5 ways to make money from Photography in 2026
Introduction
So you want to make more money from your photography? Well, you’re in the right place. Most of us get so caught up in the creative aspect of photography, the making money aspect is normally the last thing on our minds - but we do in fact have to eat! Lucky for us, there are a range of different ways we can make money as creatives now a days and although this isn’t a definitive list of every possibility, it’ll help get you thinking about what could be achieved with a little outside thinking.
Paid Shoots
Okay, well this might be the most obvious one but also the most important. Whether you’re first starting out on your photography journey or a seasoned professional, having regular work is key. This is likely to be the opportunity to earn the most from being a creative, and by forming business relationships - this could result in repeat work. Not only that, some paid work will push you outside of your comfort zone and help make your portfolio more diverse at the same time. With all this being said, you might be thinking; ‘where do I start?’.
Photography is such a wide discipline and likely you will know your audience / clientele. You need to start thinking - how do I make myself known to them? Being in their mind when they are in need of photography services will be key to getting hired. Here’s some suggestions below.
Reaching out to small, local businesses directly, via email, leaflets or in person meetings.
Create a sponsored ad on social media, targeting local businesses.
Cold message larger organisations marketing departments on Linkedin
Create a Fiverr account.
Post regularly on social media so you’re always top of mind to people in your network and wider social media.
Again, some of these might sound like no-brainers, but to market yourself and make YOU stand out from everyone else to be top-of-mind does take hard work. I specifically mentioned up’ing your local network as naturally, the competition will be lower and it won’t require long travel days for you - and having to charge travel expenses to the client. This journey might seem daunting at first, but trial and error is the only way to succeed.
2. Selling Prints
Selling prints can be tricky, trust me. In a world where there’s AI slop overload and hundreds of websites selling dirt cheap art, you might be thinking, where do you fit in? Although the thought of selling prints can be daunting, a change of perspective might make you think differently. In this scenario - you aren’t printing yourself and don’t require to pay a huge amount upfront for quantity. And the reality is, you could make £10-£30 or so per print - dependant on size. So let’s dive right in.
Disclaimer! Know what you can & can’t sell in terms of copyright law - as this can get you into hot water. Just because you hold the copyright of an image taken, does not automatically mean you have the ability to sell that picture! For example the above image of Jack White. To sell this image, I would need his consent via a signed contract. Sure, you may see images of concert photography being sold as prints circulating online, but you could be sued for a life destroying amount in some cases. Please see my other post of examples of this happening. Know your rights or you can get banned of selling prints on some sites.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, selling prints can be a good way of securing income. You might only make a few pounds per poster in some cases if they are small, but if you sell in mass or sell a lot, the potential is limitless. Let’s talk about the options to make this happen.
Etsy is a great marketplace for selling prints. The platform often pushes your listings as advertising off site and with the right keywords and descriptions, you may come top of the pile in searches! Sure, they take a cut of around 5%, but instantly your poster could be seen by millions. But with this site, it’s just the selling and not the physical printing.
Shopify could also be the perfect solution for selling your prints. This would work as a custom shop for you and so the visibility would ultimately come down to your efforts, however the customisation features will hopefully make your store stand out from the rest. Shopify can take payments and has a UI that everyone will most likely have used at some point. Pricing starts from £19 a month - so you’ll need to sell a few prints a month to break even!
Printful is probably the key website here, as it’s a print-on-demand service, meaning you don’t need to hold stock or print items yourself. Once an order has been placed, Printful will print for you and send directly to your customer - meaning you could start selling with £0 investment. It also has several helpful integrations meaning it can connect with Shopify and Etsy to automatically print and send when an order comes in - making everything automated so you don’t have to touch a thing!
3. Affiliate Programmes
This is one of the more difficult areas to earn income, but worthwhile talking about nonetheless. Affiliate programmes are ways in which companies pay you a small commission for sending customers their way when purchasing. In my opinion, it’s only worth doing this if you use these companies already and enjoy the products they create, otherwise this task will feel dull, meaningless and tiresome. But let’s get into some numbers.
Polaroid offers 6% commission
Clifton Camera offers 2% commission
EssentialPhoto offers 5% commission
Laowa offers 10% commission
Prism Lens FX offers 15% commission
There are other companies that offers affiliate programmes, but here’s a small snapshot what some companies currently offer and what you could potentially be earning. For example; if you create a post about the new Polaroid Flip Start Set which sells for £209.99, and someone clicks and purchases it, you could earn £12.6 - which isn’t bad! That’s just off one person purchasing.
4. Stock Imagery
So this option although is likely to be the lowest earner, you might already be sitting on a bank of existing images which might not take long to put online. Anything can sell online as stock. Video is a higher earner, but photos are still useful. Good earning subject matter can include:
Transport
Technology
Landmarks
People
There are a lot of different companies which you can potentially sell stock imagery though, such as Adobe Stock, Pond5, Shutter Stock, Alamy and more. And if you find some of your pictures do well - then put it on all of them! The highest earners of images are the ones who involve people though. You’ll need to upload a consent form when uploading this content, so rope in some friends, acts some scenes out and have fun with this!
5. Content creation
Finally, content creation. You might love it, you might loathe it - but there are many benefits of having a large following. Ultimately all the above will be easier with a higher social following, but brand deals are what we will be touching on here. Most, if not all platforms have their own kind of monetisation, but if you have a solid following, with a good engagement rate - it will be an appealing proposition for brands to what to advertise on your profile. They can range from the following:
Earn money promoting a product which you earn a commission from (sometimes up to 50%)
Earn £100 - £500 which you apply within the app itself, in exchange for posts & stories.
In the best circumstances, brands will get in contact with you, to work out a deal. I’ve heard these can be priced up to £10k - but all is dependant on your following engagement. After all, why would a company pay you to advertise if it doesn’t convert?
Sometimes the content will be posted on your profile, but also opportunities come up where you deliver the content for them to post on their profile. This doesn’t require a large following, but simply good content. Websites like Influenster are good for this.
Conclusion
Hopefully now, you have loads of ideas and things to try. Starting to think of photography as a ‘business opportunity’ and taking the hussle seriously, can have a big impact. We all only really care about the creative aspect, but bleeding this over to the business development side of things can also be fun and exciting.
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