The world has witnessed whirlwind after whirlwind within the financial space in the past two years. From short squeezes in the stock market to meme coins, and perhaps the biggest of them all, NFT. NFT’s seemingly overnight ascent to popularity has been quite attention-grabbing yet confounding for many, and stories of teenagers making millions selling NFTs have only added to the fuss. This begs the question: what are NFTs, and can you monetize your photos using NFT?

NFTs Explained

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are digital tokens purchased, verified and sold via blockchain. They represent ownership of digital assets. Minting is the process of tokenizing a digital asset onto a blockchain – converting regular digital assets into NFTs. What makes an NFT unique and valuable is not the token itself but the digital asset it represents.

Why Should Photographers Take NFTs Seriously?

Historically, the traditional art market has snubbed digital art forms like photography, citing a lack of uniqueness. With the rise of NFTs, photographers can rejoice in the fact that the art world is finally seeing the potential value of digital assets.


How to Monetize Your Photos Using NFT

1. Pick Your Best Photos

This step should be simple if you are an active photographer. Pick up your camera and take photos that you think will impress your audience and potential collectors. Alternatively, you could scour through your archives and select trend-worthy images.

2. Set Up Your Wallet And Choose A Platform

The initial setup process for selling NFTs is not as simple as uploading images to an online auction. Since all NFT transactions happen on the blockchain, you will need a platform to auction your art and a compatible crypto wallet.

Depending on your preferences, you can choose a marketplace from several of the most popular options. There is a suitable auction for everyone, from the highly exclusive, invite-only platforms like SuperRare and Foundation to the more accessible marketplaces like OpenSea, MakerPlace and Rarible.

Once you have chosen a marketplace, create a crypto wallet that connects to your platform of choice: you will need a crypto wallet to log in to most NFT auction sites. You can try MetaMask or any other wallet specified by your auction site. Next, connect your wallet to the platform and fund it with some crypto – assuming you have already converted fiat to crypto at a cryptocurrency exchange like Binance.

3. Price Your Work

Artwork is highly subjective; setting a price fair enough for you and your buyers can sometimes be challenging. And while NFTs share some similarities with regular art, remember, traditional image licensing does not apply here. Instead, most people view NFTs as collectibles and investments.

Use a reasonable pricing structure to set your reserve bid – the minimum price you wish to sell your work for – and percentage royalty. The last thing you want is to inflate your prices artificially or have a volatile pricing structure: this might make collectors view your work as a risky investment.

4. Mint Your Artwork

With a crypto wallet, pricing structure and access to an NFT auction site, you are now ready to start minting your art pieces. As mentioned before, minting is the process of tokenizing digital assets – creating NFT certificates – and uploading them on a blockchain.

Minting your photos will make them available for sale. As with most crypto transactions, there are fees. Besides the gas fee you will incur at the blockchain level, you will have to pay minting and listing fees. Most platforms charge a predetermined percentage of each sale price, usually 2.5% to 15%.


Final Remarks

The NFT world is still in its infancy. And although it might be tough to guess this industry’s long-term trajectory, it is not too ambitious to expect NFT marketplaces to become a linchpin of digital art and photography collection. After all, many photographers and artists produce and store their work in digital formats, so making the transition to NFTs is not too far a stretch.