Lobster helps amateur photographers sell their work

It's not uncommon for people who post personal photos on Flickr or Instagram to see their images posted somewhere else, on a blog or a website. On one hand that's a compliment - someone liked your photo enough to want to use it. But on the other hand, it's a rip-off. They didn't pay you for content that would cost them if they got it from a stock photo service.

Lobster may have the solution for that kind of situation. The service allows individuals to sell their photos and videos without dealing with the hassles of licensing and collecting fees. If you have a Flickr or Instagram account, you can sign up with Lobster, tag the material you want to make available for reuse and let Lobster handle the details.

Lobster charges 99 cents for photos posted on Instagram and $1.99 for a photo on Flickr. Buyers pay with PayPal, Lobster keeps 25 percent and the owner of the photo gets the rest.

Lobster would like to see more amateur and semi-professional photographers to put their material on Instagram and Flickr, especially if they shoot photos on topics that interest potential buyers such as news agencies. A good example is a music festival.

Buyers can search Lobster by topic, tag or location. When they purchase an image, they can download it immediately. A copy of the license that goes with the image will arrive by email.

To find out more about Lobster, visit the Lobster website or Twitter page.

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Written by Ric Manning

Follow me on Twitter @ricmanning and read my technology columns at My Well Being.