How to earn from selling your photography online.
Low Risk Photography Business
Table of Contents
E-commerce website for selling photos
So, you are thinking of making your portfolio available on the internet for sharing and selling your artwork in a secure ecommerce-ready environment. Here is how to start the easy way.
As someone that spends a lot of time building content and website pages I have long come to realise that, today, building a website is lot easier to do on your own than ever before.
Now, this is not just because of the ease of building a website blog in an intuitive environment, but also because there are so many platforms and options available.
The content management system, WordPress , for example, is perhaps the most popular and flexible platform for both beginners and advanced users alike. You can build a custom WordPress website right down to the finest detail, and to look exactly as you imagined, or had previously designed.
And you can do this, all with very little, to no, coding skills.
Now, what I have also discovered about managing an image oriented website, is that managing images efficiently can be a real chore, especially during those hectic, moments when files tend to go astray, or naming conventions are ignored.
This is where photo management software comes handy, and although not exactly connected to building a website. Managing 100s of photos efficiently in preparation for making available to the public can be a time consuming task.
And then there is the question of secure storage and photo sharing. You definitely need a decent amount of storage space for your photos, especially if you work with large RAW files.
Good News for Photographers
Now, here’s the good news. If like many creative photographers and photo artists, you long for a quick, simple, but solid solution for preparing and showcasing your artwork, right through to receiving payments from happy customers and clients.
The following post will provide you with actionable tips to get you started with building an online photography business securely with established e-commerce platforms built with the photographer in mind.
Storage and Photo Management
AI and Photo management
Imagine you have thousands of photos on your computer and you are searching specifically for an image of a man wearing a green hat with a dancing dog in the background…
Okay, so you may not have an actual photo that fits the above description. However, with the capabilities of AI technology, you’ll at least get the nearest possible result.
So advanced is the technology, that with all necessary ‘specs’ adequately in place, you can search and find specific people by facial features.
Excire Foto Management
Made in Germany, Excire Foto has increasingly become a a noteworthy photo management app amongst photographers and image specialist.
With its ease-of-use and cutting edge AI engine, Excire provides a number of benefits and useful features for users, especially with a large number of photographic images:
• Affordable and with no subscription fees.
• AI Technology
• Smart keywording (simply import photos)
• Simple interface (easy to use)
• Analytics (Learn more)
• Use as standalone or Adobe Lightroom Plugin.
Dedicated Photography Portfolio Solution
Selling from your Creative Photography Portfolio
Whilst there are a number of good website solutions that can be customised to meet the needs of any photography portfolio requirements, there are also a handful of beautifully designed solutions made specifically for displaying art and photography as an attractive online portfolio or store.
Another software solution on our roster of noteworthy business tool is from the Format portfolio builder. To get you started quickly, Format provides content ready templates for a number of styles including; Wedding Photography, Art, Makeup and Fashion, Design, Architecture and more.
NFT Photography
Although the popular NFT Art platforms will allow you to upload photos, if you are looking to sell photographic images, you are more likely to be successful with a dedicated photography platform.
Well, at the time of writing, there are a few BETA photography dedicated platforms you should learn about.
Platforms for NFT Photography
“…simplifying the experience for tokenizing creative assets and doing so in a way that’s reliable, consistent, and easy to understand…”
Connect and share your photos with the world...
Saving a record of your photos to a blockchain as an NFT is another way in which you can earn from selling your photos.
Similar to the “NFT Art” which we are all now familiar with, NFT Photography works in the same way.
Now, if you are looking for a way to get started, you can readily join a general NFT Art platforms such as OpenSea. However, there are also a few dedicated photography platforms such as 500px available for selling NFT Photos.
500px
Based in Toronto, Canada. 500px is a global online photo-sharing platform that is a subsidiary of Visual China Group.
As a 500px photography community member you can get immediate exposure with your first upload.
Focus Market
During a time where almost anyone has the ability to take high definition level photographs using just their smartphones. With the aim to democratise photography, Focus Market works towards allowing collectors and creators to trade photo assets without boundaries.
Sloika
Created by the founding team behind 500px (mentioned above), Sloika builds for the community with the principles of giving back, with proceeds from commissions going towards financially supporting young artists and creators in the NFT space.
more photography dedicated nft platforms:
Now Sell your creative images
With This All-in-one Photography Business Suite of Tools.
• Storage
• Image protection
• Method for receiving payments
• Promotional tools
• Secure sharing
Photography Toolkit
Dear Mac User, if you’re seeking a sturdy image processing and photo management solution for your photography projects, the following combination of software that will cost you less than *$200 USD ( no subscription necessary).
Many professional creators use our recommendations, as not just alternative standalone photo editing solutions, but also plugin extensions that you can use with Adobe Lightroom and macOS Photos.
How will AI technology affect the future of how we edit our images?
It doesn’t take too much of an effort to predict that software trends for the future will include those that employ AI and machine learning technology.
Learn how a growing number of creative photographers and digital artist are benefiting from the use of Artificial Intelligence with their work.
FAQ
Yes, there are a number of ways to sell your photos without managing your own website.
Stock libraries are an obvious and common method photographers use for selling their photography.
However there are also more direct methods such as managing a newsletter, using a social media business page or store, from which you can display your print-on-demand and other products.
The disadvantage in earning this way however, is that you will be overly vulnerable to any changes made by the platforms and tools you use.
I would say yes, especially if you like the idea of a community based environment for reaching new audiences.
As a relatively new and growing technology. There is a lot of speculation and things to learn. See our Exploring NFT Artwork Project at: www.softwarefolder.co.uk
Software Folder dot Design is the result of years of experimenting with multiple websites, now filtered into one.
This has been necessary in order to understand first-hand how to accommodate and answer the nuance of the new creators that are emerging – YOU.
Disclosure: Please bear in mind that some of the links on this site may be sponsored links and if you make a purchase I may earn a commission. Please also keep in mind that the companies and the products I mention are ones that I use myself, or have tried. And are mentioned for their quality or usefulness I have experienced myself
