As a photographer, you have probably heard about NFT and how photographers are making money selling their works on NFT marketplaces. It might look and sound unbelievable for you but that is the reality today. So what do you know about NFT for photographers? Are you wondering how to mint, sell and make money as a Photographer? This article explores the options that are available to you.
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What's in this guide?
What is NFT?
NFT simply means Non Fungible tokens. The non-fungible part means unique and non-replaceable. No swapping like for like. They are tokens because they are digital and are protected by blockchain technology, just like cryptocurrencies.
You can sell a digital image as an NFT, the same way you would sell a physical painting. When you sell NFTS, you are the owner of the ‘original’ version, and the NFT artist continues to benefit every time the NFT is resold.
Many digital artists have sold their digital arts with this technology.
Prints vs NFTs
Photographers have always depended on the sales of prints over the years. The print gives the photographer the power to ensure the scarcity of the image by making the decision on the number of prints to make. The photographer adds a certificate of authenticity to serve as proof of the originality of their work.
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What is NFT?
NFT simply means Non Fungible tokens. The non-fungible part means unique and non-replaceable. No swapping like for like. They are tokens because they are digital and are protected by blockchain technology, just like cryptocurrencies.
You can sell a digital image as an NFT, the same way you would sell a physical painting. When you sell NFTS, you are the owner of the ‘original’ version, and the NFT artist continues to benefit every time the NFT is resold.
Many digital artists have sold their digital arts with this technology.
Prints vs NFTs
Photographers have always depended on the sales of prints over the years. The print gives the photographer the power to ensure the scarcity of the image by making the decision on the number of prints to make. The photographer adds a certificate of authenticity to serve as proof of the originality of their work.
However, the major problem with print photography is that the images can be copied, duplicated, screenshot, and shared online, but this is where NFT is different. None of this duplication is possible with NFT.
This is why many Photographers are using this model of selling their artworks.
An example is Kate Woodman who created an NTF, titled, “Always Coca Cola” and sold it for 11.888ETH, that’s $37,193.15.
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How do you buy and sell NFTs?
You must first understand that NFTs run on blockchain technology. The blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger on which cryptocurrency transactions are documented. If you want to buy or sell NFTs, you must use a cryptocurrency for your transactions. NTF transactions take place in online marketplaces.
Most NFTS are documented on the Ethereum Blockchain. So when you want to carry out NFT transactions you need to have Ether(ETH). The biggest crypto Marketplace is Binance.
How to create your NFT
When you are ready to mint and sell your first NFT, you have to consider the following:
1. Do research on NFTS
Knowledge is very important, without knowledge about a thing, you can’t utilize it fully. This is a fact. If you want to buy camera gear, for example, you need to do research before deciding on the brand you want to buy. The same thing goes for NFTs. Do the same thing.
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2. Create an account with Cryptocurrency exchange.
You can create an account with Binance, Coinbase, Okex, Kucoin, etc. We strongly recommend Binance because it has by far the biggest marketplace and it will be easier to find buyers there.
3. Buy an acceptable crypto on your Cryptocurrency exchange.
Ethereum is the currency of NFT MarketPlaces. If yours accept another, then good.
4. Create a digital wallet. E.g Metamask.
You’ll need to set up a crypto wallet for NFT transactions. It doesn’t matter if you are the creator of the NFT and you are not interested in owning it but only want to sell, you will still require to have a cryptocurrency, mainly Ethereum in your digital wallet to ‘mint’ and sell your tokens.
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5. Transfer your money to your wallet.
Move the Ethereum or the needed crypto from the Cryptocurrency exchange to your Metamask wallet.
6. Choose and create your marketplace account.
The marketplaces include OPenSea, Makersplace, superRare, Foundation (Invitation only), ephimera, etc. Remember that Opensea is the world’s largest Nft marketplace. Just do your research and choose the marketplace that works best for you.
Bear in mind that these platforms require all users to verify their identities, mainly through social media platforms.
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7. Connect your wallet and upload your digital assets.
Accepted formats are JPG, PNG and MP4.
8. Mint and pay the Gas fee
During minting, the blockchain allocates a unique/digital serial number is allocated to your non-fungible token.
During the process, you will be required to add a title and a description. Make sure you check for typos before clicking the button because there is no second chance for alteration once the minting is complete.
During the minting of the token, gas fees are incurred. These gas fees are payable in cryptocurrency, typically ETH.
What is a gas fee? A gas fee is an administrative charge that you pay to mint, burn and list your NFT.
The amount of gas fee that you pay varies based on certain factors.
Opensea and some other marketplaces claim that their minting is “gas-free”, but you should note that selling is accompanied by other fees. Ensure you always have some cryptocurrency at all stages of your transaction process. When you pay the gas fees, you are one step close to selling.
9. Fix the price of your NFT
Fixing the right price is not easy in Photography. If your price is too high, you won’t sell your tokens, and on the other hand, if your price is too low, you will lose money.
In fixing a price, you should do research, try and find out what your peers are selling their NFTS for. Be objective and think about your artwork’s quality, price, and market size.
10. List the NFT and pay the second Gas fee.
Listing is important as you can’t make any sale without it. Note that listing will incur another gas fee. As soon as you list your NFT on the marketplace, buyers can view and place their bids for your work. This process can be limitless or it can be a time-bound auction.
11. Promote on social media.
You have to promote your work across different social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc) to get the attention of potential buyers.
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12. Make a sale
Immediately you accept a bid from a buyer for your NFT, the quantity of cryptocurrency will be given to you and the token will be sent to the buyer.
The blockchain records and verifies the details of the transaction.
As you start as an NFT artist, keep these in mind
- Artist’s statement: Let there be a statement about your work. What do you intend your work to achieve? What audience are you targeting? Etc.
- Have a story with your work: People love stories, so let your work tell a relatable story.
- Be Different: Let your uniqueness make you stand out from other NFT photographers.
- Market yourself: If you want to make money, you need to reach out to a large audience and marketing is the only way to do this.
- Share other people’s digital art: Be part of the NFT community, you cannot exist in isolation, so learn to share and appreciate the works of other NFT artists.
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What does the future hold for NFT photographers?
NFTS came to the scene with a buzz and got everyone hyped up and buying into the trend. Some schools of thought speculate that NFTs will fizzle out at the same pace that they came on stream while some others are very confident that NFTs are not a fad and will be around for a very long time.
It is not surprising that NFT platforms for selling digital arts are becoming very attractive these days to artists because it’s difficult for many of them to make a good living from their art. With the influx of photographers to the Non-Fungible Tokens marketplaces, it will be very challenging for your artworks to stand out in the midst of competitors. However, if your photography is of good quality, you should explore NFT platforms to make a decent living.
Conclusion
As the photographer in the NFT Marketplace, you need to select your artwork, choose your platform, select your edition/scarcity, choose a reserve bid, mint your artwork, sell and make money.
