Online Selling

[ObsessedwithPhotos]

Hello Everyone,

So, I want to start selling Photo's online on a site like Shutter fly.

My questions are -

1. Can you a couple hundred dollars a year off of that.

2. How can people find out about you when your on a site like that with tons of other sellers

3. Is it worth to pay for a site like Shutter fly over a free site?

Thanks allot =) I posted some of my latest work on the SYS Macro.

PS. I would sell online because, I would not get any business taking wedding/senior shots/Family portraits because I am so young.

[Biomech]

The general consensus here is that microstock sites are a waste of time as the money is so low. And to be honest, if you're looking for just a couple hundred bucks a year, I probably wouldn't even bother trying you could sell 2 framed prints in a local coffee shop for that :P

[Deathmitten]

This only really makes money if you already have a name as a photographer and have some other source of traffic to your site. There are far better ways to make money off your photography.

[blackfin]

i use smugmug and sell wedding and sports photos that way... i dont know about shutterfly but i can easily do about 2k per year on that...its ok

[steheap]

I guess it depends what sort of income you are looking for. I fully understand the antipathy of professional photographers towards the microstock sites, but I have been involved in that (as a competent amateur) for 4 years, and it is not a bad source of incremental income. Is it enough to live on - no way. Is it destroying the opportunities for other photographers - probably, but it is hard as an individual to be judged guilty of that.

Anyway, with effort and dedication, I think you could get to $10K a year or so. I focus on travel and landscape/nature photography rather than model based "microstock" images and it is surprising how many images get picked up each day. You don't earn much per image, but it keeps adding up.

I keep a blog of my efforts and learning experiences - feel free to follow in my footsteps.

Just to be specific on your question - I haven't investigated Shutterfly, but I do also keep a Pro site up on Smugmug - I have had images found and purchased via that site, but it is a lot more "hit and miss" than microstock sites such as Shutterstock.

Steve