Question about publishing pictures

[RealMentalCase]

Maybe someone here can help me ?

A few days ago my niece showed my wife and i some of photos that she has taking over the past couple of years and to tell ya the truth some of them i think are GREAT and might have potential of getting published !!!

How would she start going about it ?

 

[Pepster64]

The advice I would give is :

1. Never try to sell them on a picture stock site, for example istock.com. In my opinion they will diminish your photography.
2. Don't put the pictures you want to sell on photo sharing sites (flickr for example) or put a big old watermark on them.
3. Copyright the Pictures.
4. Set up your own website or there is a nice Canadian website called (http://www.clustershot.com) that is a nice website where you could to try to sell pictures.

As for getting them publish I don't know how, but the more recognition one has the better the chance of getting them published. Maybe someone else can give you a better answer.

 

[VictorChan]

Try here:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=23

Well, all I can tell you is that you can even make a photo book yourself. The question is that would there be a market for your work???

 

[northrop]

a lot depends on your needs and how serious you (or your niece) are about this. for a pro photographer, i'd suggest RedCart, PickPic or even DigiLabs.

for everyday photographer, services like SmugMug or even ZenFollio are all good choices.

 

[MrGuvernment]

what is it about her pics you think could get her published? can you post any samples (low res or watermarked)

a lot of "family" think they know someone who takes great pics because it is better then what they could do or have seen from their point and shoots, plenty of people think i take fantastic photos, but compare them to POTN and i am not that great,

In the end, they are the same as about %90 of pictures already out there so they may not be that great, not to shoot down your neice of anything, but you need to find out if she is really as good as you think she is in the photography world before dumping plenty of time and resources into this.

 

[botw]

Agree with MrGuvernment. My family thinks my photography is awesome. I think I am WAY below the many pros whose work I respect.

In any case, POTN (and either your local library or Amazon) have many resources concerning efforts to sell your pictures.

 

[Grentz]

what is it about her pics you think could get her published? can you post any samples (low res or watermarked)

a lot of "family" think they know someone who takes great pics because it is better then what they could do or have seen from their point and shoots, plenty of people think i take fantastic photos, but compare them to POTN and i am not that great,

In the end, they are the same as about %90 of pictures already out there so they may not be that great, not to shoot down your neice of anything, but you need to find out if she is really as good as you think she is in the photography world before dumping plenty of time and resources into this.

Totally agree, there are so many "photographers" out there these days that many think they are better than they are. It sounds mean, but it is just reality and not setting someone up for disaster/let down later.

My family LOVES my photos and constantly says I should work in the industry, but in reality I am just a pro-sumer level I would say (better than many, I have a lot of knowledge of the workings of photography, but far from the pros that do it day in and day out).

 

[SilverMK3]

Really the best thing you could do for your niece is to foster her interest in photography by giving her praise and maybe even helping her out with gear if she needs it.

Get her to start a blog and join photography forums to get her work out there, most dedicated photo sites have critique sections that will help her guide her. Once she feels ready, get her to start submitting photos to local and online photo contests. There are tons on social networking sites like Facebook, and your city may have a photography club that runs contests.

Also there's sites like http://www.weeklyphotocomp.com where you can win money 50/50 draw style. Pretty much every photography magazine runs monthly or quarterly photo contests where she can get individual shots published. I have a friend who's photo of a bathing bald eagle will be in April's National Geographic magazine. She got published by entering their international photography contest.

 

[Grentz]

http://www.worth1000.com/ is another great contest site and community.

 

[PC_User]

Agree with MrGuvernment. If you post some of her samples, we might be able to better judge her photography merits.

 

[VictorChan]

Remember, quite often it is the content of the work that matters. Not just the technical aspect of photography. In bird and wild life photography, yeah, technical excellence does go hand in hand with the content.