5 Mistakes To Avoid If You Want To Make Money Selling Your Photos Online

It can be frustrating when you are trying to sell your photography work online.

It feels extremely defeating to spend hours trying to create that “masterpiece’ photo, then taking it to sell online but no-one buys it. If you’re using 500px odds are no-one is even seeing it UNLESS you follow these guidelines.

Here are some tips straight from the horses mouth (500px) to help you get those images sold. Avoid these mistakes at all costs!

 

Dust on the sensor

Sensor dust shows up on your image and should be scrubbed out before submitting. A client would prefer to buy a file where they don’t have to spend time retouching something as basic, but noticeable, as dust. To avoid this scenario, be careful when changing your lenses. Always be aware of your environment and avoid wind, dirt and dust.

Chromatic aberration
Chromatic aberration or color fringing is a line of color, which occurs between a light and dark area of an image. This fringing will show up when the image is printed. You can prevent this by stopping down your lens (use a high f-stop). Avoid using a zoom lens at its maximum length, and use a high-quality lens. You should remove fringing before submitting your file. Additionally, software such as Lightroom now has powerful anti-fringing algorithms that can help remove fringing.

Over-sharpening
Sharpening is essential with digital photography, but one must be careful with the amount applied. Over-sharpening can cause a haloing effect. You want to avoid “crispy” edges, especially noticeable in trees and any other high contrast areas.

Using creative filters and HDR
HDR or High Dynamic Range must be used with caution. HDR can cause a ghosting effect, noise, extreme color saturation, and can make the overall image too soft. Be especially careful using HDR when there are people present as skin tones often become too saturated and discolored.

Digital noise and compression
Excessive noise greatly reduces photo quality and saleability. Limiting noise in your images is another reason to shoot RAW. Use a low ISO and avoid low light situations. Underexposing your image may introduce more noise in the shadows. Do not add unnecessary noise to cover up problems. It is much easier to reprocess your file so the problem can be corrected.

Read the rest of this article over on the 500px blog

Source: 500px