Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Make Money from your Smartphone Photos




If you ever dealt with stock photo agencies, you'd learn two things. The only reward is for you to shoot something great with a DSLR and hope they will pay you a few dollars more for it. That said, it never dawned on anyone that your Smartphone photos could be worth anything more than 'decoration' for your social media page...that is until FOAP came along.

This is how FOAP is going to change things. Your pixels can now be sold on their site which specialises in mobile device photos. The only requirement is that your photos be at least 900 pixels across on the shortest side and uploaded from your mobile device.

Let's Talk about the Moolah


Yes, it is a pain but let's face it. You get to keep 50% of the retail revenue and that's not a bad thing. Pictures are sold on the FOAP site for US$10 a pop. You get paid US$5 for every time someone pays to use it. Licensing is simple. There is none!

For example, if you have a photo that has a human face, it can't be use for branding or commercial use. Any photo that you send up to the FOAP folks will be used for both online and print so it is a one price fits all approach to selling and using images. There is no option for a model release too so this means the stuff you see can't possibly use like in traditional stock photography. The simplistic approach works for most smartphone photographers who are just loath to carry a model release form. Besides, how many strangers would sign up for it?

By making it easy for you to sell, they have created a brand new platform for would be photographers to sell snapshots of everyday life.

Load Up and let's Rock'n Roll



Woah! Slow down, before you start uploading all your cat pictures in the hope someone will buy them, spare a thought for the community of reviewers who have to look at them. That's right. FOAP doesn't give jack shit about what you upload but as long as it makes it pass the public scrutiny and score a three star rating. Once you get ONE three star rating, your photo will be put up for sale.

Making it Work

Getting your photo reviewed and approved is quick. If people don't like it, you'd know. It takes only five people to give you an average star rating of 2.6 to make the grade. If people like it, you will get an instant approval and you picture will be listed for sale. To increase your chances of selling, you have to tag your photos with the relevant keywords so that people can find it.

FOAP also have missions, no doubt sponsored by Brands who wish to get social media exposure. I know that five bucks might sound like chicken feed to some of you but if you sell loads of photos in a month, you could have enough beer money to last a week.










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