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03/04/2017 11:06:46 PM · #1
I am your average photographer that takes photos as a hobby. Recently I started tampering with my images by using photoshop filters and called those images Digital Art.

I used the liquify distort filter on some images and called those images Abstract Art.

The images are not good enough for stock photography, but I thought that I could sell them online somewhere.

GeneralE in a previous post mentioned DPC Prints and that got me thinking.

Printing Question

The artwork is average and nowhere good enough as stock photography, but I thought that I may be able to sell some of the work.

Am I allowed to provide a link to my website?

It's actually only a blog site, but I call it my website.

Would DPC prints be a good starting point for me?

Any suggestions?
03/05/2017 02:02:32 PM · #2
Originally posted by johnbrennan:

...
GeneralE ... mentioned DPC Prints and that got me thinking.

Printing Question

... Am I allowed to provide a link to my website?
It appears that you can link from your blog to DPC Prints.

Originally posted by johnbrennan:

Would DPC prints be a good starting point for me?
Membership at DPChallenge is required. DPC Prints does provide the required selling and delivery tools, and as prints are reviewed for quality, that could be helpful for the beginner.

Originally posted by johnbrennan:

Any suggestions?
There are other online display and printing services. Using DPC Prints helps promote our website.

Good Luck!
03/05/2017 03:03:56 PM · #3
What he said. At DPC Prints you need to do your own promotion, but if you create the proper links from your blog you'll get 75% of the profit (you set the mark-up), and you can order your own prints at the base price.

The other place I'd look into early-on is Fine Art America -- I think they are more "visible" but would also have a lot more competitors posting. Neither site involves exclusivity, so if you have a few prints you want to start with and time to upload there's no reason to not do both and see what happens ...

Message edited by author 2017-03-05 15:04:22.
03/05/2017 09:47:29 PM · #4
Thanks C_Steve_G for your 3-part answer. All of that is good to know.
.. Am I allowed to provide a link to my website?
It appears that you can link from your blog to DPC Prints.
BUT can I provide a link here to direct you to my website?

Thanks GeneralE for alerting me about other sites.

I have actually done the wrong thing with my website. I have uploaded about 40 images at FULL SIZE.
What size do you recommend that I use for uploads?
Shall I use the same criteria as the upload guidelines for challenges?

Challenge Upload Criteria

I seem to be eating into my allowable upload quota by uploading 13MB Images. I guess too, that people could copy and print.

I have NOT watermarked my images. One mistake after another.

I need direction in this area and any help would be kindly appreciated.

Message edited by author 2017-03-05 22:05:43.
03/05/2017 10:04:48 PM · #5
If you want to do it here (for DPC Prints) you post a smaller version of the image in your Portfolio -- about 900 pixels and at 80% JPEG quality should be fine and keep the storage size low. You then upload the full-size printable image via the link lower down on the page -- this image DOES NOT COUNT toward your Portfolio space allocation.

If you are posting images on your blog for people to preview I suggest about the same size as above ... I think most other gallery sites (FAA, SmugMug, etc.) create their own preview image from your print image (you can actually do that here too, but without controlling the quality yourself).

If you check the Help section under the DPCPrints menu you should find some relatively useful (if dated) tips ...

ETA: You should also check out some of the threads in the "Business of Photography" Forum section (those back a page or two look promising).

Message edited by author 2017-03-05 22:08:23.
03/05/2017 10:13:48 PM · #6
ETA: You should also check out some of the threads in the "Business of Photography" Forum section (those back a page or two look promising).
I'm reading that now, thank you.

Great so reduce my images to:
900px x 600px @ 80% JPEG Quality.

How many kb would that work out to be?
OR
Shall I try it and see.

Do I have to set dpi?
(I know that's for printing, but do I need to set it anywhere before upload?)

Message edited by author 2017-03-05 22:25:21.
03/05/2017 10:53:45 PM · #7
If you're referring to the preview images, I expect pictures of that size to be under 500KB or so, but it depends a lot on the amount of detail, number of colors, etc. They will be small enough you really shouldn't worry about the size. DPI is irrelevant at this point -- you only need to know (not set) it for the full-sized images in order to calculate the largest size you can print.

There are a couple of old Tutorials (under the Learn menu) which address resizing/resampling and (prepping images for DPCPrints specifically) which may help (or may just add to the confusion -- I haven't read them in a while!).
03/05/2017 11:04:54 PM · #8
There are a couple of old Tutorials (under the Learn menu) which address resizing/resampling and (prepping images for DPCPrints specifically) which may help (or may just add to the confusion

Thanks.
03/06/2017 09:29:44 AM · #9
Fine Art America is a very good deal. You can post there for free (I think) but you can also pay $30 and get a custom website from them (the URL is //artistwebsites.com/). Things you post go on there and on FAA automatically.

It doesn't look quite as professional photographer-ish as your own portfolio site on Zenfolio or Squarespace. But unlike most of those types of hosting sites, FAA brings you traffic. And then on top of that you can bring your own. There are things you can do on the site to make sure your listing appears higher in the search results too. That's clearly documented on the site.

I've sold enough there to be very happy with the deal they offer. I've never ordered from them though--so I can't attest to their print quality.

You can have your own URL there now (that wasn't true in the beginning--you used to have to use redirection).

Here's my FAA custom site if you want to have a look (I haven't really kept up--I need to add more stuff!):

fineartbynature.com

(That's my own choice of colors/customization.)

And then you can see the equivalent on FAA:

//neilshapiro.fineartamerica.com

Note that artistwebsites.com seems to now redirect to the parent company domain, pixels.com. They still call it artistswebsites as far as I can tell though.
03/06/2017 09:11:58 PM · #10
Thanks Neil,

It was only last night that I visited your 2 sites after GeneralE directed me to Business Photography.
Fine Art America seems to be a popular site, as you alluded to, and I thank you for all the information you provided.

I am very impressed by your fine art.

Once you pay the extra $30, who creates the FAA personal website?
FAA Neil Shapiro

Both you and nam seem to be very active on the FAA site.
Before I place anything on the site I am going to find out more about keywords and descriptions and sponsoring a site.

Last night I read
Best Website to Sell your Prints
I take all of what was presented on board.

You mentioned Zenfolio. Is it true that they randomly crop your images?

Neil, thank you kindly for your post.

Message edited by author 2017-03-06 21:14:25.
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