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You got a digital camera. You are taking beautiful pictures. You can now start to earn money from your pictures - no need to be a professional.

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When I started selling pictures, I thought I could only earn a few dollars or pounds to buy some cds and books. It went even better: now it's a real second job for me.

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Each site has its own rules but some general advice applies to all:

• you retain full copyright to your pictures, they are only acting as agencies to sell your content and pay you for that;
• unless you choose to be exclusive, you can sell your pictures at more than one agency, with greater revenues;
• there are some requirements to meet, such as minimum size (usually 4 MP) and sharp, in focus pictures - but you will learn quickly; don't be discouraged by initial rejections of your photos, you can learn a lot from rejections and after a short time you will start producing even better photos than now and sell more and more;

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Ok, it seems you are ready to start. Start earning money with your pictures.

Note: beware of scams; there are sites which claim to pay you for your pictures but in fact they steal and resell your photos. Those listed here are tested as legitimate sites which will really pay you.

Register for free (top sellers are listed on top):

http://www.microstockphoto.co.uk

Above picture available at Fotolia

Now that you are registered, start submitting your photos.

Some agencies require you to pass an initial test - it's easy if you follow some basic rules:

1. only choose your best pictures for the initial test;
2. choose a variety of themes for your initial test;
3. check each picture at 100% zoom for noise, blurriness, purple fringe;
4. set your camera settings at best quality, lowest compression, highest resolution;
5. improve your pictures using a photo editing software - then save as highest quality .jpg; do not overdue with filtering and avoid special effects, only improve colours and contrast;
6. tag your pictures properly, add as many relevant keywords as you can but avoid spamming with unrelevant keywords;
7. have a look at what other people are selling;

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In the end, we are all selling photos for money. That's not bad at all, since it's a legitimate legal job and can even help you to improve your photographic skills.

The more you upload, the more you will earn. And when you've reached a minimum payout - usually $50 or £25 or similar - they will pay you through PayPal or MoneyBookers (at your choice).

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Answer: our best sellers - and for most photographers as well - are these one:

1. Shutterstock

2. Fotolia

Of course you are advised to start which these ones :)