Fine Art opportunities
This is perhaps a bit of a pretentious title, but what I was thinking about was creating photos and artwork for sale on the Print on Demand sites such as Fine Art America and Photo4Me. Earlier this month I ran out of ideas for new stock shots (yes, it does happen!) so I decided to spend a bit of time looking at my portfolio and adding more images that I thought might look good on a wall as a large print. Of course, I was made more enthusiastic by the two sales from FineArtAmerica last month, and even more so by a sale on Photo4Me:
Unlike FAA, you can only set your profit margin on Photo4Me, and they give you guidance on the average sale price of images. As a result, my earnings aren’t as good as those I get on the bigger site, but it was only a 20 x 10 inch framed print and my commission was about $20. It is an interesting site where each image is vetted before being accepted and the members of the site are able to comment on how much they like the photo. It is always interesting to see which ones they prefer. I guess those rankings feed into their search engine in some way – but I’m not sure.
But back to the main topic. What I look for in my portfolio are images that I would like to print myself and put on a wall. I do have some of my images framed and displayed, but I find this is a good way to separate out a “stock photo” from a piece of “art”. I also try to think of what a resident of a particular city might be interested in having on their wall, so I upload good “city skyline” type images. The buyer of the image above (from Llangollen in North Wales) lives in a town called Oswestry which is where I lived before coming to the USA – so this principle of people buying images from close by seems to be holding up! It is also worthwhile to look at the recently sold images on both the sites. You can only see those on Photo4Me if you are signed up as a contributor, but on Fine Art America you can see them here.
I tend to put more “european” type shots on Photo4Me as I think they cater more to a British audience, but they do seem to sell a lot of aircraft prints – especially old fighter planes and the like. So if you have those in your portfolio, it could be a good place for you.
I’ve also been playing with turning some photos into digital art:
I haven’t sold any yet, but I find it quite relaxing! I use the Impresso plugin and app from Jixipix which creates a sort of impressionist painting. You get lots of already created effects and you can then alter all the settings in your chosen effect to get the look you are seeking. They also have a water color app that I am thinking of getting and trying some of those next time I have a blank mind for stock concepts. They are not too expensive ($49), but I find them a lot of fun. If you are interested, here is my affiliate link to their site. The applications are under the professional section of the Products menu.
If you want to see the “fine art” images I uploaded earlier this month, the latest uploads are here on Fine Art America.
Congrats on your new sale! Keep it up! I have one question about selling on these websites under the context of art. Where does this artistic use of a photo sit in the realm of editorial vs. commercial use? Am I able to skip the property and model releases on many of the public subjects I may want to shoot?
I think this would make a great new blog post 🙂
Let me know if you have already discussed this elsewhere.
I just got a $100 sale on Alamy! Thought I’d share with someone!
That’s great Jason! What was the image?
You can see it without the watermarks here: https://www.orangepalmstudio.com/cactus-squad
Very nice! Would make a nice print for a wall as well. You have some great architecture shots on that gallery as well. Those are never easy to do!
Steve
I did write a bit about this way back in 2015, and I talked quite a bit about it in my recent Master Class Video, but my understanding is that you don’t need model or property releases for images that are just going to be printed for one person to display on their wall. That isn’t defined as “publishing” which is the activity that does need releases.
That definitely makes sense. I remember you mentioning that in your class. I figured I would look into it another time. I know you can sell street photography with people (no model releases) as art. So I would assume Fine Art America would simply qualify as art. Good to hear that is the case. I will be careful to double check before I upload anything that might be in question. Thank you!
Yes, always best to be careful, but the sort of shots that people want on their walls are unlikely to breach any privacy or brand name issues. Certainly having a company name on a building for a cityscape would not be a problem, for instance (as far as I know!!)
Steve