Marketing question, best selling.

I'm quite a ways off from starting to market some of my work but I figured I might as well start researching now.

I was just curious as to what everyone's best selling images were, as well as what size print seems to sell the best for them.

Any other advice observations would be appreciated as well.

Jeremy;

Great question, but keep in mind that questions such as this can spark long discussions...often accompanied by adult beverages

The one piece of advice that I can give is: it's not always the prettiest shots that sell, but the ones where there is a connection made between the image and the buyer. In terms of size in my experience appears to be the average size, i.e. 11x14. Hope this helps you!

CR

Jeremy, it won't surprise you to know that people buy images of places and animals that they live beside, or are visiting and enjoy. Iconic images often sell well. People will buy 11x14 to 16x20 and sometimes you will get requests for much larger images for a main room centerpiece or commercial site.

I agree with Bill's assessment. Of the photos I've sold (not a huge number by any means), I can't really say that there is a formula. But in the sale of prints, my experience is that familiar locations (to the viewer) sell better than unrecognized wilderness.

Certainly you can point to great atmospheric conditions, stunning view, great composition, or regal wildlife in a pastoral setting etc... But then everyone will say, "hey I sold tons of x, y and z and don't think they are my strongest shots". I think the only way to get a good feel for what sells is to put your work out there and see what happens.

Hank P was offering some advice to someone a while back that they show some discard prints on the table for the customer to look through as well, suggesting that this has generated sales and insight very well too.

But all of this speaks to selling slick commercial landscape of the Peter Lik/Michael Fatali variety. Perhaps that isn't your goal. You could just as well look through the landscape exhibits shown in modern museums and get an entirely different perspective on what sells (which can lead to another discussion on the nonsense found in many artist statements).

Or another point of view is to highlight how Ansel Adams and Edward Weston really lived. They did not put food on the table with their fine art photography. They did it with their commercial photography after making a name for themselves in the art world. There are tons of wedding/product/commercial photographers who do the art they love on the side. Or you could point out the other side of the art world which says "how do you make a small fortune in the art business? You start with a large fortune." Eliot Porter and Alfred Stieglitz are some examples of this model where their financial independence afforded them the ability to truly invest themselves in their vision without compromise until the money came.

One thing is for certain. Photography is a tough business. There are certainly many formulas for success. It can vary from a photographer selling postcard perfect shots of icons at the visitor's center, to a large commercial practice, to the stock photo market (less so these days), to publication, on and on...

Mel makes a great point in his final paragraph, but you must always remember: HAVE FUN DOING IT!!!

Great points already made, and I'll pretty much re-enforce them here...

I like doing landscape photography, vistas as well as intimate landscapes. I sell a variety of scenes based on the "been there, want to remember it" purchaser. But my best-selling shots seem to be florals - both intimate and landscape. They're not necessarily my technically best shots, nor my favorites aesthetically. But they are shots that I think are emotionally appealing to the buyer.

Most of my sales are 12x18" prints, matted to 18x24" (I don't take many images that would print at 11x14").

Here's a link to another thread that gets into this discussion a bit as well. It doesn't start though until about half way through this thread. http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=47633&CGISESSID=327cfa450cc725d1924047e53382a8d8&u=25050

Landscapes sell way more often than wildlife. Wildlife shots that do sell can usually be classifed as "cute", "adorable", etc. (yes, that means baby animals). Bird sales usually revolve around bald eagles and owls (rarely songbirds, hawks, waterfowl, waders). An average landscape icon shot (blue sky,sunny day) will usually sell better than a very dramatically lit landscape of an unknown place, but combine dramatic light with an icon and that is usually a winner.
When you decide to sell, do so for the love of photography, not the possible income you hope to bring in.

I'm working on my 2nd $million$. I gave up on the first!

The other advice you will hear a lot is "Don't quit your day job!" Man, I would if I could--in a heartbeat--but selling prints won't cover my mortgage payment. (Maybe I should take a workshop?? )

All joking aside, its hard to tell what will sell and what won't. I'm always surprised at what people like--its usually NOT what I would consider my best work. I think Mel summed it up very well. Offer a range of images (what you consider your best but also some of your 2nd-tier stuff) and a few different sizes and see how it goes. Build from there.

I'm pretty much in the same area as Les. I have sold a number of 12x18's matted to 18x24. That is a standard frame size at most of the frame stores (Aarons, Hobby Lobby, etc.) You can always do custom framing and I have a person who gives me wholesale pricing for that. I've had a few requests for 20x30 but you have to check around for pricing on that. 11x14 is another popular size as mentioned above.

As far as what sells best, it is anybody's guess! I've sold images which I didn't think would sell at all so to me it is really what the buyer is looking for...they are the ones who make the connection to the image. Classics like Maroon Bells, Crystal Mill and fall images almost always do well.

On a side note, I just returned from six days in the San Juan Mts. I had a several images I really liked and I decided to take one image and do an HDR and a single exposure for comparison. I printed both images and asked some of my customers what they liked best. Almost every one of them liked the single exposure better even though there was more detail in the HDR composite. I think in the future I will do more blending than HDR based on their input. Blending is not an area I'm familiar with yet but from what others on this forum are saying, it gives you a lot more control over the final product.

Good luck!

Jeremy,
I have made my living in the protrait/wedding field for over 30 years now and at this period in my life I am traveling and doing landscapes, but, still my livng is made in traditional portrait work. That said, landscape work affords me a pleasure and fullfilment hard to acheive in my " real business" Still, I am a retailer and market my landscape work activley. It is much more involved than putting up a website and waiting for the orders to roll in.For me that means calling on businesses, clinics, hospitals, ect to help them find ways to fill up all that wall space. I sell to old clients and do high quality art fairs. In short, it is like any other business......networking and pounding the pavement. Good luck to you.
Joe Rogers

Eirk, I read your linked post, and I could agree with yours and Hank's comments anymore. Spot on, as it should be since you both have been doing this gig for a little while and might know what your talking about. I especially like where Hank is talking about brining your reject photo's and it will outsell your prized photos. It's funny how many times I'm flipping through photo's and the one's you wouldn't dare posting on here are the ones non photographers like the best. Simple non dramatic blue skies. Alot of people don't visit some of these icon locations at early morning or evening at best light. They were there in the middle of the day and remember the simple blue skies and that's the memory they have of the location.

Interesting post and thanks for sharing.

I just read the link that Erik referred too and there is some great information there as well. I love what Hank says about taking our "rejects" and letting people handle them...you never know what sales that can generate. The other thing I like was about print sizes and orientation. Horizontals are more popular (at least from what I've sold) and hopefully you have a camera that can produce those larger behind the sofa images. 12X18's don't work for that unless you can use them as a series.

Jeremy, I've sold a few pieces through Leaf and Bean here in town. You could put a few pieces together and give that a try. They do have a backlog of artists so be prepared to wait to get in and they do want a commission. Good place to try it out.

Yeah, I by no means expect to make much money from the landscape aspect of photography, just hopefully enough to pay for some gas and maybe some camera gear. I had guessed familiarity played a large role in what sells. Thanks for the info, I find this sort of thing fascinating.

I know that I'm a bit late to the party, but I've been thinking about your question - it takes me awhile to process, I guess. There's some great insite here and I agree with Don and Mel. I also think there are opportunities to shoot icons; as David Muench said "they're icons for a reason". Just do it in your own way that hasn't been seen before. There's a good number of really excellent photographers here that aren't concerned with what will sell - they're truly in uncharted territory in terms of creativity and finding fresh stuff. Beautiful photography that is well-presented will always have a market, which is your challenge. Shoot incredible stuff and get it in front of people. Learn to be an expert print maker. Serious buyers will appreciate, and buy your work. So my advice is shoot from the heart and make great images that you like. Eventually a style emerges and your work stands out from the herd.

On a side note, I just returned from six days in the San Juan Mts. I had a several images I really liked and I decided to take one image and do an HDR and a single exposure for comparison. I printed both images and asked some of my customers what they liked best. Almost every one of them liked the single exposure better even though there was more detail in the HDR composite. I think in the future I will do more blending than HDR based on their input. Blending is not an area I'm familiar with yet but from what others on this forum are saying, it gives you a lot more control over the final product.

Jack, would you mind posting the single vs hdr final images for us to compare?

Also, it would be really helpful if folks would post their best selling images or links to them so others could see what is working in the current marketplace.

EDIT: I would term "best selling" as the number of times a specific image was sold, not the amount of revenue generated.

"Also, it would be really helpful if folks would post their best selling images or links to them so others could see what is working in the current marketplace. "

I though it would be really neat to see all these images as well.

Here you go Jeremy. I don't necessarily like all of these but they are my best sellers. I have a database built by Brad Beeler which tracks my sales for all 1,270 images that I offer. http://imagesofrmnp.com/gallery.php?gallery=bestseller

Thanks Erik, your longs peak images and dream lake photo are pretty amazing, don't find it surprising at all that those sell well.