Selling Images of Birds, Where to Start?

[nigel_b]

I'm hoping this might be a thread with quite a general interest.

If you've gathered together a dozen or so reasonably good pictures of birds and presented them professionally in a portfolio, what are the options for selling them?

Let's say, for sake of arguement, you don't know where to start

I guess there are picture agencies but do they buy the shot outright and if so how do you avoid getting ripped off? Anyone got any recommendations for good ones?

Visiting local shops, visitor centres, etc might also be fruitful.

Anybody got any advice please?

[Tobyh]

Nigel,

I'm sure there will be plenty of interest in this. Many similar minded WABers have either gone through this or have thought about it and wondered how to go to the "next stage".

Personally I think it's an incredibly difficult area that's already extremely highly represented and with that in mind you either need to get noticed or offer something a little different.

I think you need to try to cover alot of angles to get anywhere. Enter competitions and try to get published. Submit images to Stock Picture Agencies - you will need a large volume to make this work and personally I would stay well away from the microstock sites - is it really worth selling an image for 50p? I'd rather submit to a decent agency (who WILL make you jump through hoops to even get your pictures in) and at least get a decent amount if you make a sale.

Approaching local outlets that may hang some images is a good idea. Perhaps if your website offers prints, some free prints for a local shop/restaurant / Gallery etc could get some interest to the site. Perhaps you could consider blank greetings cards or maybe calendars as an option.

I think people tend to shy away from buying photo prints but would certainly buy a painting of the same scene - it seems more acceptable or gets more interest. Maybe that's just my take on it. The other issue is that with the availability of photo printers and the amount of unprotected images online, many will just print it themselves.

Interested to see how others feel.

*edit to add*

You need to be extremely critical with your own work to ensure that only the best goes into whichever area you choose.

Does your local wildlife trust / RSPB / similar organisation offer a chance to display? maybe you will have to pay for a pitch but it's a start and may give you an idea of how interested people really are?

TobyH

[slimrbp]

Hi Nigel,

It is something I have considered as well, initially I just started off with a Stock Agency (Alamy) as to be honest I didn't want to do much Admin.
The whole process of registering and having my work quality controlled was a great learning experience. Admitedly in the two years I have been on there I have made one sale but I only have about two hundred images on there (other wildlife photographers on Alamy have thousands).

I am considering offering prints online so I am currently reading up on distance selling regulations and the like (not the most riveting subject ).

Then there is the tax side to consider although if you are already employed and on PAYE it looks to be simple case of declaring the extra income to your tax office at the end of the financial year. Of course if you are really going to go for it it might be worth considering registering as part time self employed (info on this can be found on the HMRC site).

If you plan to sell at craft fairs or simlar you will probably need personal liability insurance as well (I have this through my camera insurer).

Approaching local business and wildlife trusts is a good idea. I was thinking of contacting a local reserve where I take a lot of my shots to see if they would consider a small display of photos taken there.

Still mulling things over at the moment though.

[nigel_b]

Thanks for the thoughts. I am self-employed so any income/expenses will go down on the tax return for the year. Not sure if I need to register this avenue with the tax people in advance though.

I've been to a local tourist information centre who hire out display space by the week. They had a look at the present portfolio. Unfortunately the space costs £150 per week to hire, although they could do half the space (12 sq m) for £75 as there is no one else taking up their offer (someone's cancelled).

If you add in their commission for sales and bear in mind I'm told "not many people are buying pictures", I'm looking at parting with between £100 and £200 to get going with the prospect of about £50 back in sales.

As nice as it would be to see my pics displayed and actually sell something, as a business venture its a no-brainer. Back to the drawing board!

[acherontia]

Birds, in particular, are a very over saturated area of the market.
As has been said the images for stock sites have to be of an amazingly high quality - no pp (well perhaps a little at RAW stage) sharpening and very high, sharp resolution etc.
OH sells from Alamy but he has nearly 1000 images on now - even so you couldn't make a living out of it. Not with Alamy - for definate!!

Many canny and smaller stock sites (such as Heather Angel) have stopped accepting birds as there are far to many cheaply available images that bring in little revenue because they belong to hobbyist photographers who are often happy to give images away just to have the pleasure of saying they've been published.
The OSF are still accepting birds (OH sells from there too) but they only accept certain people and want a contract signing - as does Heather Angel.
You are expected to produce a certain number of images and as in the case of HA, produce what she may ask for that she may want to use in conjunction with her own or a specific project.

All in all it's a hard market to break into - a BA hons in photography/ high standards and an angle that differs from the norm are very useful.

Acher