Author Topic: Bad pictures that sell and sell... (Read 36849 times)

Allsa · « **on:** May 05, 2008, 15:31 »

I can't stand it anymore! I have a picture in my portfolio that is just plain bad - yet the stupid sells and sells like crazy! Here it is:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=94858
The bird is flying, yet the feet are left in the default perching position.

I made and uploaded a new and improved version of it, hoping people would download it instead:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-5656783-blue-and-gold-macaw-flying-d-render.html
But it doesn't get downloaded nearly as much.

Every time that thing is downloaded (which happens with depressing frequency) I cringe. I should delete the stupid thing, but I'm making a lot of money off of it, in fact it's one of my best sellers at Shutterstock. At least iStock had the good sense to reject it.

So I'm curious, anyone else have a bad picture in their portfolio that sells like crazy? If you do, I'd love to see them

I know it sounds strange complaining about a picture that sells too much, but it's just so weird!

Linda B

leaf · « **Reply #1 on:** May 05, 2008, 15:33 »

well it looks like he is going to attack a mouse or something... or pick up a grape

rosta · « **Reply #2 on:** May 05, 2008, 15:41 »

IMHO, the first image is perfect for adding effects..a designer can have the bird picking up any object they choose. The second image does not offer that. You may consider it "bad" because you are the photographer and you know how your birds are supposed to appear. I'm not a designer but I can see multiple possibilites with the orignial image.

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #3 on:** May 05, 2008, 15:43 »

Yeah, I've got a few of those.....

=tom

steve-oh · « **Reply #4 on:** May 05, 2008, 15:44 »

I can understand why it sells better. While it isn't as accurate as the new one, it's a more dramatic image.

leaf · « **Reply #5 on:** May 05, 2008, 15:51 »

which is exactly the problem i think exisits when people say that they put all the 'bad' images as cheap on sites like snapvillage and their 'good' shots more expensive. most people have NO idea which are their good or bad shots. It is very hard to be a judge of your own work i think... especially in the commercial sense.

When I was working as a potter.. I would have a stand displaying and selling my wares. I would have perhaps 30 large bowls for sale at a time, and never fail - the ABSOLUTE ugliest ones sold FIRST. I was always tempted to price those lower, but had learned that usually the ugly ones sell best - so they were all priced equal.

anonymous · « **Reply #6 on:** May 05, 2008, 16:03 »

Quote from: leaf on May 05, 2008, 15:51

which is exactly the problem i think exisits when people say that they put all the 'bad' images as cheap on sites like snapvillage and their 'good' shots more expensive. most people have NO idea which are their good or bad shots. It is very hard to be a judge of your own work i think... especially in the commercial sense.

...which all goes back to nobody knows what will or will not sell...including the reviewers at the stock sites. "Not stock material"...if they truly knew what stock material was, they'd be sipping martinis on their yachts.

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #7 on:** May 05, 2008, 16:26 »

Quote from: anonymous on May 05, 2008, 16:03

..which all goes back to nobody knows what will or will not sell...including the reviewers at the stock sites. "Not stock material"...if they truly knew what stock material was, they'd be sipping martinis on their yachts.

LOL..... amen to that one, anonymous!!!! ha ha ha ha...

=tom

louoates · « **Reply #8 on:** May 05, 2008, 16:32 »

I once owned a furniture store. I just got in a new import clothes tree. I thought it was butt ugly, but what ., so I slapped a price tag on it.

About ten minutes later a lady shopper looked at it and said it was the ugliest thing she ever saw. Then left the store. So I decided that I'd probably stick it in the discount section the next day just to get rid of the eyesore.

Not five minutes later another lady saw it and bought it.

Turned out it was one of my better sellers. It got better looking every day.

hospitalera · « **Reply #9 on:** May 05, 2008, 16:40 »

I have one like this, I call it the "horror castle", SY

and it sells, and sells, and sells,....

Allsa · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2008, 16:41 »

Reminds me of when I used to sell my drawings at art & craft shows. I once saw a guy walk by wearing the ugliest mustard yellow sport coat, and he wore a really bad toupee. I thought, "That guy has got the worst taste of anyone I've ever seen!" Then he walked over and bought some of my artwork....

cascoly · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2008, 17:37 »

i've found that shooting on the way to beautiful areas is when i get the most sales -- i do better with buenos aires traffic than from antarctica; more from trucks on the road than from the Canadian Rockies or Maine shoreline

nothing really surprising there, even if it is a bit less satisfying.

that's stock

steve

RacePhoto · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2008, 18:29 »

Quote from: a.k.a.-tom on May 05, 2008, 16:26

Quote from: anonymous on May 05, 2008, 16:03
..which all goes back to nobody knows what will or will not sell...including the reviewers at the stock sites. "Not stock material"...if they truly knew what stock material was, they'd be sipping martinis on their yachts.

LOL..... amen to that one, anonymous!!!! ha ha ha ha... =tom

Let me say that this one would get a 98% in a true / false poll. The other 2% hit the wrong button by accident or live in South Florida.

I'm going with the talons ready to grasp theory. It's an action image.

The fact that anyone would buy an Elvis or a donkey painted on velvet, except as a joke, proves there is no taste in the world.

My best selling image is one I threw in, because it was there. I had no hopes of having it ever sell. I think it has outsold all my other photos put together. So maybe I can get a job as a reviewer, writing "not suitable for stock"

I'm pre-qualified.

mjp · « **Reply #13 on:** May 06, 2008, 00:58 »

I do not know if this picture is bad, but when I edited it I was 100% sure that reviewers will reject it due the limited commercial value.

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=2404333

Now its one of my best selling images in istock, most downloaded in SS, and lots of downloads on other sites as well

.

So it is very hard to say which sells.

br, MJP

Allsa · « **Reply #14 on:** May 06, 2008, 07:19 »

But it's a cute and fun image - I like to upload wacky and off the wall pictures sometimes, just to see what might happen. Sometimes they bomb, but sometimes they do great! You just never know.

Linda B

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #15 on:** May 06, 2008, 09:15 »

i think Crestock sums it all the best.
when they rejected one of my photos, they wrote me, "after all we are human, perharps we make a mistake to reject this."
that is a most reasonable rejection, i accept it and continued to submit better shots which they in turn accepted.

in other words, there is no hard and fast rule. we can only guess from past experience. but who has heard of a great photographer or artist who was rejected but everyone only to become one of the greatest in history?
that happens all the time.

fotoKmyst · « **Reply #16 on:** May 06, 2008, 09:19 »

I find SS to be a Big 6 oddball. Being Numero Uno means nothing at all.
For one who is so sticky about artifacts and post processing,
then you look at their featured photos ... all super contrived and whatever.
The mind boggles.

My two bits input

fotoKmyst · « **Reply #17 on:** May 06, 2008, 09:23 »

Quote from: a.k.a.-tom on May 05, 2008, 16:26

Quote from: anonymous on May 05, 2008, 16:03
..which all goes back to nobody knows what will or will not sell...including the reviewers at the stock sites. "Not stock material"...if they truly knew what stock material was, they'd be sipping martinis on their yachts.

LOL..... amen to that one, anonymous!!!! ha ha ha ha... =tom

and instead of being some stock site's burrito

anonymous · « **Reply #18 on:** May 06, 2008, 15:47 »

Quote from: fotoKmyst on May 06, 2008, 09:23

Quote from: a.k.a.-tom on May 05, 2008, 16:26
Quote from: anonymous on May 05, 2008, 16:03
..which all goes back to nobody knows what will or will not sell...including the reviewers at the stock sites. "Not stock material"...if they truly knew what stock material was, they'd be sipping martinis on their yachts.

LOL..... amen to that one, anonymous!!!! ha ha ha ha... =tom

and instead of being some stock site's burrito

How many stock reviewers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? "20"...One to review it and 19 to say "I could have done it better"...

How do you know when a stock reviewer is at your front door? "Pizza's here!"

How many reviewers does it take to review a photo?..."None", they have machines that do that now...

Ah..I feel better now $:-\$

ace_evs · « **Reply #19 on:** June 13, 2009, 09:13 »

hi there, can you please tell me how can i sell some of my clicked photographs.
thanks
Ace

m@m · « **Reply #20 on:** June 13, 2009, 09:38 »

LOL..... amen to that one, anonymous!!!! ha ha ha ha...

=tom
[/quote]

Let me say that this one would get a 98% in a true / false poll. The other 2% hit the wrong button by accident or live in South Florida.

[/quote]

Why South Florida, RacePhoto?

Adeptris · « **Reply #21 on:** June 13, 2009, 09:41 »

Who decides what is good or bad, watch the presentation in this post from Jonathan Ross.
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/paca-conference-lecture-on-stock/msg103308/?topicseen#new

It runs for a while so best to make a bit of time, grap a drink and settle down to watch the whole thing, I did just that the other evening and it is worth watching, was I paying attention, well if I am right quoting Jonathan, 11 years and 15,000 images online between traditional and microsites, towards the end of the presentation, Jonathan show some images and talks about the revenue they have made, and you will hear him say a couple of times, 'we expected this one to sell a lot better', so if a seasoned stock photograher may have a better idea but can only speculate on what will sell.

It might be better to leave it to the buyers and sales to say what is good or 'not what we are looking for at this time'

David

Clivia · « **Reply #22 on:** June 13, 2009, 09:44 »

Quote from: ace_evs on June 13, 2009, 09:13

hi there, can you please tell me how can i sell some of my clicked photographs.
thanks
Ace

Print them out and go get a stall on the local market.

Seriously, this whole site is about selling pictures, if you need to ask this question you have not been paying attention!

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #23 on:** June 13, 2009, 11:09 »

Quote from: Adeptris on June 13, 2009, 09:41

'we expected this one to sell a lot better',

Don't we expect them _all_ to sell better

? ...

bittersweet · « **Reply #24 on:** June 13, 2009, 11:20 »

You guys... not sure if you noticed, but ... this is a thread from over a year ago and was resurrected by the addition of a random, off-topic question.

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Author Topic: Bad pictures that sell and sell... (Read 36849 times)

Allsa

leaf

rosta

a.k.a.-tom

steve-oh

leaf

anonymous

a.k.a.-tom

louoates

hospitalera

Allsa

cascoly

RacePhoto

mjp

Allsa

etudiante_rapide

fotoKmyst

fotoKmyst

anonymous

ace_evs

m@m

Adeptris

Clivia

Sean Locke Photography

bittersweet

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