Looking for design inspiration?   Browse our curated collections!

Return to Main Discussion Page
Discussion Quote Icon

Discussion

Main Menu | Search Discussions

Search Discussions
 
 

Mike Savad

10 Years Ago

This is my latest blog entry for anyone that wants to read it. It's a little long, but throughly enjoyable.

Evaluating your own work to sell – by Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com
http://www.suburbanscenes.com
Zazzle - Suburban Scenes by Mike Savad


To learn how to critique yourself visit:
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=908258

Art Prints

Selling images is not that easy. And explaining to people why they are not selling often comes out more like an insult then anything else. Some people make it look easy, but it's not. Selling often comes down to marketing and who you market too. But more importantly you need to have work that people want to buy.

I know that sounds obvious, but it's harder then it seems. Cameras are everywhere today, each person may be carrying 1-3 cameras on them. Phones, digicam's, SLR's, there are so many – “wanna be photographers”, that it's actually quite hard to convince others that the pictures you take are better than the ones they take.

When I first started digital photography there were no POD sites, there were only places to display images. You were able to get comments on your work, but that was about it. Later on critique sites showed up, these are valuable sites and everyone should join these. You can learn how to critique yourself and be able to spot your own mistakes. However many people skip these kinds of sites now, and try selling as soon they starting taking pictures. This is a big mistake and a big blow against your ego. Because not everything is sellable. Many will take vacation snap shots, and in their head, they thing because this is a gallery, then my things will sell. The customers will be fooled into thinking that my images are actually art, because they are in a gallery. And I've seen the trash that sells in a real gallery, so my work is a real winner by comparison. But the reality is, buyers are smarter than you, art is expensive and a luxury item. And they are very careful what they will buy. People will buy things they can't make themselves or they really have to like what you offer them.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before posting or editing an image:

1. Does my image look like a snap shot?

A snap shot will look messy, cluttered or really busy. The photographer will know what they took a picture of, but the audience has no freaking clue. Very often the photographer will shoot a scene that is too wide, often showing clutter not related to the story the image should have. For example, if you take a picture of a flower, get close to it, and don't have a ton of background. Otherwise no one will know that is the main reason you took that picture. A flower, that has a background may have other elements in it such as people, signs, lamps, trees, cars, etc, if your eye is skipping all over the place, no one will know that the flowers at the bottom are the main attraction (this is what a busy image is).

Snap shots are usually fast impromptu shots that had no real intentions when you shot it. You might see a piece of an arm, a crooked horizon, a very busy image with lots of cars, piece of houses cut off, the crop being too tight (where as the subject is touching the edges), and images without a story. Everyone has snapshots, but usually they stay at home. It's very rare for one to sell. The most common snap shot is a person standing in front of a sign, or smack in the center of a scene. Most good images that are not designed to be a portrait or street photography, won't have people in it (unless they add to the scene).

2. Would I buy my own art?

This is a trick question, because to save face you will always say yes. But would you actually do it? Would you buy your own art, have it framed, etc – for yourself or as a gift? Would you proudly hang it on the wall of your living room as a 36 inch print? If your hesitant, then the answer is no. And if the answer is no, then why would anyone else?

Another way to look at this is, if you were looking for art yourself, and you saw images very similar to the ones you shot – would you buy them? I'm betting the answer is no, because you have shots just like these, and guess what, so does the buyer. Is the work better than yours, and that's why you would buy it? Make sure your work is just as good as the person you would buy from.

3. Who am I making this for?

Every image should have a target in mind. There shouldn't be an “anyone” in your mind, it should be a “someone”.

A someone picture has an intended target in mind. A picture of Boston would attract people that lived in Boston at one time. Or maybe they still live there. A picture of a kitchen would be for people that bake, or need kitchen related art. If your image is of a random scene, and it's hard to tell who your focus is, then it will be hard for the buyer as well. Not knowing who the image would go to, makes it hard to market as well. So be careful what you display. Try not to have the same scene more than twice, choose 2 views and move on to the next batch.

4. What room of the house is my image for?

For example, would your art look good in a living room? Or a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, bedroom, dorm room, office, etc? Not all work looks good everywhere. Many are under a false impression that you need lots of work to gain followers and sales. But you can't just fill the gallery with junk photos. Each image should look as good as the last one. And it should look good in any room of a house. You want to present each image as if it was going in a gallery of some kind. And there aren't many galleries that will except your cat photos.

5. Maybe your work is too good, but it's either a bit boring, or it blends with other people's work too much

I find that there is a plateau in photography in which if you move in a steady line, your photography starts to look like everyone else's. And while it looks nice, and it looks professional, it looks like all the others. If your name isn't associated with that image, or the location or style isn't associated with you, you may not get sales. For example, most stock photography looks the same. Many landscapes of mountains look the same. Partly they look the same because people idolize a certain photographer and copy their style. And now there are two of you – with the same type of photos.

So make sure your work not only stands out against other people's images, but make sure it looks better than theirs. Or more special or unique.

6. Your work is very good, but not very original

This goes hand in hand with the one above. Your work needs to stand out on it's own, it should tell a story if possible. It should have good color balance where applicable. It should look like a really nice picture, however, because it's not original, it will blend in with other images.

For example landscapes are tougher to do than they look. A good landscape is deep, sharp, and is fairly clutter free. A great landscape has interest beyond the first category. Cool looking clouds, a formation, the way the light shoots through them. The shadows on the ground that create a certain amount of depth and scale. The small town that's near by showing you a way of life and again scale. A fantastic landscape is one where you might have camped out overnight in a spot no one knows about. The light is just right, the farmer is in his field guiding his sheep. The animals are frolicking about. A fantastic shot is where you spend a lot more time and energy getting that one photo. Compared to a beginner which would snap it on his way to the next stop. Now that doesn't mean that the person who spent 5 min is any worse than the one who took hours to do it. But the one who took more time may have a more original looking image than the one that other people. Taking the beaten path often yields more interesting results because most people would take the easy path.

And this is true for any of the other art forms. Good artwork looks nice, it's complete looking, it has a wow factor and it looks polished.

Photography Prints

Using baking as an example of what good, great, and fantastic is. (I like comparing it to food because everyone has eaten something at least once in their life).

GOOD - You bought cake mix and frosting from a store. You made the cake and frosted the cake yourself. The finished result is a cake that looks nice, and should taste good, but you didn't do a lot of work making it.

In photographic terms, you took the picture and gave little thought about your presentation. If you were a part of a tour group and you couldn't leave the path to get a better shot, your image would look just like theirs. The scene is OK to look at but isn't anything special, it's almost snap shot in quality. Often taken mid day when the shadows are the strongest, it's a nice view, but 400 other people have the exact same view.

GREAT - You made your own cake from a family recipe. Made your own icing. You decorated the cake. It tastes pretty good, better then cake in a box.

In photographic terms, you went a little out of your way to get a shot. Like when I go on vacations I don't get a choice of when we arrive. If the light is harsh, then it is, too bad for me. If there is a sign in the way, or garbage on the ground I have to shoot around it, or clone it out later. I rely on editing to make a shot look better. I don't have the dedication it might take to get some of those fantastic shots. But you might go off the beaten path, try angles that are not common. You might lie on your back, or on your tummy, getting that shot. You might try different lenses, or just do really stupid things to get the shot. Your images are different and original, but they might not have the super impact of fantastic photography.

FANTASTIC - Using your own recipe, you make a cake from scratch. You might have gone as far as growing your own ingredients, but most likely you bought most of your stuff from a gourmet store. You made your own vanilla using 3 kinds of beans. Everything you made is totally from scratch, so you have full control over the finished cake. You don't follow the traditional shapes or icing methods, you have your own way of doing it, something that sets you apart from everyone else. You have years of experience behind you. Your cake is far superior to any other cake you can buy in a store.

In photographic terms, You went out of your way to get the shot. You camped out over night, just so you can get the morning sun rising over the mountains. You brought your own props, like a boat, a model, chairs, etc just to make sure there was a story, or something of interest (you thought ahead). You went out of your way to get the picture, like hiking a tall mountain (not for the thrill, but to get a new angle). You jumped from air planes, or went out into the jungle, you rented helicopters to get a new angle. You did stuff far beyond what any sane person would do, just to get that shot. But the work stands out. Whether you spent hours in the darkroom, photoshop, or got it right from the camera, your work stands out against everything and it's instantly recognizable as yours.

And just for comparison, I placed the snap shot at the bottom


SNAPSHOT - Speaking in cake terms, a snap shot would be a Styrofoam practice cake with icing added in a sloppy way. You can tell the cake was made by a beginner just by looking at the roughly placed icing and the mess they left on the table. When cut into, it there's nothing special inside, and you wouldn't want to eat it. It's something anyone with any skill can make.

In photographic terms, a snap shot is something you took usually on vacation. People buying their first camera usually take snap shots. They are often impressed with themselves that they were able to take the image. Usually they don't see any of the details that make an image poor looking. Such as, crooked horizon, major perspective distortion, things cut off, people cut in half, garbage on the ground, over or under exposed areas, a really busy cluttered scene (element in the image that has nothing to do with the image itself), nothing in focus. Its an image that anyone can make, and you really want to avoid snapshots, they can taint your reputation.

Sell Art Online

7. You might be very new, or not well known yet.

Selling anything takes word of mouth, or in this case, word of eye. You need to advertise yourself everywhere, you want people to be able to recognize your art the instant they see it. However this is a two edged sword, if your work is below average in quality, the only thing your doing is digging your own grave. Get good first, then push your name.

It's exciting starting a new business and you want it to go well. You have dreams of getting lots of money because you saw other people get lots of money selling the same thing. You overlooked your own quality because you only saw dollar signs. You pushed your work really hard, but when people came to look at it, all they saw was low quality items. Pushing snapshots, images that are deemed to be tossed in a fire – you don't want people seeing those, ever. This is why it's important to get good, before you try to sell things. Because it's hard to get a good reputation and even harder to get it back once lost.

8. Has anyone tried contacting you about your work?

Often you'll know your work is sellable to the market place when people out of the blue contact you to work out a deal of some kind. Often when this happens they are con artists looking to score a buck off an inexperienced artist who will be more than happy to hand over their images for pennies. It's up to you if you want to pursue this. But at this point you'll know if your work has a real value or not. Because people that are experienced at selling art, will be able to recognize quality when they see it. So if they see yours, and you get some interest, you know your ready to sell to other people.

You can take that as a positive sign that you made it to the level of selling things to the public (without having to beg). So way to go, eat some cake, it's homemade, I made it myself. Now you just have to market yourself.

9. Is your work steal worthy?

Yeah, I know it's not the best gauge, and yet it is. If people are willing to take it and add it to their pages, then other people are willing to pay for the same thing (just not the people that stole it). You'll know how well it will sell and how fast it will sell, based on how many times someone stole that image. Stealing will happen, it's impossible to stop.

If you have lots of images and you find that no one wants to take your work that could be a clue why your not selling. Some things aren't worth taking (while your reading this, I am not giving you permission to steal my work).

10. Your not well known yet.

Many people are under the illusion that as soon as they post something to a new site, or open a store, that people will flock over to them, tossing money in their direction. And while that could happen, it's not likely too. There are many other artists out there that have been working it longer than you have. And even if you have Grade A material, people have no idea who you are. You usually have to get known before people want your items. Mostly because they have to find you. You have to advertise yourself to every medium you can to be seen. Because images are something you have to see, each of your images need to be posted in many locations. After awhile people will connect your name with your images, and all they have to do is hear your name and that will be enough.

Art Prints


---Mike Savad




Reply Order

Post Reply
 

Richard Rizzo

10 Years Ago

Great post and tips Mike !!

 

GuoJun Pan

10 Years Ago

Thank you Mike, selling is really not easy!

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

Ah poo.... gotta remove all my work now :(

Good post Mike and am adding to my list

 

Mike Savad

10 Years Ago

well if you remove it, then nothing will sell. though it's easy to market nothing, i get those in my email all the time. viagra this, million dollars that...


---Mike Savad

 

Alexandra Till

10 Years Ago


Good one, Mike. Thumbs up.

 

Greg Jackson

10 Years Ago

Mike,

Interesting pseudo-military uniform in your new avatar.

 

GuoJun Pan

10 Years Ago

Mike I warry about my qulity, I really want to generate my work without post process.
How about this one here(with a simple Anti-aliasing process) :
Photography Prints

 

Andrew Read

10 Years Ago

Good info Mike, quick question...you were talking of where a purchaser would buy art for...eg, living room, etc...should you add that to tags....say, living room, indoors...bathroom...and is it good to mention these things in your bio or under the said art piece?

 

Mo T

10 Years Ago

Great tips...ps. Love Your uniform Mike :D

 

Dale Ford

10 Years Ago

Mike, you are a treasure trove of practical advice, inspiration and wonderful art. Gratitude.

 

Alfred Ng

10 Years Ago

Mike, like your "Village People" outfit!

 

Marianna Mills

10 Years Ago

Great info Mike. I like the way how you try to help others by sharing your experiences.

Even my work is quite close to your description to be a good sellable art (and I do sell them time to time) but I feel unconfident about myself, and many times I feel I am not good enough to keep creating, as I see so many great art from other artist.

I really don't know if it's a normal feeling to have, or my work is just not as good.
Do you feel this way sometimes, or are you always confident about your art?

 

Natalie Holland

10 Years Ago

Very informative post, Mike! Thanks!

 

Angelina Tamez

10 Years Ago

Marianna...I think that is a regular struggle for many artists.

 

Mike Savad

10 Years Ago

@andrew - i'm not sure about the location in the tags, because it could be spammy, since it's not a livingroom. and yet at the same time i guess it would be ok, you would have ask beth she what she would say, since she would make you erase it. i suppose adding decor would be better or something like that, where it's generic.


the outfit is for memorial day. i'm thinking that cross dressing might turn off people that don't know me. i made this one for a steampunk piece i didn't send yet, this is technically Dictator Mike, but it works for holidays such as these as well.

@marianna - mostly you need confidence, and you shouldn't care about what other people think about your work. i know sure don't. i can't say i'm confident about any one piece only that based on elements in the image it should sell based on what sold in the past. and i go from there. i've often heard - if you act confident, people will think you are. if you say you know something or talk with authority, then other people will respect that.

@guojun - i can't say if it's good or bad. the question is - do you like it? would you buy it? that's all i can really say. it's best to always do your best. like if you were fixing your house, you would do your best job because it's for you. if it was for someone else you might skimp on details. assume everything you do is for you and it will always be your best. it should never be "good enough" for the customer. nit picking is good.


---Mike Savad

 

Alfred Ng

10 Years Ago

I like to add: you need to constantly adding new works to keep the buyers coming back to visit. Some only has a dozen of so images and just sit and wait for a sale.

 

Ana Belle

10 Years Ago

naks, steal worthy... i like that!

 

Sydne Archambault

10 Years Ago

Excellent post Mike! A worthy read for all of us! And by the way, you look snappy in that uniform this morning!

 

I appreciate your tips and writing style.

 

A Souppes

10 Years Ago

fantastic write up and solid advice, enjoyed reading it. thanks mike

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

Mike is right,

'decor','interior design', etc is good but, unless the word is part of the image, (is the image OF a living room?) then it is spamming

 

Sweetabow

10 Years Ago

Thanks for the practical and well-spoken advice. It's always good to have a reminder to see things as a buyer and give ourselves an honest evaluation. :)

 

Janice Drew

10 Years Ago

Mike...you have to be one of the most helpful people on FAA. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your advice with all of us. I still say you missed your calling. You would have been one helluva teacher. Maybe it's the new avatar, but I salute you!

 

Mike Savad

10 Years Ago

eh... teacher smeacher. that kind of thing involves being with people and tolerating them, that's not really me. every so often i have something rolling in my head, and instead of chanting it to myself, i spill it out on a page. then my mind can go back to whatever it was doing.


---Mike Savad

Show All Messages

Big Skip

This is a very popular discussion with 340 responses.   In order to help the page load faster and allow you to quickly read the most recent posts, we're only showing you the oldest 25 posts and the newest 25 posts.   Everything in the middle has been skipped.   Want to read the entire discussion?   No problem: click here.

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

Evaluating Your Own Work To Sell – By Mike Savad Not pirated, I asked first

 

commenting here so i can follow this i have to come back and read all the tips! thank you for putting this together for us! maybe I can learn something from it :)

 

GJ Glorijean

2 Years Ago

Mike what I did with my mom's letters to make them into imaginary teapots I thought was so amazing... I also just got proof back from the printer they printed great... I have no idea what you are trying to tell/teach me, but I sure appreciate your wisdom, and will try to research it to understand...

Thx for how you can buy your own name/brand and be more visible here on FAA/pixels...

Glad you stopped by Adrian... GJ

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

but they won't print many of them here, because they are not only stretched over an object, but they are huge. you like them but many are soft or jaggy up close. the site itself wouldn't print it because its expensive when a huge canvas has to come back. everything should be sharp at a 100% when you zoom in. i don't know how large an image you printed, but anything will look good small. its when you print it large you'll see the image is very stretched and blurred.


----Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

GJ Glorijean

2 Years Ago

when I take a small cp image say, the FAA web pricing page TELLS ME THAT IT ISN"T GOOD ENOUGH to print & will only allow sizes that conform to the size... so some of these are indeed huge. I think it's a screen issue.... Just like print colors are made different than screen colors...

For ex the WIDE format I shoot are large format images and they always come up blurry... I have printed out 8 ft x 4 ft work barely got it in the doorway since it was canvas;
it does not look blurry... But it does in the thumb prints bc it is huge... GJ glorijean

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

if you stretch something out - the site doesn't know from how it will print until they look at it.

Wall Art
this is a good example of something that won't print. there is no need uploading an image 14,000x8000. the site doesn't print it that size, 6200 or so should really be the limit. upscaling it like this will only make the printer not print it.

you take your own chances having images that can't print. buyers may not come back, and the site may remove prices if they think it can't be printed.

its not a screen issue.


----Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

GJ Glorijean

2 Years Ago

Wondering what on earth do the people w/ 48 MB cameras do,
the largest file here on FAA is 25MB.... I have been pushing myself to make larger file formats...

It just doesn't make sense... Even my Linked IN is accepting larger files...

I'll leave it here... it will take me loads of time to unravel, reorient,
and grasp the wisdom you have imparted. Appreciative, GJ glorijean

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

larger only works if you start with a large image. you can't have a small image and make it large.

as for what we do, we save it lower or make it smaller. generally saved at an 11, works fine most of the time. i've been colorizing images that are around 100mp, and those i have to shrink down a bit.

some day the site might have larger files, but i've been asking since i got here, and i've been here for at least 10 years now.

now for the teapots, you can scan the letters in at say 1200dpi, that would give you enough resolution to get it to print.


----Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

GJ Glorijean

2 Years Ago

is there a way to save this thread &/or return to it so I can reply later on after trying a larger dpi scan...
It's not showing in my faa email inbox...

I think what I'm doing w/ my mom's letters is different than how you are viewing it....
I don't want the letters to appear in full detail... Sure that would be easy.
I'm trying to abstract the letters instead of burning them; then transformed into the imaginary teapots to make them palatable.

It was an unexpected gift in a much more tedious lifetime project... impact from my mom being in WWII...
The letters would not make any sense to anyone, except that they are making sense to me & need to be expressed.
Soo I am using the art to present in a whole new way... The book I just published out with all 70 teapot letters came out great.

Okay in my DoLoMo Collection.... Here's where I was 08/2020 in my mom's letters & artifacts & my juxtaposition... The postcard was digitized much bigger but I make a story page that turned into this montage of postcard, photos and artifacts that looked like this:

Canvas Art

Then I transformed the written into abstract art-

Canvas Art

Then I transformed it into this Teapot Letter, so the letters are being read, but presented... only I know what they mean, but stand as art works:

Buy Art Online

GJ glorijean




 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

when you reply you can add it to your watch list, as long as you don't watch too many things, it should stay there for a while. you can also just bookmark it.

i am just looking at the close up box on the site. if i can't see perfectly sharp letters in the close up, but instead its blurry, choppy, jaggy etc, then it probably won't print.


the close up of the teapot has a lot of jaggy letters. all the diagonals are rough. they are rough because you enlarged the original as the flat one is also not printable. in the postcard, the text is printable, but JFK is badly blurred. you can't take a 3000px image, then quintuple the size. every time you enlarge it, it gets worse.

so instead you get a scanner, scan it at 1200 dpi, this will give you a pretty huge image. can't do a lot about jfk they used a soft image, may be better to just remove him. because it looks like he's making out with himself in the teapot. then go on with the repeats.

Sell Art Online
this is a properly scanned image, i also sharpened it a bit to get out detail. if you click on the green box you can see clarity, it doesn't look blurred or stretched out. and i won't or will never need to make it larger because its plenty large.

but that is the clarity you are going for.

----Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Alexey Larionov

2 Years Ago

Hello ! Please tell me how to correctly set the parameters of the works, what were they sold?

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

What do you mean by parameters?

If its sold you know the town name and state and that's it.


----Mike Savad
http://MikeSavad.com

 

LORRAINE RANDALL

2 Years Ago

Great blog Mike, some good information. Thank you. Best Regards Lorraine.

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

Resetting the closing timer on this.

----Mike Savad

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

Another 2 months, have to keep it from closing.


----Mike Savad

 

Lucia Waterson

2 Years Ago

I don't understand why I see my own mistakes only after uploading.

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

What mistakes?


----Mike Savad

 

Lucia Waterson

2 Years Ago

The mistakes that you mention here, like cropping not exactly. Or the image is not balanced, in one side for example there is too little space. Or something in a photo that I should have deleted and I didn't notice before. I read this before, I think everything looks OK. I get all excited, maybe I rush, I upload, I'm happy. I go back the day after and I see mistakes.
And I get nervous, because I have to edit the image and I know it's not good.

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

The site doesn't do that, you have to do that.

Take your time when you edit. Zoom in at 200% and see if there are any mistakes. Make sure the horizons are straight. Check the color, look for noise etc. There is no need to rush to get things up here.

See everything with a critical eye, or ask for critiques either at home or here and learn from them. Then apply them for the future.

I will fuss with an image for hours removing stuff I don't like or improving the color, add things If I need too etc. As you remove things that are bad, your eyes will jump to the next mistake, and the next etc. And when it finally stops jumping and sits on the item that you want people to see, then decide if your done.



----Mike Savad

 

Lucia Waterson

2 Years Ago

Yes, you are right. It's all true what you say. Thank you so very much for your help!

 

Mike Savad

2 Years Ago

Bump

----Mike Savad

 

Mike Savad

1 Year Ago

2 month bump up.


----Mike Savad

 

Mike Savad

1 Year Ago

Ignore this dot.

.


----Mike Savad

 

Katie Keenan

1 Year Ago

Excellent post! Thank you!

 

Linda Bianic

1 Year Ago

Great tips Mike, thanks for your knowledge and info!

 

Zkeyz Charm

1 Year Ago

Thanks for the tips!

 

GEORGE SANTAMOURIS

1 Year Ago

Thank you for your tips

 

Susanna Schorr

1 Year Ago

Thank you, Mike.

 

This discussion is closed.