I’ve created calendars in the past with reasonable success, but I think I made the mistake of identifying the year for the calendar on a specific cover page which means that I had to update the calendar each year to make it saleable again. Of course, I didn’t bother! This time I have used my best pictures of Kauai in Hawaii and made a front cover that is suitable for any year and put it for sale on Zazzle in...
I noticed an email from Fine Art America announcing that our unique portfolio pages have been given an updated look. Sure enough, when I checked it out, you can update your site to the new design and customize many pieces of it. I’ve never really publicized this site, but I like the new look of it and I’ll see if I can spread the URL around! If you have a Fine Art America account, I think it is worth investigating...
One of the mistakes we often make as stock photographers is to think that we know what the buyers want. Of course, we often do, and we see those sort of shots online each day, but a key message is to always be on the lookout for something unusual or different. If you can think of a use case for it, then take it to the best of your ability and get it online! I was reminded of this today...
I gave an hour’s presentation to the Winchester Camera Club last summer and recorded the audio of the presentation. The video I created overlays the audio soundtrack on the presentation slides to give you a solid overview of the stock photography business, my approach to finding subjects, some of my best sellers and my thoughts on how best to make money in this increasingly difficult business. This has been available on subscription for a while, but I decided to make...
I checked my account at Society6 this morning and found another sale. This time a woodblock print of a digital watercolor image of the San Diego skyline. Net profit – $18. Not the high margins that I have set on Fine Art America, but when I think about it, I haven’t sold a print there since January! That reminded me that a number of you have asked if I will write more about my approach to uploading to this site,...
Another month zooms by, and time for the February earnings details. February has always been a pretty consistent month for me and this year is no exception. That sounds good, but of course I have many more images and videos online each year and the ideal performance would be a steady increase. But these days, we take what we can get from stock photography! Total earnings were down a bit from the previous two years, but not by much, and...
I first started uploading to Shutterstock in early 2008 and this weekend I passed a big milestone: Things have not always been a smooth on Shutterstock with some down years, but adding video to my portfolio has certainly helped maintain some consistency on downloads. Perhaps I will hit the 200,000 download threshold in less than 10 years from now!
I know that many readers of my blog are beyond the beginning stage, but I recently came across this very extensive article aimed at explaining photography for beginners. An Ohio based photographer called Jo has created it, and covers the sort of camera you should look at, how to use a smartphone, what to think about in composition, landscape photography and finally she covers post processing. If you are just starting with photography (or want to improve your skills), it...
I wrote an update about my experiences with my first 12 images on Society6 earlier in the week, and that gave me the impetus to add more images and create more products, but also to learn more about how to increase your chances of sales. I’ve not found any easy ways to edit the pricing of the three items you can modify (the prints), and so I have this picture up on my second monitor to help me as I...
I mentioned back in October that I had uploaded a few images to Society6. I only put 12 shots onto the site and then promptly forgot all about it and never heard any more from them. Then, out of the blue I got a payment from them for $5.70 so I thought I should check! So I was surprised when I visited my page to find that I had 3 sales – one paid and two pending for a total...
