When people are discussing NFT, the first thing that comes to their mind is either a set of pictures that features a single character with slightly different accessories, or a 3D rendered short video that seems out of this world. Only a handful of people are aware that NFT photography exists. But what exactly is it?
To put it simply, NFT photography is a genre of NFT in which a photograph is minted using blockchain technology to become an NFT. As with all other NFT, the tokenization process records the buyer as the legitimate owner of the digital content, while the content itself will still be widely available on the internet.
As stated before, YES, a picture can be an NFT. In fact, given that NFT is actually used to identify the legitimate owner of the piece, all sorts of digital contents can be minted to become NFT and enter the blockchain. In the context of photography as NFT, as long as the digital file of a photograph is not corrupt or damaged, you can always mint that photograph to become an NFT piece and sell it in the marketplace. Just make sure the picture is high-resolution and well-processed beforehand, if necessary.
Aside from still photographs, you can also mint short videos or GIF images as well. Just keep in mind preparing the video and/or the GIF consumes more time than a still photograph.
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NFT photography as a concept works well for a number of reasons:
You can always mint your existing photograph portfolio into an NFT right away. However, to make sure that you make the most out of the market, you can follow these steps first.
We’ve mentioned that NFT photography is still a niche market in the NFT scene, which means you would have less competitors. However, that also means that it would be harder to compare your works with other’s. Spend some time researching about your targeted audiences instead what are the popular NFTs right now, the trends, etc. don’t forget to cross-check between different nft marketplace as well.
After you do your homework, it’s time to apply it to your own work. This includes choosing the photographs that would appeal to the current trend, the price, and selling method; whether to scatter your entire library across different platforms or to periodically release a new piece in a single platform. You may also want to consider the pricing method whether to give them a fixed price or to leave it to the auction.
Next is deciding on which platform your art will be available to purchase. OpenSea remains the most viable option for most NFT traders, as it’s open, decentralized, and has a huge library of NFTs. Other options are also available, but keep in mind that some platforms accept artists by invitation only.
In order to receive the payment from your NFT, you need to connect your bank account to a crypto wallet. Since Ethereum-based blockchain is still regarded as the largest NFT ecosystem ever deployed, the most viable options would be wallets that support token standard ERC-721 like MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet.
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Now that it’s all sorted, it’s minting time! All you have to provide in this stage is the digital file as well as its basic information such as the piece’s description, selling method, and price in Ethereum or Bitcoin.
This is what conventional marketplace refer to as “platform fee” you have to pay a certain amount as a service fee to the platform holder. Some platforms require you to pay the fee up front when you set up the NFT, while others will cut a certain percentage when your NFT is sold. Either way, these fees should always be a part of the equation when setting up your price.
You can choose any of the available marketplace to sell your photographs as NFTs. However, do keep in mind that different platforms may charge you different amounts of fees and some marketplace is not open to the public you need to get an invitation from the platform to list your NFT there. If you are a beginner in the NFT world, we suggest you distribute your NFT photography collection in an open-type marketplace.
OpenSea is a great place to start. Being the oldest, largest NFT marketplace to date, it is a well-known platform for all sorts of collectors, both small-scale and big-funded. OpenSea takes 2.5% of every transaction as service fees a low amount for such a huge market. Also, since the fees are taken from each transaction, you don’t have to spend extra cash just to put your NFT up for sale.
Another option for an open marketplace is Mintable. Similar to OpenSea, Mintable takes a percentage of every transaction that happens on their platform. At 10%, the fees are higher than OpenSea. However, Mintable offers higher royalties to the creators. Their library is also arguably more curated than OpenSea, since a majority of Mintable users value educational resources better than most NFT enthusiasts.
Setting photograph NFTs up for sale in the crypto market is just like setting any other art form as NFTs. What’s different is just the production of the content itself. So why does NFT photography not getting the same popularity as other art forms?
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