Stock Photography Resources
Home
Microstock Sites
Microsite Tips
Ten Tips
Is It for Me?
Making Money
| | Ten Tips for Getting
Started in Stock Photography
The following are 10 tips for becoming a stock photographer working with microstock
sites.
- Good pictures sell.; bad ones do not
Most photographers can be better. Take time to improve your
skills. Read books. Try new things. Think like a designer
and decide what to shoot based on what a designer might want. Think in terms
of a clear subject and concepts. Abstract pictures have a hard time selling.
- It's a numbers game
Assuming you can take sharp, well
composed, clean pictures, the more pictures you have on a site, the more
money you will make. Keep working at building your portfolio. You don't have
to do something every week, or even month, but keep at it as much as you can
afford the time to do so. As you keep building your portfolio, you will make
more and more money.
- Don't let rejection stop you
Just because one site turns down your picture does not mean another one
will. Don't take picture rejection personally. Find out why a picture was
rejected, learn from it if it makes sense, and move on. Also, realize that a
perfectly good picture will be rejected by one site and sell like crazy on
another site. It is hard to tell what a site wants. If they say no to one of
your pictures, think of it as a mismatch between you and them, not as a
reflection of your skills. Also, remember that in some cases, it really will
not make sense why a photo is not accepted. It will seem almost arbitrary.
Don't give up; keep at it; get better; and keep going.
- Upload to multiple sites
Unless you are going the
exclusive route, find several good sites and upload to all of them. It
doesn't require that much more work and will dramatically increase your
sales for a minimal increase in work. It's part of the numbers game.
If you have a portfolio of 100 pictures, then posting on 5 sites effectively
means you have a portfolio of 500 pictures. It is a great way to grow your
portfolio easily. There is one catch, if a site really can't sell your
pictures, it is often not worth the effort, even the small amount of
additional effort, to maintain a portfolio on that site. Do a bit of
research and you will get a good idea of what sites are hot and which ones
are not. As a starting point, see Microstock Sites.
Most serious microstock photographers are on about 3 - 6 different sites.
- Use IPTC to add keywords, descriptions, and titles to your
pictures
By adding information about your picture through IPTC, the
information stays with your picture, and when you upload your pictures, the
stock photo site can automatically extract that information from the
picture. This will save you countless hours of effort, especially as you
upload to multiple sites. The IPTC tagging also makes for a convenient place
to store photo descriptions and keywords. What better place to store
information about a picture than inside the picture, and it is great that
microstock sites can extract this information from your picture. If
your photo editing software does not support IPTC tagging, it is worth
considering getting a new one that does.
- Keywords are key
Take the time to do the best job you can
keywording your pictures. The keywords are how a potential buyer finds your
pictures. The best keyword in the world will not make you a cent if you do
not keyword it so the person that might want your picture can find it. It is
not fun, but it is worth the effort. When keywording, look at synonyms you
can use. One way to get ideas on keywords for your photo is to look at the
keywords others have thought of for a similar topic pictures.
- Edit your photos
Very few photos do not need some
processing work after you take them. Take the time to learn a tool that will
help you fine tune and really bring your photos to life. A good photo
editing tool can be expensive, but might be worth the investment if it helps
you sell more pictures. You can use a mid-level or basic tool and still get
a lot of benefit. Also, take the time to learn the tool you use and
understand what it can use.
- Continue to improve your skills as a photographer
We can
always learn more about taking great pictures, so take the time to learn
and improve the quality of your pictures. Being a great photographer also
takes a lot of practice, so get out and take some pictures. Read books.
Study the works of others. Consider taking a photography course. An
inexpensive way to learn is to join photography forums, contribute, post
pictures, and learn from the feedback of others.
- Shoot your turf
Not everyone can
travel every week or month to exotic places, but you have access to things
right around you that others do not, so look within your neighborhood, city,
or where you spend your time and see what interesting things you can find
to photograph. Some places have mountains, other places have oceans. Some
places have tall buildings, other have farmlands. Some places have snow,
other places have fog. Each area is unique and has its own special
attributes. Take a look at your world and see what it has to offer you.
- Know your business
Just like any business,
you need to know your business. You need to know what others are
doing. Keep current on what is happening in stock photography.
Things change, new stock sites appear, some go away, some take off. You want
to be aware of what is happening so you can be better prepared to make
the right choices for yourself. Join forums, or at very least, occasionally browse through them
and see what the hot topics are. It is great when people
of similar interest can learn from each other. Go to the stock sites and see
what is selling. Most sites list the top selling pictures or list the ones
they are looking for. Visit these sites and learn what is wanted.
|