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12-05-2007, 09:57 PM   #1
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Anyone make money from their pictures?

I'm thinking about trying to sell some of my pictures, and hopefully some of you guys already do and make some money so you have some tips for me!

I'm looking at ShutterStock and iStockPhoto

Any advice on things I can do? This will probably be a longer path rather than an overnight one, but hopefully something where I can feel the gratitude of knowing people want my pictures.

Juuuuust so you know, this isn't meant to make a lot of money. Just enough to make me feel good about my pictures.

12-05-2007, 11:03 PM   #2
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I have some pictures on RedBubble, but haven't sold any through there.
I have a lot more luck selling them to people I meet in person.
12-05-2007, 11:06 PM   #3
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My stuff is a little dark for stock agencies. I have sold pieces on my own and sold one through an art gallery once. I make more money shooting for people than selling them my personal stuff. I shoot portraits of friends, I have done food shots for a couple restaurants, I shoot models for a radio station, and when I am really desperate for some new piece of gear I will shoot a couple weddings. I even shot a room full of politicians and CEOs a couple months ago.
12-06-2007, 02:17 AM   #4
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I have not tried the stock agencies yet. But from time to time, I am getting requests from magazines or travel agencies to buy some of my photos seen on my pbase page, but most want them for free.

12-06-2007, 02:18 AM   #5
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I've been selling individual prints to people I meet every now and then, enough extra to build a new computer, my current box is showing its age...

but I haven't tried any of the online stock agencies. so I can't comment on how they work. I've heard people rant about how little they pay, sometimes .25 per photo? (again I'm not really sure) but honestly, everything I read about stock says if you should expect to average about $1 per year per picture, so .25 per use of a photo doesn't really sound that bad, actually...

*shrug*
12-06-2007, 05:29 AM   #6
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Of course, if you've got any photos on flickr, chances are you're already working in the stock photo industry.

Just not getting paid for it.
12-06-2007, 05:58 AM   #7
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Advise..... Don't quit your day job I mean that in a nice way. I have read over the years nothing about anyone really making good money with the exception of a select few. I am sure I am wrong but the story usually goes you really need to have hundreds of stock shots up to really see the returns. The quality has to be good and typically it is not of cool things you would think would sell. Nice pictures of the lake the river. More like pictures of a fork, a person on the phone or just something plain. So my suggestion is google make money in stock photo stories. You will find some info that could be helpful. Either way good luck. I have sold prints but pretty much the same way the rest have. friends. family word of mouth.

12-06-2007, 07:12 AM   #8
racinsince55
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QuoteOriginally posted by lithos Quote
Of course, if you've got any photos on flickr, chances are you're already working in the stock photo industry.

Just not getting paid for it.

That's an interesting comment.

I wonder how many of us copyright our work or place watermarks on them before placing them on sites such as flickr?

And (maybe we have an atty member who can answer this), what protections do you actually have if you copyright and watermark you work prior to posting?
12-06-2007, 07:52 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by racinsince55 Quote
That's an interesting comment.

I wonder how many of us copyright our work or place watermarks on them before placing them on sites such as flickr?
I have Lightroom setup to automatically add something like : "©Copyright 2007 - Patrick Kox" to the metadata but I highly doubt that :

1. People are really interested in my curent photos (quality wise)
2. That it would stop someone from using it without credit since you can easely edit the Metadata and remove the copyright notice.

As for a watermark I've read some comments on a forum (don't think it was this one) where people claimed they were ugly and I kinda agree, sometimes a nice picture is ruined by an ugly semi-transparent grey COPYRIGHTED watermark thats painted over it.

Offcourse a smaller copyright notice in the lower left/right corner could be an option (still ugly in some cases IMHO) but that's easely croped-out since the important part of the picture is mostly not in the lower left/right corner of the picture.

QuoteOriginally posted by racinsince55 Quote
And (maybe we have an atty member who can answer this), what protections do you actually have if you copyright and watermark you work prior to posting?
I would also be interested into this but I guess the laws might be diffrent here in Belgium then in the US ?
12-06-2007, 09:20 AM   #10
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I sell the occasional print (usually framed) to someone that has seen my work. My wife is an interior designer and sometimes shows a book of my pictures to clients that express an interest in purchasing photography. She also sends them to one of the better known galleries in NYC if they are looking to collect;she doesn't push my work.
I do my own printing and show only (don't post or e-mail) prints to someone that is interested. One way to get your work out there (and maybe sold) is to get some prints hung in a public venue such as a restaurant, coffee shop or furniture store. That way people can see what it looks like framed and hanging, and may trigger an impulse buy.
Good luck!
12-06-2007, 10:06 AM   #11
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I manage to sell a few reasonably often via my website.

The website has also proven invaluable regarding "personal contacts" - I have sold a few "image files" to companies for use as promotional material who came across the website, obviously whilst browsing for appropriate material.

When it comes to websites "page rank" is everything - if you're not on the 1st 2/3 pages of Google then you're pretty much invisible

As already mentioned though, the chances of you giving up your day job are slim !!

simon
12-06-2007, 11:34 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by PeterAM Quote
I do my own printing
do you use a special printer for that ?

or just quality paper (and ink ?)

The question I ask is that I printed some stuff on some photo paper before (don't know the quality but it wasn't any HP HQ paper orso) and the color faded pretty quickly (IMHO) and there was not much direct sunlight on them.
12-06-2007, 03:18 PM   #13
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Cloudy Wizard:

I use an Epson 2200 printer, with Epson ink and various papers (most, but not all, formulated for this type of ink jet printing). Epson inks supposedly will not fade for a very long time (check their web site). I believe that other pigment printers have similar characteristics;dye prints do not.
12-07-2007, 06:04 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by PeterAM Quote
Cloudy Wizard:

I use an Epson 2200 printer, with Epson ink and various papers (most, but not all, formulated for this type of ink jet printing). Epson inks supposedly will not fade for a very long time (check their web site). I believe that other pigment printers have similar characteristics;dye prints do not.
Ah, we had an Epson (Stylus) in the old days (beginning of the inkjet printers) but due to some problems with the heads we moved ove to HP.

currently I'm using a Deskjet 845C (old printer but still working good) but I hardly print any photos.

I saw yesterday that Matt Kloskowsky (who's doing a Lightroom Basic Training) also uses an Epson printer and ICC profiles that match the EXACT paper he is using (don't see that available for my HP printer).

so I guess that if I want to start printing photos in the future I might better go back to the Espon printers for this.

tnx.
12-07-2007, 08:51 AM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by tcom Quote
I have not tried the stock agencies yet. But from time to time, I am getting requests from magazines or travel agencies to buy some of my photos seen on my pbase page, but most want them for free.
That is a common problem. I have been published several times, but never paid for it. What I do is require some kind of trade, such as a free ad in the magazine. I photograph the "Ticket Chicks" for a local radio station, for which I get free radio spots. Sadly, my target client is not a listener of that station. Oh well.
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