How to Choose Which Photos to Sell?
This is REALLY easy. It's also really hard.
My photographer pal asked me: “how do you decide which pictures you want to print and sell?”
You can hear Glenn ask the question right here:
Thanks for the question, Glenn! It’s a seriously good one! (And if anyone wants to call-in and ask your own questions, you can do it here: https://www.speakpipe.com/jerredz)
Based on my own observations, personal experimentation, and research through the years, here’s my take on it. You have two options:
Option 1 - Take photos to sell to a specific audience/location/trend.
Check out your photos and ask yourself: Who would buy these? WHY would they buy them?
An example of selling to audience: Old barns and silos
Who would buy this? Female Modern Farmhouse owners looking to make their modern farmhouse cozy and beautiful.
Why would they buy this? They like the natural colors and “boho” look of many of my edited photos directly targeting owners like this!
An example selling based on location: Chimney Rock (a Nebraska natural structure).
Who would buy this? People who live in Nebraska who want a reminder of the beauty in Chimney Rock who live outside the state.
Why would they buy this? My photo is from a sunset and contains a lot of purples, reds and oranges. It’s unique and not easy to find elsewhere.
An example selling based on a trend: Valentine’s Day flowers print.
Who would buy this? Men buying gifts for their nature-loving wife.
Why would they buy this? Men wanting to get their nature-loving wife something different and unique. I’d have this unique listing state that I’d sign it and send a certificate of authenticity to spice things up!
For Option 1, you’re looking at more mass-market appeal and targeting specific buyers in the market for art. Basically, in this model, you’re primary goal when choosing art is to answer the question: “will a certain audience buy this?” If you can find a large market that doesn’t have a ton of competition, you might be on to a winner!
Option 2 - Take photos that speak to you - the weirder the better - let the audience come.
The photographer Andrew S. Gray is a good example of this. His “landscape” photos certainly have a distinct look and feel to them. They seem more like paintings than photographs, but when we delve closer, we can see this is a master of both photography and the history of art in general.
His vision is clear, so his audience will instantly connect with his style:
Another photographer, Amanda Powell, is an example who inspires me with her dark and moody photos:
You can definitely get a sense for a style and vibe, and buyers looking for this kind of work will find Powell’s photography instantly appealing, and they’ll know EXACTLY who to come back to when they want that exact style of work.
The idea for option 2 is that your work might not be instantly or easily commercially appealing to a mass audience - but that might be GREAT. An audience that connects with your particular kind of “weirdness” will LOVE your work and want to buy it. You know why?
Because they can’t get it anywhere else.
Recently, I’ve been taking a lot of different types of photographs focusing on grainy, sometimes mysterious settings:
Who is the audience for these? Why would they buy them? It’s newer work for me, so I’m still trying to figure out what to do with them. Maybe it’s a book. Maybe no one will ever see these (except you). I’m not sure!
Remember: that’s OKAY! You don’t have to have all the answers right now. Keep shooting images that resonate with you, and there will be others that connect with your photos!
Tip 1 : When choosing photos, DO NOT ask your friends and family…
Look. Our friends and family love us. They want to be kind to us so they’ll sometimes be nicer than we need.
… or maybe not. Maybe they are evil creatures and they exist to cause you pain.
The point is that they are not neutral observers, and they are NOT your target audience (most likely).
So join some clubs. Get a mentor. Better yet, find places where your target audience might be, and ask them!
Posting online is fine, but likes don’t mean too much. I’ve had plenty of sales of images that got 5 likes and ZERO sales on some of my images that have tens of thousands likes. Social media isn’t a great way to find out, unless you have a really good group that you trust. (I have a group you might want to join - find out at the end of this post!).
Tip 2 - Do Mockups to see how they look on walls - make sure with your audience in mind!
You can create mockups to see how your art might look in a room using your audience persona we talked about earlier.
Here’s an example of my Etsy shop, which features a lot of mockups:
Customers can see what my art might look like in a room like theirs (modern farmhouse owners):
My favorite app for creating high quality mockups is “Smartist” - it’s super easy to use on the phone, computer or iPad, lets you import your own backgrounds, and you can even change the color of walls in their renderings. Really great app:
You can also do some mockups in Canva for free (they are limited), or use Photoshop.
Tip 3 - Modify and refine as you go! Look at your statistics.
Here is a snapshot of my Etsy shop as of right now:
Why do these photos have a lot of views?
LOCATION!
People are finding me with search terms that cover “Nebraska, Kansas, Omaha and Midwest.”
So that’s GOOD if I want to attract those people (I do), but it could be bad if those people aren’t buying (they are… sometimes!).
Tip 4 - It Takes Time…
Most of the best-selling Etsy shops have been around for a long time, have hundreds (sometimes close to a thousand) of listings.
It will take you some time, and as many quality listings as possible, before you find sales that will make you happy.
Need some motivation? Some help choosing?
Did you know I have a community you can join? It’s pretty fun! We do weekly livestreams, events, challenges, conversations about all kinds of photography topics… and it needs YOUR contributions!
In this community, we could workshop your prints, think of audience personas, review your mockups and much more. I think it’s going to be one of the best places on the internet for photography.
As always, THANK YOU!
If you know someone who might like this newsletter, share it! I’d love to continue to grow and help more photographers!
