A Photography forum. PhotoBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » PhotoBanter.com forum » Photo Techniques » Photographing Nature
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 16th 06, 12:43 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
Randall Holmes
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????

Pardon,

If I could have a moment of your time so that you could tell me why my
photos don't sell.... People tell me they are beautiful but they don't buy
them.... Could the group please explain??? Am I being lied to????? Or does
there need to be an adjustment made????

My portfollio is posted at http://justask.shutterpoint.com

You may respond to

Thank you in advance for your time and input....

Randall Holmes
Just Ask, LLC


  #2  
Old October 16th 06, 06:25 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
Alan Justice
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 94
Default Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????

People who are familiar with many of the famous nature photogs tell me (at
my booth at art fairs) that I am better than many of them. Then they walk
away, or maybe buy a note card.

What gets me is the folks who say "My God!! These are incredible!" and
don't even slow down.

I think it helps to show shots that the customers could not possibly get
themselves. No matter how artistic a shot of a pile of pears is, people see
them all the time, and everyone has a camera. Show a unique perspective of
something familiar. Go somewhere that others only dream of.

And don't quit your day job.

--
- Alan Justice


"Randall Holmes" wrote in message
. ..
Pardon,

If I could have a moment of your time so that you could tell me why my
photos don't sell.... People tell me they are beautiful but they don't buy
them.... Could the group please explain??? Am I being lied to????? Or

does
there need to be an adjustment made????

My portfollio is posted at http://justask.shutterpoint.com

You may respond to

Thank you in advance for your time and input....

Randall Holmes
Just Ask, LLC




  #3  
Old October 16th 06, 09:13 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
Norm
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6
Default Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????

Randall,

The question that comes to my mind first is to whom do you expect to "sell"
your images ? What use do you expect them to use your photos? Images taken
with a budget, entry-level camera such as the Kodak Z740 (If that is what
you used for all of these images) won't provide the quality that most buyers
of stock photos need.

Shutterpoint doesn't impress me as a very professional outfit. I can't
figure out why they would want to arrange a search engine by model of camera
used. By topic and photographer name I can understand but by camera??? They
don't even know how to spell Canon.

If you are interested in leasing rights to your images I suggest you look at
some professional sites and see the quality of images that you will be
competing with. Google the words "stock photography" for a starting place
for your search.

I hope this helps a little bit to answer your question.
  #4  
Old October 17th 06, 01:56 AM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
Angela M. Cable
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????

Randall Holmes wrote:
Pardon,

If I could have a moment of your time so that you could tell me why my
photos don't sell.... People tell me they are beautiful but they don't buy
them.... Could the group please explain??? Am I being lied to????? Or does
there need to be an adjustment made????

My portfollio is posted at http://justask.shutterpoint.com

You may respond to

Thank you in advance for your time and input....

Randall Holmes
Just Ask, LLC


You need to start thinking about composition, light and quality of the
light. Far too many bullseye, dead center compositions, many of the
images have completely blown highlights and weak shadows. Others are
obviously taken at completely the wrong time of day. The one image that
ought to be framed dead center (church) isn't and has horribly blown
areas. I also notice that you don't have property releases uploaded, I
can guarantee that Lamborghini at least, will object, probably strongly
and with lawyers. "The Orbs" appears to be a sculptural installation,
the artist will object. All of the building shots require property
releases. It appears to me that Shutterpoint has nobody assigned to
vetting images.


--
Angela M. Cable
Paint Shop Pro 8, 9, X Private Beta Tester
Neocognition, digital scrapbooking source:
http://www.neocognition.com/

PSP Tutorial Links:
http://www.psplinks.com/

5th Street Studio, free graphics, websets and mo
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/alaia/354/
  #5  
Old October 18th 06, 03:06 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
wsrphoto
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 19
Default Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????


Randall Holmes wrote:
Pardon,

If I could have a moment of your time so that you could tell me why my
photos don't sell.... People tell me they are beautiful but they don't buy
them.... Could the group please explain??? Am I being lied to????? Or does
there need to be an adjustment made????

My portfollio is posted at http://justask.shutterpoint.com
Randall Holmes


Welcome to the club, many of my friends, family and visitors like my
images (both Web and photo cards), but I don't see any money for
purchasing them. And I don't plan on selling many because it's a very
competitive business and not very profitable. I do have some questions.


First, how long have you been on-line? It takes a few years to build a
business of selling photographs, spending a lot of time marketing your
services and work.

Second, what makes your images unique? People like a lot of images, but
sellling them requires yours to be different and worth them "getting
out their credit card."

Third, do you plan to make your venture personal or business? If
personal, people buy what they like, which isn't necessarily what you
photograph and produce. And making it a business means working for
clients and prospective customers or photographing for selling images.

Fourth, are you offering images and prints (for a fair price) to
generate customers? Sometimes working with prospective clients helps
generate future clients, such as local clubs, organizations, etc.

Fifth, you expect the Web to generate business? If you listen to the
professionals and look at their Websites, you'll notice very few make
money from the Web and mostly use it as a marketing and demonstration
tool of the work and business.

Just some initial thoughts. Good luck.

  #6  
Old October 19th 06, 07:32 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
Tuli
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14
Default Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????

Randall Holmes wrote:

Pardon,

If I could have a moment of your time so that you could tell me why
my photos don't sell.... People tell me they are beautiful but they
don't buy them.... Could the group please explain??? Am I being
lied to????? Or does there need to be an adjustment made????

My portfollio is posted at http://justask.shutterpoint.com

You may respond to

Thank you in advance for your time and input....

Randall Holmes Just Ask, LLC


Try finding more interesting subjects. Use light for emphasis. Work
on composing (framing) your images for greater impact on the viewer.
  #7  
Old October 28th 06, 07:44 PM posted to rec.photo.technique.nature
Dan Lingman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Need help as to why my photos are not selling???????

"Randall Holmes" wrote in
:

Pardon,

If I could have a moment of your time so that you could tell me why my
photos don't sell.... People tell me they are beautiful but they don't
buy them.... Could the group please explain??? Am I being lied
to????? Or does there need to be an adjustment made????

My portfollio is posted at http://justask.shutterpoint.com

You may respond to

Thank you in advance for your time and input....

Randall Holmes
Just Ask, LLC



You've already seen the comments about releases, lets talk about a few of
the photos.

The one on the first page - lone moon shot.
recrop so that moon is closer to upper right corner than is now,
and fix the grey background. Nobody wants a moon shot with smog. (I
know that's not likely to be what's there, but it's what it looks like.)
People expect the night sky to be black.

The shots with fruit - next time arrange the fruit so the ugly stickers
on them are _not_ visible.

The one with the orbs, property release aside, I'd actually suggest
removing the fire hydrent and the drop off sign - again a simple
recropping to a taller, narrow look (ie just to the right of the hydrant,
and just to the left of the right edge of the rightmost ball - that makes
the balls more prominent, and I think it would improve things a bit.

The property ones - should indicate where the shot is - would make it
more likely that someone would be interested.

Overall, someone who was looking for shots to buy would probably see that
you don't seem overly concerned about trademark/copyright violations, (ie
the car logo/headlights/buildings), and keep looking for a more
professional photographer, who actually dots his I's and crosses his T's.
Nobody wants to pay for a picture, only to discover that their advert or
whatever results in a lawsuit due to releases not being obtained.

Finally, you seem to only have JPEGs - that may be a restriction of how
shutterpoint works, but you may want to make the RAWs available as well.

Best of luck.
Dan.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Go look at my photos pls, kthnx. Robert J Batina Digital Photography 9 November 3rd 04 03:14 PM
safe guarding photos BJ Digital Photography 11 September 15th 04 03:04 AM
Is selling photos difficult? Mike Henley 35mm Photo Equipment 10 July 1st 04 08:51 PM
Making money by selling photos? Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\) General Equipment For Sale 0 December 12th 03 09:18 PM
Making money by selling photos? Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\) Film & Labs 0 December 12th 03 09:17 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:17 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 PhotoBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.