Selling my photos?

[dwoods2160]

Hello Everyone. Iwas wondering how some of you go about selling your photos? What are the best online agencies to use? I checked out quite a few but I am hesitate to sign up with someone not knowing if they are legit. I would like to use the most popular and one that sells the photos for you. Thanks in advance....Dan

[Dennis_Hammer]

I use Exposuremanager there is a huge thread about it. Basically great cumstomer service competitive prices and fully customizable galleries including pricing. Here's a link for a free trial

http://www.exposuremanager.com/aff/hammerphotos (http://www.exposuremanager.com/aff/hammerphotos)

[dwoods2160]

Thank you Dennis. I appreciate the help. I will check that out....Dan

[in plain sight]

I use SmugMug. I like them. Its all about personal preference. I would recommend trying a few places that have free trials (smugmug & exposuremanager both do) and see who you like best. Make sure you email customer service for something during that time as well so you can see what there response time is like. It has never taken me more than a couple of hours to get a response from smugmug.

[ChrisRabior]

+1 on smugmug. Do some searching on google and you can probably get a 50% off promo for your first year (plus the free trial period).

The trials are a pretty good way to start out.. see what you like and then go with it.

[DDCSD]

Are you looking for a stock agency?

[Alleh]

I believe smug-mug works pretty good for print sales. I used to use Photoshelter.com I wrote a little about online print sales on my photography business blog here (http://photographerstartup.blogspot.com/2008/01/selling-prints-online.html). Other wise if your looking for stock www.istock.com is a good place to start, if you’re pretty good you can go for Corbis or Getty.

[amfoto1]

Hi Dan,

Derek asked the right question, it's hard to answer you without a better idea what you want to sell....

Are you wanting to sell prints to event participants and their friends and families?

Or fine art, limited edition prints to the general public, art collectors and such?

Or are you trying to sell images for commercial usage purposes (aka, Stock Photography)?

The fact that you used the word "agencies" implies the latter, but isn't entirely clear.

It would also be helpful to know more what type of photography you do, to better advise you.

The responses so far have mostly focused on the first type of vendor, except for Alleh's which mentions a little of each.

For print sales and online galleries... event/sports photography in my case, but could also be wedding/portrait and other types of sales... I use Printroom.com. Used Smugmug before (a couple years ago now) but left them for lack of quality and poor customer service... However I've heard they have vastly improved things, so don't rule them out based on my experiences.

If looking for a stock agency, you have many choices but need to be careful. Many here might point you toward so-called microstock agencies. These are easy to sign up with, but pay very, very little per usage and are really designed to take advantage of amateurs... paying them just enough to pick up a new lens once a year or something minor like that.

There are other types of stock: More traditional agencies that have virtually all migrated to the Internet, and an emerging group I'd call "mid-stock" for lack of a better term. These pay better, but are harder to get accepted by.

The 600 lb and 800 lb. gorillas of stock are Getty and Corbis/Microsoft. They really aren't that hard to get into. They use their clout to demand more of their photographers under their contracts and generally pay lower commissions, though. Still, they have the highest traffic at their site, which means they have the buyers, especially Getty.... So long as your images don't get too lost in the many millions in their libraries.

There are also many "boutique" or "niche" type stock agencies. These have a specialization or deliberately keep to a small number of photogs. The key here is to find one that's a good match to your work, that has room to add another shooter.

Spend $20-25 on a copy of "Photographers Market 2009", which is now available, to find about 1500 places to possibly sell your images. I think it's now in it's 32nd consecutive year of publication and it's a key resource.

[dwoods2160]

I would like to mostly sell art and stock for now. Sorry for the delayed response. Thanks to everyone who responded. I really appreciate it!....See ya...Dan

[DDCSD]

I would like to mostly sell art and stock for now. Sorry for the delayed response. Thanks to everyone who responded. I really appreciate it!....See ya...Dan

I've heard good things about Alamy for stock, but I don't have any persoanl experience with selling stock or art. Hopefully some others will chime in.

The art and stock markets can be very tough nuts to crack.