Make money selling drone pictures
(Photo credit)
"So Now you have your fancy new Phantom 3 or 4... can you make money selling stock footage or images from your drone?!"
It's all very well to shoot so many amazing photos or stock footage with your DJI Phantom, DJI Inspire or any quadcopter / drone, but what do you do with the images once shot? Unlike stock photographs (which are overcrowded in the market place), there does seem to be some new opportunities emerging for good quality aerial shots.
But which stock photo web sites and stock libraries sell the most and pay the most money? And do the pics need any processing? Due to the nature of the Phantom 4 Pro, "unprocessed" footage may not be accepted by some stock image sites . Phantom 3 & 4 images are generally ok, if left alone. So jump on it now and sell your work before the whole world owns a drone! Personally, We have been selling stock photographs for over 15 years via our production dept (Hypervision), through a number of stock photo web sites and it has been a steady income. Might not set the world on fire, but a good source of extra revenue, none the less.
So how much can you make and which stock library to use for contributors and how hard is it?
For the latest information on what stock libraries are paying the best and who's the best to sell with, please see our up to date information and complete report on selling stock footage or Selling stock photos
For stock photo sales, I would use the following (Not in any order)
- These guys are without doubt the best at selling stock photos and video on your behalf Best earnings and simple to upload, however they can be tough with their upload criteria
Dreamstime Great site, fast, easy to use and pretty popular (earnings are pretty good) 123 RF - These guys are pretty good & accept Phantom quality images although dont pay quite as high and sales aren't as good (But also newer players) Selling stock Video is a different beast & there's the only few I would bother with Shutterstock
By far!! The best seller of stock video footage Fairly simple to upload & reasonable content criteria (Phantom 2 vision is ok if it's not moving too fast!) Like GoPro vision .. they break up with fast movement 123 RF - These guys are pretty good & accept Phantom quality video although dont pay quite as high
