How To Price, License & Sell Your Travel Photography [Ep. 101]
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Want to learn how to price, license & sell your travel photography?
Well, you’re in luck, as in this episode of The Profitable Travel Blogger Podcast, we’ll be going over how to monetize the photos you take working with brands and destinations!
Our guest for the episode is travel content creator Megan Indoe, who regularly licenses and sells her media assets and has even been contracted by a tourism board to create a seasonal media library. Today, she’ll be sharing her best tips to help you do the same.
By the end of this episode, you’ll understand:
- Different license types and how to choose the right one
- Tips for setting competitive photography rates
- How to increase your chances of selling photos to a brand
- How to negotiate photography contracts
- Advice on protecting your work so you don’t lose money
- And more!
In short, if you’re confused about how to get paid for your travel photography or you feel like you’re leaving money on the table, you won’t want to miss this episode!
How To Price, License & Sell Your Travel Photography [Podcast Episode Audio]
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Free Blogging Resources + Photography Selling Cheat Sheet
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This includes a Photography Pricing, Licensing & Selling Cheat Sheet based on this episode.
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Sell Your Photos With These Helpful Tools:
Craddock Photo Pro. This tool pulls current data from photographers to give an accurate sense of how much to charge based on usage.
CopyTrack. This tool automatically scans the internet for unauthorized use of their photos and helps recover payment for any infringements, ensuring their work is protected and compensated.
Sell Your Travel Photography [Episode Transcript]
The following is a summary of the podcast episode sharing how to price, license, and sell your photography as a travel blogger. It is transcribed as best as possible, with paraphrasing included. For the full strategy on how to sell your travel photography, make sure to listen to the audio version of the podcast above.
One of our biggest assets as travel bloggers is our ability to create high-quality content, which often includes photos.
Something that is really important to understand is your photos are valuable, and that is true whether you have 0 followers or 1 million followers.
An issue I’ve noticed is that many bloggers will give their photos away for free in exchange for free swag or free stays, or brands will put in the contracts that they get access to a blogger or influencer’s camera roll after the collaboration, which is why I think this episode so important.
Now, one of the biggest voices in the industry empowering travel bloggers to stop giving away their photos for free and start profiting from their hard work is Megan Indoe, the creator of the travel blogs Bobo & Chichi and Your Brooklyn Guide.
Megan, along with her partner Scott, has been able to get hired to create a seasonal media library for a destination client, as well as license media assets for commercial use to brands and destinations dozens of times. Today, she’ll be sharing her best tips to help you do the same.
🎉 Also, don’t forget to grab access to my FREE Travel Blogger Resource Library. Get access to 55+ resources that can help turn your blog into a profitable business—including a Pricing, Licensing & Selling Your Photography Cheat Sheet based on today’s episode!
1) Thank you so much for taking the time to share your tips! To start, can you tell us more about yourself and your business?
Thank you for having me! So, I started my travel blog with my husband, Scott, back in 2014 while we were living in South Korea and teaching English.
Initially, it was a way to keep in touch with family and inspire others to explore South Korea, but as we traveled more, our blog followed.
Today, it’s grown into a business where we work with destinations and brands. Scott is a photographer and videographer, and we often incorporate visual storytelling into our work.
Beyond content creation, we’re frequently asked to license and sell our photography to these brands and destinations.
2) What does it mean to price and license our photos to sell? And how much can bloggers make from this strategy?
When a company or destination wants to use your photos or videos for commercial purposes—whether that’s in ads, brochures, or websites—there’s a value attached to it.
You’re essentially selling the right for them to use your work to promote their business or destination. The amount you can make varies based on how the images will be used.
For example, a photo used in a print ad might be worth more than one for social media.
As a benchmark, we typically make an additional $15,000 per year just on licensing photos we’ve already taken during collaborations. The pricing depends on factors like the usage type, duration, and exclusivity.
3) I’ve personally had companies sneak clauses into contracts that say they get rights to my photos or even my entire camera roll after a collaboration. What are some sneaky ways companies try to get photos and videos from creators for free?
That happens way more than people realize!
One common tactic we see is brands including clauses that ask for rights to your entire media library “in perpetuity.” This means they would get access to every photo or video you take on the trip, forever, without paying extra.
Sometimes it’s framed as just a standard clause in the contract, but it’s important to read every word carefully.
If it wasn’t part of your original discussion, you should bring it up and negotiate additional compensation for those rights—or ask them to remove it entirely.
4) Many bloggers realize they shouldn’t give their photos away for free to be used in ads and marketing materials, but what about re-sharing on social media? For instance, let’s say you’re working with a tourism board on a press trip. Do you allow them to re-share your Instagram posts onto their feed with credit for free, or would this be an additional fee?
This can be a bit of a gray area, and I think it comes down to personal preference.
Generally, if a brand or destination has invested in working with me and I’ve tagged them in my Instagram posts, I’m okay with them re-sharing those posts to their feed as long as they give me proper credit.
However, if they want to use my photos beyond social media reshares—like on their website or in ads—that’s where I’d charge an additional fee.
It’s important to distinguish between what’s included in the initial collaboration and what constitutes additional usage.
5) How do you recommend travel bloggers go about setting prices for their photography?
Pricing is probably one of the toughest parts. The key is to avoid guessing because that can hurt the industry as a whole.
We use a tool called Craddock Photo Pro, which pulls real data from photographers to give an accurate sense of how much to charge based on usage, whether it’s for web, print, or ads. The price should depend on how the photo will be used.
For example, a photo used online might be priced at $250, whereas the same photo used in a large-scale print campaign might be worth $1,000 or more.
If you plan to sell multiple photos, offering a bulk discount can be an effective strategy—like $250 per photo, or $2,000 for a set of ten.
6) Another important part of selling photography is licensing the work. Can you share more about the different licenses and how bloggers can go about choosing which one is appropriate when working with brands and companies?
Licensing depends heavily on how the brand plans to use your photos. The most common licenses are for web use, print, and advertising.
A web license would typically be cheaper since it has a smaller reach, while print and ad licenses tend to be more expensive, especially if they’re used for an extended period.
When you’re negotiating with brands, ask them detailed questions:
- How will the photo be used?
- For how long?
- Are they printing it in brochures or using it in digital ads?
All these factors will influence the price.
Avoid giving a license “in perpetuity” unless it’s absolutely necessary, as this allows them to use your photo forever without further compensation.
7) When working with brands, how do you go about selling your photography? Is this typically an upsell to the agreed-upon influencer deliverables, or do you approach it in a different way?
Typically, when we negotiate brand collaborations, we make sure to mention upfront that licensing photos is a service we offer. This often sparks interest and gives the brand a chance to budget for it from the beginning.
If they don’t want to commit right away, we offer to revisit it after the collaboration and see if there are any images they’d like to license. It’s easier to sell photos if you bring it up early in the discussion rather than waiting for them to ask.
Offering a media library package—where they can select a certain number of images for their own use—is another great way to make it an attractive option for them.
8) Do you ever pitch campaigns that are 100% focused on creating commercial-license photography or videography?
While we typically sell photography through influencer and content creation partnerships, we have had clients come to us specifically to build out their media library without requiring us to share content on our own channels.
For example, we worked with a client in upstate New York who hired us for seasonal photo shoots over the course of a year to create a full media library for them. This didn’t require any social media deliverables from us—it was purely a commercial photography gig.
It’s not as common, but it does happen, especially when brands or destinations need fresh content but might not have the budget for both influencer campaigns and commercial photography. This allows them to focus their budget on building out their visual assets.
9) Let’s say someone listening hasn’t done a sponsored brand campaign or trip, but they have thousands of photos from different trips and experiences. Is there a way they can go about selling these photos?
If a brand or destination finds your photos through search results or blog posts, they may reach out to ask if they can license them.
Additionally, in the past brands would reach out via social media if they saw images they liked; however, these requests have largely been replaced by a popular software you may have seen that involves automated Instagram requests asking to use your photo in exchange for “exposure.”
Watch out for these. The messages often come from big companies and include terms like, “Reply with hashtag #yes[brandname] and we’ll feature your photo.”
It may seem flattering, but it’s important to dig deeper. These requests often hide their terms and conditions in non-clickable links, and by agreeing, you could be giving the company the right to use your image for free, forever, without any compensation.
In some cases, the company can even sell your image to others without you getting a cut. Always read the fine print and remember that your images hold value—don’t give them away for free under the guise of “exposure.”
10) Of course, there will always be companies that still steal your photos and use them without permission, or who don’t adhere to the license they purchased. Is there a way bloggers can track this and get paid for their work?
Yes, there are services like CopyTrack that scan the internet for unauthorized use of your photos.
It’s a free service, and they only get paid if they successfully recover payment for you. It’s an easy way to monitor misuse without having to manually search the web.
If you’re working with a handful of clients, it’s also good to keep track of when your licenses expire so you can renegotiate new terms.
Just be careful with automated tools like Copytrack—they might occasionally flag images inaccurately, and you want to make sure if you pursue a claim you don’t waste a lawyer’s time or they might charge you.
11) Thank you so much for sharing your tips for licensing, pricing & selling travel photography! Before we sign off, can you let everyone know where they can find you?
- Bobo & Chichi (website)
- Your Brooklyn Guide (website)
- @BoboAndChichi (Instagram)
Thank you!
Alright, now I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you feel inspired and empowered to earn an income from your travel photography.
Don’t forget to grab access to my free travel blogging resource library. There are a ton of resources in there on growing your community and increasing your blogging profits—including a Photography Pricing, Licensing & Selling Cheat Sheet.
And of course, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes sharing these bite-sized strategies for bloggers who want to turn their blogs into profitable full-time businesses.
Happy blogging!
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Click here for all profitable blogging podcast episodes.
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