Selling Photographs Online ??

Laurz_2

Hi, I'm 16 and want to be a professional photographer.
I want to start selling my photographs online.

Do you think there good enough to sell ?
My Flickr page is: PhotographyGal123

Any criticism and comments are welcome ?

What sites or where can I sell my photographs online?

Thanks in advance

LocolCat

Hi Laurz. Being a once-avid photographer, I just took a quick look (through page 5), as I love beautiful art. IMO you have some really professional pics on there. I particularly liked the London Eye - the contrasts are unreal, and the starling - oh!

If you don't mind me saying, I would dump the worst 25%, (colour/focus not right etc.), try to improve on the worst of what's left - and your best pics that have that WOW-factor, hey get selling! Animals are not an easy subject but you've shown that you have an amazing talent.

patman99

Laurz, you must be careful of selling photos of buildings, statues and things such as the London Eye. Some of them are covered by strict copyright that prevents their use in advertising, or on goods being made for sale.
Also, if your photos contain recognizable people, then you must get them to sign a model release form.

Remember, when selling photos, your customer could be using the picture for any purpose. If they use a photo with a recognizable person in to advertise say, Political Party 'A', when the person actually supports party 'B' and hasn't signed a release form, then you could end-up on the wrong side of a court summons.

Poppycat

Remember Mcdonalds advert a few weeks back got pulled for not asking for permission of a boats owner, its fine for own use but not for making money out of

patman99

Right, now to critique your photos.

1. 'Starling' Superb shot, you can see every feather. There is even a catch-light in it's eye. A well-framed image with nothing in the background to distract from the main subject.

2. 'London Eye' A pretty standard tourist shot. Shooting against a cloudy sky works well in certain circumstances, unfortuanately this isn' one of them.

3. 'Squirrel Climbing' Nice shot, but way to much of the tree. Try cropping the image a little. Again, the sky is a bit too gray o make it interesting.

4. 'Redwing' Nicely framed shot this, the blue sky lifts the colours of the subject matter.

5. 'Squirrel zoomed' A much better shot. The subject stands-out from the tree well, however the face could be a tad more in focus. Squirrels move like lightning, so getting a really sharply focused image is extremely hard.

On page 2 you have some real stunners. I would however, delete all the bird shots taken from behind the bird.
I would hazard a guess that you are really into your wildlife photography as you have some brilliant shots. I liked the way you captured the Robin as it tilted it's head towards you, and the head-on of the Rook was unusual.

I can only assume you have a good quality DSLR with some decent glass to attach to it.

Vaila

you have to be careful advertising your website and if you are selling images via flickr

you have some good images, may i ask why you named a set "famous" though ie have they been published?

there is a good thread about selling your photographs on this board, if you do a quick search as it lists most of the companies that you can sell to


flickr also allows you to license your images to getty,but many photographers arent keen on doing so due to your images being used basically as stock


at the moment i would stic to experimenting with your camera and different techniques, maybe set up an etsy profile or research into it

beolens

You have a number of options when selling photographs online (sorry I can't comment on your work as I can't find your flickr page?).

As others have mentioned there are options of selling via stock or micro stock sites, this has advantages and disadvantages, the main disadvantage being that in order to make money with stock sites you have to be very good and VERY VERY prolific, many people who make a living this way have tens of thousands of photos available through numerous sites, they also have to be well catelogued, with good keywording, something which takes quite a bit of time and effort. It it is something you would like to do I have a large number of stock agencies (growing all the time) listed on my website PM me and I will let you know the address.

However that is not the only option. There are many sites out there that will allow you to upload photos to a website (either customized by you or generic) where visitors can purchase the images on a format they choose, sites such as smugmug, redbubble, photobox, plus many more (I also have lists of these on my website). These have the advantage of distancing you from any work, people order what they like, the item is then shipped out and you get the profit agreed when you set up the site, nothing could be easier. Again the more photos you have the better, and publicising the site wil help gain more sales. I myself have a redbubble account and have made a few sales, after uploading a few images, and forgetting all about them

You could always go alone, and set up a website of your own, people place an order and you source printing etc, which will usually be cheaper than the above, allowing for higher profit margins, but if this is something to do as a sideline I wouldn't recommend this route as it is a lot of work.

Hope this is of some help,

All the best,

Ashley Beolens

flatmate

They are ok but really you should stick to learning more and just keep improving. Learn what makes an image stand out and understand good composition.

Everybody that loves photography would like to make money out of it (including me), the reality is only a handful make a decent living from it. Keep shooting and posting to Flickr, I'm on there too user:leewelton you'd be surprised at the people and companies that get in contact just from having a good stream on there.

Gracie_1827

Have to agree with flatmate..they're ok but to make money you have to be spot on. I'm on flickr as well and there are some stunning photographers...artists at their craft. A couple of contacts come to mind
http://www.flickr.com/photos/borealnz/
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/hvhe1/
Hennie van Heerden is a fantastic wildlife photographer.
Are you a member of Redbubble? I learnt alot from the artists & photographers there...great forums for advice. There you can showcase and sell stuff...you images are put on cards T-shirts etc (I've made a few quid)
But I've made more on my Zazzle store. Same thing but more products. It's a great feeling that someone likes your pictures enough to have them on a mug or mousepad:rotfl:

Keep going & Best of luck