| Stock photography: what sells? |
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| Written by Chris C. | |||
Stock oriented Keep in mind that stock photography is mainly about commercial usage of imagery in magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, multimedia presentation, web, etc. So, shoot clearly defined commercial concepts that are marketable. The subject should be as generic as possible. Conceptual images also sell very well. If you can think of a way to use you image commercially, than you can submit it for sale. Of course, you can sale niche subjects too, but you have to find the right photo agency for this, general stock agencies will probably not do. For example, if you love plants and you take mainly botanical shoots, sale these with an agency specialised in such subjects (like botanicalphotostock.com). Technical quality Poor technical quality is the main reason photographers have their images rejected. Agencies in general and microstock agencies in particular, are extremely demanding when it comes to the quality of the images they accept for sale. Make sure the image is well composed, the lighting is good and the colours are right. Photographs must be properly exposed, in focus, sharp, free from noise, dust and other artifacts. Be original and creative, this will make you images stand out from millions of others sold by the same agency. Avoid elements that can distract the viewer from the main subject or theme. Use the lowest ISO setting as possible when shooting, photos get rejected for visible image noise. Some agencies are very strict about this, others are more relaxed. Do not use software like Ninja Noise or Neat Image, to remove noise, unless it is absolutely necessary and only if you know how to use them. Be aware of lens aberrations like purple fringing, vigneting, distorsions, and correct them if you don’t want your images to be rejected. Subjects Stock photography covers a huge number of subjects, concepts, themes, issues, ideas. There is seasonal variation, for example Christmas images will sell well before Christmas. Stock photography is always changing, is a matter of fashion. Look at all magazines, books, etc. you can get your hands on to keep up to date with what designers are looking for at a certain moment. A few examples of subjects that (almost) always sell: food images, photos of people (you will need a model release for those), business and success themed images, spa and medical, etc. You have to find the perfect balance between creating images of popular subjects and remaining creative. If you are submit images that are easily obtained and similar to other photos you have a good chance at being lost in the crowd. Developing an unique style will help your images to sell. Image formats Today’s stock agencies sell images in a variety of formats: JPEG, TIFF, PSD, EPS or AI vector files, etc. The most popular is JPEG. Files should always be saved in this format only after you have finished all the editing and at the highest quality. Vectors tend to sell better (providing the image has good quality and a good commercial value). The image size is always a factor, the higher the resolution, the better they sell and the price is also higher, but this differs from one stock agency to another. Keywords Keywords affect your sells because they are the main way for buyers to find your images. Buyers are often graphic designers, graphic artists, marketing professionals, ad agencies that know exactly what are looking for and they search the image library by using specific keywords. Bad or inappropriate keywords will result in not having your images sold because they can not be found. Read our article about keywords, for some tips. Look at best selling images Many stock photography sites have a list with the best selling images. If your agency has such listing, look at those images for inspiration. They usually reflect the subjects and concepts that sell best with a particular stock agency. Do not copy photos that sell best, use them just as a starting point for developing your own ideas and concepts. Bellow you will find a list with links that point to the best selling images of some of the most important microstock photography agencies: Dreamstime: http://www.dreamstime.com/latest.php?sortcriteria=6 Shutterstock: http://submit.shutterstock.com/top50.mhtml iStockphoto: http://www.istockphoto.com/most_popular.php |
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