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Anyone sell their photos on the side?

Rob587

Rob587

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 4, 2004
801
1
Orlando, FL
As a beginner, I thought it would be fun hear from people using this hobby to generate some side income. (no full-time professionals please)

1. How much do you make approximately per year?

2. What equipment do you use?

3. Do you actively pursue customers? If so, how?

Thanks,
 
Well....I have sold some via iStock, they changed their search rules and contributor groupings a couple of years ago though, since then I get hardly any downloads as my volume isn't enough to be optimal for their model and even previously "successful" images now don't attract downloads.

But...I just got paid out US$100 after some 4years of occasional submission, I used a D70, D200 and D300. Most successful image was taken with the D70 (6MP) and a $100 lens as my main lens had broken and that was all I could get...never shot deliberately for sale then, it was just occasional submissions of my best/appropriate.

I have since switched and have a small portfolio of NZ landscapes I intend to sell on canvas via restaurants etc...again as a sideline. Gear is still D300s and Sigma 10-20 or Nikon 17-55.

HTH
 
I'm not a full-time professional photographer (I combine photography with writing: a good fit)... but I try to be professional as a part-time photographer. That is... I try to shoot pix which will appeal to picture buyers as well as pix which will appeal to me. If I can please buyers - and enjoy some creative satisfaction in the process - so much the better.

I license pix in two distinct ways: via online agencies... and, directly, to publishers. I use a Nikon 610 and most pix are taken with 18-70 f2.8 lens. No-one ever asks me what equipment I use (though some agencies have a cut-off point for acceptable cameras: 6megapixels, say, or 10).

Licensing pix for stock is not the money-making enterprise it used to be. The demand may still be rising, but the supply is rising much, much faster!
 
A pro friend of mine quoted a Director of Art friend of his from one of the fashion magazines recently:

"It has never been easier to have your work seen than today, but it has never been harder to get noticed amongst it."
 
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Makes sense. Sounds like the best way to do it would be to pick a potential client and shoot some stuff you think they would like. Then send it to them and try to negotiate if they want to use it. Kind of like the strategy I've seen for guest blog posting. Do the work first really well for one person, as apposed to making stuff for the masses.
 
Rob587 said:
Makes sense. Sounds like the best way to do it would be to pick a potential client and shoot some stuff you think they would like. Then send it to them and try to negotiate if they want to use it. Kind of like the strategy I've seen for guest blog posting. Do the work first really well for one person, as apposed to making stuff for the masses.
Click to expand...

Or put together a small folio of work, covering the kind of subject matter your potential client might want. Find out the name of the person(s) who commissions photography, and either go and see him/her in person, or contact by email (with sample pix and ideas)...
 
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Any recommendations for the best time travel movie? (like realisticish - i.e. not back to the future lol)
 
Rob587 said:
Any recommendations for the best time travel movie? (like realisticish - i.e. not back to the future lol)
Click to expand...

The Final Countdown

Disclaimer: always been into pretty much anything to do with planes! So maybe not best but I liked it at the time (haven't seen it in ages) and it came to mind. Now I'll have to look for it :)

Cheers
 
Definitely not a pro but would like to be. ;) With that said I took my hobby to the next level this year and opened my own gallery. It is entirely a money losing proposition. I had two goals for the gallery - to see where it leads and to push me to do more work. With that in mind it has been successful beyond my dreams.

I have had some moderate success with 8x10 prints for $10. Sales really fluctuate but would be much better if I were here full time. As it is I have a desk job Monday - Friday so I am only at the gallery in the evenings. For the bigger prints the 12x18 go for $260 or $420 framed and the 20x30s are $780/$1100. It can be months between sales of the bigger sizes. The location has the potential for a lot of foot traffic but it is an odd place and you have to work to bring people inside. All in all the price is right and that's what has kept me here.

It has been a lot of work but also a lot of fun. The best advice I can offer is to not plan on making any money from the hobby. If you want to make a business out of it then you have to jump in with both feet and have a viable business plan. For me the gallery has been an extension of the hobby. Since I didn't expect anything out of it, it has been a wonderful experience.

The best advice I can offer is to put your work out there and see what people say. Friends and family will always tell you it is the best thing they have ever seen. Strangers don't pull their punches. :D The process has really surprised me. Prints that I think won't do so well end up being some of my most popular. It has been a real eye opener.

Just don't forget to have fun with it. :)
 
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I'm an enthusiast photog and generally sell my image to via Getty Images. I primarily post my work on Flickr and I was approached by someone who worked there.

I don't make a ton of money off of there. But it's nice to make a couple extra bucks each month from them (depending on if anyone purchases your image files).

I don't actively approach people about buying prints, since photography is strictly a hobby for me.

My camera equipment includes: Nikon D800E, several Nikkor lenses, various filters, and Really Right Stuff tripod.
 
+1 for Intestellar, apart from the time slippage plotline apparently some real science came out of doing the black hole special effects - can't get more realistic than that :)
 
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