Selling photos?
Discussion
Does anyone here sell their photos?
I was just wondering if anyone had advice on what sort of pics sell well, what methods people use (stock library, prints off website, freelance to magazines etc..) and also if anyone has any pointers to how much to charge for good quality A4 and A3 inkjet prints.
I was just wondering if anyone had advice on what sort of pics sell well, what methods people use (stock library, prints off website, freelance to magazines etc..) and also if anyone has any pointers to how much to charge for good quality A4 and A3 inkjet prints.
I only do either comissioned or motorsport stuff, neither of which is really relevant to what you are asking. I did get featured in Amateur Photographer once though just by ringing them up and then sending in a CD. Not good money in that - only £50 per page I think.
I remember seeing some guy selling prints in Covent Garden last year sometime. They were nicely mounted, slightly smaller than A4 (maybe 6x9), but the actual photos themselves were nothing special. The price was ~£25. As far as I am concerned, the price you can sell for depends on,
1)Your name, and the surroundings in which you are selling. Get a posh shop and watch your prices rocket (obviously the photos have to be half decent as well
). For this reason you will not make decent headway just starting a website and trying to sell off that - no reputation. Also people like to see before they buy when it comes to art.
2)The subject of the photo. If the subject is directly relevant to the buyer, they will pay more (such as selling them a picture of their car, for example)
For the casual seller, I would say that image libraries are the best bet if you have fairly "standard" photos, or if they are more arty then a gallery which accepts small artists, such as Britart . Always worth bearing in mind that to get into an image library you need exceptional/perfect photos. The return is very small as well, I cannot remember the exact figures, but you need literally hundreds of thousands of pictures in stock to make a living from it exclusively.
I remember seeing some guy selling prints in Covent Garden last year sometime. They were nicely mounted, slightly smaller than A4 (maybe 6x9), but the actual photos themselves were nothing special. The price was ~£25. As far as I am concerned, the price you can sell for depends on,
1)Your name, and the surroundings in which you are selling. Get a posh shop and watch your prices rocket (obviously the photos have to be half decent as well
). For this reason you will not make decent headway just starting a website and trying to sell off that - no reputation. Also people like to see before they buy when it comes to art. 2)The subject of the photo. If the subject is directly relevant to the buyer, they will pay more (such as selling them a picture of their car, for example)
For the casual seller, I would say that image libraries are the best bet if you have fairly "standard" photos, or if they are more arty then a gallery which accepts small artists, such as Britart . Always worth bearing in mind that to get into an image library you need exceptional/perfect photos. The return is very small as well, I cannot remember the exact figures, but you need literally hundreds of thousands of pictures in stock to make a living from it exclusively.
Scooby_snax said:Not 100% sure really, but my favourite/best shots so far have been landscapes. I'd like to be able to take good motor racing pics, but I always find that I'd much rather be out there racing myself than taking photos, so I've not been too impressed with my efforts here.
I sell to magazines worldwide and also clients both personal and business......what genre are you interested in covering
I'm not looking to make a living from it, but it would be nice for it to pay for a new lens now and again and while I don't see myself weighing up how saleable a shot would be before I press the shutter, I am finding that striving to take "professional" quality photos is making me thing alot more about location, light and composition.
Good points from David about simply selling straight off a website not being enough without a decent reputation, so for now I'll probably concentrate on submitting pics to photography magazines (there's several competitions with decent prizes in the current edition of Photography Monthly for example) and work on building up more of a portfolio before approaching other magazines.
I've also read about the Bureau of Freelance Photographers - is anyone here a member, and is it worth joining?
AS you are not really needing the income....though nice to...my advice would be to take shots of things you are really interested in. After all this is your leisure time and I feel if you are passionate about something 1 it won't feel like work and 2 you more likely to put more into it.
For example whilst you could make several thousand pounds doing weddings if it isn't something you are interested in it would end up like a job.
For example whilst you could make several thousand pounds doing weddings if it isn't something you are interested in it would end up like a job.
I sell a few framed landscapes in the Cotswolds (plus postcards) and Highland ladscape pics up here on CD roms.
As it's the 'hobby' part of my job, I make bugger all money from it and what I do make usually ends up going to Charity (I made £3k for the Torridon Mountain Rescue team in 2002/3).
I'm regularly asked to take photos, but will only do it for free (or not at all). This means it will never become a *job*.
When music became a job, I lost a great hobby and it has been *work* ever since. I don't want to ruin photography in the same way (that's probably just me though).
For what it's worth, the way I sold stuff in the Cotswolds was to take some photos of the local church (etc) print them up in sepia, and sold them in local galleries - the yanks loved them (sorry Brian).
Also, slightly off the wall photos such as 'Rush Hour In The Cotswolds' (below) sold a few thousand postcards and a dozen or so framed (signed!) prints.
To be honest, after printing costs etc. they made little profit, but at least all the photo gear became tax deductable and I got the VAT back (I'll get me coat Mr taxman)
Steve
As it's the 'hobby' part of my job, I make bugger all money from it and what I do make usually ends up going to Charity (I made £3k for the Torridon Mountain Rescue team in 2002/3).
I'm regularly asked to take photos, but will only do it for free (or not at all). This means it will never become a *job*.
When music became a job, I lost a great hobby and it has been *work* ever since. I don't want to ruin photography in the same way (that's probably just me though).
For what it's worth, the way I sold stuff in the Cotswolds was to take some photos of the local church (etc) print them up in sepia, and sold them in local galleries - the yanks loved them (sorry Brian).
Also, slightly off the wall photos such as 'Rush Hour In The Cotswolds' (below) sold a few thousand postcards and a dozen or so framed (signed!) prints.
To be honest, after printing costs etc. they made little profit, but at least all the photo gear became tax deductable and I got the VAT back
(I'll get me coat Mr taxman) Steve
GetCarter said:
When music became a job, I lost a great hobby and it has been *work* ever since. I don't want to ruin photography in the same way (that's probably just me though).
No it's not just you. You are absolutely right. Doing something you love for the fun of it with no one to satisfy but yourself is very different than making money out of it, meeting deadlines and satisfying clients. As a professional, doing it all day long, the last thing I really want to do at the weekend is pick up a camera and go and take pictures of my car. However, I'm envious of some of the snaps I see on here and it's sad that 'I can't be bothered'.
Correct me if I'm wrong Steve, but I suspect it's the same for you, composing music. Come the weekend do you dash to the keyboard? Photography is a great hobby and pastime and best kept that way. Have to say I feel there are a lot of similarities between music and imagery, been meaning to try and learn to play something for a while.
Ed, back to your original post; I know you have looked at Alamy and that's most probably your best bet (or something similar), if you can satisfy their requirements. The Bureau of Freelance Photographers do publish a book telling you how much you can expect to be paid for a given magazine. That magazine wanting your picture at that particular time is very hit and miss. They may offer to take a pic, but most only pay on publication date so you may have a long wait for any money. That said, any pics submitted to library's may take a year to sell too.
Another problem with landscape and travel photography is that it is a saturated market. A mate of mine does nothing but stock but his travel sales have been in decline for years.
Apart from Steve's great pics, here are a couple of links for some other good Landscape guys for inspiration/Ideas:
www.charliewaite.com
www.joecornish.com
www.tommackie.com
www.josephholmes.com
Cheers
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