Too Many Photos?

no you won't ever reach that limit. every image you load should be your best. that's it. i have close to 2500 images, all rather complex. some have closer to 9000. keep it organized and you'll do fine.

i view it like this - a tv show. to be good, you need a good story line and characters. the first season is fine. but to make people come back you need new episodes. if you have no new episodes, you'll have some that will watch but the rest will grow bored. you want to keep making new things to show people you haven't died off.

in the past i made 25 images and uploaded them all at once, took about a month to make and a week to upload, and it killed me. i make 3, upload in a day or so and move on to another 3. it's less stressful. you want choices, lots of them. but they shouldn't all look the same. it's like when you go to baskin robbins and they have all those choices, and while it seems over whelming it's not because you only like the chocolate flavors, and the rest are just background for that one flavor. but if your new, you would be confused if there was 16 choices that had chocolate in it, they all look the same. so they'll mix it up and make it look different from each other.

and with art its the same. some think its a good idea to make a 100 of the same thing with slightly different views, crops, colors, shades, etc. and i think that's a terrible idea. it's just another shade of chocolate. anyway, it's best to upload your best quality, things you like - not things you think other people will like.

you want to upload whenever you can. join twitter, find followers. get onto blogs, any place people can see your work.

---Mike Savad

Search the word "marketing" in the discussions - there are hundreds of threads to read through for info. No need to repeat here.

Its not Etsy, so you don't show up at the front of the line when you upload. Upload as soon as you have stuff to upload. No reason to wait.

No magic number. Some have few, but they market like crazy or are a household name - doesn't take much for them to sell. Others have 1000s to sell so they show up for every keyword you search.

That is a very good picture you illustrated, Mike! I will keep that in mine from now on. Thank you Heather for your insights and also a very good illustration.

I am open for more suggestions and opinions as well...

I had about 500 images on FAA at one time (not very long ago), but I deleted all of them and started over. For one, the competition is just too strong (on FAA and all over the internet).
So, I decided to show only images that currently hold my imagination....straight street images and "artsy" created images mostly in the neo expressionist style.

I have almost zero chance of selling any as I do very little personal marketing other than here, twitter, facebook and flickr. But I am happy and proud of my current images and that's what really matters to me. I have less than 70 images now on FAA but will add more images as I please (and I please).

You must understand that the competition is just about overwhelming..literally millions of artists attempting to sell tens of millions of photographs/paintings the world over.
It is my observation that most artists think they are "special" and one of a kind. We are not. We are one in a herd of millions all trying to earn a buck.

sometimes you have to be in it for the long haul. it's like putting fishing hooks into the water and pulling them out every 5 min. sometimes you have to let them soak to get a bite. erasing everything won't help in the long run. most stores will often have people streaming in and out of them for a while before someone buys something.

forget about competition.

because someone selling a 1000 flowers, frogs, bugs, macro's etc - aren't your competition is. its whoever has the same type of images as you do. looking at it that way, it's much less. however you also have to remember it's going to be on someones wall. and so it may not be at all compelling for that person to have strangers standing around a street corner hanging in their kitchen. unless there was something about a shot that said - this is where i live, or this is what i sell or whatever.

if i recall robert you had images of koi - i know those would have sold if you left them there. but every time you remove one, you break links and people will visit less. instead of removing them, advertise the old ones. competition will always be strong if no one knows you even exist.

---Mike Savad

The competition is stiff here - yes. but I think the number of active artists/photographers is a little fudged - I've checked almost all the nearby artist names that show up when I click on the "artist" button - and most of them are really inactive - they have a few images - but few have uploaded any recently.

That being said - the more photo's you have uploaded - the more chances to be seen in the forest of images.

edit PS: I haven't weeded in a while - my photo's - but then I've only had my 'photo account' open for nearly a year now. Every now and then - however - as I'm looking through them - I have to ask myself - would anyone really hang that on their wall?

There is no such thing as too many IF they are all quality.

Be careful though. Some of your work is on par with the very best FAA has to offer. Others tend more towards the " I could or have done that myself" variety. Not me personally but John or Jane Q public. You want to capture their imaginatin where they are wowed by your work. You HAVE work that does that.

Then you have a series shot from an airplane window that just about anyone who has ever in a window seat has done.

Be careful uploading just to uplaod. You HAVE talent and a great eye. Show those that highlight that.

Mike
U give good advice...Yes, I loved the images of my koi here on FAA...And you are probably correct as well. We (me) don't always do what is best for ourselves.

Thank you Roy for the feedback! JC, thank you so much for encouragement and the honest feedback! I will definatly be more careful with what kinds of images I upload!

If you're depending on search and descriptions to sell your artwork, both from Google and the rest and FAA, then you need hundreds and hundreds of images so you're found. If, however, being found through search and descriptions is gravy to the rest of your outside marketing then you only need to upload selective artwork a hand-full at a time.

and a mistake many seem to make, they rush it. they think that they need to create a magic number and sales will flow in. the work becomes kind of junky, all so they can reach a goal. and that's never a good idea. take your time on each piece and be a perfectionist. i never really added up how many i make a year, but i'd say it's around 400-500 new things give or take. the nice thing about the stuff you have up, it sits there, and someone may find it. where as a real store, you have to make physical inventory and then push it. so you can take your time and send them in whenever.

---Mike Savad

Shelby, look around and see what else is here. I have deleted probably 600 photos since I got here 4 years ago because I got better and some of the stuff had to go. I still purge once in a while.

I have not looked at your stuff, but will do so later....have to leave the office now, but look at it from this perspective. The more you have posted, the more chance you will be found. I have a day job so I don't market. I attribute my sales (which are nothing to write home about, but like once a month steady) to people stumbling over me because I do have a lot of stuff posted. That said, I leave the new stuff up front for about a month, then I move them back and put my best/most popular ones on the front page. Don't know if that helps, but psychologically, I'm talking myself into thinking it does LOL.

EDIT - ok, I just looked, Shelby, and you have some stunning images. If my wifi ever gets fixed at home (or if I remember tomorrow at work), I'll leave you some comments ;-)

Thank you for your thoughts, Mike and Frank! I will keep them in mind. Thank you so much Mary! It means a lot and I will also keep your ideas in mind.

Framing, editing, cropping, culling. All part of being a photographer. Food for thought:

“Painters add to a blank canvas; photographers subtract. Framing the shot, eliminating from the viewfinder everything non-essential, is only the first step in a process of escalating exclusion. Rejecting hundreds of negatives, selecting the few worth printing, then cropping those to accent their graphic power – that is the core of the photographer’s work.”

— http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b63ac7a4-05b7-11e4-8b94-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3Be3AS2sL

Hi, Shelby,

I'm going off-topic, for a minute; hope you don't mind.

I noticed that JC mentioned your 'plane window' shots, above, suggesting that they're something 'anyone' could do. (Which, I took as implying they are not a 'plus' for your portfolio.)

I disagree -- those shots are your work, showing your unique viewpoint. I think many of your window-seat shots -- especially the photos showing parts of the plane itself -- are very good. Some, of course, are stronger than others, but they're well composed and, as a group, make a nice showing -- especially to an enthusiast, like myself.

The titles could use a bit of re-thinking, but that's just my opinion . . . and I'm not the artist. If I were shopping, the titles certainly wouldn't stop me from buying them. ;-)

Have a million passengers taken photos from a window seat? Yes.
Have a million passengers taken those exact photos from a window seat? Absolutely not!

Have a million people taken pictures of the Washington Monument? Yes.
Have a million people taken JC's pictures of the Washington Monument? Nope!
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/twilight-jc-findley.html

My point is, there are potential buyers and admirers for every work of art. I don't believe I'm the only person who's drawn to window-seat shots; odds are there are many of us out there who enjoy seeing them in a photographer's portfolio. I consider them to be a plus -- not a minus.

If you think the work you've done is engaging, exciting, intriguing -- whatever -- post it! To viewers who enjoy the particular style or subject, having them available will only increase the overall attractiveness of your portfolio. Don't worry about pleasing all the people all the time; satisfy your own creative instincts first, then go out and find people who appreciate what you have to offer.

Just my unsolicited 2 cents. :-)

Thank you Edward and Wendy! It is very interesting to read the different points of view that each of you have on my portfolio and in the marketing business in general. I like hearing all the different ideas of "plans of attack!" :)

thing is about that - the reason many don't shoot a plane window is - its not that interesting. but more than that - it doesn't matter if they did take it or not. it's the thought that they - think - they can make it. and it lessens the effect on everything else.

the way i see it, if someone came in to your gallery, based on those images - do you think they will click your name to see the rest? or will they back out un-impressed by the work? while it's true people could buy something. you always want to present your best work that may be interesting to more than that one single person.

you'll also never please all the people, and no one should ever try. i know i sure don't. but i do try to cover all my bases.

---Mike Savad

Thank you again Mike! These are all very good thoughts to keep in mind....

I think you also have to do a "cost-benefit analysis" of the time you spend here. I have more than 300 images on FAA and, if I'm lucky, I sell one every three months or so. That's not much motivation to spend tons of time uploading. But, I use my portfolio as a marketing tool to generate interest in my work from other sources. It's a bargain to only pay $30 bucks a year for a professional looking web site that would likely cost much more if designed from scratch. I've actually gotten freelance work by sending the link to my FAA site to editors of magazines as an example of my work. Just one freelance assignment has paid me more than all the sales I've gotten through FAA customers.

Too many photos? That's like asking if a burger has too much bacon? Not possible.

Thank you for your insights, Kevin! Those are great ideas. Haha! true true... that helped to put it in perspective... there no such thing as too much bacon ;)

I'm shooting for 20,000! Wonder how long that will take?

Did someone say 'bacon'??? ;-)

Wendy .... you crack me up!!

Cathy ... you remind me of Thomas Hawk who's goal is to upload one-million photos to Flickr!! https://www.flickr.com/people/thomashawk/

You can do it, Cathy!

@Wendy... (looks up from CPU) What?! Bacon?!!

I have more than doubled my inventory since July... I was like 580, and now I'm 1402. I hope to be to 2000 by the end of the year. I have a plan!

Good for you, Cathy, for having a plan! How dose the saying go ... " if you fail to plan then you plan to fail" ??

bacon taco.

it's healthy because there is egg in it.

---Mike Savad

bacon technology has come a long way.


---Mike Savad

Haha you guys are great! Love it Mike :)

Ansel Adams famously said: "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop."

Its certainly not about quantity.

Agreed, Edward! I recently did an artist report on the great Ansel and found it very intriguing!

@Cathy, I am very curious as this is fairly new to me,and hope you don't mind me asking did your sales increase in the proportion to the added inventory you uploaded. I mean if you got x amount of sales with 500 images are you now getting double that when you reached 1000 and this is why your shooting for 20,000.? In other business I have I am able to estimate sales by adding additional inventory, double my listing double my sales more or less not to an exact science but certainly enough to see a pattern.

That bacon taco sure looks good Mike.

Doubling your inventory won't double your sales, just as doubling your promotion doesn't automatically double your sales. There is the law of diminishing returns.

You can't control your competition. They might be adding artwork and promoting at a higher rate. And/or you all might be outpacing the growth rate of buyers.

Plus if you offer a niche product, who is to say that you haven't already peaked among that specialize group? If you don't know your market size, then you have know why of knowing that the sales potential is.

Shelby don't forget to add descriptions to your work, it helps with Google searches.

I have just doubled my images in the last 2 months. I have received one sale during that time. The sale was one of the new images... That I would not have sold if I not uploaded the new stuff. My sales for that period were double what they would have been without uploading new images. So kinda sorta... Yes. I don't want to upload just anything... I still go back and delete images... And I'm trying to improve and shoot different ways, do new things. I'm still looking to create the one super image that will sell over and over. It is a hard market. I'm working it. I hoped to double last year sales this year... Don't think it will happen.., but I'm going to keep improving, marketing and working what I've got and creating new and different images.

they look hot, hard to hold. and i can only imagine what the real thing looks like.

doubling images wont' get you double sales, but it may increase your chances of being seen. that's all you really want.

what you can do is, create your own style of art, something others would have a tough time copying and take over that way. but that's the hard part, and separates the artists from the copycats.

any one of those images could become a lead in picture. an image that attracts attention, and leads in the customer to look at more. sort of like placing a model in a bikini to lure people in. once your inside, you may stay a while. if the AC is going, and it's hot outside, you might buy something as well. you may have images that are very pretty, but not wall worthy. but that image lead someone inside. i use that theory with my avatar, changing it each month ever so slightly, keeping main elements in place. if they like the avatar, they may want to see more. and i've gotten people to look just on that alone.

---Mike Savad

I've heard that being active in groups and entering contests can have a positive impact on visitors and sales. I hadn't done either and have decided recently to raise my visibility that way and see what happens. I've had increases in visitors, but it's had absolutely no impact on sales.

with groups, you'll get more traffic to the site. and contests, there may be a buyer lurking, as i've had sales posting to them. to sell they still have to like your work. but it's best to promote outside the site - because we aren't going to buy it.

---Mike Savad

Kevin, I am very active in both groups and in contest... I got a greeting card sale the other day but it didnt have very many views! The only thing I am thinking about how they found it was through a contest I had just entered. Only my personal thoughts :)

My sales took off when I decided not to participate in groups and spent that wasted time marketing to buyers not other sellers.