Thinking of selling online, are these good enough? Motocross

j-bo

Hi..
1st post and glad Im here! Loads of info on here, can't wait to start really learning!

I am wanting to sell some photo's online and am thinking of upgrading to the pro level on smugmug. I only want to do this as a hobby and want to sell a few to help pay for the smugmug account and some pocket money.

I am new to the digislr realm and bought the digireb xt w/kit lens. I am hoping to get the Canon 70-200mm 4l lens soon to make my photos better (depth of field/sharpness). I'll be shooting in bright sunlight 95% of the time.

So.. I'd like some C & C's on the below photo's and your thoughts on whether these are good enough to start selling. Thanks a bunch!

Jeffro

They look pretty good to me...but I like to see uncropped shots. I have been shooting at a local track for the last 2 1/2 years, and things have been going pretty good since then. Even better since I got my pro Smug account. Way easier.

My suggestiong to you is, talk to the track owner/promoter. See if they are willing to work with you. I get in for free. I give a link to them from my site, and visa versa. I also write stories for Cycle USA magazine, and Cycle News (both the online and print versions) which gives the local track (www.motobyron.com) some exposure, and me some additional pay.

Here us an example of an on-line Cycle News story. http://www.cyclenews.com/events/showstory.asp?headlineid=1416

I got my first full cover on Cycle USA last year....very cool. I have also hooked up with riders, kind of as a sponsor. ( www.ctr-racing.com) They get some reduced cost photos, like on the ct-racing trailer. Or some shots on their web pages, and I get links and payments. Works out nice.

I have sold over 400 photos since the beginning of the race season this year. I'm not looking to get rich, or quit my day job, but I would if I did get rich... I enjoy the races, used to go anyway, shoot photos, so figured what the heck.

You won't know if you don't try. No risk, No reward.

xtnomad

love the shots
jeffro and a lot of other people in this forum offer some great advice. The only dumb question is the one not asked. I also shot MX, for about 4 months now. The sales are slow but more people are asking for more shots in my gallery of other classes that are racing. Look at what people are lookig at and persue their intrest. I am going to a 1/2 mile roundy roundy concrete track tomorrow and trying some thing differant and new. I have only been shotting digital for 6 months and have been trying to get into a private road racing coarse loacaly and have been emailing the tract for months to get in. I received a invite to shot next week end ( to see what I can do ), some one looked at my gallery and I guest thought try would give me a try. As they say nothing ventured nothing gained. And welcome to the forum.

JoeL

I think you would do great selling online. The images look awesome to me.

j-bo

Thanks for the suggestions!! I went ahead and upgraded to the Pro account. Now I'll sit back and wait for feedback from my target audience. I belong to a local message board for motocross, but most people just look at the photo's and don't comment on them.

I hope my pricing is about right too. That was a lot of work!

Thanks again!! Few more weeks til I get the 70-200mm 4L!

USAIR

I am not into this type of shooting but my 02.
First good photos
I would just keep in mind that word of mouth seems to be the best way to sell.

Good luck
Fred

mercphoto

I agree with JoeL, those are good shots. I've learned a bit about selling MX photos and I still have a lot to learn. Lesson one is to get the air shots, like you have. Those are good to get and they will sell. A second variety to add is the air shot with ground at the bottom. It gives a reference as to how high up you have jumped. I've begun to love taking this shot with a 24-70 wide-angle. Another popular angle is near or just after the apex of the turn. You want a head-on shot with their inside foot out, leaning over. Try to find the point where the dirt starts flying as well. Tilt the camera to exaggerate their lean.

Another strange thing I've learned is they prefer the sharpness of a fast shutter to the mild motion blur of a somewhat slow shutter. I shoot mostly at 1/640 as a reasonable compromise between a touch of wheel blur while still being fast enough to get crisp detail. I shoot some panning profile shots at 1/150 on occasion. They are a blast to shoot and look at but don't seem popular.

The last thing I've learned is the artistic shots we might like to take as photographers are not necessarily the shots they want to buy. Over tight crops or exceptionally blurred backgrounds look cool to me but not necessarily to them. I've learned that this is an environmental sport, and if the photo doesn't show the environment they are riding in the photo does not have as much appeal. A tight crop at f/2.8 looks the same no matter which track they were at so where is the appeal?

galaxycowpoke

They look good to me, j-bo.

Calculate all your costs, even depreciation of digital equipment. And don't give your work away!

I concur with most of Mercphoto's observations about racers vs. artist preferences. Marketing is about knowing what the customer wants, so that's wise advice.

I haven't done a track event in a while because I refuse to do any more shoot-and-hope-to-sell jobs that don't cover my expenses and pay me for my time. They'll have to pay me an initial shoot fee if I do that again.

j-bo

Alrighty... sold some photo's!! One thing I didn't think about.. taxes. Uggh. I don't really think I'm going to sell over $500.00 in a years time and didn't think of starting a business with this, just wanted to make small pocket change. Bummer I have to report it.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions. I shot 420 in 2hrs. last Saturday. I am learning how to utilize exposure compensation to better the shots. Next I need to try using the flash for fill and see how that does. Nighttime shots are TOUGH, since there are stadium style lights, plus the riders are in the air and... heck.. I dunno how to do that yet!

This one was popular too, but I din't think the quality was too good on it:



Here's an artsy type photo that seems to be popular to look at: