Photography Website Creation

[wellies101]

Does anyone know of a good source of designing a website that looks professional, but fairly straight-forward with the intention of being able to sell images to external users?

[leifus]

im also interested in this so will watch with interest
but all I know of is Microsoft web plus

[GaryB]

You could consider one of the ready made photography sites that let you customise their designs. I use Smugmug which is about $150 per year for unlimited storage and the ability to sell. There are several others - including Zenfolio.

Gary

[Richard G.]

JAlbum is free and pretty easy to use. A bit simplistic maybe, but does come with a paypal plugin. Great if your ISP gives you a bit of free webspace though.

[rlchew]

Mine (see below) is a Photium design which in my view is rather better than my first website which was a Clikpic design.

Richard

[Vectisbirder]

Originally Posted by rlchew

Mine (see below) is a Photium design which in my view is rather better than my first website which was a Clikpic design.

Richard

Another vote for Photium, I have recently started using them and am happy so far.

[PMG]

I'm a zenfolio user and very pleased ....... see below

[JeffH]

I've also recently set up a site with Photium and am very pleased with it, particularly as it's a doddle to set up and administer.

[wellies101]

So many great photographers on WAB! I still have a lot to learn, I am having trouble uploading my images on WAB sometimes, but have a look at me on flickr (wellies101) to see how far I have to go to get as good as some of you guys! I'd appreciate any constructive criticism or comments, I've got broard shoulders (well, it comes with the territory when you're Welsh!).

Many thanks to everyone for all the help, they don't look too expensive either, another bonus. Especially if the sale of some images pays the cost of the website plus a bit extra!

Keep them coming if anyone has anymore suggestions.

Also, how does everyone do with sale of images, I'm not asking for exact details on profits made, and I know it depends on quality of images, but more things like who are the kind of clients who buy them, roughly how many do you sell, do you get repeat business, etc?

[BarryJ]

Hi
I'm another Photium user and can not fault it ! the service, the product and the price.
Cheers
Barry

[GaryB]

Originally Posted by wellies101

I'd appreciate any constructive criticism or comments

snip....


Also, how does everyone do with sale of images, I'm not asking for exact details on profits made, and I know it depends on quality of images, but more things like who are the kind of clients who buy them, roughly how many do you sell, do you get repeat business, etc?

I had a quick look at your images and you have some nice stuff. My main thought is that the majority of your subjects are placed right in the centre of the frame. Most things look better offset - so with your Bushy park deer I would have moved him left in the frame preferably when you made the image, but you can do it by cropping. Hope this is useful.


On the subject of selling prints - I suspect that the only way to sell any volume of prints is to either photograph events or do a lot of marketing to get people to your site.

Gary

[cutecoot]

Originally Posted by wellies101

So many great photographers on WAB! I still have a lot to learn, I am having trouble uploading my images on WAB sometimes, but have a look at me on flickr (wellies101) to see how far I have to go to get as good as some of you guys! I'd appreciate any constructive criticism or comments, I've got broard shoulders (well, it comes with the territory when you're Welsh!).

Just had a look at your flickr pix, wellies - you have some great ones on there (.. and I've bookmarked that one of the ice patterns as a fave, really unusual )

p.s. Nice to see someone on here from my old home town Croydon

[squishy]

i use webs.com you can buy a domain off them (a .com or .co.uk site) but if you want it free, its only .webs.com in the address, which is better then alot of sites

[RoseStones]

Could I be cheeky and ask if you could give me an idea of how many photos you've each sold as I'm considering setting up a selling function in the future. I'd like to know at what point it's really worthwhile money-wise. I guess PMing me might be a little more private if need be ! Many thanks,

Jim

[galanthus]

I have one which runs from a friend's server, I organised that in photoshop and uploaded via an ftp programme. However, I also have another which I sell pics with at Clicpics. That was really easy to organise and costs around £35 per year. That's probably my recommendation.

[wellies101]

Originally Posted by GaryB

I had a quick look at your images and you have some nice stuff. My main thought is that the majority of your subjects are placed right in the centre of the frame. Most things look better offset - so with your Bushy park deer I would have moved him left in the frame preferably when you made the image, but you can do it by cropping. Hope this is useful.


On the subject of selling prints - I suspect that the only way to sell any volume of prints is to either photograph events or do a lot of marketing to get people to your site.

Gary

Sound advice Gary, at present I've been trying to get to grips with the camera and its functions and get shots for records, but now I want to see how I can make them a bit different and this "off-setting" idea is one I'll play around with.

Thanks for the tip.

[wellies101]

Originally Posted by cutecoot

Just had a look at your flickr pix, wellies - you have some great ones on there (.. and I've bookmarked that one of the ice patterns as a fave, really unusual )

p.s. Nice to see someone on here from my old home town Croydon

Cheers cutecoot, really appreciate the positive comment! I have a confession, I'm not from Croydon, but Wales, but have now lived in Croydon for about 2.5 years.

[cutecoot]

Originally Posted by wellies101

Cheers cutecoot, really appreciate the positive comment! I have a confession, I'm not from Croydon, but Wales, but have now lived in Croydon for about 2.5 years.

It's probably better to confess to coming from Wales than from Croydon! Nah, Croydon was ok, I lived there for 25 years and spent my yoof there and wouldn't have it any other way ) Have you found many places to go for wildlife? I used to find I had to travel a fair distance, i.e. out to the Surrey Hills, etc, before I hit greenery.

Just wanted to make another point about selling photos, don't want to be negative (.. scuse the pun!) about it, but this is such a competitive market now, seems like everyone is doing it, so you have to be absolutely perfect at what you are doing and even then I would imagine those people still have difficulty selling pix. I go to a local camera club and we recently had a presentation by a professional wildlife photographer who sells his pix to magazines, etc - his name is steve magennis and if you google his name you will find his website, you might like to check that out to see his photos to pick up some tips. (p.s. his photos of birds can be found under 'recent work' - for some odd reason he doesn't seem to have a section for birds under 'Gallery'.)

[wildmanofthewoods]

This thread is very informative and the websites inspiring, I have only been digital about a year. But find this is illustrating how easy it can be, I have just had a look at Photium's website and am suprised how cheap it is also.

Cheers folks

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by galanthus

However, I also have another which I sell pics with at Clicpics. That was really easy to organise and costs around £35 per year. That's probably my recommendation.

Revised this, the actual company is clikpic

For £35 you get to upload 100 photographs and can link in with paypal, have shopping cart etc. However, is also a good site just to display your stuff for that price

Here's my site if you want an idea of how it looks. There are lots of display options etc.

lilydel: Hello

[GaryB]

Originally Posted by galanthus

For £35 you get to upload 100 photographs and can link in with paypal, have shopping cart etc. However, is also a good site just to display your stuff for that price

Ouch - if you want to just display/share your work quite a few companies will give you unlimited space for that sort of money (Zenfolio and Smugmug are 2 that spring to mind)

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by GaryB

Ouch - if you want to just display/share your work quite a few companies will give you unlimited space for that sort of money (Zenfolio and Smugmug are 2 that spring to mind)

For displaying and sharing I've got space on my mate's server so that's where my lilydel.co.uk site is. However, to have paypal etc all organised for you and if you don't have photoshop to make a Gallery it's a pain free way of having a half decent looking site and this is what Wellies was enquiring about.

[GaryB]

I agree - if you want to sell one of the "ready made" sites is the way to go......

[swampy]

Hi,

I'm a newbie to this site and after reading this thread thought I might mention that I put my photos on the web with Alamy, an online image library, who sell my pictures for me.

Granted they take a 40% cut but they are the ones who have the hassle when the buyer does not pay up.

[JeffH]

And of course there are many other stock agencies such as RSPB Images, Getty Images, etc. But, as has been said on another thread (see - New SLR body ) - many are of the opinion that the stock image market is close to saturation and that the potential rewards from using them are insufficient to make it worthwhile.

Jeff