Photography is often seen as an active profession—booking clients, traveling to locations, and spending hours editing images. But what if your past work could continue making money long after the shoot? That’s where licensing comes in.
Introduction
Licensing allows photographers to sell usage rights to their images, providing a steady stream of passive income.
In my experience, platforms like Stills have provided a great way to license my photos to brands and publications without the hassle of constant outreach. This article breaks down the basics of licensing, why it’s worth considering, and how to get started with maximizing your earnings.
What Is Image Licensing?
Image licensing is the process of granting others the legal right to use your photographs in exchange for payment. It differs from traditional photography gigs, where you’re paid upfront for a shoot—here, you retain ownership of your images while earning from multiple clients over time.
There are several types of licensing:
- Royalty-Free (RF): A one-time payment grants buyers unlimited use, but you can sell the same image to multiple clients.
- Rights-Managed (RM): Buyers pay based on usage terms (duration, location, exclusivity, etc.). This often yields higher payouts.
- Exclusive vs. Non-Exclusive: Exclusive licenses mean only one client can use the image, while non-exclusive allows multiple buyers to license the same photo.
Understanding these distinctions helps photographers choose the best licensing structure for their work.
Why Licensing Is a Smart Passive Income Strategy
Unlike one-time jobs, licensing creates long-term value. Here’s why it’s a great income stream:
- Earn From Past Work: Images sitting in your archive can generate income without extra effort.
- Scalability: One photo can be sold multiple times to different buyers.
- Minimal Maintenance: Unlike selling prints, licensing requires little ongoing management once your portfolio is uploaded.
- Expands Your Reach: Licensed photos often end up in high-profile publications, advertising campaigns, and websites, increasing your exposure.
In my experience, I’ve seen my older images find new life through licensing, generating revenue even years after they were taken. In just the past few months, Lufthansa licensed an image of mine for their campaign guidelines, SanDisk licensed one for their new rebrand, which was shown on a billboard in Times Square, and Huel used one for their new global campaign video. This has given me a portfolio that I can showcase to future clients. Having major brands use your work helps validate your photography and opens the door to more licensing and direct commissions.
Best Platforms for Licensing Your Photos
There are many licensing platforms available, each catering to different buyers. Here are some of the best options:
1. Stills
A highly curated marketplace that connects photographers with brands looking for authentic imagery. I’ve personally used Stills to license my work to companies needing high-quality travel and lifestyle photos. They have one of the highest percentage splits among licensing companies. Stills focuses on authentic imagery to sell to companies for their campaigns.
2. Getty Images
One of the largest stock agencies, ideal for exposure but often comes with lower royalty rates. From personal experience in years past, it’s difficult to make decent money through them.
3. Adobe Stock
A great platform integrated with Adobe Creative Cloud, making it accessible to designers and marketers. I have an account through Adobe Stock as well, but I haven’t had many sales through them.
4. Offset (by Shutterstock)
A premium licensing platform focusing on high-end, artistic images.
5. Alamy
Known for its fair commission structure and wide buyer audience.
Choosing the right platform depends on your niche, pricing preferences, and audience reach.
How to Maximize Your Earnings From Licensing
If you want to increase your chances of success with licensing, follow these best practices:
- Curate Your Portfolio: Select high-quality images with commercial appeal (lifestyle, travel, business, nature, etc.).
- Use Effective Keywords & Metadata: The right keywords help potential buyers find your work. Be detailed but relevant.
- Stay Updated on Trends: Keep an eye on industry trends to know what brands and publications are looking for.
- Upload Consistently: The more images you have available, the higher your chances of making sales. At the beginning of working with Stills, I had very few sales, but after months of uploading consistently, I’ve had some pretty large sales on global campaigns.
I also try to take images of things I think a company may like for a campaign. For example, somebody holding a surfboard and running into the ocean or a person paying for coffee at a café using their credit card. These types of images have broad commercial appeal because brands—such as financial institutions, travel companies, and lifestyle brands—often look for relatable, real-world scenarios to use in their marketing campaigns. By anticipating what industries might need, you can increase the likelihood of your images being licensed.
Lessons Learned From Licensing My Work
Over the past year, I’ve learned a few key lessons about licensing:
- Not Every Image Will Sell: Focus on strong, commercially viable shots. I notice my shots that are more dynamic, with people in them, sell better than landscape shots.
- Some Platforms Work Better Than Others: Experiment with different sites to see where your work performs best. More and more licensing companies are popping up every year.
- Patience Is Key: Licensing income builds over time. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme, but it provides steady earnings in the long run.
- Exclusive Licensing Can Be More Lucrative: If you have a truly unique shot, offering exclusivity can lead to higher payouts. With Stills, none of my images have had an exclusive license yet, but this is where there can be large payouts.
Conclusion
If you’re a photographer looking for ways to create passive income, licensing is one of the most effective strategies. By choosing the right platform, curating a strong portfolio, and optimizing your images with proper keywords, you can turn your existing work into an ongoing revenue stream.
Whether you start with Stills or explore other platforms, the key is to get started. Your old photos might just be your next big paycheck. If you’ve been sitting on a hard drive full of unused images, like I have in the past, now is the time to put them to work. Licensing can turn forgotten shots into new opportunities and a solid income stream.
Thanks for the ideas and naming the platforms for selling pictures. The term "Licensing" is presented as selling but it is much more than that. I think about Creative Commons Licenses and so on. To be more precise the post title could be "Why Every Photographer Should Consider Selling Their Work".
Michael Kowalczyk wrote:
"Thanks for the ideas and naming the platforms for selling pictures. The term "Licensing" is presented as selling but it is much more than that. I think about Creative Commons Licenses and so on. To be more precise the post title could be "Why Every Photographer Should Consider Selling Their Work"."
But when most people see or hear the term "selling your work" the immediate thought is of selling prints. So that title that you suggest would be quite misleading to most people, as this article is specifically about licensing, and only about licensing. Licensing is specifically and only about selling usage rights, and includes no tangible manifestation of the image, so it is a much more correct term because it is more narrow, and therefore precise.
That would be less precise, not more so. In plain langauge, if we work for ourselves (and if we don't then we almost certainly don't own our work and won't be licensing anything) we're almost never selling our images. We're renting them.
I suspect that Michael Kowalczyk may not speak English as a first language, and therefore he may not understand the way that the terms "selling" and "licensing" are typically used. Language barriers can often led to misguided thinking about what word is more correct and what word is less correct.
I suspect you might be wro... Oh! Wait! Wait!
It's Tom.
You're right, Tom. It's always the other 7,999,999,999 of us in the world that are always wrong whenever we disagree with you.
I know you wrote this sarcastically, but you are actually correct.
Great article! Thank you.
I like that you have named several licensing agencies to work with. However, you missed the most lucrative method of licensing images, which is licensing directly to the end user, without going thru an agency.
It is possible to contact magazine editors and book publishers and sell directly to them.
It is possible to form a relationship with chambers of commerce and tourism councils and work with them on which images will best meet their needs to promote the area they are located in.
It is possible to license directly to brands and manufacturers by working directly with their owner or marketing staff, instead of using a stock agency as a liaison.
Some entities that one licenses to will already have terms and conditions written up that you need to agree to, while others do not have anything like that in place, so you will have to write up your own agreement and legalese ..... but that isn't hard at all, especially for anyone who has written contracts for wedding photography.
Licensing thru an agency is easy. And after the uploading and keywording is done, it is mostly passive. But I recommend that photographers do at least a little direct licensing, as it develops a better understanding of how licensing works and is more lucrative, albeit more time-consuming.
Licensing is something I’ve been considering for a while and this article makes a good case for why it’s worth exploring. I love the idea of past work continuing to generate income. The breakdown of platforms is particularly helpful and I’ll definitely be making good use of the tips on curation and anticipating what brands might need. Definitely inspired to take the next step. Thanks!
Paul Tocatlian
Kisau Photography
www.kisau.com
Why every _________ should _________.
There are rarely such statements that are actually true.
Most photographers, defined as anyone who takes photos, should not waste the time trying to license their images. Why? Because their images are not that good, they don't have signed releases from the identifiable people in them, or a number of other equally valid reasons.
Even if you define photographer as someone who takes photos as their primary income generating profession, not *every* photographer should license their images. Those who photograph sensitive subject matter in military, law enforcement, industrial, etc. contexts should *not* be violating the confidentiality agreements in place that they agreed to as a condition of their employment.
But the title does not say, or suggest, that every photographer should license their images. You are kind of building a straw man and knocking him down.
In response to me, a simple, "You're right, Tom" will suffice. I do not need or want the back talk and arguments that I usually get when I write something in opposition to what you have written. It would behoove you to humble yourself.
:-) :-0 :-)
PS- I wasn't talking to you. Why do you seem to feel if this entire forum is your personal forum and you're the Judge sitting on the bench in the highest spot in the room?
PPS- You're right, Tom. You're ALWAYS right. It's the rest of every single one of us in the entire world who are wrong whenever we say anything with which you disagree.
Please, someone, write a partner article titled, "Why Every Photographer Should Consider Freely Licensing Their Work"
I'm not trying to be snarky here. I think many photographers would benefit themselves and others by freely licensing their photos. And I'm not meaning in absolutes like you have to pick one or the other, folks gotta make a living, but if you have the opportunity please consider it.
I am interested in knowing why you think that photographers would benefit by freely licensing their images. In what ways do you think it would help them to grow or improve as photogrphers? In what ways do you think it would improve their lives?
These are great interview questions.
>I am interested in knowing why you think that photographers would benefit by freely licensing their images.
I receive benefit from others using and enjoying my photos. I shoot predominantly for myself, but it is a nice feeing to see my photos being used. If a photo is not seen or enjoyed, why bother? :)
>In what ways do you think it would help them to grow or improve as photogrphers?
>In what ways do you think it would improve their lives?
It has helped me to grow as a photographer as I have taken photos explicitly to document a place or event in hopes of communicating what that event was like for others. For instance, I have a few photos on Wikipedia that have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people. That brings me joy to know that I have helped others have a better understanding of the world.
This practice, or need, is a good reason to take more photos, particularly in a way that I may not normally choose to shoot. For instance, I'm not predominantly a portrait photographer, but I have signed up for WikiPortraits to help (https://www.wikiportraits.org). This will give me an opportunity to better my photography in this area.
Thanks for responding! You not only answered my questions, but gave others a direction to pursue if they are interested in doing what you suggested they do.