Beginner How to get started?

Thekillerqueen88

Thekillerqueen88

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Name
Mark
Edit My Images
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Hi all,

I have been taking photos for a couple of years now, and share them on my instagram pages and Faceboon page.

I’d like to start selling prints etc, but I have no idea how to get started. Despite having around 400 followers on Facebook, I don’t class them as “active followers”.

How do you get to that point where will people retain interest?


Insta: MCastlePhotograhpy

FB: https://m.facebook.com/MCastlePh0t0graphy/

Any advice and guidance would be most appreciated. I am not looking at making it more than just a hobby, howerver getting a little something from it helps with motivation etc. I also need a bigger lens :D

Thanks!
 
Don’t be mistaken; the simple and honest answer is...

Shoot something people will want to buy

Put it in front of those people and make it easy for them to find.

Don’t be disheartened, but I need to say...
There’s nothing hugely ‘wrong’ with your images (though on 2nd look they’re not great either*), but I can’t imagine the general public wanting to buy them.

*Who do you think the market is for a duck with missing feet, unremarkable images of a herd of deer, or an unsharp kite?
 
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Get a proper website.

I managed to work out how to view your Facebook cover photo without it being pixellated to buggery but it took a while.

Try Wix or Squarespace for some template ideas.
 
Thekillerqueen88 said:
I also need a bigger lens :D

Thanks!
Click to expand...

What about your current lens is holding you back? Learn to get the best out of the equipment you have before dropping a load of cash on new gear or a fancy website. As others have said, there's nothing especially wrong with your photos, but really think about your composition. Your header picture on Facebook is a landscape photo that isn't level. There's a photo of a duck in your wildlife section with its feet missing. The howling wolf shot is fine but there's a fence behind it that shows it was clearly taken in a zoo. If I'm going to buy a print of a howling wolf I want it to at least look like it was taken in the wild. Work on your photography and processing until you get images that people would be willing to buy.
 
No matter how good your photos may be if you are trying to sell them you need to make them really stand out.

Being able to take a good photograph is no guarantee of selling it especially if you are competing with shedloads of free stuff.

After all I can get thousands of free photos from Unsplash which are totally excellent and I can use as I wish:

https://unsplash.com

Look at the photos on Flickr and on here and ask yourself is you can produce work just as good - or better.

I think I am a reasonable photographer but some of the photographers on here just blow me away with the sheer quality of their work.

Some of my "Liquid Art" shots ( pretentious? moi?) might have a small market but I doubt if I could make a living selling just these kind of images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/20926615@N05/albums/72157625137872065



5141848903_86119c9b38_o (2).jpg

5129496399_5cb9f58c6e_o.jpg

​

I also have some reasonable landscapes but again why would anyone buy them?
.
 
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Everyone wants to know HOW to sell their art. But no one wants to tell how to sell.
 
Win major photography competitions or become a YouTube star. If you’re good enough and lucky enough competition success will boost your profile and people will buy prints of your winning shot/s, but don’t think it’ll bring in anything more than a bit of extra pocket money. I expect it’s a similar thing with YouTube though you can make your own fame. I’ve looked on your Instagram and you shoot all sorts, it’s best that you become known for one or two things, eg landscape and wildlife photography and build your ‘brand’ around that. I’m sorry to say but your pictures don’t grab me, work on shooting in better light and work on more engaging compositions
 
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marat stepanoff said:
Everyone wants to know HOW to sell their art. But no one wants to tell how to sell.
Click to expand...

That’s because there’s no winning formula beyond ‘research your market’. Business advice is complex, otherwise every burger van would be on its way to being Mac Donald’s. ;)

It’s not that there’s a ‘secret’ just that every successful business only knows what worked for them*, not that it’s a repeatable formula that’s work for others.

* and if we’re honest... a lot of successful businesses couldn’t even explain what made them successful, let alone how it might work for someone else.
 
@Thekillerqueen88 I'm in no way a pro or someone who makes money from photography, but I have sold a small number of prints. The best advice I can give you is to shoot images that people look at and go "wow, I couldn't have shot that".

I don't wish to be harsh, but when I look at the majority of your images I see photos that had I given my wife or my daughter a camera or a phone even they would have probably come back with the same image.

If you want to sell prints you want to be creating imagery that a lay person couldn't, by being in places they can't, in light that they couldn't find, capturing interesting moments that they couldn't see, processing images in a way that takes them beyond a snapshot. As an example, would I buy a landscape print from Thomas Heaton - potentially yes. He shoots interesting images, only when the light is great, in parts of the world that I will probably never get to - he offers something different.

Once you have a portfolio of 10 or so cracking images, then you could look at getting a website and finding other ways of getting your images in front of people, but get the quality wirk ready first.

Hope that helps and again, sorry if it seems harsh.
 
Random selling via the internet is probably the hardest way to do it. I have done it - but I'm not going to be retiring on the profits.
You might have more joy selling via a market stall or cafe exhibition space.
Even a dedicated exhibition in a gallery is hard work when it comes to selling. It has to be the right gallery in the right location, and then you need to get the right people in to it.

If your work is distinctive then it will do half of the selling for you. To make distinctive stuff you need to specialise - and get good at your specialism.

Phil V said:
Shoot something people will want to buy
Click to expand...

The easiest way to do that is to shoot to order! Not sure that really applies with general scenic stuff though.
 
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