How To Make Money Selling Photos Of Yourself and Get Paid for Selfies

If you are possessed of taking selfies of yourself where people are calling you arrogant

Some exaggerate by calling you narcissistic personality – for me I will not call you anything

I just know that you can use this selfies obsession to make money out of it

Yes I will show you below How to make money selling photos of yourself

Nowadays you can get paid for selfies, seriously!

You mean I can sell sell pictures of myself for money since I have the passion of talking selfies

That’s true, now let me show you how to get paid for pictures of yourself

Is it legal to sell pictures for yourself?

yes it is perfectly legal to sell photos of yourself

Since your photos are not of explicit content and you are not showing any nudity

You have the total copyright for selfies or any pictures of yourself

How to take good pictures of yourself?

Follow the steps below for the best chance to get good pictures of yourself

1. Use a tripod: for the best result, you must use a tripod with a remote as timer can ruin your relaxed moment
2. Find the best balance for your camera: practice with some trial and error the best standup position for your tripod when sitting and when standing, again the best distance from your camera
3. Use a camera with flip screen: almost most smart phones will do that so you can flip the screen and see your picture before you take your shot, also some cameras have this feature
4. Use a selfie stick: if you are taking your photos with your cell phones then keep your retractable selfie stick with you
5. Ask a stranger to take your pictures: last option if you are in a place where you don’t have a tripod or selfie stick

How can I make money selling photos of myself?

As in any business or hobby which we decide to monetize

There are so many things to buy, prepare or learn on how to make money selling photos of yourself

I will start with the most important one below which is

1) Invest in a good camera or mobile

Since photography is the art of taking pictures with your camera

You need to invest in that camera to capture these wonderful day to day activities

In the past, photography was only for professionals

But nowadays a good camera can make you a professional photographer

Best cameras are Canon 90D Camera and Nikon D3500 DSLR Camera

If you prefer to take quick snapshot from your mobile then go for Apple iPhone 11 or Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G

2) Buy a selfie stick

If you are completely by yourself and want to capture a selfie with a stunning background

Or maybe you want to take those shots yourself for the best experience

With a cheap wireless selfie stick you are completely in control of your best shots and you will never best any spontaneous photos of yourself

3) Use a good software to edit your images

There are many photo editing software that can help you edit your photos in professional way

Like adding special effects, apply filters to your photos, crop and resize, individual color correction and rotate and print

You can use the following free photo editing like

GIMP is a cross platform image editing software which is a free open source to use

Fotor is also available as a mobile app which makes your selfies very convenient

You just open the Fotor app on your phone and it will access your photo library

Photoscape is fun and easy editing software

Photoshop Express another Adobe photo editing tool available in Windows, Android and IOS (IPhone)

4) Take photography course

You can take a cheap photography course with Udemy for less than $30

Also there are lot of courses that go 80% discount from $199 to $39.8

5) Look for photogenic backgrounds and best sceneries

I always believe if you love taking selfies of yourself

You will start building a good sense of detecting the most suitable photogenic backgrounds and finding best sceneries

You build the habit of carrying all the photography equipments in case you need to take few shots

6) Take multiple shots and filter to only best photos to upload

When taking a shot don’t take one but take multiple ones

I tried this trick myself

I found taking multiple shots help me get the perfect photo

7) Keep going and be persistent

If you have the talent and you got the passion of taking selfies

You have to keep going and be consistent and persistent

Where can I sell photos for myself for money?

Now comes the best part which I believe you have been waiting for and that is

Where to find the websites to sell my photos to and how to make money selling photos of yourself

Get Paid for Selfies and your photos

To make sure you don’t face any challenges while getting paid for pictures of yourself is to join multiple sites at one time

You need to have more exposures as if one site doesn’t accept your photos other sites may go ahead and accept them

Below are the list of photography sites that pay you money for selfies

Pay Your Selfie

Pay your selfie is an Android and iOS app that makes the task of getting paid for selfies convenient and easy

You start by downloading the app and start talking selfies according to the selfie tasks listed in the app

For example, the app can list a selfie task to show yourself dancing at a concert

You complete the task and you get your account credited – tasks are valued around $1

If the task due date is over you will get paid via coupons for discounts

In other words, you get paid by saving money

Pay for selfie is not a full income but it is an extra way on how to make money talking photos of yourself

Scoopshot

Scoopshot is another app that help you get paid for selfies and for photos

It is different than Pay Your Selfie in terms of it does not pay you instantly

How? OK Scoopshot is a marketplace that facilitate connecting sellers – photographers like you with buyers who are looking for specific shots

This means you submit your shots and wait to get paid for pictures of yourself or any other sceneries

Stylinity

Stylinity is a free app for both Android and iOS

It allows you to get paid for photos of yourself wearing a new piece of clothes which Stylinity recommends

They have 180+ stores to visit so it combines 2 apps together

Where you get paid for selfies and promoting clothes you like from any of these 180+ stores

You don’t have to buy any clothes you can just try it on

Still confused?

OK bear with me, I will explain it

You visit one of the stores listed in Stylinity

Try one or many clothes but before you do so you have to scan the barcode with your mobile

Start taking selfies for yourself wearing the new clothes

Submit them to Stylinity and wait till they approve your photos

Now share them from inside the Stylinity on all your social media you own

If anyone clicks and buy the item – you get paid a commission which varies from one store to another

SmugMug

Smug Mug is a paid app that lets you store your photos and you decide to make them private or turn them into public

If you decide to go public

Remember to add watermarks to your photos for copyright so nobody can use them

You pay 55$ annually or $7 per month and you can keep 85% of profit

500px

500px is dfiferent from all of the above

This is a website that allows you to create an account and upload your photos

I went there and I am really stunned with the quality of photos there

The key to getting paid for your photos is to submit high resolution photos

Write keywords to describe your photos and you have to creative here

For example, if you upload a photo of a laughing women standing in front of Eiffel tower

You have to add keywords for Eiffel tower, Paris or France also describe the women in your photo like laughing, optimistic, funny women

Who knows, may be someone looking for a picture of Paris and not even thinking about Eiffel tower

But because Eiffel tower is in Paris, most likely he will buy it

Also make sure to confirm your contact and your payout

ETSY

Because Etsy is an American e-commerce site where they focus on handmade and craft supplies

Then you definitely need to invest a lot of time and money to sell your photos on Etsy

Sell stock photos

There are so many stick photos websites that let you buy quality photos to use on your blog or for your online ads

You have to read the terms before you use them anywhere else

GettyImages

GettyImages is a British-American visual media company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington, it was founded in 1995 – they have any image you can think of

It is the God father of all stock photos, just search their site for any image you can think of in any place all over the world and you will find so many of them

They own an exclusive rights to their photos and have a very restrict rules and tools to scan the internet for any copyright infringements

I cannot forget my friend received a registered mail warning him that his Canadian business website stole pictures from them

Anyway you can make good money with GettyImages so keep it on your list

Shutterstock

Shutterstock is a huge marketplace where you can list your photos

You can make a good money if you invest some time with photography courses

You can get paid for pictures of yourself or best sceneries from your local areas or while you travel

Remember if you are taking picture of yourself or other people then you have to submit a signed model release form

iStockPhoto

iStockphoto is another competitor for stock photos and it is free to join

Upload your photos and wait for their team to review and approve

You receive only 15% of your photos sales which is frustrating

But you can opt for exclusive status which pays you 45%

Alamy

Alamy is generouste site in terms of commission where you can earn 50% to 70% from your sold images

Once you reach $50 you can withdraw your money through Paypal, Skrill or bank transfer

BigStock Photos

BigStock is another platform website for selling stock photos

Sign up as a free contributor and finish your tutorial

Then you can upload your photos and wait for their team to review

DepositPhotos

DepositPhotos is a free platform to sell your photos

But you have to pass a brief examination test by uploading few of your best files

Once you pass the test expect to earn between 44% and 52% royalties for each photo

PicFair

PicFair gives you the flexibility of setting your own price for your pictures

You decide how much your pictures are worth and they take 20% from your price

Meaning if you believe a picture of yourself is worth $25 then you can list it for $30

You get $25 and PicFair gets $5 as 20% commission

123RF

123RF gives you 60% of any images sold on their website so it is good to give it a try

Adobe Stock

With Adobe Stock you get up to 60% commission and minimum is 20%

Crestock

With Crestock you add keywords to your images to facilitate your buyers to search for the desired images

Based on your sales, commission will range from 20% lowest to 40%

Sell photos on different platforms

These sites below pay you money for your photos listed on different platform

Instaprints

Instaprints pays you when you connect your Instagram account to get Instaprints access your photos

Not only you can sell photos but also your photos can be used as Canvas, Framed, Metal, Acrylic and greeting cards

Actually there are many more different formats

Snapped4u

Snapped4u is a marketplace to sell not your personal photos but your events like weddings or sport activities you attended

I went there and found contributors sell their photos between $2.5 to $15

Clashot

This mobile app is no longer available

Foap

Foap is a mobile app that get you paid for selfies

Most selfies are sold for $10 and you get 50% of the sale

Acora

Acora is one of the best apps that is available on both IPhone and Android

The best thing about Acora is that you can sell your pictures with no commission

You keep 100% profit and you can sell it unlimited times to different clients

If you want to make real money all you have to do is to upload so many photos

It is recommended to connect with many users and learn from the best photographers across the world

Dreamstime

Dreamtime is free to download and available on both IPhone and Android

It is one of the largest stock photos that you should not miss if you want to sell your photos online

With their different types of license you can earn $12 for each image

Their minimum payout is $100

Snapwire

Snapwire is available on both Android and IPhone

The way you can earn mon;ey on this app is by the following 2 methods

• Requests and challenges: here businesses and brands post requests with brief description and all users compete to submit their best shots
• Portfolio and marketplace: Upload your best shots and wait for Snapwire to take care of the rest, by making your images searchable for buyers to look for

EyeEm

Those of high quality photos on your mobile phone

You can still sell them at EyeEm whch is available on IPhone and Android

If you want to improve your photography skill, give EyeEm a try by connecting with other photographers like you

TourPhotos

TourPhotos is a great site if you are frequent traveller

They charge 19% on any image sold on their site

PhotoShelter

PhotoShelter allows you to choose one of their templates and build your PhotoShelter website to view and sort you images

It facilitates selling pictures of yourself immediately

FotoMoto

FotoMoto is not an stock photos website

It is a tool or widgets that integrates with your sellers like you on their website to help sell their photo online

FotoMoto will take care of the selling part online

All you have to do is just bring the customers

Build a professional photography blog

You can pursue building your own blog as another stream of income

This is a slow way on how to make money selling photos of yourself

You don’t use it as the only way but it is a side task while you are selling your photos to all the above websites and apps

Create your own YouTube channel

Since you love selfies and not afraid of sharing your photos on stock libraries

Then I assume you would be OK to create a YouTube channel to show your audience some of the tricks you have for those attractive photos you sold before

Tips To Improve Photos of yourself and Selfies

I urge you to read the below tips carefully for best chance to improve your photos taken for yourself

Buy a tripod stand for your camera or mobile

Sometimes even with the best wireless selfie stick picture can still show your hands stretched indicating that you are holding a mobile

It is better if you invest in a stand, I found an affordable tripod for camera with 4.8 stars and hundreds of buyers

You can use that one with camera, android and iphone mobiles

It comes with a remote so you don’t have to rush yourself before the timer elapses

Just when you are ready with your pose, click on your small remote to capture your picture

Grow your social media sites

Taking pictures of yourself and feeding your social media sites can work together

I cannot imagine someone who is possessed with selfies and fear uploading them on social media

Especially some social media like Instagram and Pinterest are dedicated to photos and pictures, so you have to feed them with all of your best poses taken for yourself

Use Hashtags

Hashtags play great role in increasing the number of your viewers

I heard that some users explore daily specific hashtags they are fond of

I really encourage you to use all hashtags related to selfies and portraits like

#selfies, #selfietime,#selfiesunday, #selfienation, #selfiequeen,#selfiesaturday, #selfiestick, #selfiee, #selfiegram, #selfiesfordays, #selfieaddict, #selfielove, #selfiegirl, #selfieday, #selfieking, #selfiegamestrong, #selfiemode, #selfieee, #selfiegame, #selfiemania

#selfportrait #selfshot #faceoftheday #photooftheday #picoftheday #selfietime #instapic #myself #portrait #pose #self

Try paid advertisement

I know what you would think about advertisement and how it will drain your pocket

Totally wrong, paid advertisement on social media is not pricey at all

I remember with $10 on Pinterest, I was able to reach 2,000 plus new users and I got so many followers

I think same thing for Instagrams

Invest in photo editing software

Sometimes you have the best shot but it needs little touch

You can invest in photo editing software even if your pose is good, it is highly recommended to use different touches and upload all of them

Best photo editing software on market are

• Adobe photoshop
• Adobe lightroom classic
• Affinity photo
• Lumiar Al
• InPixio photo editor

Use pictures of high quality

When it comes to upload pictures on social media, they have to be of very high quality

I know you have to reduce all pictures size before uploading them to your own blog

But when it comes to social media, this rule does not apply

Know your audience

You have to monitor and analyze your pictures

What type of pictures get more shares and comments

Does your background matter? if so then be picky about outdoor pictures more than indoor

Does part of your exposed body get more shares like pictures of your own feet

Perhaps you can focus about taking pictures of your feet

Join photo contests

You can get paid to send pictures to photo contests

But what is way more important is to learn and gain experience from competitors

Not only you will gain confidence but it will teach you a lot whether you win or not

Never give up

Taking pictures of yourself is an ongoing process, you cannot take lot of pictures and say that’s it for the end of month

You should have a schedule or routine to take pictures throughout the year

Common techniques to consider for best shots of yourself

I discussed earlier best tools and equipment but I did not cover the type of shots you should consider when taking pictures of yourself

• Single photos is way better than group photos
• Candid photos beats pose photos – meaning any spontaneous and accidental one is way better than arranged pose
• Wide shots is better than close ups – always try to show an appealing backgrounds
• Looking away is better than looking at the camera – a high percentage of the best selling photos have their people looking away from the camera
• Blurry or unidentified subject is wat better
• Best shots at dawn or dask

Things to consider before selling photos of yourself

Before making money of your own pictures, you have to know what types of license you are selling to buyers

License for your photos

All licenses have different prices so you have to know the difference between them

And where your pictures are being used for

Licenses you should be aware of

• Rights Managed (RM) License – buyers should define where the pictures will be used and length of time
• Editorial Use License – buyers cannot use pictures in any form of advertising or commercial
• Royalty Free License (RF) – default in stock image where image is purchased once and used in unlimited applications – buyers purchase images once and use it in an unlimited application and also on different publication like Calendar or T-shirt
• Royalty Free Extended License – similar to the above but with extended usage to be used in derivative products like mugs and website template
• Creative Commons License – setup by non profit organizations to easily help photographers license their work
• Public Domain – to be used by anyone in whatever publications

Your terms and conditions

If you are selling your pictures on Etsy or your own blog

You have to make sure to set your terms and conditions on where to use your images and for how long

You should provide different prices for different licenses

On the other hand side, if you decide to sell your pictures to stock photos sites

Then read their terms so you don’t get surprised to find your own pictures listed on websites you don’t want to work

For example, finding your pictures listed on casino websites or sex calls site, I don’t believe you would let it go easily

Final thoughts on making money selling photos of yourself

Finally I hope I showed you a way on how to make money selling photos of yourself

It is not a hard way

But you will not make a reasonable income if you don’t put yourself in a position to always learn about photography

And invest time to outdoor looking for the perfect shots