Top Stock Photography Tips

by Brian Edwards
(Cape Town)

Reader Post: 'It can be quite daunting to try and break into professional photography and sell your shots. These are my six top stock photography tips:

1. Know your Market. Make sure you are submitting photos that the market (or your clients) are interested in. You have to study what sells and tailor your work accordingly.

2. Only sell strong images. You will only get sales if your images are competitive in a very competitive market! Only submit your very best images - and remember, the more great images you have, the more you will sell.

3. Images that include people are often good sellers, but keep your concepts simple, for example 'romance'.

4. It often surprises me that the simplest images are often the best sellers, for example a simple image of a piece of fruit with plenty of space for advertising copy.

5. Promote your work online. This is one of the top stock photography tips that often gets overlooked. Apart from getting your shots published on some of the top stock photography sites, try using a service where you can sell and market your own stock images. You can also do it on your own website.

6. Give good customer service if you're selling your own stock photos. If your service is slow or unprofessional, your clients are unlikely to return to purchase again. Word of mouth is the best advertising.

Hope these tips are helpful to those who are trying to break into the market.'