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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 114 total)
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  • JCFindley
    Participant

    The reality is that unless your name is Peter Lik or someone that sells at that level limited editions really don’t add any real value and they can be a pain in the butt to do.

    I sell a fair amount of art prints (I average on print a day in some form or another.) When it comes down to it, I haven’t sold any single image more than 20 times. Pretty limited without being unlimited. I think price point plays more a role in perceived value than offering limited editions.  The higher a price point, within reason, means more perceived value.

     

    in reply to: am i a fauxtog? maybe but to each their own. #15951
    JCFindley
    Participant

    Look at getting a 50mm lens. Even the very cheap ones will produce amazing images paired with a FF camera body. You didn’t say what brand you are using but at least half my portfolio is shot with a Canon 50mm f1.8. Cheap looking, cheap to buy. Amazingly tack sharp images so long as you don’t shoot wide open and even then, it is not horrible. While not as good for portraits as the 135 suggested above, it should be well within your budget even as a college student.

    in reply to: So I joined 500 px dot com #15945
    JCFindley
    Participant

    Thanks.

    If it is more a social site than any images posted would be worthy attempts.

    in reply to: So I joined 500 px dot com #15941
    JCFindley
    Participant

    Is this an art selling site or a stock site?

    in reply to: am i a fauxtog? maybe but to each their own. #15940
    JCFindley
    Participant

    Supp folks, LTNS.

    Anyway, it all depends on what you are trying to do. If you are not trying to sell your work you are not a Faux period.

    If you are trying to do people shooting I can’t help ya out. Don’t know a thing about it. If you are trying to sell art what you have is a good start. The pits at the beginning are nice. I like the viewer telescope here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yajdynasty/9420077454/ IF it were me, I would prefer the telescope not be quite so centered and maybe at more of an angle  to give it a touch more depth but fairly minor critiques.

    SOME of the cars are quite nice while others are technically correct but have to much going on in the background. (people, etc…)

    Beyond that, keep doing what you are doing….

    JCFindley
    Participant

    art.com, or more appropriately for people starting out, artistrising.com used to be pretty good but I will not work for their commission rate. Etsy takes a lot of effort doing treasuries and changing keywords to the “featured” keywords each month. It also helps if you have the “Etsy Style” of photography that sells well there. My best site is Fine Art America, but I am also on a couple others.

    JCFindley
    Participant

    OK, first good attitude about critique and it will take you far and allow you to learn.

    I make a living selling art prints and don’t know the first thing about portraits so that is what I will talk about here. (Not a great living mind you but it pays the bills.)

    Regarding HDR, I didn’t see anything over the top and grungy. Even if I saw things that weren’t my taste, they may be someone else’s.

    Art prints are as much about marketing and getting seen as they are about quality. Preferably you will have quality and can get seen. The images I looked at were nice. I will repeat some of what was said above here. Cats are fine if they are different enough but the market is saturated. Every cat lover on the planet that is a photographer shoots cats so there are literally millions of them for sale on line. Personally, I don’t offer more than one processing version of a single scene. (There are exceptions but in general I don’t.) I will generally offer a color and black and white if it works with both and a vertical and horizontal image so the client can choose what works best for their space. The covered bridge is a nice shot but I don’t see enough difference in processing to offer three versions.

    Selling art on your own website is also tough. You have to lead people to it and that is hard to do for art unless you have name recognition like Peter Lik.  There are many print on demand art sites that are either free or have minimal charges that will allow you to sell on their site and thus access their clients. These tend to be pretty saturated as well, but it is still easier to get seen on these in general than your own site.

    Your pricing is on the low side for fine art prints as well. While 25 is in the range for an 8×12 the 16x20s are quite low. The thing with art is people often associate price with quality and believe it or not, higher priced images often sell better than lower cost shots. Lets face it, if you were only concerned about price, then you can go to Wallyworld and buy a $29 36 inch canvas wrap. (I am not making that up, that is the walyworld price)

    JC

    in reply to: County Fair rant- terrible judge! #11451
    JCFindley
    Participant

    That sounds like a great contest. ( sarcasm since this is online and hard to tell by reading.)

    For the most part, I quit entering contests long ago with any expectation of winning. They are either popularity contests if they are open to public voting or you are completely at the the mercy of the tastes of the jury, or single judge in this case. I do enter some contests simply for exposure and to get seen. When it comes down to it, friends and family will outright lie or at least have a biased view. Contest juries, judges and art critics have inherent biases and tastes. Visa and Mastercard do tend to speak the truth though or at least a much louder truth as far as I am concerned.

    Personally, I can go either way on galleries. Because they tend to have between 40 and 60 percent commission you have to have a really high markup on your work. That can be fine in the right market but you have to be careful simply because it is a large monetary outlay on the artists part for photographers. A painter has the painting but a photographer has to print it out in a format that the gallery accepts and will sell. As we all know, even without a markup large framed prints are not cheap. (Or other wall ready formats if the gallery accepts formats other than standard black frame with white/black matting)  I still show in galleries from time to time but only if I have a pretty good idea I will sell.

    in reply to: Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page… #11447
    JCFindley
    Participant

    Wow, just wow.

    News station and news paper award must be for something other than portrait photography. Perhaps a polar bear in a snow storm?

    Online contests, YA! Which means you ask your friends to vote for you and you win regardless of quality.

    in reply to: Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page… #11409
    JCFindley
    Participant

    Naw, laugh away…. I am working on my stand up routine using open mike nights here in NYC and frankly, my second wife is a never ending source of material.  I would add this but it’s really only funny to togs.

    in reply to: Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page… #11393
    JCFindley
    Participant

    Oh? And this pin? Read the titling… “5 Poses Must Do”… when you click the pin to take you to the linked page? It takes you to “5 Fun Wedding Photos”. Honestly, I’m not sure I would want a photo of my groom trying to escape me on our wedding day… Nor would I want something like this one up for my family to see… While it might be amusing in a small group of friends, it’s not exactly shouting romance to me…

    You think that now, but this is the only image I kept from my second marriage. If only I had actually escaped!

    in reply to: So, am I doing Ok for a beginner? #11392
    JCFindley
    Participant

    In that case, enjoy and carry on.

    in reply to: So, am I doing Ok for a beginner? #11389
    JCFindley
    Participant

    I like that one.

    I will throw this out as food for thought. If you are just looking to share your images with the world Flickr is a wonderful thing. If you are looking to sell your images though, you need to be very careful how you use Flickr.

    For instance, the above image is labeled all rights reserved, which is good, but it shows at approximately 3000×1500 pixels and can be downloaded at that size. That means someone could download and print a 30×15 inch print at 100 DPI. (Yes, 300 used to be the industry standard and still hangs on but 100 DPI prints can be used and often is with great results.) Basically, you are making your work available for free download if someone chooses to do so.

    Showing your work online at all will make it available to anyone that wants to do a screen capture but I limit the size to somewhere between 600 and 1000 pixels on the long side. Yes, someone can take that and print a nice 10 inch print but I make most of my money on prints 20 inches and up. By limiting the size image I show online, it ensures if someone wants a quality large print, they have to pay for it. The way you have your images online now, you are giving the less scrupulous types a choice in how they want to acquire your work.

    in reply to: So, am I doing Ok for a beginner? #11385
    JCFindley
    Participant

    My all time favorite is usually the one I just took or the next one I plan to take.

    in reply to: So, am I doing Ok for a beginner? #11382
    JCFindley
    Participant

    I make photos for myself first and formost, everyone else is not relevant.  That is the one big thing I learnt from this site, don’t listen to others, listen to your own gut when it comes to your own expression.  I’m not trying to be negative to your comment, just being real to myself, it’s not your photographic style, it’s mine.

    Actually, I think this is spot on. This is the first thread I ever commented on or even read on this site. I think my only recommendation was something along the lines of your quote. I shoot for me and only me. If anyone else likes it then great. I do take and listen to critique as it helps me improve but I only incorporate critiques that improve what I do in my own opinion. I think about or even try everything that is suggested though just to see if it works for me.

    Anyway, congrats and well done.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 114 total)