Although photographers spend hundreds of hours learning the art of photography, the one aspect that's often left out in school is how to actually make money. Here we'll explore 15 creative ways to get your foot in the door as a paid digital photographer.
Method #1 - Stock Photography: Websites Getting your photos on stock photography sites is quite easy. Once you go through the process once, it'll quickly become a breeze. Just choose your best photos and submit them. If they're accepted, you'll make $1 to $2 dollars every time someone uses your photo!
Method #2 - Create Screensavers: Screensavers make a lot of money online. In fact, there are dozens of sellers on eBay who've made PowerSeller status just from selling screensavers! As a photographer, you can make a lot of money by putting your photos together into a screensaver and selling them on eBay or screensaver websites.
Method #3 - eBay Sellers: eBay sellers often don't know how to take very good photos of their items. That's where you come in. By helping them photograph their listings, you'll help them make thousands of dollars while you get paid for your photography work.
Method #4 - Wedding Photographer: Photographing weddings is a great way to make a lot of money for very little time. Great marketing and a great portfolio is essential to differentiate yourself.
Method #5 - Restaurant Photographer: Restaurants often need photos of their restaurant or their dishes for their menu's and websites. You can work directly with restaurants or make yourself available to designers who work with restaurants.
Method #6 - Real Estate Agents: Real estate agents need listing photographs of new homes they're listing. Get yourself a few real estate agents you work with regularly and you could quickly be booked with work.
Method #7 - Insurance Photographer: One of the most tedious tasks of getting insurance is having everything in your home photographed. For highly paid professionals, they would often rather pay someone to do the work than do it themselves. Positioning yourself as an insurance photographer is a great way to get started with paying gigs.
Method #8 - Online Dating Photographer: Men and women both need good photos for their online dating profiles. By positioning yourself as an online dating photographer, you can help people find their matches while making some extra money for yourself.
Method #9 - Working with Cafe's: Cafe's would often love to have your art on their wall for free. In exchange, you can post your photos with a price tag on their walls until you get a buyer for your art.
Method #10 - Sporting Events: Smaller sporting events such as high school games or little league games often want to have their photos taken. It's a great way for a beginning photographer to get their foot in the door.
Method #11 - Church Directories: Churches often want to have photos of their members along with contact information in a booklet called a church directory. You can position yourself as the go to photographer for that.
Method #12 - Create T Shirts: T shirts have been and will continue to be great sellers online. Taking photos, putting them on shirts and selling them on eBay or T shirt websites is a great way to make money as a photographer.
Method #13 - Craigslist: Craigslist is a great place to find paying gigs. Hundreds of photographers are using Craigslist to connect with clients. It's the most trafficked classified website on the internet.
Method #14 - Take Portraits: Portrait photography is a highly profitable business models for photographers. There are two ways you can go about doing portraits: Setting up your own practice, or working with another studio.
Method #15 - Create a Photo Blog: If your photos are stylistic, it's like you could build up a fan base by publishing your photos on a blog.
Now you have plenty of profitable ideas you can use to start making money as a photographer. Whether you want to do it part-time for extra cash or make it your full-time work, there's plenty to choose from.
Method #1 - Stock Photography: Websites Getting your photos on stock photography sites is quite easy. Once you go through the process once, it'll quickly become a breeze. Just choose your best photos and submit them. If they're accepted, you'll make $1 to $2 dollars every time someone uses your photo!
Method #2 - Create Screensavers: Screensavers make a lot of money online. In fact, there are dozens of sellers on eBay who've made PowerSeller status just from selling screensavers! As a photographer, you can make a lot of money by putting your photos together into a screensaver and selling them on eBay or screensaver websites.
Method #3 - eBay Sellers: eBay sellers often don't know how to take very good photos of their items. That's where you come in. By helping them photograph their listings, you'll help them make thousands of dollars while you get paid for your photography work.
Method #4 - Wedding Photographer: Photographing weddings is a great way to make a lot of money for very little time. Great marketing and a great portfolio is essential to differentiate yourself.
Method #5 - Restaurant Photographer: Restaurants often need photos of their restaurant or their dishes for their menu's and websites. You can work directly with restaurants or make yourself available to designers who work with restaurants.
Method #6 - Real Estate Agents: Real estate agents need listing photographs of new homes they're listing. Get yourself a few real estate agents you work with regularly and you could quickly be booked with work.
Method #7 - Insurance Photographer: One of the most tedious tasks of getting insurance is having everything in your home photographed. For highly paid professionals, they would often rather pay someone to do the work than do it themselves. Positioning yourself as an insurance photographer is a great way to get started with paying gigs.
Method #8 - Online Dating Photographer: Men and women both need good photos for their online dating profiles. By positioning yourself as an online dating photographer, you can help people find their matches while making some extra money for yourself.
Method #9 - Working with Cafe's: Cafe's would often love to have your art on their wall for free. In exchange, you can post your photos with a price tag on their walls until you get a buyer for your art.
Method #10 - Sporting Events: Smaller sporting events such as high school games or little league games often want to have their photos taken. It's a great way for a beginning photographer to get their foot in the door.
Method #11 - Church Directories: Churches often want to have photos of their members along with contact information in a booklet called a church directory. You can position yourself as the go to photographer for that.
Method #12 - Create T Shirts: T shirts have been and will continue to be great sellers online. Taking photos, putting them on shirts and selling them on eBay or T shirt websites is a great way to make money as a photographer.
Method #13 - Craigslist: Craigslist is a great place to find paying gigs. Hundreds of photographers are using Craigslist to connect with clients. It's the most trafficked classified website on the internet.
Method #14 - Take Portraits: Portrait photography is a highly profitable business models for photographers. There are two ways you can go about doing portraits: Setting up your own practice, or working with another studio.
Method #15 - Create a Photo Blog: If your photos are stylistic, it's like you could build up a fan base by publishing your photos on a blog.
Now you have plenty of profitable ideas you can use to start making money as a photographer. Whether you want to do it part-time for extra cash or make it your full-time work, there's plenty to choose from.
About the Author:
Need to improve your digital photography techniques? Pick up your free digital photography guide for better photos instantly.
