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BY MICHAEL HUDDLESTON

While some start selling their digital photos to help pay the mortgage and buy gas, others have figured out how to turn the process into some serious cash.

I was at a wedding recently and one of the guests and I were chatting about digital cameras when the subject of selling photos online came up. He indicated he had a friend who started out selling a few pictures here and there and quickly discovered that if he went about it the right way, he could make some big money.

My own experience in selling photos was limited to offline, and more specifically, wedding photography. Well when this guy started to lay out the details of his friend’s venture into the online world selling digital photos, I was all ears.

Shooting weddings and selling photos to the bride, groom and their families was really hard work, and very stressful. When I listened to this fellow explain his friend;s business selling photos online, I became more and more intrigued. You see, the whole process seemed to violate my sense of order… my photographic business experience order.

In a nutshell, his friend would do some research, find out what was in high demand (or was going to be), and then took photos to match that demand. I was aware that you could sell photos to places like Shutterstock and iStockphoto, but quite frankly, it never occurred to me that you could make money, let alone enough money to make the mortgage payment.

Until… this fellow indicated that his buddy was consistently pulling $2,500 to $5,000 extra dollars a month. Talk about capturing someone’s attention! That did it.

Of course, I was prepared to hear the bad news, so I went ahead and asked the question: How much time does he spend taking pictures? Well, he answered, “I’m not quite sure because my friend only does it as a hobby.”
 

A hobby!

A hobby that he enjoyed doing and pulling some really decent money to boot.

So, I went online and began to research the process of selling photos. Now we all know that when you research on the Internet, you should probably have your BS Meter up and running so you can tell when someone is fibbing.

I found a lot of references in forums and on blogs that seemed to be red zoning my BS Meter, but lo and behold after some diligent searching, I found some articles that, if you’re curious about making some extra cash online selling photos, you’re probably going to want to read.

Disregarding the usual Internet fluff, here are my two favorites:

• 25 Cent Fortunes — How “ordinary” photographers are making Big Money shooting for small stock agencies. (Popular Photography & Imaging)
   
• Selling Photos Online (Digital Photography Journal)

Then I traveled to my local bookstore and found a really great article in the July 2006 issue of Practical Photography: “How to Turn Your Pictures into Cash.”

Now you won’t find this issue at their website, but if you’re interested in making money selling your photos online, you simply must get your hands on this article! It is full of case studies, tips and ideas (good ideas) on making money online with digital photos. If there is anything that will convince you to pick up your digital camera and start shooting, it’s the section of the article titled, “Interpreting a Theme.” All I can say is, WOW!

Michael Huddleston publishes the Digital Camera University website.