Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Texas |
A lot of good info here. I think the biggest problem with online sales is you have zillions of people also trying to sell their wares, and most of them shouldn't be calling themselves "professional" photographers.
I have an account on Fine Art America and have only sold one print in 2 years, (or is it 3?) Red bubble but never did anything with it. ON FAA I've seen people showing off hundreds of shots that are out of focus, over or under exposed, edited beyond recognition, noisy as hell, just plain bad composition, and tons that can only be called mediocre snapshots.
The very few actually good photographers have trouble getting their work seen among all of what I can only call pure crap. Most serious buyers probably get tired of searching through it all before they find anything worth having, and many are also looking for something specific, not just a cool photo they like.
As a side note, FAA also has some excellent artists too, some of them can paint like you wouldn't believe. But there again they also have a bunch who shouldn't be trying to sell their stuff, it's just not good enough.
So the biggest problem, other than the necessity of constant promotion, which I suck at, is getting people into your gallery. Unless they are already looking for you, forget it. Too many to browse through, and the majority are hardly worth looking at. There are quite a few good photographers, and judging by comments in the discussion boards, they all see the same problem. It's almost impossible to find your one excellent picture of a landscape, flower, sunset or whatever, for the zillion others that can barely be called mediocre.
One common tactic is to specialize. You'll find tons of landscapes, flowers and sunsets, I put up a few but concentrated on my bird shots. Others focus on a certain location. People searching google for their city might stumble on their FAA link. Find something unusual, maybe 238 million people haven't already posted 86 pictures each.
Whatever you do, be your own worst critic, hold out for quality. Don't overdo the processing. If you see any little flaw, don't even think about selling it. Pay no attention to what your friends and family tell you, I've seen my friends and family tell me they loved pictures I know are crap. Oh that's great!!! And I know it's underexposed, bad focus, basically a boring snapshot. Look for someone who has no mercy and when they like it, then maybe it's worth trying to sell it. but if you ask anyone else, you want an honest opinion, and your family and friends don't want to hurt your feelings so they won't tell you when it really sucks. I tell myself when it really sucks, you won't see it here, much less up for sale online or anywhere else. You have to learn to be that honest and harsh with yourself about your own work.
I've always been that way, I've been playing guitar since age 5, onstage since age 10, and I learned a long time ago very few people will tell me what it actually sounded like. I get offstage and 20 people can't wait to tell me how great the band sounded. I know I had a horrible night, guitar dropped out of tune constantly due to temperature changes, I flubbed leads a half dozen times, missed a chord or two...so I learned to be my own worst critic many years ago. I see my photography the same way. If it's not GOOD, you'll never see it. If it's not excellent, it will never be up for sale. Either have that same outlook yourself, or find someone who does. You only want your best out there with your name on it, whether online or brick and mortar. And remember this. Do everything as if you have to sign it. That's why my name is on every shot I post here on PF, I have to sign it. So you won't see crap...I don't want my name on crap.
Try it if you want, but online is extremely competitive, promotion is required, and you're one name in litterally several million trying to sell. If you want perspective, how many recording artists can you think of in whatever type of music you listen to? I'm willing to bet you'll have a very hard time listing 30. I listen to rock and roll, and as a musician, I might be able to list 30 without racking my brain to come up with names. Maybe... There are literally millions of photographers out there for you to compete with.
Good luck...
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