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when i spent the first part of my working career as a muscian i learned early on that if i was just not in the business for my own use then i better quickly learn to play and be creative with what others want to hear.
photography is the same thing. if im posting or displaying photos for others to enjoy then i have to give them something to hold their attention.
going out and shooting the same flat boring photos as everyone else just gets you lost in the crowd. if you think by taking the photos out of camera as is at this stage of your skills and posting them and because they are clear and focused that folks will be attracted to them then your fooling yourself.
you need to first develop your own style, your own look , and blend that into things that folks would enjoy seeing
the subject can be anything.its all about the lines,the shapes,the colors etc and how you portray them... i like to sit the camera on the ground sometimes and blindly take shots. you get some real interesting perspectives sometimes.. alot of deleters but the few keepers are worth it...
i tend to go for lots of fine detail ,bright vivid colors and in your face perspectives with lots of presence ,but thats my style .it may not be anyone elses and thats what makes us all unique
Last edited by mathjak107; 10-22-2010 at 04:25 AM..
Well, even though I haven't become a member of another photo-selling website, I have learned that Nude photos definitely sell (of which I refuse to do) and either have an expense camera/equipment plus excellent editing software (and really know how to use it) to really enhance a photo to sell. Of course, lots of "photography knowledge" helps as well. As far as shutterpoint selling website goes, many, many people use it due to the fact they don't have to send photos to shutterpoint for approval to have their photos put on their website. There are photo-selling websites out there that a photographer must send in samples to be approved to go on the website. If I did that, doubt any of my photos would be approved........or maybe I'd get lucky!
As far as the photos I have put on this Thread, I've had numerous people , that have seen them hanging in our apartment, tell me they are great. Of course these people don't buy photos, but it was nice to hear the compliments. Anyway, I think my "trying to sell photos" days are over. I thought my photos were good enough to sell, that was until I seen photos that were put on this Thread and photos that are on some photo-selling websites. Can't compete with the pro's!
Could just be that the website you were going through was just absolutely saturated.
And, maybe it's the preview size limitations.
I'm just testing the waters myself, for about 10 to 12 redwood prints. From my website, virtually no activity has occurred for orders. But I'm aware that the preview size is very small compared to an 11 x 14 print. And personally, I'd like to see something tangible myself, as a buyer, especially with redwood prints.
But last month, I took 20 x 30 poster board prints of 3 of my images down south to redwood country and southern Oregon, mainly to show a motel owner who might be interested for a future addition. Two customers walked into the lobby, saw the un-framed images and asked to buy them on the spot. An hour and a half earlier, a server in a restaurant near the redwoods, ordered one of those same samples, after someone in the restaurant noticed my name on my truck and started the photo discussion.
Last week, a restaurant owner along the redwood coast bought one for resale.
And these are not a few of many. These are a few of the very few places I've brought my prints right in front of people. So what I learned is that if I can get them displayed in decent sizes where people can actually see them, the photos will sell.
So then I take this back to the online sales thing, Some types of prints may sell from online stores, and some may not.
Well, even though I haven't become a member of another photo-selling website, I have learned that Nude photos definitely sell (of which I refuse to do) and either have an expense camera/equipment plus excellent editing software (and really know how to use it) to really enhance a photo to sell. Of course, lots of "photography knowledge" helps as well. As far as shutterpoint selling website goes, many, many people use it due to the fact they don't have to send photos to shutterpoint for approval to have their photos put on their website. There are photo-selling websites out there that a photographer must send in samples to be approved to go on the website. If I did that, doubt any of my photos would be approved........or maybe I'd get lucky!
As far as the photos I have put on this Thread, I've had numerous people , that have seen them hanging in our apartment, tell me they are great. Of course these people don't buy photos, but it was nice to hear the compliments. Anyway, I think my "trying to sell photos" days are over. I thought my photos were good enough to sell, that was until I seen photos that were put on this Thread and photos that are on some photo-selling websites. Can't compete with the pro's!
Were you trying to sell your photos as artwork - for example, with the intention of people framing them and putting them on a wall? If so, that is not stock photography. Fine art, including photography, is an extremely difficult field to be successful in. Most artists in this field, even successful ones, have other sources of income (whether other fields of photography or something completely unrelated). And they don't just rely on web sales. They have to constantly promote and market their work by doing things like arts festivals. My personal fav is the State College Arts Fest - you can see some of the amazing participating photographers here: Artists at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts near Penn State - most of them have very unique styles or concepts which is very important in fine art photography. You can't just throw some photos up on a website and expect to sell more than a handful of photos.
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