How to Earn Money from Mobile Photography?

Publish | 04 Jun 2021, 16:37

UNB

In today’s world, you can hardly find a person without a mobile phone. With more and more technological development, access to mobile phones has become cheap and so are its components. You don’t need professional grades cameras anymore for quality photos, rather in most cases, the handheld mobile can get the job done. And if you love taking photos with your phone, then er have some good news for you. There are several ways you can earn a passive income from mobile photography. Let's find out more about them.

Scope of Mobile Photography

One of the main differences between a professional-grade DSLR and mobile photography is the overall quality and sharpness of the image. It's a no-brainer that mobile phones are still a long way off from replacing professional-grade cameras. But for day-to-day life, you don’t need a professional-grade camera to capture the memories and life around you.

And the current mobile phone cameras that are out in the market, especially the upper mid-tier and high-end smartphone cameras can do wonders considering their size. So anyone with a good camera phone and a knack for photography can get going to start earning from shots. There is a high demand for stock photographs on the web. However, there are certain subjects of photos that are in higher demand compared to others, let's know about them first.

Subjects of Mobile Photography

As we mentioned, there is a need for stock photographs for blogs and all types of websites and web content out there and you can simply sell your photography to them to earn. However, certain subjects get more preference and are in high demand in the stock image market. The niches include food, tools, photos of people, photos of people in different work environments, city life, nature, scenic travel places, etc. Sure enough, as long as your pictures are visually pleasing, they will get sold. But if you focus on these topics, you stand with a better chance to monetize your pictures on the market places.

How to Earn from Mobile Photography?

Now let's look at some of the established platforms where you can sell your mobile photos.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock is probably the most comprehensive market when it comes to stock photos. The site has been around for more than 15 years now. With over 200 million stock photos, the range of pictures on this website is very wide. One of the primary demands of Shutterstock is that the photos need to have a larger image size as well as a complete focus on the subject and no grains. So photos taken in a well-lit environment with mobile phones can easily pass the screening test of Shutterstock. Once approved, your image will appear on their website and when anyone licenses your image, you get a royalty fee.

Adobe Stock

We are all familiar with Adobe. The premier software company that made photo editing apps like photoshop and lightroom as well as vector platforms like illustrator. Adobe is one of the first platforms to introduce the concept of the stock image market. the platform, which was previously known as Fotolia is very easy to use and has a low requirement compared to Shutterstock. Meaning you can easily get your photos listed on their website. Another great thing about the platform is the royalty share which is also comparatively higher compared to other marketplaces.

Foap

Foap is another stock image-sharing platform. In recent times,  Foap has become popular due to its user-friendliness and ease of use. The platform is truly made for mobile with dedicated apps for both Android and iOS platforms. You can simply download the app and upload your pictures to their servers. When someone purchases your photo, you get half the amount as royalty. The best thing is that you retain the ownership of your photos. As a result, you can sell nor lease them multiple times.

Snapwire

If you are semi-professional or a professional in mobile photography, then this is the platform for you. whereas most of the platforms would take in all sorts of photos, Snapwire has evolved into a community that is subject-based as well as professional grade. So even though you can submit your pictures here, the chance of them getting picked up is slim.

The key advantage of Snapwire is the competition. Often brands and businesses will outline certain requirements and ask for submissions following the guideline. If you can make the cut and your photo gets selected, you can win hundreds of dollars depending on the prize money. So if you are creative and have a considerable hand in mobile photography, this is definitely the place for you.

Where to Learn Mobile Photography?

For most of us, mobile photography just points and shoot, but a good photo is so much more than that. Below we have outlined several websites you can consider to learn more about the intricacies of mobile photography

Expert Photography

This is an all-in-one website for photographers and photography. They have very comprehensive blogs that guide you to take better mobile photographs. You can also check out how experts do and learn the basics as well.

500 Px

This is a dedicated website for professional photographers. You can publish your photographs here as well as check out what other people have clicked. There is also a section for mobile photography with a hands-on demonstration of various mobile photography tricks and tips.

Digital Photo Mentor

This is another website that you can check out to get better at mobile photography. They outline the guides and tips in simple steps which even a beginner can grasp with ease. If you want to start from scratch in mobile photography, this can be your ideal starting point.

Bottom Line

The market and demand for mobile photography are very huge and diverse. Whereas it takes years to master professional-grade cameras, some simple tips and tricks can make your mobile photography just as good. So if you have a knack for it, why not monetize it? In a growing competitive world, mobile photography can be a good source of passive income which you can utilize doing what you love.