If you have some photos that are just sitting in your computer, you might as well let them make some money for you. Microstock agencies let almost anyone earn money from their photos by selling photos online. You simply submit the photos, choose descriptions and keywords for those photos, and watch the money to come in. Your stock photos will continue to work for you without you doing anything, generating a steady passive income.

I have been submitting photos online since 2006. Most of the photos I submit are simply travel photos that I have taken, casual snapshots of my pets and photos taken just for the fun of it (some of them taken with a basic digital camera!) The era of digital photography has created tons of extra photos that are prime candidates for selling online.

It just makes sense that the more photos you have online, the more you will earn. All you need is to spend a bit of time uploading the photos (you can do this while doing other work simultaneously) and after they have been uploaded, give your photos the relevant titles and keywords. These keywords are important because photo buyers (ad agencies, magazine publishers, graphic designers etc) will be using them to find your photos.

My latest images at Shutterstock which earn me a decent passive income:

Let me suggest a workflow that anyone can follow:

Find your Photos
Most of us own a camera, be it a simple point and shoot digital camera, or a high-end digital SLR with professional lenses. Only a portion of the photos we take are turned into prints. The rest are left lying on the computer hard drive and easily forgotten. This is a treasure trove. Go through those photos and find those that will sell well. Different types of photos sell well on different stock agencies, as well as during different seasons (eg. Christmas-related photos will be in demand a few months before Christmas, as ad agencies and design firms are preparing materials). Finding out what sells well will help you choose your photos more wisely. When in doubt, submit all.

Submit your Photos
Drag these photos into your FTP program. (Shutterstock, Dreamstime, Fotolia and DepositPhotos let you submit photos through an FTP program, which is the fastest and most convenient method, in my opinion). Here’s a suggestion for maximum efficiency: when you find time to submit, open up your FTP program and connect to these different stock libraries, and drag the SAME photos into each.

Keyword your Photos
After the photos have been uploaded via FTP, go into each website and choose relevant titles, descriptions and keywords for the photos. Submit your photos and wait for them to be approved. Once approved, they are available for sale to worldwide audience of photo buyers!

Wait for Passive Residual Income
With minimal resources, a bit of time and the right guidance, you too can do it. Yes it does take at least a few months before you see payments of a minimum of USD100 per month, but your patience will pay off in the long run!

These are some of the more well-known stock libraries:

Shutterstock

Dreamstime

iStockphoto

Deposit Photos

PhotoDune