The ability to easily take pictures that turn out great or even stunningly well is certainly counted as one of the advantages of smartphone technology; going on a hike? Easily snap several pictures of the trail and sights. Adopted a puppy? Easily snap hundreds of pictures all through their growing process.
Consequently, if you’ve gotten quite good at capturing moments using your smartphone, it’s a skill that can be monetized! How? Here are 4 ways to monetize your phone photography.
Utilize Stock Photography Websites
Uploading onto stock photography websites is one of the most popular ways all kinds of photographers make some money for a reason; when it works out, it can be lucrative.
Stock photography works in 3 ways; macrostock or “traditional stock photography” where a photographer gets royalties after agencies license and sell the individual images, microstock where a photographer gets no royalties but rather a monthly payment per each image downloaded, and midstock which has a middle-ground pricing system.
Keep in mind that stock photography is by no means a get-rich-quick scheme and you want to dedicate time to uploading 1000s of marketable stock images.
Teach a Paid Photography Course
With countless online learning platforms, it’s a good time for learners everywhere. Consequently, this means that there’s a market for instructors who can teach everything from the mechanics of a bathtub to beginners Dothraki so that teaching a photography course is a valid way to make money from phone photography.
Draft a course outline for your ideal student as a start, including relevant topics, plenty of practical assignments, and interesting exercises. Then, once you test things out and find the right platform to host your course, you want to market directly to your ideal audience.
For pricing, try to find courses similar to yours to gauge the going market price. You should also consider offering a free preview, payment plan, or limited-time discounts.
Submit to Photography Contests
In any given month, there are numerous photography contests organized with prices ranging from 1000s of dollars to tech gadgets – including ones specifically for smartphone photography.
Plus, many of them offer free submissions which means that even when you don’t win any money, it’s often worth doing for the feedback or exposure alone.
When submitting to photography contests, read the guidelines very carefully and make sure to only submit original, quality pictures that fit the theme.
Sell Prints
It’s true that print photography is not as popular as it used to be. Still, it has by no means gone the way of the typewriter and it’s possible to make some decent money from selling your photography prints.
After all, popular uses of print photography include interior design artwork, journalism, teaching aids, photo albums, and marketing brochures.
So check out local art fairs or even online marketplaces with some of your most compelling shots.
If you could use some extra cash and have tons of great pictures just sitting in your phone gallery, why not give these tips a try?