Wondering how to sell photos as NFT?
The blockchain is changing the way we do business, and making money out of it has become more and more common, especially in the NFT space.
NFTs allow photographers to list their artwork for sale on a number of online marketplaces and collectors can purchase artwork from artists just like any other traditional market – but with one key difference – everything from transactions to ownership happens digitally.
I’ve been selling my photos on two different NFT photography marketplaces known as OpenSea and Foundation and I’m ready to share my knowledge and experience with you in this guide.
Check out this NFT Photography Guide which includes everything you need to know before you get started in this space!
HOW TO SELL PHOTOS AS NFT
You should know a few things to start out in this space, and once you learn the basics, it’s relatively easy to sell NFT photography.
Here is my complete guide to selling photos as NFTs, what it takes to start, how much it costs, how to market your art no matter the NFT photography marketplace you choose, and much more.
WHAT IS NFT PHOTOGRAPHY?
NFTs are Non-Fungible Tokens, a new way for photographers to sell photos as NFT and also for investors to collect unique pieces that could end up being worth thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars.
NFTs are essentially collected similarly to traditional photos but in the digital world and could be anything from landscape photos to portraits to GIFs and 2D images.
These can only be purchased with cryptocurrencies – mainly Ethereum – and a digital wallet is needed to sell NFT photography and invest.
The world is slowly but surely adopting the metaverse and it is becoming part of many professionals’ daily lives. To give you an idea, Samsung recently announced it will produce a TV that allows users to trade NFTs.
Keep on reading to discover how to sell NFT photos!
WHAT YOU NEED TO SELL PHOTOS AS NFTS
Everyone can start selling photos as NFTs, but it goes without saying that you need to have the bare minimum to start out.
First of all, you’ll need a unique piece of art – in this case, a unique photograph.
Whether it be a portrait, landscape, drone, or sports photography, it doesn’t really matter – every piece of art can become an NFT.
Once you decide what photos to sell as an NFT, the next thing you need to know is how to sell photos as NFT, and for that, you’ll need a digital crypto wallet such as MetaMask.
After opening your crypto wallet, you will need to purchase cryptocurrency – most likely Ethereum – so you can process the transactions on the blockchain and sell your NFTs.
Now, there are two options, you can either purchase Ethereum directly within your MetaMask wallet or alternatively open up an account on a cryptocurrency exchange such as Binance where you’ll be able to purchase cryptocurrency (Ethereum) and send it to your MetaMask wallet address.
I’d recommend purchasing around $100 to $200 worth of Ethereum (ETH) which you’ll need to pay the fees that are incurred to mint a photo and list it on the marketplace for sale.
Also, check out some of the best NFT tools to help assist your journey.
HOW TO OPEN A DIGITAL WALLET ON METAMASK?
MetaMask is a relatively simple platform to use, and it won’t take you too long to open a digital wallet here.
The most straightforward method to open a digital wallet is to add the MetaMask Google Chrome extension to your browser and click on “Get Started.”
Next, choose the option “Create a Wallet,” agree to the data collection request, and create a password.
Note that you will have to enter the password every time you want to access your wallet.
An essential part of the process is the confidential “Secret Recovery Phrase.”
Make sure to ALWAYS write it down somewhere safe, as you’ll lose your wallet and funds forever if you happen to forget it.
You do not choose your secret recovery phrase on MetaMask – the system assigns a series of twelve words for you, as you can see in the image below.
Now that you’re done creating your wallet, you can go ahead and buy some Ethereum (the most used cryptocurrency in the NFT market) and click on buy.
You can also do all the above from your smartphone (iOS and Android), and the account creation process is nearly the same.
You are then able to connect your MetaMask wallet to any NFT website using the account address on top of the screen – you can’t miss it. It’s a very long code made up of letters and numbers.
Next, we’ll look at how to sell NFT photos.
LISTING YOUR NFT PHOTOGRAPHY FOR SALE
Starting the process of selling your photos as NFTs is pretty straightforward once you’ve connected your digital wallet to the platform you choose to sell.
Let’s go through how to sell a photo as NFT on two of the most popular NFT photography marketplaces – OpenSea and Foundation.
HOW TO SELL PHOTOS AS NFT ON OPENSEA
OpenSea is easily the most well-known NFT photography website and where endless artists, including myself, sell NFT photos.
To start off, sign up for an account and collect your digital wallet – I recommend the most universal, MetaMask.
Once that is done and once you’ve chosen what photograph to sell as an NFT, head over to OpenSea’s homepage and click on “Create” on the top-right corner of the screen.
OpenSea accepts pretty much all file formats you can think of and up to 100MB.
Check out my Genesis NFT Photography Collection on OpenSea
After uploading your file, select the auction type; you can choose to sell NFT photography with a fixed price or bid. Fill in all the details, making sure not to leave any space empty.
You also can create an external link that is great to display your entire portfolio, which isn’t necessarily on OpenSea.
After that, pay the posting fee (gas fee), and you’ll start selling. It’s worth noting that the “gas fee” can vary a lot depending on the hour and the number of users on the network at the time.
I recommend doing so in the early morning or late at night to hopefully pay lower gas fees.
There is a one-off gas fee for listing your first NFT photography for sale, and then once you have done this you can go ahead and list all your next images for free with the “lazy minting” feature.
WHAT ARE THE FEES ON OPENSEA?
We’ve just discussed the Lazy Minting option that OpenSea offers but this doesn’t mean that there are no fees at all on the platform.
You must know that when learning how to sell photos on NFT, OpenSea charges an amount for every transaction made on their platform, such as:
- Selling NFTs
- Buying NFTs
- When accepting offers
- Canceling previous bids
- Canceling previously listed NFTs
- Converting your cryptocurrencies
- Transferring and gifting NFTs to other users
When you receive an offer on your listing, you will need to pay 2.5% of the final price to the platform. You can also set a royalty for up to 10% which you will receive on secondary sales.
HOW TO SELL PHOTOS AS NFT ON FOUNDATION
Foundation is quite different compared to OpenSea, even though they have the same purpose.
First of all, Foundation is an invite-only platform, and you’ll only be able to start selling photos as NFT if another creator (that sold at least 1 NFT) has invited you to the platform.
In addition, the most remarkable thing about Foundation is its user interface and ease of use which every artist and collector will appreciate.
Check out my NFT Photography Series on Foundation
On the other hand, not everyone will appreciate the 24-hour bid triggered once the first bid has been placed on an auction.
After the first bid, the next bid will need to be at least 10% higher than the previous one.
As you understood, Foundation is more limited than OpenSea and the fees are higher, so why choose it over its competitor? Simply because Foundation is more exclusive and not everyone is able to post NFT photography for sale on this platform.
Lastly, you should know that Foundation does not have the “lazy minting” option which means you’ll have to pay double the gas fees for the minting and listing of each individual image in your collection.
COST OF SELLING PHOTOS AS NFTS
How to sell photos as NFT? You surely have your answer now, but how much will it cost? Well, it depends on the platform.
As discussed previously, the fees on OpenSea are 2.5% of the sale’s final price for both primary and secondary sales.
On the other hand, the royalties are up to 10% for primary and secondary sales and the percentage is up to the artist to decide.
The fees on Foundation are the highest on the market. When you sell an NFT, you’re going to lose 15% of the final price on the primary sales to the platform.
For secondary sales, a fee of 5% is applied. Apart from that, the royalties on Foundation are set to 10%.
All things considered – listing fees, gas fees, and sales – the price of selling photos as NFTs can be as low as $150 and as high as $900 in some cases.
Success story – a young Indonesian student managed to sell over $1M worth of his selfies taken each day during his studies.
As you can see, you can make a lot of money in the NFT photography space but you need a unique collection of images and an idea to stand out from the crowd.
HOW TO MARKET YOUR NFT PHOTOGRAPHY
When learning how to sell a photo as NFT, it doesn’t only mean minting your photos and listing them for sale on the NFT marketplaces.
After the minting and listing process, you’ll also need to market your NFT photos on social media to gain visibility and ultimately make money with NFT photography.
Here are the most popular ways to market your NFT photography and eventually make sales!
Twitter was a regular social media until a couple of years ago, but, just like Discord, it became a popular choice for gathering in the crypto and NFT communities.
Whether you’re willing to check out the most trending projects, the new platforms, or even how to sell NFT photos, it’s simply the place to be.
To get started on Twitter you’ll want to follow the celebrities in the NFT space, like, comment, and retweet other artists’ work, be part of the community by supporting and engaging with others and make friends with collectors who will potentially buy from you.
Twitter also has a great feature called ‘Twitter Spaces’ which is essentially an audio-based chat room where you can request to speak in a space, introduce yourself, ask questions, and showcase your work.
I can assure you that spending a bit of time each day on Twitter will be worth your time in the long run.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter and join one of my spaces. I love onboarding new photographers and am happy to answer any questions you may have!
DISCORD
Discord is by far one of the best ways to market your photography NFTs.
Launched in 2015, it used to be primarily a platform for gamers, but it recently shifted into hosting some of the most populated crypto and NFT spaces.
The ideal strategy to market your NFT is to start a discussion and build a community where users will interact with each other. On Discord, you can discuss with other artists and collectors, take part in online streaming events, and promote your project.
Moreover, set up a profile on Discord, join some servers, engage with the community, and make friends with other artists.
Discord is an incredible platform to get more traction on your NFT photography portfolio.
In a similar way to Twitter, marketing your NFT photography on Instagram is a powerful way to attract colletors to your art.
Start a profile for your portfolio (or use your profile if you already have an established audience), engage in the comment section, and post about your latest pieces.
As part of any Instagram strategy, of course, you will want to share stories, reels, and posts directed to your photography NFTs.
This will drive more traffic to your artwork on OpenSea or other sites that you decide to use.
PRICING YOUR NFTS
Now that you know how to sell NFT photos, your next question will likely be, “How much can I sell NFT photography for?”
The short answer is naturally, “As much as you’re willing to make and what you think your photos are worth,” but let’s dive a little deeper into the subject.
According to a report by Yahoo! Finance, the average price of an NFT photo on OpenSea is $500, while on Mintable, it goes up to $900. On the other hand, the average cost is only $150 on Valuable.
You should also be aware that NFTs’ rates are a little higher during the week due to more users on the blockchain.
In a nutshell, most creators list their photography NFTs for sale starting at 0.05 to 0.25ETH – or $63 to $315 using the January 2023 conversion rate.
I’d also like to note that there are no rules and no limits to how much you can list your images for! It’s your work and you can place whatever price tag on your NFT photos as you wish.
WHAT RIGHTS DO I OWN ON MY NFT PHOTOS?
Now that you know everything about how to sell NFT photography let’s focus on the copyright part of the market.
First of all, you should know that when a collector buys an NFT, it doesn’t mean that they are the complete owner of the artwork – all the conditions are stipulated in the smart contract.
At this moment in time, the collector only has ownership of the digital asset – not the copyright.
To give you an idea, if someone buys a piece from my collection on OpenSea, the collector who purchases one of my images will be the owner of that piece of art only and not the original works, which remain mine.
To learn more about ownership and copyrights, see this related article: NFT Photography For Beginners – How To Get Started In 2022
FINAL THOUGHTS – SELL NFT PHOTOGRAPHY
I hope with this extensive guide you’ve gathered all you need to know about how to sell NFT photography.
If you have any further questions about NFT photography marketing or want to learn more about NFTs, please leave a comment below this post or follow me on Twitter and send me a direct message!
Happy selling!
DISCLAIMER
NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE: The Information in this guide and on this website, Jonny Melon Adventure Travel Blog, is provided for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose.
The Information contained in or provided from or through this website is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, trading advice, or any other advice.
The Information on this website and provided from or through this website is general in nature and is not specific to you the user or anyone else. You should not make any decision, financial, investment, trading, or otherwise, based on any of the information presented on this website without undertaking independent due diligence and consultation with a professional broker or financial advisory.
You, the reader, understand that you are using any and all Information available on or through this website at your own risk. The reader agrees that Jonny Melon will not be liable for any loss, damage, or expense caused by using this guide.
The trading of NFTs, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and alternative cryptocurrencies has potential rewards, and it also has potential risks involved. Trading may not be suitable for all people. Anyone wishing to invest should seek his or her own independent financial or professional advice.
Hello John
I am new to NFT i have always wanted to sell my photo collections I have so many especially I am from Jamaica. I have not started but I am hoping to soon. Your article was very informative and straightforward. Will hope to fet more answers when I start.
Amazing, glad you found this article useful!!
So can the photographer (copyright owner) still sell for example limited edition prints or sell them to publications eg newsapers or for illustrating books?
Hey Grant, to my understanding yes it is fine to do this!
Thank you Jonny,
I am a Colombian amateur photographer. Reading your articles motivated me to put my photos on OpenSea, and I uploaded my first collection, you provide us with clear and useful information. Now I’m still learning about NFT and markets, I hope I can sell my collection like you did!!!
Hey mate, glad you found this article useful and glad to hear you are ready to sell photos as NFTs! All the best with your collection 🙂
Wery useful, Its just a great gift for me as a photographer who is searching information about selling my art and making some NFTs. Thank you so much!!!
You’re most welcome!!
Great article, thank you.
And I love your work, too.
I’ve been to Siargao, and I live in Morocco now, so I recognized some of the place you photographed.
I have a question : “the collector who purchases one of my images will be the owner of that piece of art only and not the original works”
So, what can the buyer do with it? Can he prints it for him (I guess Yes)? Can he print if and sell the print (No?)?
Thanks very much and glad you got some value from this article! Correct, you still own the IP rights and yes the buyer can print it for their own personal use but cannot sell prints of the image. They can also re-list the image for sale on the NFT marketplace, but they may not sell the image outside of the blockchain.
Hello Jonny.
Thanks for your information.
I will make sure I take it to heart.
You’re welcome!