How to Get Paid for your Flickr Photos
Photography: Peter Faretra
It’s happening. In fact, it’s been happening for a while. But it’s happening quietly, and outside a few forums on Flickr, people aren’t really talking about.Photo users are browsing Flickr and they’re not just taking Creative Commons-licensed images (or stealing protected photos). They’re contacting photographers and offering to pay usage fees.The amounts might not be huge, which is probably one of the reasons that the sales aren’t making headlines, but they are being handed over at the end of email offers and modest negotiations. Taylor Jones, a relatively new band photographer, mentioned to us in an interview recently that:
“I’ve sold a few images thanks to the site…”
then added:
“…nothing serious though.”
as though having someone hand over cash for images they’ve uploaded to Flickr happens all the time.
Upload to Flickr, Get Published
Photo users are buying images for all sorts of reasons but perhaps the most common is the one that photographers tend to find the most satisfying: they need pictures for books and publications.
Terry McCormick’s image of the world’s largest steam train, for example, was bought by a manufacturer of model railways and appeared on the cover of the company’s catalog; Peter Faretra’s photo of diving gannets (shown above) was bought by the publisher of a wildlife book. Denis Callet’s picture of a lake was used by a media company producing a history book.
The ingredients in all of these sales include:
- Careful tagging so that buyers can find what they’re looking for;
- Clear descriptions so that they know what they’ve found;
- And, of course, a professional quality picture shot at a high enough resolution to be reproduced commercially.
It might help too if the photographer’s photostream includes a few Creative Commons-licensed photos to bring in users looking for free images. The lower-quality shots they can have for nothing; professional quality images they would have to pay for.
Selling Photos as Prints
Of course, it’s not just publishers who are reaching into their wallets on Flickr. The site’s forums occasionally include questions from buyers asking how they can purchase prints from Flickr members.
Again, it’s clear that you’ll need to display the sort of images that people would actually want to own, but it’s a good idea too to indicate that the images in your photostream are available for purchase.
Flickr doesn’t want big “For Sale” signs everywhere, and unlike many photography sites, it doesn’t have its own click-button print-ordering service. So just mention in your profile that your images are available as prints and suggest that anyone interested in buying them should drop you a line.
As long as the photos are good enough, you’ll be in with a chance of making a sale.
Marketing the Flickr Way
But to increase the chances of making a sale, you have to market. Like anywhere, it’s not enough to put your goods on offer — however good your photos might be — and hope that photography-lovers with bucketloads of money spot them. You have to let people know they’re there.
On Flickr, that doesn’t mean spending vast sums on pay-per-click advertising.
It means investing time in networking. As Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir, probably Flickr’s most successful member, put it:
You can’t just put your pictures up and leave them there. You have to drag people back to your photostream.
That happens by leaving comments on other members’ photos, joining groups and participating in forums. It means doing all of the things that Flickr was created for: being part of a community and exchanging information and advice as well as image views.
Become a popular Flickr member, and your name will become known among buyers as well as other photographers.
There is still a tendency among photo users on Flickr to expect photographers to hand over their images for free — and a more worrying tendency for photographers to agree. But shoot good images, upload them to Flickr and let lots of people know that they’re there and available, and your Flickr popularity can translate into sales.
Check out our interview with Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir here and tell us whether you’ve sold a photo on Flickr.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 pm
It is nice to learn that even Flickr photos can open up an avenue for you to earn money online. Actually if you continue to exhibit your excellence in a definite field, you are going to be rewarded. As a developer, I know it works.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
I sold my first 2 images (to two different companies) a couple of months ago.
They paid me a decent price (well, as a student anything is decent), enough to buy me a manfrotto with plenty left over!
October 24th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
interesting, flickr should institute some sort of pay system for this.
October 24th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
I've "sold" -- licensed, rather -- a few photos via TrekEarth. Almost every time it's a request from a non-profit or low-budget publication. I think this is more common than getting a big payout.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Nice to know! I guess a hobby can churn out some extra cash. Good read, thank you!
October 24th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
If want to make a little money from your images you should sign up to istockphoto.com
istock is a user generated stock library (now owned by the stock photo king, getty images) and has rapidly become the design and marketing industries photo resource choice for low cost images.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
I've sold several photos through Flickr, averaging about 2/month. One went on a book cover.
October 24th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
I've licensed three images from Flickr this calendar year (username: Oregonwild) for a total of $1600 US. I'm not sure if they were through actual flcikr searches, or possible google image search results.
All of my images are heavily compressed and watermarked so it would be hard for someone to actually steel them and use them, and I have had many requests for 'free use', which I ignore.
I have images in Getty, and other top drawer agencies, and have made my living as a professional photographer for 17 years.
iStock, I believe, is a rip off for most photographers - although it fills a market niche, it in general undervalues images, and requires submitting photographers to jump through quite a few hoops to earn 30% on their one and two dollar sales.
I would recommend the new PhotoShelter Collection as a much more viable model for amatuer/pro photographers and photo researchers.
October 25th, 2007 at 4:13 am
Thanks for the post and tips.
Even without any 'marketing', I've been contacted on about 5 occasions asking for permission to publish my Flickr photos. Two were books, one magazine, and a few NFP websites. The pay was modest, of course, but it's a good start.
Interestingly enough, the magazine photo editor told me that many people in his business just grab stuff off Flickr without respect to the authors. He said his colleagues thought he was crazy for contacting me and offering to pay. This is in Russia, mind you...
I may just take some initiative myself to see if I can sell a few more photos.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:16 am
I have been contacted 4 times now and on each occasion I let the photos go for free. Personally I was just flattered that someone would use my photos. I don't mind this as my photo aren't in the same league as some other but if I was to start asking for money what is a suitable asking price?
October 25th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
There is no reason to let your photos go for free. If they weren't willing to pay, they wouldn't have asked. Anyone who lets their photos go for free, or anyone who lets iStockphoto sell their photos for pennies, is hurting themselves and everyone else. Publishers are making money by using your photo, there is no reason you shouldn't be paid fairly. Most reputable publishers are willing to pay something for a high quality photo.
I was contacted by a book publisher who ended up paying to use one of my Flickr shots as the cover of a book. In that case it was enough to pay for Photoshop. I was worried that if they were trawling Flickr they must not have any budget, but that turned out to be a wrong assumption.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
If you want to know how much to charge, go onto istock.com and see how much they charge for their photos and go from there. Don't feel bad if you asked too much. If that's the case, they will just try to bargain with you and ask for a lower price.
October 26th, 2007 at 11:45 am
I hadn't realized that istockphoto was such a bad deal for photographers. I have been using them for a while. I'm not a photographer so I never thought of finding out how much they were making off that site, but I thought the prices were really good. I thought I was doing my part supporting them, but I guess I was just lining istockphoto's pockets. In their defense, they HAVE made it really EASY for consumers of stock photography to find and download the photos.
October 26th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I absolutely agree, here is no reason to let a quality image go for free. It was my company which bought Terry McCormick’s image of the locomotive several months ago for our summer catalog. In the last 3 years I've purchased a range of photographs for Digitrax. From totally free (sxc.hu), to very modestly priced (istockphoto.com and bigstockphoto.com) up to even a Getty Image purchase.
Just last week I made another image purchase for the cover of the upcoming winter catalog from a Flickr user. In Terry's case (since you've outed him here!) I think we had a very informal understanding of limited usage, etc. But in the most recent Flickr purchase we actually exchanged a signed agreement clarifying how we could use the image, scope, etc. I imagine as the upper quality strata of Flickr users come to realize a big portion of the marketplace is shifting towards them, they'll become more sophisticated in agreements, pricing, etc
Flickr is such an amazing entity because it lies at the intersection of so many trends. High quality digital SLR type cameras are within the reach of anyone who's aspires to be a photographer. The web itself provides a clearinghouse (photographers pushing images up) and marketplace (buyers pulling them down) in the form of Flickr (and to a lesser degree, other similar sites). The web also provides the marketing mechanism in the form of specialized blogs like this one.
Flickr is also interesting in that it is an inductive engine that is *producing* (semi) professional photographers. While there are some truly terrible photographers on Flickr as well as many amazingly good ones, the biggest category belongs to the 'pretty good' to 'good' ones. This last group posts their work often and they are quite receptive to constructive criticism. Flickr has various features that let users rate photographs in the form of comments and views. Because of these features, these users 'pretty good' to 'good' users can easily zero in on and study the very best Flickr photographers and their work. It all make makes for a very effective 'farm team' type system that Corbis and Getty better figure out soon, because as I said, while Flickr lies at the intersection of these trends, Corbis/Getty are in the crosshairs of said same effect.
There's so much more to talk about, but I've got to get back to work. Truly these are exciting times we live in...
October 27th, 2007 at 4:07 am
Great article and a great discussion. I seem someone commented that perhaps that if someone was trawling Flickr for images, perhaps they might be on a tight budget. Not so! I think the quality and diversity of images on Flickr far surpasses a lot of the major stock photo sites. Would be nice to see an article on pricing by the way!
October 28th, 2007 at 5:19 am
Scott: The problem with iStock and a few others, if I'm not mistaken, is that they want exclusive rights to post the photos so you can't upload to other places. Whether they mean competitors or Zooomr / flickr I don't know.
October 28th, 2007 at 7:52 am
I sold $100 worth of stuff due to my blog + flickr posts.
Thats like a 4 year ROI from what I love doing in free time. So, I wouldn't be surprised.
October 28th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Flickr has presented a fabulous opportunity for amateur and professional photographers alike. I was sucked in like many others and as a direct result launched Trigger Image. This is a new creative stock library that derives most of its imagery from photographers who have a presence on Flickr. Many have never sold a picture before but have talent that surpasses any lack of qualification.
Our photographers come from all over the world, but they all have one thing in common, inspiring, emotive images that they want to share with other creative people.
All the images can be found online, it's free to register and search and using our online calculator you can purchase an image license and download that image to your desktop.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:17 am
I'm a professional photographer and have been earning a full time living for the past four years. I was slow to adopt Flickr even though I signed up fairly early on.
I've licensed one image because of Flickr, though I have been contacted for images on other occasions. I have not put many images up, or much time into it. I think so far it works out best for art buyers who don't necessarily need the absolute best technical quality images. Although there are some top quality images, there is no screening process to ensure it. I also think it'll best serve sellers who have the most free time. Most likely those who are not professional photographers. People employed at larger companies where they can't surf the internet on someone else's time, and dime, or those whose evenings and weekends are not filled with travel, work, and photo shoots.
I like to sell and license images through any venue, though I wonder what kind of time those who have sold a lot have had to put into it. Is it worth it? What kind of return are you getting for your time. One photo shoot may net me $5k (or more). What kind of time would be required to net that through licensing of images on sites such as Flickr?
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
In the last year I have done about 4 grand worth of work and been flown across the country and met with other creatives, all due to people seeing my images on Flickr. It doesn't always have to be about the image itself, sometimes it's about outside work. In my case, graphic design and illustration. I feel my knowledge and skills far surpass the value of someone just taking something for free from me when they could have it customized to their needs for a nominal fee.
November 4th, 2007 at 3:38 am
Nice post. However, one should remember:
1) Extra cash doesn't hurt. If your pictures are spotted on Flickr and you're offered some payment, don't get greedy to the point that you end up not making a sale.
2) Extra cash doesn't come as easy as the examples in this post seem to indicate. That shouldn't be a problem if you're taking pictures anyway, cash or no cash.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Most people that contact me are interested in getting photos for free, never even mentioning payment. If it's for a conservation type of effort I'm cool with that. But when it is a for profit entity, they need to not look at flickr as a place to get free stuff. Attribution is not payment. I've sold one image over a year ago, and usually ignore requests these days. However I have given over 100 images to conservation efforts.
November 18th, 2007 at 4:34 am
There are some very useful tips I really appreciate them. The only time I've actually had one of my photos used was really by chance, a web based tourism company found a photo via flickr, luckily I had tagged the photo appropriately (and relevantly) - now I tag everything I upload!
November 21st, 2007 at 6:26 am
In 2004, I was first contacted by a graphic designer who found an image of a sugar came plantation and wanted to use it in a Wrigley´s web commercial. At the time, I only took photos as a serious hobby and was thrilled about participating in Flickr to learn, meet new photographers, and show the world my photographs from a small town in Brazil.
He offered me $100, then told me the company would pay $150. Since then, I´ve sold several images to a variety of company and now living in Berlin, I´ve sold images for 400 euros to 100 euros which magazines, graphic designers, or trade publications find.
A big factor, I believe, is that my Flickr stream has many hits. I also had a "hot streak" in Brazil where daily my photos of trees or landscapes were on the Explore page.
I forgot to ask the last companies how they found my photos but the first guy found it by searching the interestingness tags.
I put some photos on Dreamstime, but it´s not worth it. I have a friend who has traveled all over the world for photography, and posted tons of images to several stock sites. Finally, after 1 year all that work amounted to 300 euros. I think he was short changed.
I´d rather sell less pictures ocassionally through Flickr and work freelance, then sell my stock photos for penny. That´s my opinion. Of course, some stock photographers make thousands of dollars with these sites and specialize in that.
Let´s keep clicking!
Thanks for posting this great article!
November 30th, 2007 at 7:27 am
How can i upload my photos and how can somebody watch them and buy them? can anyone tell me, please?
December 4th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I've ended up getting quite a lot of business through flickr, mainly they have been print sales but there have been some other things.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Terrific post.
I credit Flickr 100% for my becoming a professional photographer. I'd say that a little over half of my business comes directly from folks seeing my work on Flickr and then contacting me about buying prints for display, jpgs for publication, or my time for photo sessions and other projects.
Truly, Flickr has changed my life. I'm a huge fan.
December 29th, 2007 at 8:10 am
I've managed to sell two photos on flickr without any effort. In both cases the purchaser contacted me by e-mail saying they wished to purchase a specific photo. One of the purchasers was National Geographic!
December 31st, 2007 at 6:41 pm
How does the flick "most interesting" rank get calculated?
January 1st, 2008 at 2:44 am
I am an semi-professional photographer, and I display my photography on flickr, but I sell my work successfully because of Redbubble.
You are correct, it is possible to make good money from Redbubble. Marketing, tagging, self-promotion and willing to stand-out in the crowd without losing your dignity nor standards is the way to do it.
Read through my writings at my redbubble gallery to see the journey I'm on!(See link on my name)
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
Thass Fantastic!
I think it's Great that Photogrpahers are Earning a Buck from their Work + Efforts*
We're in the process of Launching UWayCoolr in WEB3D.0 which is going to create tremendous Opportunities + $$$ for Photographers WorldWide*
Flickr is also a Fantastic spot to Blog from + a Super Way to get Exciting Visual Images up for your Readers Quickly + Easily!
Cheers Everybody + Happy Shooting in 2008! ;))
January 6th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I've sold a number of images over the last few years. As I have taken a lot of images in Indian slums I often get approached by NGO's (NFP's) whom I don't charge for image use.
The most I was paid for an image was by a French advertising agency who paid €1100 for two uses of the same image. I have sold small sets (3-5 images) to airline and travel magazines for up to $200 US.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am
What about the final term on Flickr's Community Guidelines?
"Don’t use Flickr for commercial purposes.
Flickr is for personal use only. If we find you selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream, we will terminate your account. Any other commercial use of Flickr, Flickr technologies (including APIs, FlickrMail, etc), or Flickr accounts must be approved by Flickr. For more information on leveraging Flickr APIs, please see our Services page. If you have other open questions about commercial usage of Flickr, please feel free to contact us."
http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:58 am
My most popular photo on Flickr is of a field of lavender. I had a flickrmail from the owner of said field, saying she was planning to put together a gallery to sell some photos of her field, and asking if I'd like to have my image included.
I replied, saying I'm always interested in new outlets for my work, so I'd like to know more about the gallery, where it would be, how the photos would be sold and, of course, the proposed payment terms for prints of my photo.
To date, a couple of weeks on, I've had no reply. Given that her lavender products are very greedily overprices, I conclude that the cheeky cow wanted to get other people's photos for free so that she could make loads of money out of them.
Needless to say, I'll be watching out for my image being used without my permission!
January 29th, 2008 at 11:09 am
I had a small company in New Jersey ask about using one of my images as a company logo. They weren't willing to pay what I thought that was worth though. (and I wasn't being unreasonable.) At least I know people are looking, right?
January 29th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Interesting to read and know other photographers' opinions and experiences. As a photographer myself I strongly believe that its the most fundamental right of a photographer to receive financial reward of his/her imaging work once its acknowledged by the potential buyer that this particular piece of work is suitable for their requirement. One should not underestimate their work of art (photography is an art-form)and artist must be paid everytime, all the time.
I have sold my pictures and always demanded a fair price because of its uniqueness and originality. Recently, one of my photograph won a competition and I received an e-reply that I should send money for this picture to be included in the forthcoming book. Irefused and demanded the money form the publisher. I am still waiting to hear.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Wow, that is cool. I've never sold anything because of flickr or had anybody write to me .... But I've sold a lot of photos on deviantart.....
February 25th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I sold one of my 1st photos from flickr to a calendar company and now I sell regularly through my site. But flickr was how it all started for me.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I've sold one photo despite the entirety of my 14,000 photos up on Flickr have been Creative Commons-licensed as free for attribution. That one wanted a higher resolution than my upload on Flickr.
Still, to my knowledge i've gotten about 40-50 shots in various places with my name, from Maps to Poetry mags to webpages. It's given me a great deal of satisfaction as an amateur.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I'm ralph (nardell on flickr). I just discovered this site tonite and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks for all the great ideas.
I've been contacted about 10 times by people who have found my images on flickr and have been interested in buying them. Three were magazines, one was a college marketing department looking to create a course calendar, and the rest were individuals just wanting to buy a print.
It's been a real thrill selling photos through flickr - a site I really love both for its community and its photographic talent. I can honestly say it's pushed my photography to a new level.
Thanks!
July 27th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Hi I would like to know if you guys upload the full image size (eg >10mb etc) or just upload a smaller version of it?
Then when someone contact you for the photo do you then offer your original size/quality photo?
Thanks!
July 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
iStock is a ripoff. Do not support their business model, which is to drive down prices Chinese-style on all creative content. I've had five downloads from them, and made $4, which i dont even see until my account reaches $100. needless to say, it wont, because I'm yanking all but ten images off of this ripoff site. They dont even tell you where your image is being used. its pure slavery. Even people who have thousands of downloads cant be making that much unless they get booted upstairs to Getty. Its a giant shaft. Dont do it.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I haven't sold any work through Flickr, but I'd sure love to get some requests.
So far, I've had three publications/site ask permission to use my images -- and I've been thrilled and honored each time.
I'm doing better offline, selling on consignment at a gift shop in my neighborhood.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I have just recently been approached by a UK publishing company that wants to use my images on a calendar, does anyone have any experiences with calender work ? how do you get paid ? is it a one off fee ? do you get royalties?
Do you still maintain right to those pics ?
Plus what extra tags would help your pics get noticed ? i tag mine quite liberally but any tips would be great
thanks =)
November 18th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Wow! This blog post is just wonderful. Thanks for your advice.