I wanted to tell you all about a new web service that I have just joined; it is called Photo4me and it’s brilliant.
I know, it sounds a bit like Phones4U or something like that – that put me off for a bit because I thought that it might be a little gimmicky. I was looking for somewhere else to sell my photographs – another market so to speak. I am glad that I finally looked into it as I am really excited at the prospect of selling through their site. Hot on the trails of me joining 500px Prime and Fine Art America, I decided to sign up with Photo 4 Me.
Photo 4 Me is a U.K. based photo site where you can put any of your photographs (preferably those which would look good as wall art) onto their site. If they get through the “quality control” phase can be sold. Where they differ from traditional stock libraries is the product fulfillment function of the site – if someone wants to buy your image they have the option to have them presented as a canvas print, a large print, a framed print, an acrylic print, a box print or a wooden print (a textured layer that shows the grain of the wood through your image – it is very effective). All of these prints are available in a large variety of sizes to suit every wall – they sort out the production and delivery of the goods with your image on it to your customer; all you have to do is put your image on there and set your profit margin and the minimum and maximum amount that you expect to receive for your artwork. You get paid 30 days after you make a sale through PayPal (so you would have to set up an account if you haven’t got one).
Tidal scene in abstract.
It is possible to put your images up on the site but not have them go forward for sale – I suppose that you would build up your collection online as you might with other sites like Flickr.
It is free to join whatever path you take.
When you first start out, you can submit up to ten images per day which they look at closely after thirty images they begin to trust you a little more because you will have learned what sort of standard they expect by then. After that the site sort of polices itself; if the standard of your images falls another members are encouraged to flag it up in order to keep a consistent standard, but let’s face it, your images are not going to sell if you’re not giving them your best stuff.
One of the good things about the site apart from the chance of supplementing your hobby or business, is that the members are very active in giving encouraging feed back; furthermore, there is a coloured camera system – when your image gets between 5 and 15 comments you get a green camera, 16-25 an amber camera, 26 + a red camera. There are also signs to show when it has featured on the Front (home) page gallery or is an editors favourite – so there is plenty to like. You get notified by email when you get a comment from a member, and for thirteen published images, I ended up with 200 emails – a bit much really, the good news is that you can turn them off in the settings.
Pink Wood Sorrel or as it ia sometimes known, Flowering Shamrock. It is an Oxalis rather than a clover from which true shamrock comes.
I am really excited about this; I don’t know whether I will sell any photos but I think that it is worth a try. Perhaps you would like to assess my chances at :-
Paul Cullen Photography at Photos 4 Me
Perhaps you would care to tell me what you thought of the experience as a reply to this posting.
This is the photograph that has attracted the most comments so far and earned a red camera Yeh!
Paul Cullen Photography 