Which image is more likely to sell, emotion or technical excellence? We strive for the great image. You know the ones I’m referring too. Images with color, texture, loaded with power, feeling and scream tack sharp. Composition that’s near perfect. They make the viewer feel as if they were there with you. And, when it all comes together, we feel pretty happy with our own work.
As our photography reach evolves, does our opinion of what is a good versus a great image evolve too?
Let’s look at social media along with websites, competitions, galleries and stock.
Social Media: Emotion or Technical Excellence?
Social media “likes” that photographers love to receive (me included!) don’t always mean that the image is perfect or near perfect.
Why? As an example, images have an active shelf life on Instagram and Facebook for a short window of time (less than 24 hours). When scrolling through Instagram, most users spend a few seconds looking at an image before liking, commenting and moving on. That’s not a lot of time to see the fine technical details. However, it is long enough to be grabbed by emotion of the moment.
These ‘likes’ may stem from great work, a following, those who enjoy seeing your work. These likes may also be because you stirred a memory, a passion for your subject.
Emotion gets attention and emotion sells likes. Likes don’t pay the bills, but likes can lead to more business.
With social media, by default, you’re building an online gallery. A view into your world as an artist. You’re also building a potential client base for your work and services. Every work may not be picture perfect (pardon the pun). But having consistent strong, quality work that reflects emotion grabs attention.
Competition, Gallery Sales, Websites: Technical or Emotional?
Our other traditional methods still pay a very important role in this business.
Competitions: With competitions, both technical and emotional elements need to shine. A tack sharp image without a story, may fall flat. An image that’s cute, funny, dramatic will stir interest. If that same image has technical challenges, it probably won’t win but the feedback may be helpful in future competitions.
Competitions do more for your work than award prizes. In addition to visibility and exposure, it pushes you as a photographer. Whether it’s to a higher standard, a new technique or project, the personal outcome of improvement is worth its weight in gold.
Websites, Shops, Galleries: Images on websites, sales sites (such as Etsy) and that you’re marketing to galleries should always reflect overall professional excellence. This includes your images along with titles and descriptions. Your website’s image combined with making it easy to buy will hold viewers and customers longer.
Your website, online shop or local gallery may be the first or only exposure a buyer has to your work.
What about Stock?
Stock: While the stock industry is saturated with photography work, there’s still demand for quality work. Take time to study stock agency trends and guidelines. Your image needs to meet their technical criteria in addition to your artistry. This includes file size, format, color profile, and other standards. Before submitting your image, inspect your entire image at 100% view to correct flaws. One flaw may turn a great image into a rejected image.
There’s a customer base in social media that’s met with mixed emotion by photographers. Some embrace it and run with it. Others find that it’s not the right venue for their work.
With social media, emotion appears to influence engagement a bit more than technical. In competitions, galleries, websites and stock, it’s a combination of technical and emotional excellence.
