Taking digital photos is fun. Viewing those old photos and having nice memories come back is a great experience. Showing photos to your friends and family is fun. But how about also making some money from those photos you so much enjoy watching?
If you are an amateur photographer and just enjoy taking photos there is a way for you to turn some of those photos into money. You are most likely not going to make a lot of money but some extra cash can help you in getting a new camera, new lenses and more.
The Internet is full with sites known as photo stock websites. Photo stock websites are simple brokers between photographers and digital photos consumers. The idea is very simple. Photographers can post their photos for potential consumers to view. If a potential consumer would like to purchase a photo they do so through the website. A portion of the money goes to the website as a commission and the rest to the photographers. Some photo stock websites are very simple and sell all the photos for a fixed determined price. Other sites allow the photographer to set the price or allow an auctioning system where few potential customers can bid to buy the same photo. You should always carefully check the photo stock website terms and conditions to product your copyrights.
You can also open your own photo gallery web site. The Internet nowadays is very advanced and there are tools that make creating and opening your own website very easy. For example simple photo album sites let you publisher your photos online. Blog websites let you publish a blog with your photos and preferably some text describing each on of them, how it was taken and more. You can monetize such websites in two main ways. One is to simple sell photos. Put a lower resolution photos on the site and if users want to get the full resolution version for example for printing simply sell it to them. Another option that works only if your website becomes very popular is to put advertisement on the website. You can of course combine the two options.
A more traditional way to make money from photography is simply by providing photography services. Since you are an amateur photographer you are not likely to take jobs such as a wedding photographer but you can still find small gigs that can pay. Try to post some ads in a local newspaper or bulleting board. You can also post some ads on local websites most of which allow free ad posting for such small gigs. If you own your photography site you can also offer your services there as the potential customers can also see your work and if they like it hire you. Make sure that you fully disclose that you are an amateur photographer and what your capabilities are. Also set your price accordingly.
Lately it became popular to sell digital photos in local coffee shops and restaurants. Such coffee shops and restaurants are looking for ways to make some extra cash and by hanging on their walls high quality photos they can achieve getting nice decoration for their shop while at the same time providing a service to their customers in the form of selling photos that the customers like. This is a win-win situation for all. Go to local coffee shops and restaurants and try to get a deal where you can you're your work in their shop and if it sells you share the revenue with them.