Looking to turn your selfie obsession into a side hustle? You’re in luck! In a world where personal branding is everything, snapping pics of yourself can actually pay off — literally.
Whether you’re an aspiring influencer or just looking for some extra cash, here are the best ways to get paid to take pictures of yourself.
Say cheese and watch the dollars roll in!
Sell stock photos
Stock photos are photos that publishers can buy or licence to use in their own content. Publishers visit stock photography websites and browse all the photos to find the perfect image. Stock photographs are used on websites, blogs, adverts, magazines, on TV, and anywhere else you can think of!
Stock photographs can be of anything – views, food, interiors, animals – and of course, people. This means that you can get paid for pictures of yourself (or others) simply by uploading high-quality photos to one of the many, many stock photo agencies out there and waiting for buyers.
These website are selective about quality. You can certainly get paid for pictures of yourself, but we’re not talking grainy selfies. You should have a good camera and take stylised, professional looking photos.
The great news is that a single photo can be sold over and over again, even many months or years after you first took it! Keep uploading photos regularly for a potential snowball of earnings over time.
Here are some legit stock photography sites to make money selling photos of yourself (or others):
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock is one of the biggest stock photo websites. Your pictures can potentially reach millions of buyers!
If you are over 18 and the sole owner of your photos, you can create an account for free and start uploading.
You retain all the rights to the photos you upload, and you get to keep 33% royalties on anything sold.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is another huge name in stock photography. You simply need to upload high-quality images to the platform, and you get paid every time that one of your photos is downloaded by a buyer.
You can earn up to 40% commission, depending on how many sales you make.
iStock
iStock photo, by Getty Images, is another of the biggest stock image sites. Your images can reach 825K+ customers worldwide.
You need to submit 3-6 sample photos initially, and if you’re approved, you’ll earn royalties of between 15% and 45% for every photo sold.
Individual photos can sell for anywhere from under a dollar to several hundred.
500px
500px is a site where you can get paid for your stock photos (under 500px licensing) but also build your own photography business by advertising your services and availability.
When selling stock photos, you get to keep up to 60% of the sale price with a free account – and up to 100% with a paid account.
EyeEm
EyeEm is a stock photography site that specialises in authentic, creative photos. They have a lot of portraits and interesting photos of people of all types, so you can definitely get paid to take pictures of yourself through this site.
You keep the copyright. EyeEm also work with Getty and other photo libraries to get your photos in front of a larger audience.
You get 50% of the sale price on EyeEm and photos can sell for $25-$250+.
Foap
Foap is not just a stock photography library, it’s an interactive community. As well as a great way to sell your pictures, you can develop your skills and network as a budding professional photographer.
You can sell stock photos like the other sites but also respond to briefs from clients and create custom content.
They have an app (iPhone and Android) so you can easily upload and manage your pictures.
Apps to make money selling photos of yourself
The stock photo sites are a great way to make good money if you have serious photography skills and a high-quality camera. Luckily, there are other ways to sell stock images right from your phone, if that’s your camera of choice.
Here’s a list of apps that are an excellent way to make extra cash from your camera roll by selling selfies and any other kind of snaps!
ClickASnap
ClickASnap is a platform that pays you when your unique photos are viewed. It’s not specifically for selfies, but you can upload your selfies alongside any other photo. It’s free to use and you retain the rights to any photos you upload.
You can upload unlimited photos and they pay 0.4¢ each time one of your photos is viewed. Once you read $15, you can cash out. You will receive your money within 24 hours.
This is maybe the easiest way to make money with your photos because you can do it right from your phone and anything goes!
Stockimo
Stockimo is a photo selling app by Alamy – the world’s largest stock image site. You upload photos direct from your iPhone for distribution through Alamy and its network.
You can sell any kind of photo on Stockimo – pictures of people, landscapes, food, breaking news, and yes, selfies! (no nudity though.)
You get paid 20% every time one of your photos is sold – and photos sell on Alamy for anywhere between $5 and $500+! The average sale price is apparently around $90.
Payments are made monthly via PayPal, as long as you’ve earned at least $10.
The Stockimo app is currently only available on iPhone.
Scoopshot
Scoopshot is an app and website for amateur photographers to make money from their phone. There are daily tasks and contests where you can submit your photos.
There are two main ways to earn: firstly, you get paid whenever one of your photos is sold. Secondly, if your photo is embedded on a website by an online publisher, you get a share of the advertising revenue.
You can cash out by PayPal or bank transfer.
There is also the Scoopshot Pro version for professional freelance photographers, which helps you to find potential clients in your area.
SnapCape
Another stock photography website that has an app so you can easily upload photos from your phone.
Droll Pics
Droll Pics is a per-per-view app where you can get paid for pictures of yourself. The concept is that you upload a series of three photos, that should tell a story. Users can see the first two photos for free but they have to spend credits to see the third.
So try to think of a series of selfies that will create some intrigue. For example, before and after a haircut or makeover, or showing off new outfits.
Many people use this app to sell feet pics or NSFW photos, but it’s not specifically for that purpose and you can upload any kind of selfie.
Viewcoins
Viewcoins is a new free app for both Apple and Android devices that pays you for taking photos and videos with your phone camera.
Well, it doesn’t pay cold hard cash unfortunately, but you can exchange your ‘coins’ for freebies, discounts and rewards from popular brands. And saving money is almost as big a win as making money in my book!
You can also use your coins to support charitable causes. Who knew your selfies could do some good in the world!
The app doesn’t ‘see’ or share your pictures, it simply counts the number of photos in your camera roll and pays you 0.2 ‘coins’ for each one. You just have to check in once in a while and see what rewards you’ve earned. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Become an influencer
If you love sharing selfies as a way of connecting with others, perhaps a career as an online influencer is for you!
For this way to get paid for pictures of yourself, you will need to build a following on one or more social media platforms. YouTube is the biggest platform for influencer content in 2024. The next biggest are TikTok then Instagram, and also Facebook if you are targeting the millennial market.
As an influencer, you won’t get paid per photo. Rather, you need to keep posting selfies and other content for free until you have built up a big enough channel to monetise it.
Once you have the following (at least 1,000 followers, preferably more), you can get paid in various ways, depending on the platform and your niche. The most common ways for influencers to make money are:
- Sponsored content
- Share of ad revenue
- Affiliate marketing
- Selling merch or own products
- Free products
It can take a while to build up a big enough audience on your YouTube channel or social media accounts. So be prepared to put in the time and stick with it – the potential earnings are worth it.
Even micro-influencers (those with less than 10,000 followers) can charge up to $200 for a sponsored post on Instagram. Once you hit 1,000,000+, you can expect to earn $10,000 per post.
Blogger
Blogging is similar to being an influencer. It’s not a normal ‘job’ so you won’t get paid per photo. Rather, it’s about building a business. Put in the time upfront, and eventually you can earn $10,000+ per month in sponsored posts, ads and affiliate links.
Personally I prefer blogging to being an influencer because it is more passive. With TikTok or Instagram you need to post new content constantly. With blogging, each blog post can be found by readers months or years after you posted it – which means you can keep earning money from ads on your old blog posts many years down the line.
Plus, you have much more control if you own your own personal website rather than building your business on somebody else’s platform.
I am a full time blogger and I was able to replace my income from my full-time office job after two years blogging as a hobby. Blogging has changed my life and I would recommend it to anyone! Here’s the road map on how I did it.
You do not have to share photos of yourself to be a blogger – I do it anonymously. But, in certain niches, sharing selfies and personal photos will help you build a brand and a connection with your audience.
If you want to make money taking pictures of yourself, good niches to consider are beauty, fashion, lifestyle and travel. Or of course, what about a photography blog?
Modelling
Perhaps an obvious way to get paid for pictures of yourself is to become a model! Before you dismiss this, there is a market for literally all ages, appearances and body shapes in modelling.
There are even agencies that specialise in more ‘unusual’ appearances! There are also specialist modelling jobs such as hair or hand models.
Some agencies that specialise in unique models include:
- Zebedee (disabled, visibly different, non-binary and trans models)
- Ugly (models with unique appearance and character)
- Anti-Agency (diverse and unique models)
Sellfies
Sellfies is – you guessed it – an app for selling your selfies. They pay up to €25 per selfie!
But stay with me – this site might not be for everyone. The pictures will be licenced to sell on ‘private entertainment platforms’.
Your personal details will be kept anonymous, and you have the option to request that your face is anonymised – which could mean cropped out or modified with AI. Photos will not be shared publicly on social media or in search engines.
Still, make sure you are happy with the implications of ‘private entertainment’ before you go ahead.
To get paid, you need to upload a minimum of 3 ‘normal’ photos and 3 ‘flirty’ photos. (‘Flirty’ apparently means dressed to go to a party or similar.) These types of photos pay €4.50 for the minimum set of six. Optionally, you can add photos in the ‘hot and spicy’ category to earn up to €25.
This site is for women only. They are looking for real women of any age, size and shape. Professionally styled shots are not required.
At the time of writing the site says there is particularly high demand for selfies of women over the age of 45. According to the site, ‘If you are a mature woman, expect a top range compensation.’ So get in there, ladies!
Although payment is in Euros, you can use this site from the US or anywhere else in the world.
As soon as your selfie is approved by the team, the payment is issued and you should get paid within one working day. If you’re up for it, this could be a quick way to make some extra money.
Related post: How to Make Money Chatting Online
Sell feet pictures
Of course there are plenty of NSFW ways to make money selling pictures of yourself too. I’m not going to get into that here.
But if you are 18+ and comfortable dipping your toes in that water (pun intended!), know that you can make great money selling pictures of your feet – anywhere from around $10 to $100+ per picture!
I do not have experience with this myself but I can point you towards a few sites to learn more (warning for adult content):
- Feet Finder
- Feetify
- Fun With Feet
- OnlyFans
How to get paid for pictures of yourself: conclusion
So, selfie fans, we’ve looked at lots of different ways to get paid to take pictures of yourself. There are plenty of ways to make money with these photography side hustles, whether you are a new photographer, a pro, or simply someone who takes a great selfie.
I hope you found some inspiration to make extra cash with these ideas.
Now get out there and get snapping!
Oh, and if you know of any other ways to get paid to take pictures of yourself, please let me know in the comments below and I’ll update the post. Share the knowledge!
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