Are my photos good enough to sell?

I would buy a handful of them. If I ever bought photos which I don't.
I think to try and sell them on the street/fairs/etc, you have some material, but I doubt it would be worth the hassle.
Prints on the street are pennies of profit, unless you have some really good stuff and you are doing special events. Like street fairs here in Edinburgh during christmas, etc.

Seems a really difficult way to make a living out of photography. From what I've seen, people go for impact, and on your better photographs you are on the right track.
 
I am sorry I wouldn't buy any. They really have to be very special and executed perfectly. People have only so much space on their walls and can't hang every photo even if you leave the money aside.
Subject matter is also important and London is one of the most photographed places on the planet. You should find something more special.

There are some general comments I would like to make re you flickr stream. Firstly HDR could be fun to experiment with, but only has a place in the interior photography in the photo market. So avoid it!

Secondly, good and interesting lighting is of paramount importance. Thirdly, composition has to be perfect. Particularly with wideangle lenses there has to be foreground, middleground and background interest. Then you should pay attention to details like horizon line, rubbish, converging verticals and so on.

The detailed comments are below.

bomberman said:
3928495579_5ce83b38f2.jpg


Polarizer would work better than HDR, the horizon is slanted and there is no foreground interest.

3937147266_049ddb6534.jpg


The light is really awful, and I would like to see the whole building and no people

3938279723_080804a8bf.jpg


You might have trouble with property release here

3781517579_e2b2c1d460.jpg


HDR, crazy contrast, and terrible flare with no real interest.

3842729754_377c646798.jpg


awful colours, HDR, bad light but composition is the best of these

And yes Flickr is an ego boost and thanks to everyone here as today has been my best day so far with over 600 views!
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You could try taking a few simple sharp photos and uploading to Alamy. You may very get lucky and be accepted. They don't care about composition or interest, only crude quality. But whether somebody would be it is a different question.
 
bomberman said:
What has this got to do with the OP??
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Some very good photographers have given you excelent advice and critique and you had not seemed to take it on board and then someone asked a question, " why ask for help then answer like this" to which I was replying. I appologies if you do not like my post I will keep out and wish you luck with your venture, all I would say is take on board what AliB and others have said it will help you.
 
Thanks edumaud. I do think that at the moment my shots lack subtlety though. If i could afford a decent tripod i would get out and do more gritty landscape shots but the first sign of wind and the thing shakes all over the place!
 
bomberman said:
Thanks edumaud. I do think that at the moment my shots lack subtlety though. If i could afford a decent tripod i would get out and do more gritty landscape shots but the first sign of wind and the thing shakes all over the place!
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Gritty shots and HDRs are exactly what *most* people would avoid hanging on their walls. Good luck.

Maybe look for a part time job to help you with your finance in the short term?
 
i know my place
 
Forgive me for saying this, but why would people pay for your shots when they can download them for your flickr, for free?

Maybe you might want to resize them?

I like some of your HDR stuff btw :thumbs:
 
andy fozzy, Thanks!

I (thought i had) changed the settings lastnight? are you telling me they're still downloadable?? the wedding pics i've left on a creative commons so that my friends can download the and use them as they want but the london and the landscape sets should be protected
 
mrcrow thanks for your comments by the way - you're right about a lot of people taking good shots of the same type. Time for a re-think
 
bomberman said:
mrcrow thanks for your comments by the way - you're right about a lot of people taking good shots of the same type. Time for a re-think
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no offence of course but being an amateur wannabee...thats what i would do...just preach other peoples brains
if you can get a different view and interpretation...it may work
there is nothing new under the sun...except people
 
Just checked all the London shots and they are all not downloadable!

I love all the London ones. Well done mate :thumbs:
 
bomberman said:
mrcrow thanks for your comments by the way - you're right about a lot of people taking good shots of the same type. Time for a re-think
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I think we'd all like to make a little money from our hobbies, but the thing is finding the niche. Out of all the markets for photographs ad-hoc sales seems to be the worse route.

The normal ways are probably wedding, portraits, events or of course, catch a celebrity with their boobs out or snorting coke. Now that's a money making, life changing photo.

The trouble with digital photography is that there are lots of similar photos around, most of them for free, just look at the BBC - rarely have to pay for photo's. How many photos on Flickr - 2 billion?

See as fellow 'togs, we're not saying they are crap photo's, just honestly answering the question "are they sellable".

Lets be honest here, friends and family are the worse people to judge/encourage - otherwise X-Factor wouldn't have a show :D
 
The best way to find out if they'll sell is try it !!

You'll get differing opinions from forums etc and even though there's some decent guidance on here it probably won't help you make a decision. Try a Clikpic site, pretty cheap and after a recent update has decent customisation too - the main thing to have any chance of online sales though is pagerank which you'll have to put some effort into, fortunately it doesn't cost anything other than time !!

Give it a go & see how you get on

Simon
 
bomberman said:
And yes Flickr is an ego boost and thanks to everyone here as today has been my best day so far with over 600 views!
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The number of hits your flickr gets is largely related to;
(a) the number of contacts you have,
(b) the number of groups you hoard your shots across
(c) the number of site (liks this) that you link you shots to

A quick counts shows that your Victoria Tower Huddersfield shot is shared between 20 different groups (about 16 or 17 of these are HDR groups). I've noticed that flickr reacts well to HDR (in terms of making its explore)

After that, the way you really stack up the flickr hits and favorites is if you make it into the flickr explore. This tells me you have none ---> link

Flickr Explore s suppose to represent the best 500 shots uploaded in a day, but it shouldn't be taken too seriously.

So to sum up, i wouldn't buy any of your pics because honestly they don't do anything for me.

....but you also have to remember (and not withstanding all the excellent advice already in this thread) that a lot of people who might be interested in buying your shots may not have such a critical eye


My 2cents
 
I'm no expert so cant comment on the quality of your pics. For someone new to photography you seem to have some good ideas. This place is great at giving critique on shots so post lots in the forums on here and you will learn to improve your photos.The comments wont be as kind as those from friends and family but will be very valuable if you want to learn. I am also quite new to photography and have been helped immensly by people on here, some of whom are fantastic photographers, both professional and amateur.

Good luck and I hope you both enjoy and profit from your hobby.
Sue
 
Freester said:
Forget the crit on your photos.
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AliB said:
The OP asked why we would not buy them, those are my reasons.
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Wasn't having a dig. Other people like yourself were doing a valiant job with the constructive crit. I just wanted to try and focus on the technical and logistical issues of selling a few pics online.

:)
 
Unfortunately the Digital Age, great as it is for amateur (by which I mean the true meaning of amateur - to love what you do) photographers, also means that people see no reason to pay for what they can get for free.

After all how much many people lend DVDs to their friends - even though it is in fact - illegal?

Trying to make a living from selling photos is now almost impossible unless your pictures have something totally unique and different.

For instance I love taking photographs but having been a pro years ago, I know how hard it is to make a living out of it.

If I was doing it now I would probably try to go an alternative route - by producing illustrated articles on various subjects.

However to do that you also need to be able to communicate well and write well.

And magazines and papers cannot simply use your articles without payment.

For instance your shot of "creps" could give rise to articles about youth, vandalism, new types of urban art etc.

And if you could find the "artists" - vandals - perpetrators (put your own label) and get them to explain why they do it complete with photos of them etc - perhps you have a sellable article.

In just the pics you have shown you have the kernals of many different articles, all of which could be done in your spare time.

But to do that you need to do research - check out all the magazines you can - your local library will probably stock quite a few - and notice the slant they put on articles and the quality of pictures.

Just a suggestion but as always - a lot of necessary work - and get used to rejections.
 
[irrelevant]has no-one else found bombermans obvious niche yet?

I want to see him as the face ski mask of the "not a terrorist" campaign[/irrelevant]

some good compositions in your work, some awful compositions too and far too much attitude for me to consider further involvement.

ps i'm flipping great at clicking too :thumbs:

oops oh b****r i get paid for it too, once again i'm irrelevant :bang:
 
I think what i am going to do is go away and take pictures of sunflowers. People always want pictures of sunflower to hang on their walls- they go with the soft furnishings.
 
bomberman said:
I think what i am going to do is go away and take pictures of sunflowers. People always want pictures of sunflower to hang on their walls- they go with the soft furnishings.
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Don't walk away from this thread thinking that is your only choice.
I'm suprised nobody has pointed out that all the critique here has been done by pro and amateur photographers.
The general public don't generally see faults in a photo like photographers do.
There are many prints hanging on walls that were taken by pros and the work has been criticised by photographers (wonky horizons etc) but the public love it.
I've had similar comments from friends and family on photos just like you have and in a lot of cases, I don't think my photos are that good.
I'm not say that the general consensus here is wrong.
However, print and frame a few photos, get a street license or a market stall and see what feedback you get from Joe public.
 
However, print and frame a few photos, get a street license or a market stall and see what feedback you get from Joe public.
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Or you could look around your area, see if there are any shops which sell prints, paintings etc and see if they would try and sell a few of yours after you have framed them - on commission of course - and in that way try to gauge the interest of the general public or otherwise at minimal expense and time for you.
 
Petersmart that's not a bad idea. I have a friend who has a shop in leeds who might be able to sell me a few prints.

jvee i took the the first comment with a pinch of salt and responded in good humour. If i thought that you were actually trying to be helpful i would take your comments with good grace but since you're persisting to use the issue of a single misplaced apostrophe to try and gain some kind of upper ground i'm simply going to label you a pain in the ar*e.

;)
 
bomberman said:
I think what i am going to do is go away and take pictures of sunflowers. People always want pictures of sunflower to hang on their walls- they go with the soft furnishings.
Click to expand...


Yup, therefore you can buy them from the stock sites for literally pennies,the true test is to try and sell your work outwith your friends and family.

The trouble nowadays is that for every photographer that wants to sell their work there are thousands who are just as happy to give it away, to the likes of the BBC or their local newspaper, just for the ego boost of seeing their picture and name in front of the world at large.
 
bomberman said:
If i thought that you were actually trying to be helpful i would take your comments with good grace but since you're persisting to use the issue of a single misplaced apostrophe to try and gain some kind of upper ground i'm simply going to label you a pain in the ar*e.

;)
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:nono: It matters.

I was speaking with a guy last night who'd bought a painting displayed in the pub restaurant in the next village, for £75. It had been done by his neighbour.
 
I don't know why i didn't think of Peter's idea before - i've got a mate who has a shop in leeds called On The Wall. He used to be in the corn exchange until they sold out and now they're at the bottom of the main shopping street accross the road from McDonald's.
 
Why not just post the address if you want free advertising? :bonk:
 
Your photos are good enough to sell if someone wants to buy them.

A few days ago I put up a photo on here for C&C and it hardly raised a comment, maybe two or three people past comment. So I left it at that and thought the photo probably wasn't as appealing as I first thought it was.

Two days ago I had an enquiry from someone wanting to pay money for the picture. Just an enquiry and no money has yet changed hands but I was encouraged beyond belief.

Don't be too disheartened by what people say on here, its a very over critical place to post your work but on the other hand you can learn a lot. If you want to sell your photos the chances are they won't be bought by another photographer, they are bought by people who like what they see, they may be a technical nightmare but if someone likes it, then they like it. Many times I have seem images posted on here by folk that I like yet they have been ripped apart by others.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 
I'd like to also add that I like some of your shots very much and feel you have bags of potential. I'm in a similar position to you in that I'm new to photography, but feel I'm progressing in leaps and bounds, mainly form hanging around here where I'll get intelligent open-minded feedback from great photographers rather than Flickr.

I also thought, "Damn, I could sell these!" until I saw the quality that is needed and the outlay to do it properly. How about just enjoying your photography until you reach a point where you have some decent gear and suddenly other good photographers are saying your work is saleable?

I look at stuff I did when I first started and laugh at it. It was niave and flawed. My latest stuff I think is much better, but I know damn well I'll look at it in 6 months and think it's trash. When I can look back in 6 months and think the shots I took were of a high standard then I'll think about selling them.
 
My advice would be to start local. Pop along to your local tourism office and see what they're selling .. postcards, calendars etc. See the types of images used. Go to the same locations and photograph them from unusual angles or with unusual light that gives them better character. Find less photographed scenes in your area, the seedy side or places not in the tourist handbooks.

Approach the Tourism Manager at your local council with your prints and prepare your ideas for presentation.
This may not get international recognition but should be a hit with the local population.
 
I think what people are saying is that it's hard to something as an "on-the-side" to make any useful amount of money out of it whilst remaining legal and doing it properly. Some of your shots are ok for sure. It doesn't really matter what poeple on a photography forum think as much as joe Public that would buy it. In fact, somewhere like this is bound to get the most critical responses. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take the comments on board mind.
 
Quaker said:
A few days ago I put up a photo on here for C&C and it hardly raised a comment, maybe two or three people past comment. So I left it at that and thought the photo probably wasn't as appealing as I first thought it was.
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erm, yeah, sorry...

I try and be good, set myself to comment on photo's in areas I like, but have just been busy/distracted on other forums.

Sorry - I will promise to comment more...
 
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