Author Topic: nature photos (Read 10983 times)

fotografer · « **on:** March 19, 2009, 02:41 »

My brother in law does amazing nature photos. Mostly birds flowers and insects. They really are excellent and I was wondering where he should try and sell them. I don't think that microstock is the right market for them so does anybody know where he could upload them.
He doesn't speak english so a site that has french or spanish would be better for him
Thanks in advance for any advice.

MicrostockExp · « **Reply #1 on:** March 19, 2009, 07:17 »

I came across this agency last time : http://www.cogis-photo.com/ focused on pets, wild animals , farm animals. It is in French but not sure if people are successfull there on not.
Apparently they have 800 000 pics on line

L

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #2 on:** March 19, 2009, 07:27 »

Problem is, a lot of people shoot amazing pictures of birds, flowers and insects, because they are right outside your back door. It's a very saturated market.

fotografer · « **Reply #3 on:** March 19, 2009, 10:28 »

Thanks, I'll get him to check that out.

Quote from: ldambies on March 19, 2009, 07:17

I came across this agency last time : http://www.cogis-photo.com/ focused on pets, wild animals , farm animals. It is in French but not sure if people are successfull there on not.
Apparently they have 800 000 pics on line

L

fotografer · « **Reply #4 on:** March 19, 2009, 10:29 »

Yes, I realize that but these images are a bit special. He has a great eye for composition along with good technical ability and the patience to sit for hours just to get the right shot.

Quote from: sjlocke on March 19, 2009, 07:27

Problem is, a lot of people shoot amazing pictures of birds, flowers and insects, because they are right outside your back door. It's a very saturated market.

sharply_done · « **Reply #5 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:03 »

Quote from: fotografer on March 19, 2009, 10:29

Yes, I realize that but these images are a bit special. He has a great eye for composition along with good technical ability and the patience to sit for hours just to get the right shot.

Sounds interesting - Any chance of providing a link so that we can see his stuff?

fotografer · « **Reply #6 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:22 »

He doesn't have anything on line anywhere at the moment. I only persuaded him to go digital a year ago and he's only now decided to have a go at selling them. I'll post links as soon as he uploads somewhere.

Quote from: sharply_done on March 19, 2009, 11:03

Quote from: fotografer on March 19, 2009, 10:29
Yes, I realize that but these images are a bit special. He has a great eye for composition along with good technical ability and the patience to sit for hours just to get the right shot.

Sounds interesting - Any chance of providing a link so that we can see his stuff?

Eco · « **Reply #7 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:23 »

Name me an area in MicroStock that is not over saturated. Fact is that if the images are good or better than other images of the same subject they will sell.

There is a common believe that because nature subjects are easily accessible they are easy to photograph. This opinion is probably only held by those who have never tried nature/wildlife photography. Excellent wildlife and nature photography requires good equipment, a lot of patience and an intrinsic knowledge of you subject. And they sell, especially EL’s because these are the type of image that many customers will put on a product.

If the nature images are really good there are no better place to put them than right here on the big 6 MicroStock sites.

fotografer · « **Reply #8 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:26 »

That's very useful information. I keep reading all over not to bother with nature images on MicroStock but I think after what you told me that I will tell him to put a few up and see how he goes. Musn't forget to put him as my referral

Quote from: Eco on March 19, 2009, 11:23

Name me an area in MicroStock that is not over saturated. Fact is that if the images are good or better than other images of the same subject they will sell.

These is a common believe that because nature subjects are easily accessible they are easy to photograph. This opinion is probably only held by those who have never tried nature/wildlife photography. Excellent wildlife and nature photography requires good equipment, a lot of patience and an intrinsic knowledge of you subject. And they sell, especially EL’s because these are the type of image that many customers will put on a product.

If the nature images are really good there are no better place to put them than right here on the big 6 MicroStock sites.

fotografer · « **Reply #9 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:27 »

Wow, I see that you know what you are talking about. I just looked at your portfolio, beautiful.

Quote from: Eco on March 19, 2009, 11:23

Name me an area in MicroStock that is not over saturated. Fact is that if the images are good or better than other images of the same subject they will sell.

There is a common believe that because nature subjects are easily accessible they are easy to photograph. This opinion is probably only held by those who have never tried nature/wildlife photography. Excellent wildlife and nature photography requires good equipment, a lot of patience and an intrinsic knowledge of you subject. And they sell, especially EL’s because these are the type of image that many customers will put on a product.

If the nature images are really good there are no better place to put them than right here on the big 6 MicroStock sites.

sharpshot · « **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:39 »

I agree that top quality nature photos will sell on the micros. Perhaps selling some as RF on the micros and the more unusual ones as RM on alamy or one of the other RM sites might be a good strategy. He could also consider going exclusive with istock, as they seem to sell well there and they let you sell RM on other sites. If he is outside taking photos a lot of the time, he might not have time to upload to lots of sites.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #11 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:40 »

Quote from: Eco on March 19, 2009, 11:23

Name me an area in MicroStock that is not over saturated. Fact is that if the images are good or better than other images of the same subject they will sell.

My point was, that there are plenty of adequate blurry rivers, random mountains, colorful flowers and flying bees out there because absolutely everyone has access to some sort of natural phenomena. You'd really have to dig to get out of that hole.

Eco · « **Reply #12 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:47 »

Thank you fotografer

Quote from: fotografer on March 19, 2009, 11:27

Wow, I see that you know what you are talking about. I just looked at your portfolio, beautiful.

louoates · « **Reply #13 on:** March 19, 2009, 11:55 »

Have him photograph two birds smiling and shaking claws in a business setting and you'll have a winner every time.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #14 on:** March 19, 2009, 13:16 »

Quote from: louoates on March 19, 2009, 11:55

Have him photograph two birds smiling and shaking claws in a business setting and you'll have a winner every time.

LOL... now that was funny. I don't care who you are. LOL
Get R Done.

RT · « **Reply #15 on:** March 19, 2009, 18:30 »

Try : http://www.flpa-images.co.uk/bin/flpa2.dll/go?a=disp&t=home-loader.html&_max=0&_maxlb=0&si=

Specialist nature agency and one of the best.

vonkara · « **Reply #16 on:** March 19, 2009, 20:47 »

Want to sell nature. Then photoshop better than the others

Kind of pics that could sell

Kind that will be lost in an ocean of nature hobbyist pics

The difference between a stock photographer and the guy you met at the zoo is PHOTOSHOP

fotografer · « **Reply #17 on:** March 20, 2009, 01:41 »

Thank you all for the help, I'll pass the info on.

basti · « **Reply #18 on:** March 20, 2009, 01:57 »

Microstock has huge lacks of photographs - try to find common mammals and its fine. Try to find properly scientificly named and just slightly uncommon flower and there you go... not talking properly named insects except some common butterflies, invertebrates, uncommon birds etc. Shooting nature isnt about snapshoting 2-3 common flowers in your backyard and your dog and cat.

I consider photo coverd costs after it earned $100 (and thats still * cheap!). Thats the reason why I do NOT put any really good nature pics on micro. I have channels to sell them much better paid and I dont wanna my clients to find the same stuff on micro. In case you have eg. some rare tropical plant, properly idied etc. and client needs it (because of course he is not able to find such stuff anywhere as most agencies dont see potential in this) - the client is gonna pay much more then just few cents like on micro. Hes gonna make you REAL offer covering your costs. Maybe such pics dont sell too often, but portfolio of couple thousand good nature shots with proper id, scientific names and good quality is in my opinion much better then having broad-subject microstock style images.
Example: I have about 260 pics online at micro on DT, SS and 100 on IS. The most succesfull picture did about $35 in a year (so its well bellow my $100 limit), average picture did $2 in a year so I need 50 years just to consider my portfolio did earned enough to cover work and gear. Is that ok for you? For me not... so I do not put my good nature/travel stuff on micro anymore.

null · « **Reply #19 on:** March 20, 2009, 02:03 »

Quote from: basti on March 20, 2009, 01:57

Example: I have about 260 pics online at micro on DT, SS and 100 on IS. The most succesfull picture did about $35 in a year (so its well bellow my $100 limit), average picture did $2 in a year so I need 50 years just to consider my portfolio did earned enough to cover work and gear. Is that ok for you? For me not... so I do not put my good nature/travel stuff on micro anymore.

What site you put them on then, and do they sell there?

basti · « **Reply #20 on:** March 20, 2009, 04:02 »

I have some good contacts across editors and some printing agencies so I do sell directly to customers. Right now Im working on my website (not public yet) with gallery because its getting abit too complicated to send them pics via email all the time.
Its not arranged contract with exact limits - eg. I know we are preparing 3 calendars each year about gardening and plants, so I keep gathering good shots thru the whole year and then choose the best for each week at the end of the year. I know which pics each calendar compiler prefers so I can choose the right stuff for each of them.

Btw. I understand Im too specialised so the microstock isnt the best to sell my main-stream pics, Im now trying to keep nature/travel shots separate from the stuff presented at micro.

null · « **Reply #21 on:** March 20, 2009, 04:34 »

Quote from: basti on March 20, 2009, 04:02

I have some good contacts across editors and some printing agencies so I do sell directly to customers. Right now Im working on my website (not public yet) with gallery because its getting abit too complicated to send them pics via email all the time.

I'm currently playing with Coppermine (the only Open Software gallery that supports keyword-based search) to add a cart and remove all the rating and blabla stuff. Just a thematic keyword-driven gallery with PayPal direct sales and stock-relevant info added. An example is here. An example of a page with sales opportunity is here but don't judge the code any further since I'm still coding it. I had a look at smugmug and photoshelter but they're all so restrictive and charge per megabyte. Even ktools stopped selling its code (a bargain for 300$) but only offers hosting now, at a hefty fee. I have some contacts that are interested in my miniproject but the last I want to do is start another stock site. It's just a code package you have to install on your site and feed yourself.

Quote from: basti on March 20, 2009, 04:02

Btw. I understand Im too specialised so the microstock isnt the best to sell my main-stream pics, Im now trying to keep nature/travel shots separate from the stuff presented at micro.

Yes you're right. Landscape/nature/places don't really fly at microstock, unless there is a concept, usable in advertisement behind it. And then, it's just peanuts. The girl with headset is easier and cheaper to shoot in studio than a unique nature shot. It's kind of amazing that Ellen Boughns in her interview with Lund sees a future too for web-driven direct sales in niche markets.

brm1949 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 20, 2009, 05:49 »

I shoot mainly wildlife and nature and sell OK on most sites. Not making enough to support myself yet but working at it.

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Author Topic: nature photos (Read 10983 times)

fotografer

MicrostockExp

Sean Locke Photography

fotografer

fotografer

sharply_done

fotografer

Eco

fotografer

fotografer

sharpshot

Sean Locke Photography

Eco

louoates

WarrenPrice

RT

vonkara

fotografer

basti

null

basti

null

brm1949

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