I need more information than was given when this issue was broached in a previous thread. If the intention of my website is to sell photography prints and notecards is it ok to have a sub-folder of less than stellar works or does that cheapen the whole experience. Look at my page now, everything on the homepage is what I view to be the best at this moment in time. But then we have the Photographer Galleries folder where we upload stuff worth editing and worth looking at but not of stellar OMG quality. What are your thoughts on this?
That's a very good and appropriate question, Benjamin! The mantra that was drummed into me on starting out was "A submission is only as good as your weakest shot." Any time we are doing a competitive submission, we're really fierce in culling all but the best. Submissions to clients from hired shoots get the same kind of treatment, with the exception of really critical segments for which content is so important that sub-stellar photography is acceptable simply due to critical content. And we hang our heads each time we're forced to do it. We have to do that less and less each year, so it hurts even more when it still happens. We're so adamant that we'll often both shoot on challenging shoots, even if we're only charging the clients for a single photographer. We call it "insurance," but take it as an indicator of how important really good photography is for submissions.
I suspect the same applies to web sites where you're trying to sell images, and people wonder why you have mediocre shots there. I think it would be much better to have just a few great shots and nothing else, rather than a few great ones mixed mediocre. You'll continue to build your collection over time and your site can grow with it. I haven't looked at your site due to my slooooooooow, slow, slow connection, so take this as objective advice and no reflection on your work.
That's great info--my brief experience has been it IS very difficult to sell photos online. But back to this subject, I know think I need to clean a lot out of my galleries. Great reading in several of these threads.
I ask my wife to look at every piece before I put it up to make sure the quality is up to the highest standards (she has NEVER had a problem telling me when I am wrong about anything).
That's invaluable isn't it, Glenn! The single most difficult thing to arrange in "art" is objective criticism from a supporter. They'll all tell you something is "wonderful," whether to avoid hurting your feelings or simply lack of knowledge.
And here's the deal: Every single successful artist I know in any venue is pretty hopeless at objectivity about their own work, at least from the business standpoint. It reflects especially in their pricing. All of them, every single one, rely on someone else to do their pricing. They simply can't put a price on their own work! Isn't that amazing?
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4 replieshttp://www.dajdesignsphotography.com
I suspect the same applies to web sites where you're trying to sell images, and people wonder why you have mediocre shots there. I think it would be much better to have just a few great shots and nothing else, rather than a few great ones mixed mediocre. You'll continue to build your collection over time and your site can grow with it. I haven't looked at your site due to my slooooooooow, slow, slow connection, so take this as objective advice and no reflection on your work.
Troup
That's invaluable isn't it, Glenn! The single most difficult thing to arrange in "art" is objective criticism from a supporter. They'll all tell you something is "wonderful," whether to avoid hurting your feelings or simply lack of knowledge.
And here's the deal: Every single successful artist I know in any venue is pretty hopeless at objectivity about their own work, at least from the business standpoint. It reflects especially in their pricing. All of them, every single one, rely on someone else to do their pricing. They simply can't put a price on their own work! Isn't that amazing?