How to Make Money with Valentine Images

The month of February is just around the corner and it is a time when love and romance are prominently celebrated with Valentine’s Day. There is a sudden influx of flowers, chocolates, heart balloons and dinner reservations, as well as opportunities to make use of images that evoke the spirit of the occasion. If you want to make use of this special time to sell your images, here are some great tips you can use:

1. Get hired to shoot Valentine’s Day events – a lot of events abound during this special occasion, whether these are intimate dinners, family gatherings or large shows or concerts. Find out what the action is in your area, preferably weeks in advance, so you can prepare and collaborate with the event organizer. For family members and friends, offer your professional services as well since they are also potential customers. They can even refer you to others who might also need a photographer to record the event.

2. Sell Valentine’s day photo cards – just like Christmas and Halloween, Valentine’s Day is when a myriad of merchandise is sold just for the occasion. Why not make Valentine cards and give them your creative touch by using your photos as the cover art. You can sell these locally or online. Tap the power of social networking such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise and market your photo cards.

3. Sell stock images – one of the most popular ways for people to acquire images for the business needs is through the use of stock agencies. For microstock, images are usually earned in cents. However, over time, your valentine shots can earn you in dollars in passive income. Pay attention when keywording your images since these are what is used by prospective customers when searching for the shots they need. For example, a photo of a couple holding hands may have common keywords such as ‘love’, ‘romance’, and ‘valentine’ may be too general and vague although they are appropriate. Try to add more specific words and key phrases such as ‘holding hands’ and ‘teen couple’. Image description is also important. Keep it short and to the point. Another thing to remember is that images that show people are extremely popular. Keep that in mind when taking your shots but always remember to get a model release before attempting to submit in the stock site.

4. Take photos of lovers at romantic spots – during this season of love, people are drawn to places with romantic atmosphere such as parks, landmarks, and restaurants. With the use of a portable printer, a laptop and your camera, you can strategically set up in an area where people normally go to for picture taking. By giving selling prints right after taking shots, you give the customer quick service and results.

5. Make use of photo gift items – like Christmas, Valentine’s is a day of gift giving. Take advantage by placing your photos on gift items such as mugs, T-shirts, and the like. PhotoStockPlus members have a product line-up that makes it easy to sell photo gift items. All you need to do is upload your images, set up pricing for the gift items and the site will do all the hard work for you, from transferring the prints to the products, to shipping them out to customers.