If you are an avid travel photographer and have some great photographs in your kitty, then you very well can make money. What better than making money out of something that you love doing! And, thanks to the internet, it's now easier than ever for photographers to reach buyers. But what options does one have to sell their photographs? Essentially, there are three ways you can sell travel photography: stock photos, products, and services. But here, we'll talk about how to make money from stock photography.
A stock photo is a picture that you've already taken; it's ready to use according to the needs and requirements of the buyer. Here, the buyer can select from a number of photographs from your inventory and buys whichever he needs. Publishers are the ones who are on the lookout of stock photography as it's cheaper and time saving than hiring a photographer.
Ok, so you know what is stock photography. But what next? The next step is to set up a platform to reach buyers. This can be done 2 ways. One is through a Stock Agency. A stock agency groups photographs of many photographers and promotes them for sale. The agency sets the licensing fee and gives you a percentage. The second option you have is to set your own website. This way, your work stands alone, not with others, and you can set the prices.
So how do you choose which option to ahead with? This basically depends on whether buyers would be searching for photos in general, or for your photos in particular. If you have general photos of such as, the Statue of Liberty, then your best bet is a stock agency. But if you have something unique and specific, then your own site is better.
If you are in doubt, go with both! There's no harm in submitting your photos to multiple stock sites as well as featuring them on your own site. This way you cover all the bases.