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How hard is it to get into selling the photos?
amiesquivel
Registered Users Posts: 1 Beginner grinner
I am new at this...I have never sold my photos...people say I should...I took some pictures in Central America and I was just wondering if it was worth all the trouble to try and sell them. I don't have a digital camera. I am still oldschool...I have a 35 mm Canon Rebel. Using a negative scanner, would it be worth it to get into selling my photos or is it a pretty tough thing to tackle? any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks
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- Ansel Adams.
Seriously, who is your market? Why should they buy your photos? Sure, there's the random person who will run across your site and buy something, but that's rare. You need to figure out who you're selling to and why they should buy photos from you. And how are you going to get them to notice you?
For events, it's essential to only make photos available for a limited time. People are natural procrastinators and won't buy (in my experience) unless you force them to by a certain date (we've all seen the 'one-day only sales' at our local stores-- that's why). Give out business cards, but make it clear they only have a limited time to purchase. If someone insists on buying after that date, charge them more than normal (a 'restocking fee' or whatever).
And this may seem obvious, but don't give photos away. This is harder than it sounds-- maybe someone poses for you or whatever. Once you have a solid portfolio, charge them for photos. People will always ask for digital copies-- if you do that-- just give them web-res images! That way, if they need a print, they have to go through you.
Just a couple of thoughts-- I'm sure someone could write a book on this kind of topic (actually, there are many books on this topic)!
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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I'm not a pro and have never sold an image but I wonder if this is always the best option? How much mark up is there on prints? Your other comment about the customer buying straight away sort of backs up my thoughts... If they have to buy straight away maybe they will pay more for the digital files?
A friend of mine just had a wedding and they can buy the digital files for $900, which they took. I wonder if they had to buy prints if the photographer would have made $900 after markup?
As I said I am not a pro so I could be wrong, and happen to be corrected. I know our wedding photographer (shot film) still has the negatives and always will do... we got married 7 years ago, bought a few photos but I can't say after 7 years we will ever buy another one?
Just my thoughts...
W00DY
First to the OP: what type of photographs are you looking to sell? Event photos are a complete different animal than stock photography or (based upon your comments about central america) wildlife / landscape photography.
The answer will help drive who your target audience should/could be. From there, the number one key to success will be marketing to your target audience. If they don't know about your product it's unlikely they'll stumble upon it randomly in enough quantity to make it worth your while. And, of course, depending on the genre you'll have a completely different business model. Event stuff you need people to actually hire you as an example where as for other types you aren't working on contract but trying to sell a finished photo.
So - what type of photos are you looking to sell?
As to the selling of digital images, there are 2 parts to this. Part 1: photographers need to make money. Some wedding photogs are now changing their model to make money selling digital files instead of / in addition to prints. It all comes down to factoring how much time you'll spend on an engagement and how much money you want to make for that time.
The other part is the one I struggle with and that is: when you sell digital images you are at the mercy of what the buyer decides to do with them. Let's say he/she fancies themselves a real photoshop pro and they hack up the images before printing. Or let's say they print them on office paper on their desk jet printer. In either case the finished produce looks like crap. When they show their 'album' to friends & family those people don't know the buyer hacked up your good work. They just know it looks bad and they would never hire you. That, in a nutshell, is why I don't sell my image files. I want to be sure my photos are processed/printed in a professional manner so the end product is one of quality and truly reflects my skill. But I'm not making a living selling photos - I just do it on the side (sports photography is my genre) - so take what I say with a grain of salt. Working pros who rely on the paycheck for their livelihood may say that in certain situations it's an expectation (i.e. if majority of wedding photogs in the area are selling digital images it would be tough to not also do that).
Well, I think you answered your own question. I've sold plenty of prints and digital files, so I must be doing something right.
In terms of digital files, I work with a lot of models. It's sort of a case by case situation-- if I get a chance to work with a model who I know I'll use in my portfolio or who I know has potential, I'll often give them a selection of digital files from the shoot for their own use. My "payment" is a signed release and having them model for the shoot. Sometimes my shoots are more than eight hours in length, so this is not such a bad deal for me.
Each situation is different. Sometimes it's worth it to give files away if you plan properly-- in my case, models always have friends and many of their friends are models. See where this is going? You pull a free shoot for one model, she shows the photos to her friends, her friends ask who shot them, and pretty soon all of her friends want cool photos too. Word of mouth is by far and away my most effective advertising.
But again-- it all depends on what you want to sell and who you want to sell it to.
In terms of only selling prints, keep in mind scanners (if you're lucky) are very common. If you're unlucky, don't forget everyone and their mother now has a camera phone. Never count on your prints remaining prints for long!
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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I don't question you know know more about this than I and I was not implying giving the prints away, rather selling all the files over some prints.
Do you usually make more than $900 from a shoot from prints? What if the client was prepared to pay that for al the files, would you take it?
That is all I was saying
W00DY
Good point!!!
Nope, print sales are not where I make most of my photography money these days. I much prefer commissioned work where there's a flat fee settled up front.
I routinely provide all my files from a shoot to clients-- but some of these are catalog type shoots where we've decided that up front. I don't give up the copyright-- just the files (usually in a variety of sizes for websites) and I already know how they'll be used. These shoots are scripted-- front shot, side shot, back shot, detail shot, and full body shot-- so there's really nothing in there for my portfolio.
If it's not clear how the client plans to use the images, I draft up a usage agreement so that they know there is a fee for each use (or a limited time use, say one year for a website). I'm flexible since it seems everyone wants something different.
Would I be willing to sell all the files from a shoot? Absolutely. If someone hires me as a photographer, I make sure to provide them with what they want (and charge accordingly, of course). I know there are different schools of thought on this, but I'd rather charge a flat fee than nickel and dime folks for prints-- a lot of my clients lately don't even want prints-- they want web images.
And again, I'm willing to do trade deals too-- not with everyone-- but if I can get a really great model for an eight hour shoot and she's willing to trade for digital files and let me have full control over styling and makeup and hair and location, no problem. If the model needs something specific for his/her book, then it's not a trade. Also, as a general rule of thumb, if someone contacts me about shooting photos, I charge them. If I'm the one contacting the model, I'll most likely do it as TFP.
That's a very long way of saying each shoot is different for me and I've just learned to be flexible.
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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