Author Topic: Do collages sell well? (Read 4319 times)

morning.light · « **on:** December 22, 2012, 15:57 »

I lived for an year in Japan and managed to shoot a lot of unique pictures, the problem is that I used a normal digital camera. The quality is not so bad, but a lot of noise is visible when viewed at 100%. I resized a few at the minimum acceptable size and managed to get around 5 of them accepted at Fotolia and Dreamstime, but I still have a lot of beautiful pictures, and it breaks my heart to just leave them die in some forgotten folder.

So today this came through my mind. What if I make some collages with them? Each picture would be small enough so the noise wouldn't be visible anymore, but the overall picture size and quality would be ok. The problem is, I don't know how well collages sell and I can't find much info about this ( only some very old topics >.< ). I'd be grateful to hear your opinions on this!

Poncke · « **Reply #1 on:** December 22, 2012, 16:00 »

If the only way you can submit them is in a collage then just submit them in a collage and find out. Everyone will have a different experiences from different images. Just get on with it.

fotografer · « **Reply #2 on:** December 22, 2012, 16:34 »

DT actually encourage you to do collages so definitley upload them there.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #3 on:** December 22, 2012, 18:55 »

SS is happy with collages. DT is as long as none of the photos individually is for sale already - I had collages rejected because:

"You have the same images already accepted as individual files. Do not upload them again in a set because they will compete against each other for downloads thus diluting your sales. We recommend you submit separately strong concepts and high quality images."

I had thought it was a way to avoid their "no similars" rules as they will never take everything from a series. One or two in the collage were there as individual images, but not all of them.

IS has been quite picky about collages - acceptances might be a bit hit or miss there.

microstockphoto.co.uk · « **Reply #4 on:** December 23, 2012, 03:10 »

But the minimum acceptable size at IS is 2 MP (unless they changed it recently), which is quite lower than the usual 4 MP at most sites. So maybe you can submit your Japan pictures individually there by downsizing to 2 MP?

mtkang · « **Reply #5 on:** December 25, 2012, 11:23 »

how small is your images?

I guess you better get a better camera, it doesn't take a good camera to make a good pictures, but if you are interested to learn how to make money out of images, then a good enough camera is a must.

If your images meet alamy then maybe submit there..

i find no point to put in collages especially you mentioned it is related to japan, so i guess it is a cultures stuff?

sometimes it is just depressed to think those collages earns u 50 cents or 1 dollar.. even it is a beautiful images it doesn't guarantee great return sometimes.

Poncke · « **Reply #6 on:** December 25, 2012, 14:55 »

Quote from: mtkang on December 25, 2012, 11:23

how small is your images?

I guess you better get a better camera, it doesn't take a good camera to make a good pictures, but if you are interested to learn how to make money out of images, then a good enough camera is a must.

If your images meet alamy then maybe submit there..

i find no point to put in collages especially you mentioned it is related to japan, so i guess it is a cultures stuff?

sometimes it is just depressed to think those collages earns u 50 cents or 1 dollar.. even it is a beautiful images it doesn't guarantee great return sometimes.

Surely he cant submit his Japanese images to Alamy as they require 8,7mp, or 24mb uncompressed. when his images are borderline at 2mp

BCritchley · « **Reply #7 on:** December 31, 2012, 15:55 »

Like any stock image good collages can sell well but bad ones wont sell. Dumping a load of bad pic's into a collage does not make a hit ( not saying yours would be bad ). I like to do a bit of both and I'm working on some NYC shots at the mo, some of my fav's I sell individualy but then make some collages with other images from the shoots.