Need some advise. How can i sell some of my photos?

hey guy. i didn't know where to post this so i decided to post it here. It has to do with selling photos, but i didnt want to post this on the Business section because i really dont plan for this to be a business of any sort. not in the immediate future at least.

i want to make enough money to visit my girlfriend in korea this summer because we wont be seeing each other for a long time. we just finished highschool and are going to different places for university. i thought that, maybe, i could sell some of my photos online in order to do so. the problem is, i dont know where to start. I've read a lot about stock photography, but it seems like the application process takes a few weeks and the returns arent too big unless you have many photos to sell. other sites require a fee to sell photos.

i was wondering if there was any way i could sell my photos online without me having to wait too long, or have to pay for anything. again, this is only temporary. i just want to earn enough money to be able to pay for a trip to korea. i live in the Philippines and it costs around 520 US$ for the flights alone and i'll need a bit more for food and accommodations.

of course, i'm going to try to do other things to make the money. I just thought that i could make some of it doing what i love doing the most - photography

you can view my photos on my flickr page.

Thanks in advance. i hope to get some helpfull responses. if this shouldn't be here, mods, please move it to where it should be located.

First of all, you have taken some great images! Secondly, I guess what I need to know is; what are you going to create for images to sell? Your images on flickr are of [I guess] your girlfriend and friends and I seen nothing on the site that would be of value to anyone but yourself. I think you need to decide what it is you are going to sell for photography i.e landscape, portrait, sporting events, etc. Once you have done that, then you can start researching what others in that field do to get people to purchase their images. Best of luck!!

For quick cash you are much better off getting a summer job. You'll get a weekly paycheck and in a few short months will have saved enough for the trip.

To make quick money in photography takes a lot of luck especially if your time frame is measures in months but there are a few ways.

Go out and drum up some portrait work. Takes quite a bit of leg work, advertising, and requires a bit of equipment, but if your aggressive enough, in a few months you might have saved enough.

Go out and book a few weddings. This also requires a bit of effort on your part to get the business, but the money can be good. Hard work though and difficult to book unless you have a decent portfolio.

Try selling a few prints to local galleries.

Freelance for a local paper.

I'm sure that there are many other ways but all will require aggressive marketing on your part.

vinnie6756 wrote in post #10353079
First of all, you have taken some great images! Secondly, I guess what I need to know is; what are you going to create for images to sell? Your images on flickr are of [I guess] your girlfriend and friends and I seen nothing on the site that would be of value to anyone but yourself. I think you need to decide what it is you are going to sell for photography i.e landscape, portrait, sporting events, etc. Once you have done that, then you can start researching what others in that field do to get people to purchase their images. Best of luck!!

Thanks! i really appreciate it! also, thank for taking the time to reply. i guess i could sell some of my landscape images.

here are a few that i think people might like:

gjl711 wrote in post #10353114
For quick cash you are much better off getting a summer job. You'll get a weekly paycheck and in a few short months will have saved enough for the trip.

To make quick money in photography takes a lot of luck especially if your time frame is measures in months but there are a few ways.

Go out and drum up some portrait work. Takes quite a bit of leg work, advertising, and requires a bit of equipment, but if your aggressive enough, in a few months you might have saved enough.

Go out and book a few weddings. This also requires a bit of effort on your part to get the business, but the money can be good. Hard work though and difficult to book unless you have a decent portfolio.

Try selling a few prints to local galleries.

Freelance for a local paper.

I'm sure that there are many other ways but all will require aggressive marketing on your part.

thanks! i'm actually willing to take portraits for people. i consider that it be my field of photography, however, the competition is really tough here in the philippines because there are many changing very little for their services. Thanks for the advice. i'll also try looking for a summer job.

Thanks for all the help guys.
anyone know how i can start a website in which i can sell my photos through?

For $150 or so, you can create a professional smugmug account, set your own prices, and then you get the commission from any print orders. Your friends would just go to the galleries, order the prints, pay for them, and you get a credit in your account. But then this is an initial cash outlay you would have to cover with yet more prints.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #10357927
For $150 or so, you can create a professional smugmug account, set your own prices, and then you get the commission from any print orders. Your friends would just go to the galleries, order the prints, pay for them, and you get a credit in your account. But then this is an initial cash outlay you would have to cover with yet more prints.

thanks! so you have to pay when people buy prints? are there similar websites that dot charge as much?

also, is this a US only service? i currently live in the Philippines

how quickly are you wanting to raise this cash because i think you will find it a lot harder than you think.

The people that make the most money are prob proffesional fasion photogs and stuff. Wedding photogs get paid alright to but there are huge costs and skill required doing this. Wedding photography is just so challenging you are going to need a lot of experience in it to even start it as a business.

You best bet is prob to either do portraits for people or get yourself into event photographys.

Landscape photography is almost impossible to make a decent income on because people may love your shots but are unlikely to buy any just from the web. people are more likely to just copy the low res shot to the desk top so they can look at it when they want to. Its just so easy to grab landscape shots off the net for free people tend to not pay for them. Some people have success in this area but they tend to have a great marketing plan and a big fanbase.

I have a smug mug account as i thought i would give it a try and see what happens. So far zero sales lol. http://digidiversity.s​mugmug.com/ I wasn't expecting any i just wanted to test the water.

After all this i have discovered that photography is not really something that you can make a lot of money fast in. Its something you need to build up a reputation for yourself and a fan base before that can happen. I think a summer job is your best bet.

dip wrote in post #10357948
thanks! so you have to pay when people buy prints? are there similar websites that dot charge as much?

also, is this a US only service? i currently live in the Philippines

No, you pay annually for the account and that is it. I don't know what kind of international services they offer.

you can have the pictures sent over seas but its 2 payment options. I think 1 is 7 days and the other is 3 weeks or something. However you can do downloads to which works the same all over the planet.

thanks for all the input guys! i'm going to look for a wedding photographer that is willing to have me assist him or perhaps do some portrait sessions.

Thanks again for all the help.

kids baseball games.

Good luck dip - I hope it works out for you, and I can imagine how much you miss the young lady.

I would certainly contact a wedding shooter, but he's going to be looking for portfolio work possibly as proof of your talent, and at minimum a modest amount of social event shooting experience. These are long days with a lot going on, and you need to know your way around the ceremony and reception.

I really don't know of any quick way for somebody to make decent $$$ who is just getting into photography. I agree with gjl who suggested that you get some sort of regular paying job. You will get a paycheck much faster, on a regular basis, that will amount to something, and one that may even give you weekends off........ to do some photography. - Stu

dip wrote in post #10358052
thanks for all the input guys! i'm going to look for a wedding photographer that is willing to have me assist him or perhaps do some portrait sessions.

Thanks again for all the help.