You can earn money by taking pictures and uploading them on online stock photo agencies. This is a photographer’s dream come true. Or even if you’re not a photographer, as long as you have a camera, you can make money with this technique.

If you have a collection of pictures uploaded on your hard drive, this could mean big money. And if you don’t have them yet, start taking pictures! You could earn $1 to $20 when someone buys a picture you uploaded. The process is simple. You upload the pictures to the stock photo agencies. When someone buys a picture you uploaded, you get a share of the earnings.

List of Online Stock Photo Sites

• BigStockPhoto
• Can Stock Photo
• Dreamstime
• Fotolia
• iStockphoto
• PhotoStockPlus
• Shutterstock
• Stockxpert

What Kind of Pictures Should You Take?

Look at identical pictures from the stock photo sites and observe what other users are uploading. Here’s a tip. Step into the shoes of potential customers. What pictures would your buyers want to include on their site, blog, MySpace or Facebook account?

A smart-looking man typing on his computer will probably have many uses — for business, education, computer related, etc. That would be better than say, a picture of a zebra, because there are limited uses for that. Get the picture? ;-)

Make sure you read and follow the submission guidelines and other prerequisites before you upload your pictures. Put in-demand keywords so more potential customers will find you. Observe identical photographs available to know what keywords the other sellers are using. Most of them pay via check or PayPal.

Another Way to Earn Money with Pictures

You can upload your pictures in Flickr, but remember to license it, where you allow them to use your picture as long as they they give you (or your site) credit, and with the conditions you indicate. When anyone uses your picture, you get free promotion.

Pictures taken from Felix.