How to Make Money from Photography: 6 Ways That Still Work

Yes, you read it correctly. You can still make money from photography, even in the age of AI.

And, yes, it’s not necessarily going to be easy, and you’re probably not going to get rich. But let’s face it, that’s not why you got into photography in the first place.

For someone who’s been in the photo business for a few decades – selling stock, running an agency, developing websites and undertaking all kinds of assignments - I can honestly say the business side of photography has been completely transformed.

The biggest changes took place in the mid 2000s; when digital photography took off and a tidal wave of pictures flooded the digital world.

New markets were created. New business models blossomed. As phones became cameras and digital storage replaced film, the supply of photographs quickly outstripped demand. Predictably, the price of stock photos plummeted and demand for assignments declined (as clients found pictures online that they would once have had to assign a photographer to create).

For a while, the outlook felt gloomy.

Then we started to adapt. A new generation of digital photographers emerged, who looked forward and not back.

So here it goes… six ways you can (still) turn your photographic talent into income: 1) sell stock photos, 2) shoot corporate and NGO assignments, 3) shoot weddings and portraiture, 4) become a staffer for a news agency, 5) share your knowledge, 6) prints and books.

1. Sell Stock Photos

Sell Stock Photos. Photo by Mikael Blomkvist

Joining a photo agency used to be a good way for photographers to supplement their income. For those working with big-name agencies like GAMMA, SIPA and Magnum (to name but a few), it was even possible to earn a decent living.

The model was, and still is, photographer submits photos to agency, agency markets to their clients. When a file is licensed, the photographer gets a share of the sale. 50-50 splits used to be standard, but as prices dropped and supply surged, some of the bigger agencies began taking larger shares. At Getty for example, the standard split on stock sales is 65-35 in Getty’s favour.

You’ll probably hear and read stories about the golden era of stock photography, when photographers could earn thousands of dollars a month licensing creative content for commercial usage.

Those days are over, but there still exists a plethora of online agencies through which you can sell your work and earn some useful extra income.

There now exists a bunch of online stock services that don’t charge users for their content, like Pexels and Unsplash. I’m not quite sure why photographers would submit content to those platforms, but they do.

Putting those free platforms to one side, there are plenty of agencies you could consider. Remember, however, that there are basically two types of photographic content: creative and editorial. The former is generally for commercial uses, while the latter refers to the kind of picture you’ll see on news sites or in books. Where editorial content is concerned, authenticity and accurate informative captions are mandatory.

Here are some of the best agencies to consider.

Photo Stock Agencies to Consider

Editorial	Commercial
Getty – although they’re very selective*	iStock (which is part of the Getty family)
Alamy	Dreamstime
Shutterstock Editorial	Shutterstock Creative
Sopa Images	Adobe Stock
Zuma Press	123RF

Note that LightRocket also has a partnership with Getty through which members can apply to become Getty contributors; although in practice only a few are accepted.

Before you get overly excited, the returns from stock collections are unlikely to transform your finances. In many cases, especially if you’re distributing via the ‘microstock’ agencies like Shutterstock, Dreamstime, Adobe, iStock and 123RF, monthly income is more likely to be in the tens of dollars than the hundreds.

The value of editorial images has also dropped considerably in recent years, with images sometimes being licensed for cents on the dollar. Areas of coverage that require accredited access but can give the best returns include sports, celebrities and entertainment.

When it comes to stock photography, quality and quantity are equally important. If your imagery is low quality, it’s obviously unlikely to sell. Similarly, if you only have a small collection, your opportunity for sales in a vast market (meaning billions of images) can be very small. The photographers that do best have stock collections running into the tens of thousands of images, and they upload new content on a regular basis.

You could think of stock photography as a way of getting a little bit of revenue from content that you’ve already created which otherwise might be gathering dust (virtually speaking) in some hard drive somewhere. It probably won’t make you rich, but it might pay for some new gear from time to time, or even the odd holiday if you do well.

2. Cover Corporate and NGO Assignments

Cover Corporate and NGO Events. Photo by Matheus Bertelli

With all the talk of AI replacing photography, it’s easy to feel despondent and wonder if the golden era of photography might be over.

But remember, companies, international organisations and NGOs still need to document their work. They need pictures of projects, events, meetings and so on. Sure, they could ask staff members to take pictures with their phones, and that is happening more and more, but there is still a market for professionals to create high quality documentary content on assignment.

The assignment day rates for corporate work can still be quite attractive too, ranging from a few hundred dollars a day at the very lowest end, up to a thousand plus dollars a day (or even thousands at the highest end), depending on the type of client, the end use (advertising content generally pays more) and the scale of production required.

To snare these types of assignments, you’ll need to put some work into presentation. You’ll definitely need a slick-looking portfolio website that showcases your best work, including some examples of any completed assignments. Indeed, a professional-looking portfolio website is needed if you’re planning on pitching for any kind of assignment work. Think of it as an online brochure and visiting card.

3. Shoot Weddings and Portraiture

Shoot Weddings and Portraiture. Photo by Emma Bauso

Weddings have long been a mainstay for many professional photographers.

After all, weddings are one event where people are prepared to spend big on professional photography and are rarely interested in compromising with amateur imagery.

It might not be what you dreamed of doing as a photographer, but wedding photography can pay the bills and give you the freedom to do your own personal projects.

The best wedding photographers elevate their work into a creative art form and can command prices into the thousands.

Portraiture is another area where professional photographers can still find employment. Granted AI is likely to erode the market for portrait photography as people ask it to enhance existing amateur portraits.

But there is good reason to believe that even in an AI world, there will be those who place a premium on authenticity. They want the creative eye of a professional photographer to take a portrait that goes beyond the descriptive, imparting a feeling and an emotive interpretation of the subject.

Rates for portrait photography are likely to be a little lower than for weddings, but if you can get some momentum behind your career and build up a strong reputation backed up by a portfolio, it can be a good source of income.

4. Become a Staffer for a News Agency

Become a Staffer for a News Agency. Photo by Joshua Hanson

This might seem kind of obvious, but if you can get a staff position where you’re actually paid to be a full-time photographer, then you’ve turned your passion and your talent into a living wage.

That being said, such jobs are few and far between and are becoming increasingly rare. Just last February, the Washington Post laid off the entirety of its photo staff as well as 8 of its 14 photo editors.

The most obvious employers of photographers are established news agencies like Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP) the European Press Agency, and so on. These agencies employ teams of full-time photographers who are attached to their offices around the world. If you’re passionate about editorial photography, these are some of the best jobs you could hope to get.

5. Share Your Knowledge

Share Your Knowledge. Photo by Yan Krukau

Quite a few photographers have worked out that there are more people out there who’d like to be able take professional level photos, than there are those with the skill and know-how to actually do so.

It’s not a massive market, but there is demand for professionals who want to share their knowledge. If you’ve got enough experience and have a strong portfolio to prove it, offering workshops and training courses to hobbyist photographers can be a good way to supplement your income.

Some photographers even go so far as to create fully online courses. They do the work once, put the content behind a paywall in the Cloud, and set about marketing.

I don’t have any data on how many of these courses exist nor how much real revenue they deliver to their photographer creators but I do see plenty of anecdotal evidence (including people occasionally asking me to consult and teach) that there is a market for serious professionals who want to teach.

6. Create Prints and Books

Create Prints or Books. Photo by Kristyna Squared.one

Last but not least, and having started with the advent of digital, let’s come full circle, right back to the world of analogue prints and physical books.

You can look at thousands of digital pictures online, browsing endlessly through your stream of images, but you can’t put those pictures on your wall. And a screen cannot deliver the same tactile experience as a print or a book. There is something uniquely satisfying and impactful about pictures printed on paper.

Which is why some photographers are turning to print sales as a way of adding value to their work and generating a bit of extra income.

Some sell prints of their work on their portfolio site. Others are organising exhibition events where the public can interact with, and purchase, a curated collection of physical prints. With a little work, and lots of promotion, you can push your work into the realm of art collectors who will pay a premium for limited edition prints.

Books are perhaps one of the most satisfying ways to immortalize a body of work. For most, however, publishing a photo book is a risky financial endeavour that might end up costing more than it earns.

Publishers and distributors tend to leave creators with only a tiny share of sales (often as little as 10%) making it hard to get a good return. The upside is that the photographer doesn’t have any risk and almost no investment. The downside is that your books will be another very modest addition to your income.

Some photographers decide to go the self-publishing route, setting the risks of investing in printing and distribution against the benefit of keeping all the profits.

The reality is that only the best-known names in photography are likely to sell enough copies to earn a reasonable return. For most lesser-known photographers, creating a book is a rewarding way of immortalizing their work, with a chance of some small financial gains.

Start Out With a LightRocket Portfolio Website

So there you have it. We may no longer be in the ‘golden age of photography’ but there are most definitely still ways to make a living from your photography.

If you’re interested in getting your work online, check out our free portfolio websites – they’re designed for those who need an affordable (and you can’t get more affordable than free) way to get their photographic work out into the world.

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Written by Yvan Cohen | Yvan has been a photojournalist for over 30 years. He's a co-founder of LightRocket and continues to shoot photo and video projects around Southeast Asia.

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