Earning from stock photos – how much, where, and how to sell them effectively?

Selling photos on stock platforms may seem like a simple way to supplement your budget, but if you want it to become a real source of online income, you need to approach it as a project, not a quick opportunity. In this post, you’ll see how to make money from photos that people actually want to buy, find out how to sell photos on Shutterstock and other platforms, learn about the rates you can expect in 2025, and discover which topics, keywords, and strategies yield the best results.

Is uploading a photo really enough? The whole truth about making money on stock platforms

Many people think that selling stock photos is just quickly uploading a few pictures to a platform and waiting for money to automatically hit their account. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way; if it were as simple as clicking “upload” and watching the balance grow, everyone would likely have passive income from photography by now. The truth is, if you want to learn how to make money from photos, you need to treat it like a normal process of building a small online business. Stock photos are a product like any other – they have to be needed by the audience, properly described, and highly visible in the searches of platforms like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock.

It’s not a “post once and forget” option. People who make real money regularly add new photos, analyze trends, improve descriptions and tags, care for their portfolio just as sellers of courses or digital products care for their stores. 

Statistics from Shutterstock clearly show that creators with several dozen photos earn on average from 10 to 50 dollars a month, and only portfolios consisting of 500–1000 photos can reach an income of 200–500 dollars a month. 

Want bigger results? You’ll need tens of thousands of photos and consistent work, not just one-time uploads after a photo session in the forest.

Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, iStock – where to sell photos to actually make money?

Before you start thinking about how to make money on stock platforms, you need to choose a place that really allows you to reach buyers. 

• Shutterstock is the largest global platform, it pays from 75 USD and takes commissions ranging from 15% to 30%, but it offers a large base of potential clients. 
• On Adobe Stock you receive a 33% commission on sales, and an additional advantage is the ability to sell graphics, videos, or vectors if you do more than just photos. 
• iStock (Getty Images) offers a commission from 15% to 45% and is known for high-quality content, but requires passing through a selection process.

If you’re planning to operate broadly, it’s worth adding your photos to Alamy, 500px, Dreamstime, or Stocksy, where commission models and requirements vary, but they offer a chance to reach different groups of buyers. You can also try a more independent option and sell photos through your own store on Pixpa, Shopify, or Sky-Shop, which allows you to keep all the profit. However, this requires more work on marketing and building traffic.

Selling photos on stock platforms – how to build a portfolio and not get stuck at the start?

The biggest mistake that many people make when trying to sell photos on stock platforms is uploading a few random photos and expecting results. Meanwhile, your portfolio is your business card and main sales tool. If you’re thinking about how to profit from photography, start by preparing a set of photos that showcase your skills but also meet the market’s needs. Starting with 10–20 photos is good, but you must know that only with larger quantities does real sales begin.

The best-sellers are lifestyle, business, technology photos, authentic portraits of people in everyday situations, as well as travel and culinary photos. Ensure the technical quality of the photos, sharpness, composition, and high resolution. Avoid photos that are too niche or unclear, as they will be difficult to sell. 

SEO for stock photos – how descriptions and keywords increase your earnings?

The best photo won’t sell if no one finds it. If you want to learn how to sell photos on stock platforms, you must understand that SEO also works in selling photos. Keywords and descriptions are crucial for the platform’s search engine – they decide whether your photo even appears in the search results for a buyer.

First, consider who your photo’s audience is and why they might buy it. If you’re taking a photo of a laptop on a desk, you can add tags: business, technology, remote work, home office, freelancer, productivity, modern office. Avoid general tags like “photo” or “nature,” which add no value. A good method is to check popular photos in a given category and analyze their descriptions and keywords. Regularly updating your portfolio and optimizing SEO helps increase visibility and the chance of selling photos on stock platforms, regardless of whether you’re uploading 10, 50, or 500 photos a month.

How much can you earn on stock photos? Concrete numbers instead of empty promises

It’s better to know what you’re getting into from the start, rather than plunging into selling photos on stock platforms expecting to immediately turn it into full-time income. 

• On average, beginner creators earn on Shutterstock from 10 to 50 dollars a month with portfolios of around 20–50 photos. A portfolio 500–1000 photos can bring 200–500 dollars a month, but it requires consistent work and adding content every week.
• The top creators with thousands of photos in their portfolio can earn up to 100,000 dollars a month, but it’s rare and requires years of building resources and knowledge about how to sell stock photos effectively. For a single photo download, you can receive from a few cents to even 28 dollars, if the buyer opts for an extended license. 

If you’re seriously thinking about how to earn on stock platforms, plan it as a long-term process – building a portfolio, learning trends, optimizing tags, and eventually, you’ll gain a stable online income source that will continue working even when you’re doing other projects.

How to make money from photos? Stocks aren’t everything – when is it worth opening your own store?

At some point, you may conclude that selling photos on stock platforms is a great way to build passive income, but the margin and control aren’t as favorable as you’d like. Then it’s worth considering setting up your own online store, where you can set prices yourself, build customer relationships, and keep 100% of the profits from sales. You can create such a store on Shopify, Pixpa, WooCommerce or other platforms, where you can showcase your portfolio in your style and sell photos and photo packages.

However, you don’t have to start your own store from scratch immediately. You can use ready-made tools like RefSpace – a platform that allows you to sell photos, graphics, presets, or courses without incurring fixed costs. You create your profile, add products, and earn money by selling your digital products. The advantage is the ability to add video materials through which you build your personal brand and promote your photos and products on RefSpace.

Having your own store also allows you to build a personal brand and expand your offerings to include graphics, photography courses, or presets. If you’re considering how to profit from photography, having your own store gives you full control over the process, but it requires greater involvement in marketing, SEO, and handling orders and payments. It’s worth combining stock photo sales with your store to test which photos sell better and where it’s worth investing your time and energy in further actions.

Which photos sell best? Analysis of trends and niches that work today

You’ve probably wondered more than once how to sell stock photos in a way that someone actually wants to buy them. Not every shot has sales potential, so it’s worth knowing which topics work. In recent years, photos related to lifestyle, business, remote work, technology, health, ecology, and travel have sold excellently. People buy authentic photos showing real emotions and situations, which can be used in advertising campaigns, blogs, or social media.

Following trends, e.g., using Shutterstock search, Google Trends, or tools like Keyword Tool, will help you understand what topics are current. It’s also worth reacting to seasonal market needs – photos related to holidays, seasons, sports events, or new technology trends often generate more interest. If you want to know how to profit from photography and avoid the trap of creating photos that don’t sell, regularly analyze what sells, check your statistics on stock platforms, and adjust your photo plan to what the market needs.