Selling photos online... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

loulou_1984

Rcurran wrote: »

I've tried uploading to Dreamstime recently. I discovered that it takes a while for photos to be reviewed and then a lot will be rejected, many of which are because I didn't meet the grade and others because they were not 'stock'y enough. My experiences suggest that this is not a get rich never mind get rich quick scheme.

I work in the photography industry and would say you're right on both counts

electrodent

Hello fellow photographers

Couple of questions hoping someone could help with. I took a look at some of the links that Patman99 so helpfully collated, and I'm confused. Some of the sites have photos of quality that are absolutely outstanding - well done to JamesPhotography re 1x.com, the photos on that website are incredible. And some sites the quality is so-so. I took a look at photographers direct and some of the photos aren't that good. I saw a few that were badly (relatively) composed with too much background distraction, some with poor exposure. How good is good? Does anyone have time to take a quick look at three of my photos? Are these the type of quality somewhere like photographers direct are looking for? Would I be wasting my time and submitting for no reward/rejection? Like someone else has posted, not looking to make serious money, just an ego boost :rotfl:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5676382&l=cf4b6cf3d6&id=597625920
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6815327&l=707e0cfbe9&id=597625920
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6470482&l=99d46802fc&id=597625920

Second question. What are the laws/rules/etiquette regarding the use of people in photos and then selling the image?

darich

electrodent wrote: »

Hello fellow photographers

Couple of questions hoping someone could help with. I took a look at some of the links that Patman99 so helpfully collated, and I'm confused. Some of the sites have photos of quality that are absolutely outstanding - well done to JamesPhotography re 1x.com, the photos on that website are incredible. And some sites the quality is so-so. I took a look at photographers direct and some of the photos aren't that good. I saw a few that were badly (relatively) composed with too much background distraction, some with poor exposure. How good is good? Does anyone have time to take a quick look at three of my photos? Are these the type of quality somewhere like photographers direct are looking for? Would I be wasting my time and submitting for no reward/rejection? Like someone else has posted, not looking to make serious money, just an ego boost :rotfl:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5676382&l=cf4b6cf3d6&id=597625920
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6815327&l=707e0cfbe9&id=597625920
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6470482&l=99d46802fc&id=597625920

Second question. What are the laws/rules/etiquette regarding the use of people in photos and then selling the image?

Asking a bunch of strangers on a forum, isn't a great idea if you're looking for an ego boost - you have no idea of the ability or technical ability of posters so their opinion probably means little.

The rules for selling images of people are that if the person is readily identifiable and makes a significant part of the image eg your image 1, then you need a model release - a form signed by the model giving you permission to sell it. Search model release templates - there are plenty of them.

It's near impossible to send images to agencies and not be rejected for at least some of them. That doesn't necessarily make them bad images, it could mean that the agency doesn't think it'll sell any copies so doesn't want to stock it.....another agency may be happy to accept it.

You're right to not expect a lot of income......but don't expect too much of an ego boost either - you could have a lot of rejection, and even your accepted images may take months to sell, if the sell at all.

It's not easy and with everyone and their granny having a digicam these days, more and more people think it's easy to sell a few shots.
Some get lucky and some are genuinely talented but most are in the middle of the road with average shots.....meaning to stand out, you need to be better than most.

I find the best thing is to take shots of what I like and not botnher what others think. I do know how to work a camera and am proficient with photoshop so can occasionally get a great shot....but I shoot what I like and produce images I'd want to see. Luckily enough, a few others have agreed and I've made a few sales. But I'd suggest not trying to take sellable images - concentrate on making them good.

chrisbur

electrodent wrote: »

Hello fellow photographers

Couple of questions hoping someone could help with. I took a look at some of the links that Patman99 so helpfully collated, and I'm confused. Some of the sites have photos of quality that are absolutely outstanding - well done to JamesPhotography re 1x.com, the photos on that website are incredible. And some sites the quality is so-so. I took a look at photographers direct and some of the photos aren't that good. I saw a few that were badly (relatively) composed with too much background distraction, some with poor exposure. How good is good? Does anyone have time to take a quick look at three of my photos? Are these the type of quality somewhere like photographers direct are looking for? Would I be wasting my time and submitting for no reward/rejection? Like someone else has posted, not looking to make serious money, just an ego boost :rotfl:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5676382&l=cf4b6cf3d6&id=597625920
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6815327&l=707e0cfbe9&id=597625920
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6470482&l=99d46802fc&id=597625920

Second question. What are the laws/rules/etiquette regarding the use of people in photos and then selling the image?

First loved the pic of the baby, brilliant, will it sell? Afraid I have no idea.
What sells? The only way you find out is to try and sell some pictures, but to get an idea of the sort of pictures that have sold take a look at
http://www.alamy.com/forums/Default.aspx?g=topics&f=13
This is a forum on Alamy that is open to anyone, if you look down the headings you will find "HAVE YOU FOUND ANY ALAMY IMAGES? - SEPT 20102" this gives some details of where pics have sold and has the Alamy ref (looks like this AB123C ) if you copy and paste this ref in the search box on the home page you will see the pic that sold. If you look down the forum you will see similar for past months.

Captions can be as important as the picture. Two of your pics are nature type, as they stand their sale potential would be increased if you could put names to the insects and plants. The caterpillar pic for example if you knew the species of caterpillar and the species and variety of the plant this would increase its likely-hood of selling, if this plant was a typical food plant of this caterpillar then its chances would be even higher.

If you can meet the requirements I always recommend Alamy as good place for anyone to start their details are at
http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/sell-images.asp
this also has a very good section on releases with details of requirements for model and property releases at
http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/image-releases.asp

electrodent

Thanks for your comments chrisbur and darich.

The model release is interesting. How does that work for candid photography? I do occasionally do street photography - no decent photos yet. But I guess the same principles apply, do they make a significant part of the image?

chrisbur, thanks for your comments. I guess I didn't really think about the double consideration of the photos - one the quality of the photo, two the saleability. Amazing photos do not necessarily make saleable photos.

Thinking about it I don't really have any "stock" photos that might sell - certainly not at the right quality. Nor do I have a large portfolio of good photos, saleable or not.

I guess I'll keep on snapping away and see if I can get a single photo worthy enough to submit to 1x.com

Thanks again.

Vaila

hiya everbody, ive been a member of flickr for a few years and was wondering if anyone had managed to sell anything through their getty license ?

KentGirl

Hi there, does anyone know how to/what the rules are about selling photos to places such as Hallmark cards or suchlike? I have a photo, that about a dozen people have told me that it is a very sellable photo, and I should contact someone like Hallmark to put on their cards or something, but have no idea where to start or what to do?
Any ideas or experience?

Vaila

ive often thought about hallmark and would too be grateful if anyone had any info about them

chrisbur

Hallmark Cards
Bingley Rd
Bradford
BD9 6SD

01274 252000

P0G

electrodent wrote: »

The model release is interesting. How does that work for candid photography? I do occasionally do street photography - no decent photos yet. But I guess the same principles apply, do they make a significant part of the image?

It happened to me once in London - a film crew randomly interviewed us about something. After the filming, another guy with the clipboard and paperwork came after us to ask us to sign the "model release" or whatever it's called.

BTW I'm new here. Thanks for all the advice. Top stuff.