Pictures of Birds on my door step!

Ok, they are not exactly on my door step but they are pretty close

History: I bought some bird seed and a really cheap feeder from Wal-Mart a few years ago. Instead of actually hanging the feeder I just put it in my backyard and well, you can guess the results. NO BIRDS in sight! I didn’t want to hang it in a tree , I figured I wouldn’t bee able to see the feeder well enough then!

So the feeder got smashed or thrown out or whatever but I retained the seed. I came across the seed again this year and said what the heck, I’ll just throw some out on our back porch and see if we get any takers. Low and behold, we had some customers!

||| The turtle doves were the first to arrive and usually the last to leave. ||| At first I was happy to see them but quickly they became the gluttons of our seed!

||| I wound up chasing them away from time to time just so they wouldn’t eat everything in sight! But then came more interesting birds, namely cardinals and finches ||| The cardinal kind of surprised me because I’ve tried to photograph them before and they are VERY AWARE of you in proximity to them. They will fly away usually before you could get your camera set and ready.

||| Most of the time it was one or the other with the different kinds of birds. Rarely would you see them together this close. Both of them must have been hungry! Well, we know the turtle dove is hungry all the time.

The amazing part is that I was able to see and shoot all of these from inside. I knew the flash would interfere with the windows and create huge reflections (which I solved later). So all of the ones early on were taken without flash. That’s why some of them look like they could use some more PS work!

Photrade, Featured Photographer: TimsDD

I was very pleased to learn that I was recently selected to be the Featured Photographer on Photrade.

Now, was that due to the fact that I have been with the site for so long or that a large portion of the initial invitees are bloggers? Just kidding, I am honored for the selection and it was fun to be able to answer the questions. I just hope I didn’t sound too much like a dork!

Anyway, it was nice to be recognized for my work. I know that once Photrade comes out of beta the site will really take off and many new and talented photographers will join.

Here are a couple of questions from the full article:

What do you shoot?

Everything!Which wasn’t always the case. I made the mistake early on, shooting nothing but nature & landscape stuff. So now I’m trying to do portraiture, and people are a lot harder to work with than say flowers or trees. It’s an adjustment but part of the learning process, both challenging and fun. My passion though is macro, I just love the world of close-up photography.

Why do you like using Photrade?

I like Photrade because they are trying to help photographers, regardless of experience level, showcase, monetize, and protect their work. I see it as being far from “just another” photo sharing site. I think it has potential to be THE site for photographers.

Sell photos on photrade | By timsdigitaldarkroom

Sell photos on photrade | By timsdigitaldarkroom

Photrade Tips – BE SURE to CHECK and SET YOUR PRICING (Carefully)!!!!

OK, first off in defense of the site http://www.photrade.com/, setting the prices for my photographs is the sole responsibility of none other than my own. However that being said, they have a pricing structure in place that is kind of annoying and or confusing (at times).

From the site,

Photrade lets you sell your photos for any price. Set standard prices below for your entire portfolio. You can change prices for individual photos or sets of photos under Manage Photos. Set a percent markup that will be applied to all products. You can also change the prices for any individual item using the input boxes below.

Ok, let’s take this one at a time.

1) change prices for individual photos: A big pro for PHO is that they have a million print sizes to choose from (as well as an equally impressive list of other merchandise). BUT, in my book that is also a con because who amongst us knows the differences between any of these (specifically what to charge for them based on the differences between each size and finish…even though they have a suggested price listed):

Photo Prints: 4 x 5 Glossy
Photo Prints: 4 x 5 Lustre
Photo Prints: 4 x 5 Matte
Photo Prints: 4 x 6 Glossy
Photo Prints: 4 x 6 Lustre
Photo Prints: 4 x 6 Matte
Photo Prints: 4 x 8 Glossy
Photo Prints: 4 x 8 Lustre
Photo Prints: 4 x 8 Matte
Photo Prints: 4 x D Glossy
Photo Prints: 4 x D Lustre
Photo Prints: 4 x D Matte

• I never knew there were so many variations with a print 4″ tall! So to change them individually could take forever (since there are just as many choices for a 8″, 10″, 12″ prints), and where do you differentiate between 4×5 or a 4×6; should that be a 25 cent increment or 50 cent? AND, I have no idea what a “D” size is!
• My point is, if you set them individually it would be easy to loose track of what is priced for each incremental size. You might wind up pricing a much larger print size too low or too high in relation to all the other print sizes available.
• Not to mention I think Photrade needs to add a link to the lesser known sizes/finishes (which explains the differences between them) AND none more important than the terms associated with Digital Licenses! I mean, I have no idea what these mean:
  • Digital Licenses: Extended: Electronic Items for Resale (unlimited)
  • Digital Licenses: Extended: Items for Resale (limited run)
  • Digital Licenses: Extended: Multi-Seat License: unlimited users
  • Digital Licenses: Extended: Unlimited Reproduction / Print Runs
  • Digital Licenses: Standard: Commercial License
  • Digital Licenses: Standard: Personal License

2) Set a percent markup that will be applied to all products.

• I’ve tried using this option since (at the time) I did not want to take the 100+ items you can sell, and figure out what would be  good price for everything. Like I said, it would be hard to keep track of everything all the way throughout the entire list, very time consuming (though in hindsight worth the time).
• THE BIG PROBLEM with this option though is that the smaller print sizes obviously cost less and so a 100-300% profit for a Photo Prints: 4 x 5 Glossy , COST: $0.15; Photrade suggested price: $0.19, is mere pennies. BUT for a much larger print, it might be as high as $44! Obviously for most prints, you want something between the two.
• AND for Digital Licenses, the fee (cost) is just a small processing fee of 10 cents. Well guess what, a 200% markup is very small! I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to sell a Digital License: Extended: Unlimited Reproduction / Print Runs for $0.14!!
• So basically using the % markup can be extremely too little a profit margin or too much depending on the product involved.

3) You can also change the prices for any individual item using the input boxes

• This is probably the best option, you could use this to adjust any problems associated with #2. You could try applying a certain % markup which will be good for maybe half of the items listed but then have to adjust the other half by hand.

I’ve tried to do a combination of #1 & #2 between using a flat % and individual pricing. BUT I still need to go back and see how everything adds up in terms of making sure I am not charging someone $5 for a 4×6 and $11 for a 20×30 poster print (or visa versa).

Suggestions for Photrade:

• Another option Photrade might consider is letting the user select which print sizes they would like to make available to sell, much like Smugmug does. This way the photographer can limit the sheer number of print options, easier to price and easier for the buyer in some respects.
  • Case in point, are most buyers likely to buy an 8×10 or a 8×11,8×12,8×13,8×14…
    • However, that can also be a double-edged sword though since a lot of naive file sizes uploaded might have to be cropped a significant amount if a 8×10 size is chosen.
• Alternatively I think the suggested prices should be a little more photographer friendly (not so low). I mean it’s great to sell your work but not for less than a nickel profit!

My experience was just that, I was please to have sold 2 items thus far but the first here, a 4×6 print netted me all of $0.04 because I didn’t have the prices set (to my liking)

Sell photos on photrade | By timsdigitaldarkroom

The 2nd, a more impressive 16×20 but it only got me $4, again b/c I feel the suggested pricing is far too low for some items.

Then again, you don’t want them too high either, in which case you may never sell anything (another double-edged sword!)

Sell photos on photrade | By timsdigitaldarkroom

I think if you take the time to look at the prices and make sure they reflect what you feel is fair for your creation, Photrade can take you a long way.