If you rarely leave the house without your camera, spend hours fine-tuning your images, and enjoy researching new photographic techniques, you might have more than a hobby on your hands. Many photographers earn passive income from their images by submitting those photographs to stock photography sites. Is this path right for you?

What Is Stock Photography?

According to Webopedia, stock photography is the practice of selling royalty-free images for limited commercial and personal use to businesses and individuals who do not want to hire a photographer to commission artwork. Stock photography websites, such as Pond5 and Stocksy, accept images from photographer and display them for sale.

You can sell an image unlimited times on a stock photography website. The buyer purchases a limited-use license to publish the image, but the rights are non-exclusive. Each time someone downloads your image, you receive payment based on the size (resolution) of the image.

How to Get Your Work Accepted

Each stock photography site reviews several of an applicant’s images to determine whether that photographer possesses the skill and vision required to produce content for the site. If you receive approval, you can begin selling your images through the website.

Before you submit samples, browse the pages of the website. Note the level of post-production and the types of lenses used. Create a stable of samples that represents numerous subjects and themes. For example, if the website requests 10 samples, don’t send 10 photographs of apples in a bowl. Mix up your portfolio to include landscapes, portraits, nature, fashion, and other types of images.

If the stock photography site doesn’t accept your images, you can usually try again in 30 days or so. Keep improving your photography and following the critique advice the editors give.

How to Maximize Your Earnings

Copywriters and publications often insert text in photographs as advertising or informative content. If you leave room for text, your images might sell faster and in greater numbers.

The photographers who earn the most passive income from stock photography have a lengthy portfolio, often totaling thousands of images. While you can’t build such a large stable of work in just a few weeks, keep focusing on building your portfolio.

Whenever possible, include photos with significant negative space. Copywriters and publications often insert text in photographs as advertising or informative content. If you leave room for text, your images might sell faster and in greater numbers.

If possible, create images that could align with multiple types of content. A photograph of a woman climbing a mountain, for example, could represent freedom, peace, determination, strength, vulnerability, or success. These types of images perform well in stock photography.

Getting Paid for Your Photography

All stock photography websites offer a unique payment structure. Some make it difficult for photographers from certain countries to receive payments, such as those that only allow you to receive your money via check or bank draft.

Signing up for Payoneer allows you to accept cross-border payments much more easily. We have partnered with several stock photography websites so that photographers all over the world can easily accept payment for the work they perform.

If you’re looking for a simply, fast and secure solution to receive payments from international stock photography companies like istock, Shutterstock, Getty and more, sign up for Payoneer today!

We previously announced our new partnership with Pond5, a leading stock media marketplace which includes the world’s largest collection of royalty-free video. We’re excited to update that this month Pond5 is offering a special promotion to artists that sign up to get paid with Payoneer.

Artists that sign up for a new Payoneer account via Pond5 by December 31, 2013 will receive the Payoneer Prepaid Debit Mastercard® card free of charge – paying no activation fee!

To take advantage of this promotion simply sign into your Pond5 account, go to “Contact Info & Payout Preferences” and select Payoneer. Only artists that sign up by December 31 2013 will qualify, so make sure to sign up now!

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We’re very excited to announce our brand new partnership with Stocksy – a stock photography marketplace created by veterans of iStockphoto and its founder Bruce Livingstone. Stocksy provides sustainable careers through profit sharing and co-ownership with artists and also pays the highest royalty rates in the industry.

This new partnership allows artists to withdraw their earnings from Stocksy to over 200 countries and in multiple currencies, using Payoneer’s global payout solutions. Options available to Stocksy artists include:

Payoneer Prepaid Debit Mastercard® Card – payments from Stocksy are received within minutes. This card provides artists around the globe with immediate access to cash in hand by using any ATM that accepts Mastercard. The card can also be used to make purchases online and in stores.

Global Bank Transfers – by taking advantage of Payoneer’s global banking network, Stocksy artists can now withdraw their earnings directly to their bank account. Supporting more than 200 countries and over 50 currencies, this payout service includes local bank transfers, wire transfers, and US ACH.

Another perk? Sign up now and until December 15th and pay no activation fee!

If you’re already working with Stocksy and wish to begin getting paid with Payoneer, simply choose your preferred payment method in your account. If you’re not familiar with Stocksy and think it might be the right fit for you as an artist, make sure to check out their site at http://www.stocksy.com/.

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We’ll be attending the CEPIC International Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Spain from June 11-14. If you are planning to attend, be sure to contact vadimsa@payoneer.com to set up a meeting – we’d love to see you there!

CEPIC stands for the Coordination of European Picture Agencies Stock, and federates nearly a thousand of picture agencies and photo libraries in 20 countries across Europe, both within and outside the European Union.

You can read more about CEPIC’s annual International Congress at http://cepic.org/congress, and view the official programme for the 2013 Congress by clicking here.

Have you liked us on Facebook yet? Are you following us on Twitter and Google. Join us on the Payoneer Community Forums and on LinkedIn!