Should I move to a pro account?

dbe4876

I'm considering moving (http://dbe.smugmug.com/) to a pro SmugMug account. I'm interested in seeing if I can begin selling landscape images for profit (frankly, just to get some additional income to travel and take more images). My SmugMug Road to Yellowstone 2007 gallery represents my first attempt at pro level images. I basically turned a vacation to Yellowstone into my own photo workshop ;-) The images in this gallery cover the entire trip, and they are copies of the original jpg's that have been moderately worked in PSE. My more serious attempts with post-processing are in my photo.net "Road to Yellowstone 2007" gallery.

First, I'd be interested in your opinions/assessments on my Yellowstone images. Are they of or near pro sellable quality (in terms of photographic technique)?

Secondly, I'm curious about how SmugMug pro galleries do in terms of generating income. Has it been a worthwhile vehicle for you? I browsed through Andy's prices for some of his Moon River gallery - would those be good price guidelines for selling landscape and nature images?

My plan (should I decide to take the plunge) is to create a couple of galleries that are just for selling images (such as Andy has, Landscapes for sale, and Stock Images for sale), and put all of my other "snap shot" galleries into private mode so that only my pro quality galleries would be visible by site navigation.

Anyway, any feedback ya'll are inclined to give is welcome! :-)

quark

Smugmug is the best Pro website hosting around, but just having a site will not cause money to flow. In my experience selling landscape work is tough - the web is saturated with excellent photos that someone can find for free. Just look at how many "creative commons" photos are around and you will understand how tight the market really is.

Selling portraits is more profitable but it doesn't sound like that would be your focus. I find the biggest benefits of the pro account are actually the customization that helps me market my work.
If you choose to go with the upgrade make sure you want the features rather than focusing on the profit as you are starting out.

3rdPlanetPhotography

I'll second that. Smugmug is a fine place for you to sell photos, however, I've never met anyone who has been sucessful at selling landscapes. Now with that said I'm sure there have been. Some may have made good money at it but look around first and see what is selling. I've been a photographer for a long time and my opinion is that "People" sell.

There are millions of photos of tractors, barns and bridges but not many people buy them. People buy photos of themselves or other family members the most. That's why I enjoy wedding and portrait photography more than anything. I quit taking landscapes a couple years ago. I only shoot people. I still enjoy the landscapes and every now and then just want a different flavor but I shoot people so much that I rarely pick up the camera just to shoot.

Either way... good luck on your adventure and yes, smugmug will work for you in that sense if you have a customer base.