Selling photographs to the general public.

[W.Y.Photo]

How do you sell an image?


What I mean is, How do you go about selling a previously created image to a wider market than just clients or magazines?

As photographers we are constantly talking about clients, what they want, how to get them, and how to keep them happy; but what about when you have an image, or images, that you want to release for sale to the public? Obviously there are many routes you can take to sell these, galleries, photobooks, and postcards just to name a few. But what about the marketing side? What is it that we as photographers can do to make people want to buy our images and waht is it that most people are looking for a photograph to do for them as a product? What could make a person who has no prior interest in photography want to buy a picture you created?

Is there even a market anymore for photography outside of Commercial and Journalistic markets?

 

[tirediron]

I don't even try. In 30+ years and who knows how many images, I can count on the fingers of one hand (literally) the number of images I have sold to someone other than the client who commissioned them. There are a very few people who can make money selling landscape and fine-art images, but for the most part it's not worth the effort, unless you happen to be one of that very, very, very small minority of photographers with the talent, vision and patience to create images that people just want.

 

[andywag]

How do you sell an image?


What I mean is, How do you go about selling a previously created image to a wider market than just clients or magazines?

You already answered that yourself in your next paragraph. You display them on the web, in local galleries, in some of the many sites around such as Redbubble and the like.

But what about the marketing side? What is it that we as photographers can do to make people want to buy our images and waht is it that most people are looking for a photograph to do for them as a product? What could make a person who has no prior interest in photography want to buy a picture you created?

DISPLAYING YOUR WORK is the best marketing tool there is.
What are people looking for? You might as well ask how long is a piece of string.
People will buy what they personally like or which fits in with their business image, compliments their decor, is of their favourite team or sport, reminds them of a holiday, reminds them of an important event etc etc etc etc.
That can be anything at all from a street scene to a beautiful land/cityscape to a picture of their favourite car or sporting event.

Is there even a market anymore for photography outside of Commercial and Journalistic markets?

Absolutely there is.
To make a living at it would require (as anything) dedicating your time full time to it. But to make a decent "couple of quid" on the side for hardly any work then, yes there is a market.

When a, frankly average, picture of a couple of deckchairs on Brighton beach sells a dozen or more times at an average of £200 or a snapshot of a shop in Eze France sells over 500 times (ranging from 16x20 prints to postcards) then for the minimal amount of work required it would be silly to just not do it.

FYI. the Brighton pic sits on Photo4me website and I have done nothing at all since uploading it there. They cover printing, shipping etc.
The Eze shot is for sale in the shop. They hold stock of postcard size and a few others. They contact me if they need more or any "specials".
How they ended up there is a story in itself.

There are loads of ways you can sell work other than the normal commissions. Some need more input from you than others. But there is definitely a market if you go looking for it.

 

[keyseddie]

There are a very few people who can make money selling landscape and fine-art images, but for the most part it's not worth the effort, unless you happen to be one of that very, very, very small minority of photographers with the talent, vision and patience to create images that people just want.

True.

 

[W.Y.Photo]

Andy, that's some excellent input. Thanks!!

 

[KmH]

Is there even a market anymore for photography outside of Commercial and Journalistic markets?

The market is almost entirely outside the Commercial and Journalist markets.
Retail photography is far and away the largest photography market segment.

Commercial and publications are increasingly roaming social photography sharing web sites because they have learned they can get the use of images for free or extremely low cost.
By the same token many commercial and publication users have substantially lowered the image quality standards so they can use those amateur produced photographs.

Here in the USA photos with people in them sold as art 1 print at a time is considered an editorial use and does not require the permission of the people in the photograph.
However, if you were to print a large number of prints and offer them for mass sale and distribution the use would, at some undefined large number, become a commercial use and you would be well advised to have written permission on file from any and all people in the photographs.

My retail photography contract had a model release clause that had language that allowed me to use any images I made for commercial purposes.
The clause noted that the client received a discounted price for allowing the commercial use of their likeness. If they did not want to grant commercial use permission they would lose the discount, pay full cost, and we deleted the model release clause from the contract.
To that end I placed many photographs with fairly broad selection of stock photography agencies when there still was a broad selection of stock photography agencies.

 

[vvcarpio]

Keep posting your best images (watermarked, of course) to forums like this and make sure you caption them appropriately. For example, if you took a picture of a newsstand in New York City, then caption it with "newsstand in New York City". Publishers google online for book covers, companies google online for their brochures, etc. Sooner or later, if your image is good (even if not that good but a direct match to what they're looking for), you'll get an e-mail or private message in the forum you posted offering $$$ for the rights to use it.

 

[tirediron]

Keep posting your best images (watermarked, of course) to forums like this and make sure you caption them appropriately. For example, if you took a picture of a newsstand in New York City, then caption it with "newsstand in New York City". Publishers google online for book covers, companies google online for their brochures, etc. Sooner or later, if your image is good (even if not that good but a direct match to what they're looking for), you'll get an e-mail or private message in the forum you posted offering $$$ for the rights to use it.

Possibly... 'though I'd be willing to bet that there are fewer than two offers of that nature per billion images posted, making the average persons chances rather less than that of winning a major lottery.

 

[vvcarpio]

Hi, tirediron. I wouldn't say "per billion", because I've seen it happen on not a lot but a few occasions. I think also that posting on forums like this gives the interested party a way to check your character out by reading your past posts and from there gauge if you would be someone they'd be willing to do business with. Besides, you would be posting your best images anyway for comments and critique, right?

I would say, though, that you'd get far more requests for permission to use for free.

 

[slackercruster]

Keep posting your best images (watermarked, of course) to forums like this and make sure you caption them appropriately. For example, if you took a picture of a newsstand in New York City, then caption it with "newsstand in New York City". Publishers google online for book covers, companies google online for their brochures, etc. Sooner or later, if your image is good (even if not that good but a direct match to what they're looking for), you'll get an e-mail or private message in the forum you posted offering $$$ for the rights to use it.

Possibly... 'though I'd be willing to bet that there are fewer than two offers of that nature per billion images posted, making the average persons chances rather less than that of winning a major lottery.

Yep, my advice would be to get a job, so you can earn some $, so you can shoot what you like. But there is the rare photog that makes $ selling prints, but it is not me, not even a penny.

If anyone wants to try...just do it. Sell on Etsy, Ebay or craft shows. Don't let anyone discourage you, just test the waters yourself. I offer people free prints for modeling and they wont accept, big 13 x 19 prints too. All free, non watermarked hi res images on cd. They don't care. Never had one person accept an offer for free photos. I gave all that up, now just do street work and don't need to fool around getting people to cooperate.