# Anyone Selling Prints As NFTs?



## smoke665 (Dec 30, 2021)

All this block chain mumble, jumble sounds like so much "pixie dust" to me, but apparently there are some photographers making money selling NFT images. What are NFTs – and can photographers make money by selling them? 

Anyone out there doing this? Is this really the wave of the future or a slick way to get suckered.


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## SquarePeg (Dec 30, 2021)

People are buying these?  Seems weird.


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## smoke665 (Dec 30, 2021)

SquarePeg said:


> People are buying these?  Seems weird.



There's a whole lot of weird going on in these cloud transactions. One thought I had is it would let you bypass the online stock photo sites. Apparently there are quite a few selling, check out this site. https://opensea.io/explore-collections?tab=photography-category


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## weepete (Dec 30, 2021)

The market for crypto is bonkers at the moment, and I think there's a lot of mis-understandings about what NFTs are. Currently there's a lot of people buying stuff as they think it will be worth something in the future, rather than what they are buying having intrinsic value.

If I was a full time pro, I would probably be seriously looking into doing a few limited edition NFTs to try and cash in on the trend. It may also be good in the long run to protect IP. I think that ultimatley, a few big names could make a lot of money out of it, but for most normal photographers, it's not going to mean or change stuff.


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## smoke665 (Dec 30, 2021)

@weepete I don't know enough about it to know one way or the other, but I think it's worth finding out more about.


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## weepete (Dec 30, 2021)

@smoke665 it could very well be. I could see it fitting into a digital workflow, or as part of a marketing campain. 

But from my basic understanding it's a long number that's generated, traceable, then verified by the blockchain. Any artwork would also have files that are accociated with that NFT (eg a jpeg image file). From there I'm unsure about how these interact exactly, but I think they would be seperate things. It's a really good proof of purchace, however, I don't think it has any real use outside of that. I don't think it will prevent screengrabs, copy paste, etc. So, it may well turn out to be a solution waiting for a problem.

That being said, if there's universal adoption, with platforms requiring authentication using the blockchain before displaying items, it could be useful. But that's a big ask. Personally, I'm pretty sceptical. But maybe I just don't understand it enough.


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## smoke665 (Dec 31, 2021)

@weepete as I said earlier, I don't know enough to even ask intelligent questions. I'm hoping someone in the group will have knowledge to enlighten us!!!!


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## cgw (Dec 31, 2021)

The former First Lady is in on the deal!









						Melania Trump steps back into the public eye
					

After months of relative public silence, former first lady Melania Trump before Christmas emerged from private life to announce a new project: A piece of artwork, a watercolor closeup of her eyes, in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) was now available for purchase.




					www.cnn.com


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## Rickbb (Dec 31, 2021)

Been thinking about doing it. Used to mine some crypto, made a few bucks over  the electricity cost. Maybe NFT would be the way to go.

edit to add:

Just checked opensea.io and out of 201 collections of NFT photos only16 are above 0.00 ether coins. The rest currently have no value. Doesn’t sound like much until you realize that, currently anyway, one ether coin is worth $3,600!

The most expensive NFT photo they list is worth 0.41 ether, or $1,500. The least expensive is 0.05 ether, or $185.


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## Rickbb (Dec 31, 2021)

Found this shot on another site that is selling for 5 ETH, that’s 15 grand!

 Holy cow!









						Kaleidoscope | Foundation
					

Our planet's defensive mechanism against the sun. This geomagnetic field is created by the molten lava that churns away in Earth’s core. It’s invisible until th…




					foundation.app


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## AlanKlein (Jan 1, 2022)

smoke665 said:


> All this block chain mumble, jumble sounds like so much "pixie dust" to me, but apparently there are some photographers making money selling NFT images. What are NFTs – and can photographers make money by selling them?
> 
> Anyone out there doing this? Is this really the wave of the future or a slick way to get suckered.


I just read the article.  It says you don't own the copyright when you buy the NFT.  So what have you bought?  You can't make prints.  So all you own is some 1's and 0's in your computer to look at on a screen.  That's it.   Well, my wife might like that because she doesn't want me to hang any more photos on the walls.  

Also, it says that the artist can sell multiple NFTs of the same picture which of course would bring down the value of each NFT. (Each NFT would have its own blockchain ID number).   

But the main point is what do you have?  Wouldn't it be better to just buy a print, to begin with, or buy the whole thing including the copyright?  Then you have something tangible.  Who's going to buy 1's and 0's years from now when you try to resell it?


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## Rickbb (Jan 1, 2022)

It’s like buying stocks, you don’t own the company, just a piece with a promise of some value.

The seller can set up the sale as a one off or limited edition copies. Some offer a high resolution print to the buyer. Copyrights belong to the creator, like writing a book, someone else publishes, sells the copies and makes the lions share of the profits. But the writer retains the copyright and gets a little in exchange for the use.

As for reselling it, most buyers today are just speculating hoping to hit the lottery with an NFT of some sort, any sort. Probably none of them are buying because they want to look at the work as an art object.

Reminds me of the real estate scams going around in 08, your bank sells your 100k mortgage for a 10% markup to another bank who sells for another 10% markup, and so on. One day they wake up and realize they are holding a note that costs 200k for a house that’s really only worth 100k.

Sooner or later, like all investment markets, someone somewhere will be left holding an empty bag that costs them fortune.


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## AlanKlein (Jan 1, 2022)

Rickbb said:


> It’s like buying stocks, you don’t own the company, just a piece with a promise of some value.
> 
> The seller can set up the sale as a one off or limited edition copies. Some offer a high resolution print to the buyer. Copyrights belong to the creator, like writing a book, someone else publishes, sells the copies and makes the lions share of the profits. But the writer retains the copyright and gets a little in exchange for the use.
> 
> ...


That's the greater fool concept.  You hope there's another fool willing to pay more for it than you did.  Someone winds up holding the bag when they run out of fools.


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## TATTRAT (Jan 10, 2022)

I've been looking into it for a while now and even made the plunge. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  At the end of the day, art is only worth what someone is willing to pay and if I can make some money on the side with work that I already have just sitting on a hard drive, then why not?  I'm sure that just like the standard art market, it can be a front for money laundering and what not, but if I'm not breaking a law by selling the NFT, then I'll gladly take the .eth and run.  

I can also see how NFT may be more accpeted in the future and more stuff may move to the format for validating things from marriage licensees to deeds.  remember when people said that the internet was a fad, and emails would never catch on? paypal? ebay?  It all stats somewhere, so again, no harm in trying.


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## AlanKlein (Jan 10, 2022)

TATTRAT said:


> I've been looking into it for a while now and even made the plunge. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  At the end of the day, art is only worth what someone is willing to pay and if I can make some money on the side with work that I already have just sitting on a hard drive, then why not?  I'm sure that just like the standard art market, it can be a front for money laundering and what not, but if I'm not breaking a law by selling the NFT, then I'll gladly take the .eth and run.
> 
> I can also see how NFT may be more accpeted in the future and more stuff may move to the format for validating things from marriage licensees to deeds.  remember when people said that the internet was a fad, and emails would never catch on? paypal? ebay?  It all stats somewhere, so again, no harm in trying.


Can you show us what NFT you have for sale and any info about it?


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## smoke665 (Jan 10, 2022)

@TATTRAT personally I'm thinking there might be more money in How To Videos than in actually doing it. There's a lot more people willing to drop $20 cold hard cash than $3600 for an ETH coin.


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## TreeofLifeStairs (Jan 10, 2022)

I’m pretty sure NFT’s have a path to monetizing things in Meta. While in the Facebook virtual world, things will be bought and sold that are virtual only and not tangible in any way. You could buy an NFT of a photograph to decorate your virtual space and know that you have either the only one or a numbered (1/1000 say) edition. Other things will be NFT’s too like avatars or a virtual handbag. The possibilities are literally endless as to what can be an NFT and what it’s use could be and how it’s displayed.

Personally I just see it as the ultimate form of vanity but that’s the direction the world seems to be progressing towards.


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## TATTRAT (Jan 10, 2022)

AlanKlein said:


> Can you show us what NFT you have for sale and any info about it?


I'd be happy to PM you, I don't want to spam this thread, just let me know.


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## TATTRAT (Jan 10, 2022)

TreeofLifeStairs said:


> I’m pretty sure NFT’s have a path to monetizing things in Meta. *While in the Facebook virtual world, things will be bought and sold that are virtual only and not tangible in any way.* You could buy an NFT of a photograph to decorate your virtual space and know that you have either the only one or a numbered (1/1000 say) edition. Other things will be NFT’s too like avatars or a virtual handbag. The possibilities are literally endless as to what can be an NFT and what it’s use could be and how it’s displayed.
> 
> Personally I just see it as the ultimate form of vanity but that’s the direction the world seems to be progressing towards.


That's a very valid point, even as some performance artists are already selling nft tickets to virtual events/shows that they will be doing in the metaverse in an attempt to build exclusivity. Virtual galleries with exclusive content, the list will go on and on. That I just won't get into, I much prefer a real world experience (like with most things).


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## smoke665 (Jan 11, 2022)

TATTRAT said:


> I much prefer a real world experience (like with most things).



My wife is a voracious reader downloading book after book on her tablet. I try to do the same and can barely get through a few pages before I have to quit, even though I love to read. Give me a real book, with real pages, and if it's good, I might devour it in one sitting.

We just back from a visit to Walt Disney, Orlando. I'm not sure some of the much touted rides that combine a fair amount of Virtual Reality are that much better. Now Disney just patented a Virtual World Simulator that will allow it to simulate augmented digital worlds for individualized multiple guests  without the need for users to wear headsets or glasses. The thing about the virtual world is that our senses are designed for real world to work in conjunction with each other. Just like reading a real book, I see the words, but I also feel the page, smell the the paper/ink, sense it's size in relation to me world. Deprive someone of even one of the senses we take for granted and the brain notices, the virtual copy quickly becomes a novelty.


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## RacePhoto (Jan 17, 2022)

From a friend a link and quote:

"All this means that if your NFT is removed from OpenSea, it also disappears from your wallet. It doesn’t functionally matter that my NFT is indelibly on the blockchain somewhere, because the wallet (and increasingly everything else in the ecosystem) is just using the OpenSea API to display NFTs"

My first impressions of web3

From some of my own searching:

Opinion matches mine: "NFTs are a tired pump and dump scam wrapped in high tech clothing."

Plus some background on what they are and are not.

https://mcn.edu/mcn-insights-nfts-are-a-scam/

Source:
Museum Computer Network Inc.
MCN is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation incorporated in the State of New York, U.S.A.

_By *Andrea Ledesma*, Digital Product Specialist, The Field Museum, *Jeremy Munro*, Database Administrator, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, *Erin Canning*, Ontology Systems Analyst, LINCS, University of Guelph and MCN Board member, and *Claire Blechman*, former Digital Asset Manager, Peabody Essex Museum._

NFTs are unique crypto Tokens. “Non-fungible” more or less means that* it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else*.

If I was famous, maybe I could sell a token that I created. The rights stay with the owner (me) it's my art, everything is still mine and the buyer can't do anything with that, except own a token. So people are paying for a NFT and could re-sell it, because it's a one of a kind token.

Whether this is a pump and dump or a bubble fad waiting to crash, I'm not joining, because I'm not someone who has anything that anyone else would pay for. Lets say I put up my most famous work of art. (that's hypothetical already) No one knows me or cares, it's not going to sell. Maybe it will?


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## AlanKlein (Jan 17, 2022)

TATTRAT said:


> That's a very valid point, even as some performance artists are already selling nft tickets to virtual events/shows that they will be doing in the metaverse in an attempt to build exclusivity. Virtual galleries with exclusive content, the list will go on and on. That I just won't get into, I much prefer a real world experience (like with most things).


Wouldn't companies like Facebook (Meta) purhase NFT's directly or more likely make up content for their own use?  Why would they buy it second-hand from a buyer of an NFT?


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## smoke665 (Jan 17, 2022)

On the news Wal-Mart to sell NFT's Walmart is quietly preparing to enter the metaverse I guess they gave up trying to keep their shelves stocked. It's comforting to know that I'll soon be able to buy a digital gallon of milk........NOT.


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## AlanKlein (Jan 17, 2022)

TreeofLifeStairs said:


> I’m pretty sure NFT’s have a path to monetizing things in Meta. While in the Facebook virtual world, things will be bought and sold that are virtual only and not tangible in any way. You could buy an NFT of a photograph to decorate your virtual space and know that you have either the only one or a numbered (1/1000 say) edition. Other things will be NFT’s too like avatars or a virtual handbag. The possibilities are literally endless as to what can be an NFT and what it’s use could be and how it’s displayed.
> 
> Personally I just see it as the ultimate form of vanity but that’s the direction the world seems to be progressing towards.


I'm still not clear of the difference between an NFT or just having a picture available in let's say Flickr?


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## AlanKlein (Jan 17, 2022)

smoke665 said:


> On the news Wal-Mart to sell NFT's Walmart is quietly preparing to enter the metaverse I guess they gave up trying to keep their shelves stocked. It's comforting to know that I'll soon be able to buy a digital gallon of milk........NOT.


The metaverse reminds me of that joke about the captain being tested to become an Admiral.

"So, Captain, what would you do if a storm suddenly appears from the Southwest?"
"Well, I'd throw out a storm anchor to the Southwest."

"And what would you do if another storm appears on the East?"
"Well, I'd throw a storm anchor to the east."

"What about if another one comes up from the North"
"Same thing.  I'd throw out another storm anchor to the north."

"But captain,. Where are you getting all those storm anchors?"
"Well, says the Captain. The same damn place you're getting all those storms."


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## smoke665 (Jan 26, 2022)

One of my recent thoughts on this has been reaffirmed with the supply chain issues brought on in part by the one world supply mentality and JIT inventory levels. All the little parts in constant movement around the world destined to arrive at their  respective location minutes before they were needed on the line,  what could've  gone wrong? The world wide web swirling around the globe, like the supply chain, to me is deceptively fragile. Cyber attacks are occurring more frequently, power outages, hardware/infrastructure issues, etc., could bring down the WWW, at any time without warning.The thought of owning a virtual asset so dependent on that network vs the real life object in my hand, still doesn't make sense to me.


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## AlanKlein (Jan 26, 2022)

When you buy a photo NFT, what resolution do you get it in?  Jpeg?  Tiff?


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## weepete (Jan 26, 2022)

AlanKlein said:


> When you buy a photo NFT, what resolution do you get it in?  Jpeg?  Tiff?


It depends on the creator. As I understand it the actual image file is a sidecar to the NFT, though they could potentially be stored on the blockchain, but currently that's expensive. NFTs are just digitally signed, encripted metadata most of the time that has a link back to the original source file, though there's no standard to where or how that's done.

I like to game in my spare time, and I do own a few "in game" items that are collectable and can be traded, bought, and sold for real money, while not being a phisical thing. But I get to use them when I play. 

That last bit is lacking in a lot of NFTs. I could see them being used as say an encripted digtal contract but short of that I can't see how they make a difference or achieve their aim.


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## smoke665 (Jan 26, 2022)

Yeah who didn't see this coming. The taxman cometh for your "virtual" gains.  The IRS will ask every taxpayer about crypto transactions this tax season — here's how to report them


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## smoke665 (Apr 15, 2022)

So I first commented on NFTs a few months ago, seems the smoke screen around them is evaporating. Guy Buys NFT For $2.9 Million, Asks for $48 Million, Is Offered $3600


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## Rickbb (Apr 15, 2022)

I put some up just for the giggles, didn’t cost anything so why not.

Of course they didn’t sell even at my starting price of $50. And from what I can see neither are any of the other 100’s of thousands of photos listed. 

Not surprised


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## AlanKlein (Apr 15, 2022)

smoke665 said:


> So I first commented on NFTs a few months ago, seems the smoke screen around them is evaporating. Guy Buys NFT For $2.9 Million, Asks for $48 Million, Is Offered $3600


They've already run out of greater fools.  He should grab the $3600 and run.


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## weepete (Apr 15, 2022)

@smoke665 I've been aware for some while now that the tax man has been looking into crypto. When I heard they were getting the information from the companies that operate the crypto trading, only a matter of time when that happens, and crypto is fully traceable too. There will be a lot of unsuspecting people getting some large tax bills in the next short while I think.

I found this story on NFTs that I found interesting Most NFTs could end up being dead web pages according to a skeptic who just right-clicked and downloaded all of them

And there's a really good interview on youtube, it's quite lengthy but I enjoyed it.


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