and the more images you upload the greater your chances of earning a full time income through this opportunity. To begin, not all stock photo sites are created equal. Many of them pay out a greater commission or percentage than others and to help you get started, I have provided a quick summary of what the top image sites are and what they are currently offering photographers: istockphoto www.istockphoto.com You can start selling your images and photos instantly after joining. It's free to create a contributor account. I have had the most success with istockphoto as their image prices and payout rates are one of the highest in the industry. Very established community of buyers. ShutterStock http://www.shutterstock.com You are paid $.20 or more each time someone purchases on of your images. This is probably one of the best performers and the one we use.
Big Stock Photo http://www.bigstockphoto.com One of the grand daddy sites of stock images, Big Stock Photo has a massive database of regular customers. Get paid up to 65% for each photo that is purchased. Note: Big Stock Photo allows you to offer extended image rights and more. DreamsTime http://www.dreamstime.com For each transaction, the photographer receives a 30-50 percent fee. Exclusive images receive an additional 15 percent bonus, while exclusive photographers enjoy a 60 percent fee and an additional bonus of $0.20 for each approved submission. Dreamstime awards the highest royalties in the industry, according to a study of PDN Magazine. Fotolia http://www.fotolia.com Receive up to 75% of all sales made from downloads of your image and photo collections. PhotoStockPlus http://www.photostockplus.com Up and going community of stock images. Pays up to 85% of all downloads & sales. SpyMedia - 8 -
http://www.spymedia.com Spy Media is an interactive community where people can post suggestions and requests for specific imagery. Get paid for fulfilling requests! Alamy Photos http://www.alamy.com Pays up to 65% for every photo or image sale made. Paid Pictures http://www.paidpictures.com You can accept image assignments requested by users. Description: When taking high-quality pictures is something you love, and you want to earn some money doing it, you have come to the right place. They give you all the information you need, e.g. what kind of pictures we need, the resolution, the format (JPEG, etc.), and so on. All you have to do is take the pictures, e-mail them and get paid. Shutter Point http://www.shutterpoint.com ShutterPoint offers THE highest payout rate online: 85% for Full Royalty- Free License, and 70% for Standard Royalty-Free License. Payouts are delivered by check or through PayPal whenever your earnings - 9 -
exceed your minimum payment amount. Minimum payment options start at $50. Note that the majority of stock photo sites do not place limits on the number of images that you are permitted to upload to the website, however many of these image distributors will showcase images that are being purchased more often, or are considered more popular among buyers. This extra exposure will dramatically increase your monthly earnings, so if you end up with an image that you find is selling well, it's wise to consider creating additional photos of that genre or category. You should also keep in mind that any work that you upload with the intention of selling needs to be imagery taken or created by you. If you upload images (including artwork) that include models, you will need to obtain a signed model or property release statement indicating that you have the rights to distribute and sell these images. Offering Services While you re building up your stock photo portfolio, you can make quick cash by offering services with your camera. - 10 -
Unless you are a professional photographer, you aren t likely to get a lot of work doing wedding photography or portraits, but there are still services you can offer that can make you some decent money. One such service is ebay photography. You can offer to take pictures of items people intend to list on ebay. You will go to their location, take photos, and transfer those photos to their computer. You may want to charge by the hour rather than the item, because many people will be selling inexpensive items and won t want to pay a lot for each item. Another great service to offer is shooting photos of homes for sale or rent. You can offer this service to landlords, property managers, homeowners, and real estate agencies. Make sure to take photos of interesting features in and around the home, and take photos indoors and outdoors. You might also offer to take pictures of a restaurant s interior and food for their website. Many restaurants have an online menu, but no pictures of their food. Having photos on their website can help bring people in. You can find work by posting on Craigslist.org. Just make a post in your local area offering your services. This will work especially well in larger urban areas with an active population on Craigslist. - 11 -
Another place to find work is by posting classified ads in your local newspaper and in any free classified ad papers like the Thrifty Nickel that may service your area. Flyers can be placed around town, too. Pass out flyers to local businesses, on car windshields, on the counters of gas stations (ask first!) and on bulletin boards. You can also offer to barter your services for products and services you need. For example, you could take photos of a restaurant s menu items in exchange for a few free meals. Word-of-mouth business can also be helpful. You might offer clients a discount on their next purchase if they refer a new customer to you. This way, people will be more likely to tell their friends and family about your services, because they will get something for doing so. Selling Compilations Compilations are a great way to make some extra money. If you like to take photos of a certain type, you can put them all together on one CD and sell it on a website or on ebay. - 12 -
Generally, you will want to sell your compilations as stock photography. By selling your photos yourself instead of through a stock agency, you will be more in control of your income. The income will also go to you in its entirety, instead of just as a commission. Another way to sell compilations is through special interest publications. For example, if you love taking photographs of cats, you might sell your compilation CDs by placing an ad in Cat Fancy magazine. This is where it really pays to be creative. Look for creative places to sell your compilations. Create compilations based on things you really love to photograph, and then sell them to people by seeking out people who are interested in the subject. You may also want to set up your own website to sell your compilations. If you do good work, people may buy several types! - 13 -
The Right Type of Photo If you want to make good money with stock photography, it s important to take the right type of photos. You can t expect to take 10,000 pictures of flowers and make good money. People do buy pictures of flowers, but most stock agencies are so inundated with photos of flowers that they no longer accept them at all unless they are truly exceptional. To make the most money, you must take photos that not everyone is taking. You must find niches that have a lot of demand, but very little competition. Sometimes you may find a subject with a lot of demand and a lot of competition, but you can still do well because the competition is weak. For example, many types of websites use photos of money, but there are really very few great images. Most images of money are very poorly done. In general, images that are taken on a white background of an isolated subject sell better than images with busy backgrounds. This makes it easier for a graphics designer to cut them out of the background for use in various types of graphics. It is also helpful if the images are whole. For example, closeups can be attractive, but if the top of the head is cut off, it makes it harder to work the image into a design. - 14 -
Always keep potential use in mind when you take photos. Think about what a buyer might want to use the photo for before you take the photo. Try to anticipate what the images will be used for in order to capture the perfect shot. Examples of subjects that probably would NOT do well include: General flowers, unless they are rare or exceptional Butterflies, insects, or other general nature images Cats, dogs, or other pets, unless they are rare breeds General crowds, people, or street scenes Specific subjects almost always perform better than general subjects. For example, a photo of a rare flower that no one else is selling pictures of would probably sell better than a photo of your neighbor s flower garden. There are some subjects that are almost always in demand, including: Money and financial images, such as credit cards Business images, including business people and settings Technology, including computers and cell phones Real estate related images, especially very nice homes Relationships, couples, weddings, and gay and lesbian images - 15 -
You can browse the most popular images at various stock agencies to find the subjects that seem to be selling well. Write down the subject matter of the most popular images at each site to get a general idea of what is selling well. Don t forget to think about current events. For example, when swine flu was first discovered, pictures of pigs and pictures of newspaper headlines saying Swine Flu were hot sellers. By keeping a close eye on the news, you can often spot trends and react quickly. If you can provide what people are looking for, you will always make money, and that is the bottom line. Resources: Photography Tuition: ClickPhotographyCouse.com Offer an 18 Module, Online Interactive course that can be taken in your own time. 18 fun and interactive learning modules Learn how to immediately improve your skills and take amazing photos Camera settings explained in the easiest possible way No time limits on completing the course- you can revisit the modues anytime Presented by top local Australian and New Zealand Photographers No Techno Jargon or things that don t apply to Australian/NZ Photographers Get the best possible results from your camera. Course is suitable for all camera types Fun quizzes allow you to test your knowledge along the way. Includes completion certificate
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