Passive Income Ideas for Photographers
Simple Ways to Make More Money Without More Sessions
As photographers, our time is valuable—and there’s only so much of it. That’s why building streams of passive income is so important for growing your business without burning out. If you’re looking to make more money without booking more sessions, here are a few of my favorite ways to create passive income as a photographer.
1. Upsell Digital Images
One of the easiest and most effective ways to increase your income is by upselling additional images from each session.
Here’s how I do it:
For mini sessions, I include 5 edited digital images.
For full sessions, I include 20 edited images.
I upload the full gallery (with a watermark) to Pixieset, and I send my clients a coupon code that allows them to download the number of images included in their session.
From there, clients can:
Purchase individual additional images, or…
Buy the entire gallery with one click.
Most of the time? They fall in love with more than their allotted number—and upgrading becomes a no-brainer.
Pro Tip: Make sure your galleries are packed with variety! If you only deliver 20 poses, your clients may only choose one of each. But if you offer lots of variation in posing, framing (wide vs. close-up), and orientation (horizontal vs. vertical), they’ll be much more likely to upgrade to get everything. Ready to uplevel your posing and create tons of variety? Download my free family session posing guide here. Or my free newborn session posing guide here.
Want to know exactly what I say when I deliver a Pixieset gallery?
Download my free email template here!
2. Turn on the Pixieset Store
If you’re not already using the Pixieset store, now’s the time! When you turn on the store feature, clients can order prints, albums, and other products straight from their gallery—and you’ll earn a percentage of each sale.
Bonus: This is passive income that continues to roll in after the session is done. You don’t need to do anything except turn on the feature and promote it.
3. Create an Amazon Storefront
I highly recommend joining the Amazon Influencer Program and setting up your own Amazon Storefront. This is perfect if you’re already recommending outfits, baby products, or gear to your clients (and if you aren’t—you should be!).
For example:
In my outfit guide, I include Amazon links to client-approved wardrobe pieces.
One of my favorite brands to recommend for mamas is Nothing Fits But—which is available right on Amazon.
Every time a client shops through my storefront, I earn a small commission.
It adds up—and it’s totally passive.
Want to see what this could look like?
Check out my own Amazon storefront here for inspo.
4. Use Email Marketing to Drive Print Sales
Once your gallery is delivered, your job isn’t done! You can use email marketing tools like Flodesk (get 50% off with this link) to remind clients to purchase prints and products—especially during key times of the year like:
Mother’s Day
Christmas
Grandparents’ birthdays
Back-to-school season
A simple, well-timed reminder can lead to more gallery downloads, print orders, and products purchased—without any extra work from you.
Ready to Start Earning More—Without Working More?
Passive income doesn’t have to be complicated. A few smart systems can help you earn more from every session, serve your clients better, and grow your income while protecting your time.
Start with one of the ideas above and see how it works for your business. Then slowly build from there!
