Selling photos online... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

marleyboy

Interesting thread. My artistic photographs although published online are drastically reduced. Going back about 10 Years I reduced them mainly for the length it would take to upload them.

I had one particular photograph, that I had taken on top of Mount Snowdon, it was a full 360 panoramic photograph depicting the mountainous area surrounding. A few Years passed with this photograph online at a reduced level, when i had an e-mail from an American who was interested in purchasing the full image.

I explained the photograph was very large and he asked me how much I would sell him the full image for, his intention was to print it himself. I was stumped, having never sold artwork before I had no idea what kind of price it was worth (to be honest I was impressed someone wanted to buy it), I asked him to name his price and his figure went into 4 figures ($9000), at which point I assumed he was pulling my leg and ignored his emails.

But he didn't give up and upped the price by another $800, I smelled some sort of scam and blanked him completely.

Looking back I still regret not snapping his hand off, as I had nothing to lose. I just did not believe it was worth so much, but it turns out such artwork sells for silly money.

chrisbur

This thread has been running for nearly five years. It began as a result of a sugestion that anyone could make some money by selling their pictures, I wonder if anyone has.

Can anyone come forward and confirm that as a result of the original article or what has appeared on this thread (ie excluding anyone who was selling pictures before this started on here) that they have actually made any money from selling their pictures.

marleyboy

I used to sell my photographs. But to be fair I was working for a holiday magazine as a photographer promoting Hotels\Beaches. This not only paid me good money for doing something I thoroughly enjoyed, it paid for my holidays abroad.

chrisbur

marleyboy wrote: »

I used to sell my photographs. But to be fair I was working for a holiday magazine as a photographer promoting Hotels\Beaches. This not only paid me good money for doing something I thoroughly enjoyed, it paid for my holidays abroad.

Yes there are many photographers who sell pictures, I sold my first picture about thirty years ago; but I was really wondering if there was anyone who had read this article on the website or seen the thread and thought "I take lots of pictures that my friends and family tell me are great so I will try and sell my pictures to make some extra income" or something like that.

Around the same time there were bits in several newspapers and television programs along the same lines of making money from your photographs so was there anyone who started because of that and has made any money?

Indeed it might be interesting to know if there is anyone who has tried this and failed to make any money, so I also invite anyone to post who has tried to sell pictures and either none have been accepted on sites that sell them, or they were accepted but none have sold, or they have sold some but as yet not earned enough to get paid due to a minimum figure being needed for a pay-out.

My belief is that it is not as easy as it sounds, and even those who sell a picture or two may not get anything out of it and may well find that any payment they do get is not worth the effort, but I could be wrong.

LittleCharlie

chrisbur wrote: »

Yes there are many photographers who sell pictures, I sold my first picture about thirty years ago; but I was really wondering if there was anyone who had read this article on the website or seen the thread and thought "I take lots of pictures that my friends and family tell me are great so I will try and sell my pictures to make some extra income" or something like that.

Around the same time there were bits in several newspapers and television programs along the same lines of making money from your photographs so was there anyone who started because of that and has made any money?

Indeed it might be interesting to know if there is anyone who has tried this and failed to make any money, so I also invite anyone to post who has tried to sell pictures and either none have been accepted on sites that sell them, or they were accepted but none have sold, or they have sold some but as yet not earned enough to get paid due to a minimum figure being needed for a pay-out.

My belief is that it is not as easy as it sounds, and even those who sell a picture or two may not get anything out of it and may well find that any payment they do get is not worth the effort, but I could be wrong.

I started looking for work within photography because my friends and family told me I was half decent (I wasn't as good as they thought). I started four years ago. I worked really hard, selling the odd photo here and there and paying for my upgrades and insurance for my kit.

Basically I spent three years shooting a diverse portfolio, then last year I managed to get a job shooting products and fashion for a large photography company in London. The money was awful but the opportunities for learning and networking were golden.

Now I work freelance for myself, selling pictures and selling my services. The photography industry is positively booming with all the new opportunities being created for imagery. That's if you know how to use the opportunities.

It IS possible. It IS hard. It IS worth it.

But you're not going to get far doing it in your spare time to be honest.

OneYorkshireLass

ScottishSnapper wrote: »

.
Images are being stolen daily by the big newspapers as they endure the pain of their extended death so look after your efforts.

One of my images was stolen by a holiday cottage website and I only found it purely by chance. I was livid as they didn't seem to understand why this was wrong.

chrisbur

OneYorkshireLass wrote: »

One of my images was stolen by a holiday cottage website and I only found it purely by chance. I was livid as they didn't seem to understand why this was wrong.

Did you invoice them for the usage?

steve_frazer

chrisbur wrote: »

Indeed it might be interesting to know if there is anyone who has tried this and failed to make any money, so I also invite anyone to post who has tried to sell pictures and either none have been accepted on sites that sell them, or they were accepted but none have sold, or they have sold some but as yet not earned enough to get paid due to a minimum figure being needed for a pay-out.

My belief is that it is not as easy as it sounds, and even those who sell a picture or two may not get anything out of it and may well find that any payment they do get is not worth the effort, but I could be wrong.

I used a couple of US websites. Came across the problems you mention, rejected pics and when I did sell some nowhere near their minimum to send me money. Then they asked for my Social Security number for US tax.......

Am trying again with UK sites now that I've a wider portfolio. Not expecting to pay off the mortgage but paying for the lenses would be nice!

OneYorkshireLass

chrisbur wrote: »

Did you invoice them for the usage?

No, I didn't. At that time I wouldn't have had a clue how much to charge etc
I suppose if I had've done they would have understood how serious I was when I asked them to remove my picture.

darich

OneYorkshireLass wrote: »

No, I didn't. At that time I wouldn't have had a clue how much to charge etc
I suppose if I had've done they would have understood how serious I was when I asked them to remove my picture.

One of my images was taken and used on a website in Yorkshire.
I had the image for sale on another site so emailed the yorkshire one to say I was looking for 3 times licence fee or I'd take him to court. (3x licence fee was/is the standard charge for unauthorised use).
Long story short....after several emails and starting the small claims procedure I eventually ended up with £110 from him.

Not bad for an image I snapped on as I passed!!