Online photo services can give shutterbug lucrative outlet

— -- Brown University medical student Nick Monu supplements his income by selling photographs online.

He uses the "stock" photography service iStockphoto.com, offering generic photos of people and places that can be used in brochures, magazines, websites and billboards.

Monu — known as "nico_blue" on iStockphoto — pulls in a six-figure income from his part-time gig. One photo even earned him $5,000. It's a feel-good image of two senior women, one African American and one white, smiling for the camera.

"This is the best of both worlds," says Monu, 23. "I get to work as an artist, and supplement my income."

Stock photography has exploded on the Web thanks to digital technology, which puts professional-level equipment in non-pros' hands at affordable prices. Stock photography is set to go even more mainstream today, when Flickr, the popular online photo site, joins forces with Getty Images, the world's largest stock photo agency.

Flickr's alliance with Getty, which also owns iStockphoto.com, was announced in July. Getty editors have spent the past few months culling through Flickr's 3 billion images, inviting photographers with stock-quality photos to participate. Some 10,000 photos were selected; most now will show up in a special Flickr Collection section of Getty Images.

Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein says his clients wanted access to Flickr's wealth of photos, but only if they were cleared for commercial use. Getty Images targets higher-end professional photos for commercial clients, while iStockphoto.com solicits submissions from non-pros for smaller customers.

Flickr members eager to participate will have to be patient: It's an invitation-only process, for now. Klein says editors are constantly going through Flickr looking for quality photographers with salable work.

As long as the picture is posted publicly (Flickr members have the option of password-protected sharing) Getty can find your photo, Flickr general manager Kakul Srivastava says.