How to Make Money Selling Stock Photos from Your Smartphone

Earnings vary widely and nothing is fixed. Every number below comes from each company’s official help pages (checked 2026-10-26).

Who this is for

• People with lots of phone photos
• People looking for a slow, steady side project
• People comfortable reading English help pages

At a glance (official help pages)

*Adobe’s help page says, for Payoneer: “A required payment provider applies in Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey.” Re-check what this means before signing up.

Step 1. Read the official terms

Step 2. Sign up (requires an account)

📝 Logged-in screen (text description)
On each site’s Contributor page you create an account and enter your name, address, tax details and payout account. Shutterstock says the “Make payments to” name must be your full legal name as on your tax form. We did not perform this step.

Step 3. Shooting basics with a phone

• Steady hands, good light.
• Keep logos, trademarks and signs out of the frame (Adobe asks contributors to avoid copyrighted logos and trademarked products).
• Don’t upload many near-duplicates.
• Check each site’s submission guide for resolution and other technical specs (not verified here).

Step 4. Model and property release basics

Model release = a signed consent from a person in the photo for commercial use.

• Needed when a person can be recognized, even without a visible face (tattoos, clothing, surroundings).
• Includes people in the background, self-portraits, close-ups of body parts.
• One release per person; group or stitched releases are not accepted.
• Under 18: a parent or legal guardian must sign.
• Not needed: unidentifiable crowds, back views with no recognizable features, objects or scenes without people.

Property release = consent from the owner of a building, artwork, pet, etc.
– Often needed: landmarks and distinctive buildings, artworks and murals, private interiors, distinctive product shapes, places with photo policies (amusement parks, museums).
– Usually not needed: generic houses or interiors, ordinary street scenes, broad cityscapes.

Common mistakes / rejection reasons

• Recognizable people without a model release
• Prominent logos, trademarks or signs
• Photos from places with photography restrictions
• Blurry or dark shots
• No tax form → payment blocked or heavy withholding
• Sharing a payout account with another contributor (prohibited by Shutterstock’s terms)

Korean platforms

At the time of writing, we found no Korean stock-photo platform with official commission and payout terms on a public page. We will update when we can verify one.

Checklist

• ☐ Re-read royalty and payout terms on the official pages
• ☐ 18 or older (Shutterstock)
• ☐ Payout account ready (PayPal / Payoneer / Skrill)
• ☐ Ready to submit a tax form
• ☐ Model release for any recognizable person
• ☐ No prominent logos, trademarks or artworks

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