Got questions? We have answers! See the top 5 most asked questions from Picfair photographers and find our responses below!
1 How do I maximise all the print options available in my Picfair Store?
First, always shoot images in the highest resolution (pixel size) your camera or phone allows, and upload your images as close to their original size as possible.
For your images to print at their best quality, they must be of a particular resolution. If they aren’t, you may find some print options for photos in your Picfair Store that will be “greyed out”, making them unavailable for customers to purchase.
Having print sizes unavailable is one of the most common issues encountered by Picfair photographers and their stores, and it's down to the size of the image uploaded. So, we always recommend you pay close attention to the pixel size of your images when uploading them. In general, uploading a photo with a minimum resolution of 5000px (longest side) will unlock all the print products and sizes available, so you shouldn't encounter any issues!
Generally, if you want a good chance at selling your photos for prints, ensure they are of the best quality they can be and are well-optimised for printing. For more information, we have a dedicated guide on optimising your images for printing.
2 How can I see other people’s photos on Picfair (& what they’ve been selling in their Picfair Store)?
Each Picfair Store serves as a standalone store, and there isn’t a central place where you can see everyone else's stores and images on the platform. The main reason is it allows you to focus on marketing your store and photography without the competition.
However, we’re very aware that many in the Picfair community do want to see what other photographers are putting up in their stores and the images that they are going on to sell too, so every fortnight, we publish a
“Sold on Picfair Stores” showcase - where we highlight a curated collection of images recently sold by photographers in their stores. You can find these collections on Focus, and we’d highly recommend bookmarking this page, too. With any of the images featured, if you click through the photographer's name in the caption, you can see their Picfair Store!
Also, make sure you follow our social media channels, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Twitter, where we regularly post photographers' work on the platform with our “Pic of the Day” posts!
3 How does Picfair help me with selling my photos?
Your photos and Picfair Store are yours to market in any way you wish, and many photographers on the platform initially direct their marketing efforts to sell directly to their networks before reaching out to potential new customers.
However, if you’re yet to sell images or want to expand your knowledge and skills in marketing your photography to get started, we have heaps of guides and features to equip you with the knowledge and confidence!
You can find all these in Focus in the Business of Photography section, but if you’re entirely new to this, our Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Photography is the best place to start.
All guides have been produced specifically with you, our photographers, in mind; we want you to grow on your photography journey and help as much as possible.
Don’t forget that your photography will be a constantly evolving journey, and you’ll always be learning new skills and techniques. With this in mind, be aware that the more you build on your photography skills and improve your photos over time, the more likely you will sell your images over time.
On Focus, we have many photography education guides, from tutorials to help you improve your image compositions to more advanced tips on how to shoot the Northern Lights. You’ll find everything you need on Focus to help you sharpen your skills behind the lens. Again, if you’re still very new to photography or consider yourself an amateur photographer, our Beginner Photography Guides are a great place to start.
4 What happens to my photos during the moderation process?
When you initially upload your photos to your Picfair Store, they go through a short moderation process before going live on your Store (where customers can purchase them if you have a Picfair Plus account).
We moderate images for a few reasons: to protect you and your pictures when selling them online and to give you the best chance of selling them. First, your images go through a face-detection process, where we identify if people are in the photos. If so, we automatically assign them an Editorial license (which you can change at any time) so you don’t risk someone buying your images for commercial purposes when you don’t have the necessary permissions. Reading our Beginner’s Guide to Image Licensing or watching our video will give you an excellent overview of how image licensing works.
Once the face detection process is complete, we moderate images to check for personal watermarks and check that the photos are genuinely photographic and original. Again, these checks ensure that your pictures are in the most sellable format possible before publishing them to your store. You can read more about these guidelines in our dedicated guide.
These checks require a minimum of two people looking at your images, which is why moderation can take a little time, although we always strive to get your pictures live within one business day, often much sooner.
5 Where can I see views of my photos (and what can I do to boost my view numbers)?
On your Picfair Dashboard, you can see the number of views of your photos. You’ll see this information for individual photos when clicking into Library, selecting any image, and viewing the number next to the eye icon in the top right. This number indicates the number of views of that particular image. You can see that on your dashboard homepage for an overall view of the numbers for your store.
Should you want more specific information on views (such as by country, views per day, per month, etc.), you can link your Picfair Store to Google Analytics, which we highly recommend doing.
Photographers often ask how they can increase the number of views of their photos and store. Simply put, share your images as much as possible, whether on your social network, reaching out to potential customers, or publishing your work in other places (with a link back to your Picfair Store). But also, you should ensure that all of your images have as much relevant information attached to them (like tags and titles) that search engines can pick up too.
For more tips, see our dedicated guide on boosting views of your photos.
Answers to more Questions?
Above are the answers to our most commonly asked questions, and we hope you’ve found the information helpful and insightful.
If you’re looking for answers to any other Picfair-related questions, such as how to use a specific feature or information on account admin, you can find this information and more in our dedicated Support Centre.
If you can’t find the information you’re looking for in our Support Centre, you can email us, and we’ll try our very best to answer any questions you may have. Get in touch with us via our contact form.