Stock Photography Tips

Digital Stock Photography

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If you want to break into the digital stock photography industry, each and every situation needs to be captured in its very best light. Whether you're shooting a dove or a laptop, every image has to have a 'wow'-factor. The competition is strong, but if your images are good, you can earn a substantial extra income by uploading to various stock photography agencies.

Stock Photography Tips # 1: Reseach Stock Agencies

One of the ways to get accepted by an agency is to contact them and speak to a photo editor. Ask them what holes there are in their collection. Once you have this information, you can tailor your first submission to address their needs. Some agencies, for example bigstockphoto.com have this information available on their websites.

Also make sure that you comply with each agency's individual submission criteria, which is available on their websites.

Stock Photography Tips # 2: Always get a Model Release

Be prepared by always carrying a release with you when you've got your camera with you, as well as on your travels.

Stock Photography Tips # 3: Understand Stock Value

You can also assume that an agency doesn't need any more photos of popular landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. Only submit images in these categories if your photos are substantially better than the ones that are already in their database.

Also, learn about what sells in stock photography. Study ads in magazines and look at the images that are used. You will find, for instance, that lifestyle images are very popular.

One of the most important needs stock agencies have is a variety of images showing concepts. Designers want to express ideas like romance, freedom, abundance, stress, global communication, humor, fear, victory, success, cutting edge technology, loneliness, aggression, and joy. These kind of concepts are requested frequently by photo buyers and agencies are always looking for new ways to express them in a visual way.

So before submitting a photo to an agency, consider the following point: does your photograph have value as a concept or idea that a photo buyer can use? For example, a photograph of a businessman in a suit jumping for joy will likely sell better that a macro shot of a fly on a leaf. This has nothing to do with the quality of the image. Micro stock agencies and designers are looking for clear, usable concepts to complement their needs.

Stock Photography Tips # 4: Index your Photos with Good Keywords

I suggest that you put effort into choosing your keywords. If you have good pictures that customers can use, attaching good keywords will give you the best rating and maximum downloads.

So, how do you select your keywords? The best way is to look at similar photographs uploaded by other users to get ideas. You can also use a thesaurus to find synonyms.

You can either add your keywords to your photos during the submission process, or some agencies require that you embed keywords in your photograph using a post-processing program such as Photoshop. In PS or Elements go to file -> file info -> keywords, then add your keywords. The keywords you have inserted will be embedded in the JPEG file in a standard called IPTC. All the microstock agency web servers can read this format.

Stock Photography Tips # 5: Adhere to Technical Requirements

In fact, one of the biggest reasons for rejection of photos is excessive image noise, which is mostly related to high ISO, very long exposures and again, over-processing.

Another problem is underexposure (images that are too dark) and overexposure (images that are too light). Make sure that you master the exposure basics before you start submitting images.

It goes without saying that images need to be in focus and composed well!

Stock Photography Tips # 6: Leave Space for Advertising Copy

Stock Photography Tips 7# : Master Post-processing

Make sure that you have at least a basic knowledge of your photo-editing program and always edit a file at 100% magnification. Your photo may look like it has great potential at thumbnail size but stock agency editors evaluate files at 100% for suitability.

Most importantly, pay attention to the details. Your photos have to stand out from the rest for you to do well in stock photography.

Stock Photography Tips # 8: Be patient!

However, the wonder of stock photography is that once you have a sufficient amount of quality stock photos submitted, the money usually starts to flow. In fact, a royalty income from stock can be immensely liberating. You can go atravellin' or fall asleep on the beach for a month, but your agency is still selling your pictures.

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