How to Make Money Photographing Food

Wouldn’t it be great if you could earn income from something you enjoy? If you’re good with a camera and you enjoy good food, you can combine your two passions into a potentially lucrative business. If you’re planning on entering the food photography business, it’s important that you develop your photography skills since professional food photography is a competitive area. To bone up on your skills, consider taking a local course on food photography if one is available in your area. Here are some ideas for making money photographing food:

Earn Money From Micro Stock Sites

One of the simplest ways to earn money from food photography is to sign up with one of the growing number of micro stock photography sites. These sites allow you to upload your food photos and make them available to the public for purchase. Each time your photo is purchased, you receive a commission. Because photos uploaded to micro stock sites are usually sold inexpensively, the commission paid on each photo download will be small which you’ll need to make up for with volume. The beauty of this system is you can sell a photo multiple times which means more money for you.

One micro stock photo site that gets good traffic is Shutter Stock. To find others, do a Google search for micro stock sites. Once you get a certain volume of food photos uploaded which will take some time, you can earn a nice income from these sites. There’s a great demand for food photos on sites such as this since many website owners don’t have the skill to take their own food photos. Visit some of the micro stock sites and browse through the food photo offerings to see which photos are selling the best.

Do Food Photography For Local Restaurants

Have you ever noticed how much more appealing a food dish is when it has a photograph on the menu? People like to see what they’re getting before they place their order. Offer to photograph menu items for local independent restaurants in your area. Show them samples of your work and emphasize how important a photograph is for promoting food sales. You can also offer to photograph menu items for their web page. Most restaurants don’t have the expertise to do their own professional food photography and would welcome the outside help. You can build up a strong business in your area as a local food photographer.

Sell Your Photos Directly Online

One site that will allow you to upload your photos and sell them directly to the public is BVConstant Content. They allow you to set the price for your work and they take a commission when a photo sells. This eliminates the task of having to maintain and drive traffic to an independent website. Once your photo is uploaded, the rest is taken care of for you. The quality standards are rather high at this site so make sure you submit your best work.

Why not make money doing something you enjoy? Food photography is a great way to earn extra income and combine a passion for photography and good eating. Give it a try!