Would you like to sell photos online at your own gallery? Send people to your very own web address to purchase the photos you've taken of them. There's more than one way to go about it. Here we take a look at the benefits of building a photo website, using services designed for professional photographers.
Not long ago it would have been a major project starting your own photography business. My how things have changed. Today, the new online photo services let you up load all of your photos to your own gallery and set your own prices. Shoot whatever you want and send your customers to your beautiful online gallery, to purchase the shots.
It's the easy way to get your photos and video on line for family, friends and customers to view. They can click to order any size prints or a variety of gifts like coffee mugs, sweatshirts, holiday cards etc... and you make money on every sale you set your own prices. So now you just upload the pictures and Aunt Alice can order what she wants and stop bugging you for copies! Get carried away, upload UNLIMITED photos with a click, shoot a million pictures if you want, you can't out grow that! Your precious family heirlooms, safely stored in full resolution. Download them anytime you want, because it's a photo storage website too. Hey, backup is good right? Organizing photo albums could not be simpler with the easy to use tools these companies provide. As with everything each photo sharing website has its advantages, click on the link at the bottom of this ezinearticle to compare the different services.
One of the photo gallery website providers called Smugmug has teamed up with GoogleMaps to create SmugMaps, I would have named it smoogle maps, whatever you call it, it's so cool! Install GoogleEarth, then click on the green GoogleEarth botton. Then while your logged into your smugmug account click on the map, the photos you select are tagged to that spot and displayed for the world to see, promoting your art gallery. You can also SmugMap by typing in the street address or gps coordinates.
Are you an artist waiting to be discovered? Get your work out there today. Whether your shooting the local cheerleader squad or an expedition to Alaska. Selling your photos is now very easy to do. You don't really want to go thru the hassle of setting up a merchants account to charge peoples credit cards do you? Good because you don't have to! You don't really want to print, trim, pack, address, ship, and provide customer service on each order do you? Good because you don't have to. (if you answered yes, we have an opening for a lab tech) of course I'm just kidding, we don't have time for all that, were out shooting more pictures to sell!
That's right, now you actually have the time to go out and take lots and lots of pictures. Go crazy you can take a million photos if you want. There's no limit to number of photos that you can upload on some of the professional photo sharing web sites. Hey your goal oriented right? How long would it take you to shoot a million photos? Let's see, this should be easier than figuring out the Tootsie Pop thing. If you shoot everyday for 10 years you'd have to shoot 274 pictures per day, because I don't think you can take 2739 photos every day for a year!
Here are some suggestions on what to shoot:
1. TAKING PICTURES ON VACATION
a) Museums and Historical Landmarks
b) National Parks and Monuments
c) City Skylines and Architecture
d) Amusement Parks
e) Back Roads and Byways
f) Scenic Overlooks
2. SCHOOL SPORTING EVENTS- Especially regional and state tournaments or championships. They are a goldmine, parents love pictures of their superstars. If you take a photo of each kid and then a team group picture, many of the parents will buy a few. One for the house, one for grandma etc. When you add up all the kids from all the teams, you're looking at hundred's kids. The money starts adding up real quick.
a) Football Team Photo
b) Cheerleader Squad photo
c) Homecoming Activities
d) Regional & State Championships
e) Soccer, Wrestling, Swimming etc...
f) School Plays, Concerts and more
g) Little League Baseball
h) Soccer Teams
i) Basketball Teams
3. LOCAL EVENTS- Check the local paper and see what's happening in your area
a) Hot Air Balloon Races and Air Shows
b) Car Shows & Motorcycle Rally’s
c) Parades & Fireworks
d) County And State Fairs
e) Craft Shows
f) Trade shows
g) Concerts
h) Tail Gate Parties
4. BOY SCOUTS AND GIRL SCOUTS- Many kids don't play soccer or basketball, they enjoy scouting, and they buy lots of pictures of the kids during scouting activities. Just go around the event and shoot it up, try to get a nice posed photo of each scout, then a troop shot with the leaders. Make sure you get permission from the appropriate council.
a) Camp outs
b) Hikes
c) The Annual Jamboree
d) Pinewood derby
e) Fundraisers
5.PROPERTY- Real estate agents need quality photographs to promote their listed properties. Let your local agencies know your available on call and watch the cash start flowing in. Architects need photos of the properties they design for many reasons. Show me the money!
a) Real Estate Agencies
b) Commercial Properties
c) Architectural Photography
d) Builders and Contractors
6. RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES- This is my favorite, I live up in the mountains and we have a lot of these type of adventures available close by. Folks on vacation sure like photos of themselves while participating in activities. If you have activities like these in your area, talk with a local outfitter, they are usually very receptive to the idea of photo souvenirs, because it promotes their service long after the adventure is over.
a) Whitewater River Rafting
b) Horseback Riding Outfitters
c) Ski Resorts
d) Snowmobile Trails
e) Golf Tournaments
7. INSURANCE COMPANIES- Most insurance companies require documentation to reimburse policy holders for a loss. A photographic inventory of all items covered by the policy is recommended by insurance adjusters, this is a huge market.
a) Residential
b) Commercial
8. FAMILY PORTRAITS- Many families have a portrait done annually. I like to photograph the family during fun time, rather than a studio. I like to have a good time with them. I always get better smiles and more interesting images on location. This year suggest doing the photo at an activity that the whole family enjoys participating in together "A family that plays together, stays together"
a) At home
b) In the studio
c) On location
d) Holiday Cards in October
9. SCHOOL ACTIVITIES- If I told you how much money you could make in one day photographing graduates, clubs, dances or homecoming activities, you wouldn't believe me. So I am going to let you find out for yourself. Then you email me and tell me and I will believe it! Photographing some of the school events like graduation and plays should be done at a dress rehearsal prior to the actual event. Always make prior arrangements with the school before you shoot.
a) Graduation
b) School Plays
c) Dances
d) Marching Band
e) Homecoming
10. STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY AGENCYS- there are many agencies that will purchase quality images to package and resell. Check stock photo agencies many of them accept freelance work.
Here's how it goes. Take the photo, give the client a card with your photo gallery web site address on it. Up load the pictures to your gallery. They go to your website and pick out the ones they want and order prints or coffee mugs, whatever they want. Then the photos are printed and shipped by the company that hosts your gallery. Then the company sends you a check. How much you make on each image is up to you. The Photo gallery hosting company charges you say, $1.99 for an 8"x 10" print. You set your retail prices at 24.99 for the print. You just made $23.00. The magic happens when you use the intrinsic artistic value, to increase the value of an otherwise inexpensive piece of paper. Most retailers wish they had a markup this good!
Once you get going, you will be lining up jobs at all sorts of events. Even taking photos while traveling and writing off your business expenses. If you really love photography you should consider your own gallery online.
When I got my gallery, I had so much fun thinking of creative titles for the galleries and getting all my pictures set up and organized. For instance, I have one gallery that is a tribute to trees. Everytime I see a beautiful tree, I capture a picture and display it in a gallery that I named Treebute.
Start your online photo website gallery today and start selling your photos online for a profit. Visit
DigitalPhotographyWebsite.com
I have been a professional photographer at several western ski resorts including Vail and Breckenridge. I started out at Grand Targhee Wyoming, where I landed my first professional photography job taking action photos of skiers on the slopes at Grand Targhee. I am currently a freelance photographer based out of Lake Tahoe, CA.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brandon_Baumgarten
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment