Open a Flickr Account
Sharing your images for free might not sound like the most obvious way to start making money from photography but the site’s giant collection of creative images has made it a rich shopping ground for photo editors looking for the kinds of unusual pictures they just can’t find on stock sites.
There are no figures that track the number of direct sales made between Flickr members and photo editors but the exchanges have been frequent enough for Getty to team up with the Yahoo property to handle the sales. Within months of launching its partnership, the stock company had made “thousands” of sales on behalf of Flickr members.
For buyers, Getty’s Flickr Collection provides a useful source of original photography and a familiar, trusted sales method. It ensures a fast response from a company that understands copyright restrictions and model releases. For sellers though, it’s an expensive way of delivering their images. Getty takes a 70 percent cut of rights managed images and 80 percent of royalty free photos. Sell the pictures yourself directly, and you could grab 100 percent of the sales price.
To make those sales though, you’ll need to make sure that your Flickr account only hosts your best images, carefully chosen and tagged, and arranged in collections that are easy to browse. Flickr might have a free option but it shouldn’t be used as a dumping ground. You’ll need to indicate in the description that your photos are available for sale, declare whether you have a model release for any recognizable people that appear in the picture, and promise to respond promptly. (One frequent complaint among buyers is that purchasing from enthusiasts can be slow, difficult and unreliable; you want to look like a professional.)
You’ll also need to generate traffic. That comes from networking on Flickr, linking from a blog, joining groups and leaving useful comments on other people’s images. Not only will that give you return views and — if your pictures are good enough — create a buzz about your photography, it will also give you something much more valuable: feedback that will make you a better photographer.
Info Courtesy: blogs.photopreneur.comYou may also be interested in:Making-money-with-photography-part-2
And Making-money-with-photography-part-3
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