Pixaria Gallery makes it easy to sell your images online in a way that suits your circumstances but taking time to think about your potential market and how you approach it will stand you in good stead when setting up a successful online business.
When selling stock photography, the choice of subject is an important consideration. The ever growing wealth of stock and microstock websites means that to be successful, it's important to produce content that is at the very least distinctive but preferably unique.
When conducting picture research, image buyers and designers are invariably looking for content that is either difficult to produce themselves or which requires specialist expertise. Because of this, it's important to choose subjects that offer something special whether it be in terms of the subject itself or the composition.
Choosing a specialism is an excellent idea and can make it easier to gain a foothold if you pick a subject or industry that is poorly represented by traditional stock websites or where specialist technical expertise and knowledge is an advantage. Examples of such industries might include information technology, medicine, civil engineering, aviation, shipping, marine engineering or electronics.
Event photographers have the immediate advantage of access to unique content and when selling this type of photogaphy, the key to success is to ensure that images are of a high-quality and that they can be easily found using uniquely identifiable keywords and captions.
With still image photogaphy, designers will more often than not be targetting the web or print but whatever the medium, good quality images are essential. Ensuring that subjects are well lit will reduce background noise and when working with RAW images, it's importent to use a high-quality digital camera RAW converter to reduce the presence of unwanted visual artifacts such as chromatic aberrations, moiré, compression artifacts or posterization.
When targetting the print medium, image dimensions are important and with graphic designers generally working at a minimum of 300dpi, it's essential to offer images at a high-resolution that will allow the designer maximum flexibilty in how they use the image.
Picking the right price for your images can be difficult to get right but ultimately, this depends more or less on how unique your images are. Taking the time to shoot creative, original and engaging photography will allow you to command more for your images when you come to sell them so always think about this in the planning stages of a shoot. If you're not sure how to pitch your pricing, take the time to explore the websites of other photographers or stock photo websites to see how their pricing is structured.
Above all, avoid complex pricing structures and make it easy for prospective customers to get an idea of how much the images they are interested in will cost them. Most picture researchers work on tight deadlines and don't want unnecessary obstacles and hassle.
Taking on commissions can also be a useful route into selling photography, particularly if you already have a specialism in mind such as wedding or event photography. As you build up a reputation with your clients, take the time to expand your horizons and explore new opportunities in areas you might not have considered before. Flexibility and versatility will help to ensure that you don't find yourself having to turn work down.
Trade magazines and journals are excellent sources of contact information and may provide classified advertising sections where you can promote your business. Industry organisations and associations are also worth contacting for information about member lists and may be able to provide you with useful contacts for a small fee.
You can search the Pixaria documentation by entering keywords here. Keep your search simple for the best results.
