Selling your photos online

[David Mitchell]

Hi all,

I have seen a few sites around that allow a photographer to see their work to suppliers (im guessing like istock photos)

Here is an example:

Sell Your Photos Online - Photo Gallery Service - PhotoBox

I am just wonder if anyone is using this sort of service or indeed how it works, I won't ever be a pro photographer but it would be cool to make a bit of money selling the rights to some photos I take in the future, just wondering what everyone thinks about it

 

[Lesley Jones]

I'll be honest with you David. If you want some form of gallery online then go ahead. Sites like this may be great if you want to let friends and family buy your photographs. I have a web site - it came with the ability to sell, but as soon as I finish the rebuild, the sales are coming out. There are many reasons - the least is that you don't sell. I find people like to look at a few photographs and then they click away. I won't mention names, but I was lucky enough to exhibit with a very well known photographer a few years ago and even though she has a great site and someone to look after that side of things, she sold just one print online in over a year. If that is the same Photobox that I think it is, they make a lot of money from printing. It must make sense for them to offer this service so they not only sell to the photographer, but to their mother, aunt, cousin in Australia and so on.

I belonged to a fairly large photo and poster site a few years back with literally tens of thousands of images to choose from. I think the site sold about one image a week. Another one (if it's still going) that is well run and offers a realistic price for images (that won't put professional photographers out of business) is Photographer's Direct. The guy who runs it marks every image submitted and then as "jobs" turn up, you submit if they fit the description and are marked high enough. You can even put a handful of photographs back for a second time if you don't agree with the original mark.

Do consider that a lot of these sites like istock are making real people redundant. Why pay a professional a few hundred pounds because they have to rent a studio, pay for the lights, keep upgrading their camera gear and software, not to mention feed and house a family when an amateur is happy to give up the rights to one of their images for almost nothing? Of course, this is only my personal opinion to be taken with a pinch of salt

 

[David Mitchell]

Thats exactly the sort of comment I was looking for, im just getting into photography but I feel that its going to be a hobby that I am going to be involved with for a long time and just wanted to see what was out there with regards to any payback. Im not looking to be a professional photographer, the costs are too high for that and the enjoyment I get out of it is reward enough, however I was just looking at options would be cool to have a photo that I took used for something commercial.

 

[Lesley Jones]

Something else that just occurred to me is that the images that did sell on yet another site were only taken with a view to commercial sales. Those were "headless" people in suits shaking hands over a keyboard and that sort of thing and those with space left somewhere for text to be fitted in. I would suggest that if you are passionate about photography (and every sign is that you are), then do what pleases you