Business Decisions: Selling photos online

 Photography  9 Responses »
Feb 022008
 

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I’ve been investigating ways of selling photos online. One of the sites that has been suggested to me was Photo Reflect. I went to the site, downloaded their custom software called Xpress Digital Darkroom Web Edition 8.9. I must say that my experience with this software has caused me to look elsewhere. Further, their customer support seems lacking. Searching for information using Google, you’ll see that others have had similar experiences. Lastly, even though I am not a Mac user, they are not Mac friendly. They have a plugin available for Aperture, but that means to use Photo Reflect, you’d have to spend several hundred $$$ additional, just to use them. There are alternatives.

Photo Reflect’s pricing structure seems very amenable to lower volume sales and to those who are just getting started. They charge a flat 18% fee on each sale with no monthly fee. Here’s why I don’t like it, so far.

In the brief 3 days that I’ve had the software:

  • It crashes nearly every time I use it, sometimes for no apparent reason
  • My images come up looking like negatives in the thumbnail view, but they do display correctly in the full sized view.
  • There is not a way to create subdirectories. I plan to shoot lots of sporting events, sometimes tournaments lasting a couple of days. I’d like to have a structure like: Hardees Basketball Tournament -> 2/1/2008 -> Kings vs. Celtics, etc.
  • My request for assistance with the crashes and thumbnails still remains open. There has been no response
  • Sometimes, the website is very unresponsive. It may take minutes for a page to load. Not good!

I’ve investigated several alternatives, one of which seems to keep getting recommended in various forums, Exposure Manager.

Exposure Manager

People really seem to like Exposure Manager. Exposure Manager’s pricing structure is $99.95/year + 10% of sales. Of course, this is a little more expensive, since you have a fixed cost, than Photo Reflect’s. However, a little bit of math will indicate that once you get past $1,249.38 for the year, or about $104 in gross sales/month, you start making more money with Exposure Manager.

Break Even = $99.95 / (.18 – .10). We just need to know, based on the difference, how much money is needed to cover the $99.95 yearly fee.

Though I have not tried it, it appears that the EM is fully customizable, allowing you to fully integrate it into your site, giving a nearly seamless appearance.

More Photos

By far, though, the best that I’ve seen so far has been More Photos! Wow! That is a professional outfit from the looks of it. Have a look at the demo! It is also the most expensive on monthly basis, charging a $200 setup fee and a minimum of $49/month based on the number of images uploaded. The $49 includes up to 2,500 images (peak). The break even point, as compared to Photo Reflect comes rather quickly as More Photos does not charge a commission fee.

Break Even = $49/.18 = 272.22 after the first year. So, if you sell more than about $273 photos/month, you make more money with More Photos. This might be a consideration when I get rolling along. Right now, in the early stages, having fewer fixed costs is ideal. Later, after things really get rolling, I could see a switch, possibly, unless I was supremely satisfied with EM. Note: The first year break even sales required is $364.82, due to amortization of the $200 setup fee over the first 12 months.

Roll Your Own:
Lastly, there is the roll-your-own method. Although I am a software developer, at this time, I have no desire to roll my own.

All of the services collect payments and send you a monthly check when you have at least about $20 coming.

Summary:
All 3 do the same things, allow you to sell photos online.
Photo Reflect’s software and customer service is flaky.

Sales < $100/month, Photo Reflect is the least expensive.
Sales > $100/month and less than $275/month, EM gets the nod.
Sales > $ 275/month, More Photos seems to be the better deal.

So, have I missed anything? Anyone care to chime in with their experiences/advice in selling photos onilne? Any other place that I should look?

 Posted by at 09:41

Keeping secrets

 Photography  2 Responses »
Feb 012008
 

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Photography wise, I’m interested in a lot of things. Landscapes, people, architecture, interior, etc. Also, I love sharing ‘secrets’. One of my favorite sites, of late, is The Strobist. There I can find all kinds of low budget lighting secrets by those who are more than willing to share their experiences.

I was looking at a particular article today about interior lighting using flash. Suddenly, I remembered that I had to photograph my wife’s yoga room for the lady who designed it. She’s an interior designer in-training and this photograph will go into her book. Always on the lookout for opportunities, I want to make the photo look really nice, but am constrained currently by having only one flash. However, I think that I almost pulled it off. When I do get the final picture and present it to her, I want it to knock her socks off! Then, she can tell her friends about me and I can do their books, as well, for a fair price! Business!

Following some instructions that I found on The Strobist about balancing window light to flash light, I was able to get this picture. Here, I took my first shot, no flash, and tried to get the picture where the window light was not blown out. In this case, it was 1/30 second @ f/8. Next, I put the flash on manual, 1/4 power and found that it was about a stop too low. Then 1/2 power, and this is what you get! The histogram looked great. I also too a bubble level and leveled my camera to minimize the lens distortion from this 11-18mm lens, which I was using at 11mm.

I can see how I could use a couple of more flashes and small changes to the room. Hopefully, when I get the final picture, I’ll remember to share it with you. There are a few other small things that I’d like to do like light all of the candles on the bookshelf and adjust the lighting overall to give a nice comforting, yoga feeling. Even so, one on-camera bounced flash didn’t do a bad job! It is a small room, though.

Some years ago, before The Strobist, I contacted a few architectural photographers and asked them to share a few lighting secrets and even asked, if possible, to go and see them in action as a very silent observer. I was turned down; however, one of them offered to allow me to come to one of his shoots, that he was doing at 2:00 AM on a work night. I agreed, but he later decided that he didn’t want me to come along. Oh well. Later, after I asked him about his lighting techniques, he became belligerent and said that if I didn’t like the way that he did things, then I shouldn’t have contacted him. Talk about a temperamental artist! I smoothed his feathers, thanked him, then went my way.

I don’t know about you, but I love to share my experiences and ways of doing things. There are no secrets. If I know it, you’ll know it. The only thing that I might keep to myself is information about how I plan to approach a certain market segment, but other than that, the gates are open.

This weekend, I received a great compliment. Richard said that I was an excellent teacher! It doesn’t get any better than that! Thanks, Richard!

 Posted by at 14:45
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