Description:
I'm Torben Birkmose, an amateur photographer who loves to take photos with my Nikon D40 (18-55mm lens). Microstock Photography is a new hobby of mine, and I hope to get some great comments from you, and hope to repay you by displaying my progress as a photographer.
Contents:
Stock Photography Tips (1 of 3): Creativity vs. Saleability
This will be the first article of a series of 3, and the first series of articles that I will post on my blog. I hope that you will enjoy them, and come back soon for the next couple of articles that will focus on Model Releases and Stock Photography Agencies.
One thing that seems to be a bit difficult for photographers just entering the stock photography marketplace, is the difference in the way your photographs need to be taken. Most photographers are creative people at heart. And often they've learned many ways to make their photos much more creative and artistic. Indeed, these are often defining marks of a great photographer.
Unfortunately, there's not as much room for artistic or creative shots in the stock photography world. By definition, stock photos must be fairly generic in order to sell well. With micro stock photography particularly, the goal is to sell one picture as many times as possible, over a long period of time. And doing this requires a slightly different approach to your photography.
Generic, simple photos with room for text (a.k.a. "copy space") tend to make some of the best selling stock photography. When creating photos for stock usage, you need to keep the end users in mind. And since stock photography is most often used for advertising, you need to think about the saleability of the photos you'll be shooting.
A gorgeous picture of a field of daisies might be wonderful as an art print or poster, but does it have much commercial value? In other words, are there many ways for that picture to be used in advertisements, brochures, or other promotional creatives? Unfortunately the answer is not usually.
What Sells?
In fact, the types of photos that sell best in the stock photography industry, might be those considered mundane, boring, or generic by creative photographers. A calculator on a plain white background... people shaking hands... a piece of fruit.
Conceptual photos sell quite well in the stock photography world, as do people shots. People who look like business professionals do the best, and conceptual photos that fit into a wide variety of business settings sell quite well too.
Objects on plain white backgrounds can seem to be the most boring subjects around, but they sell quite well on royalty free micro stock photography sites because they have such a wide variety of uses. One apple for instance, isolated on a white background, can be used alone, mixed in with other pictures to create a collage, or "inserted" into another generic picture to make something completely new.
It can be used for a variety of types of creative too: Education, health, fitness, nutrition, or even gardening or pesticides.
If that same apple was photographed creatively - say as a still life with pretty jars, crockery or baking supplies - it's use would be much more limited, thus it would most likely sell much less often.
The same applies to people. As boring as it might sound, posing people against a plain white or neutral colored background will generate more stock photography sales for you, because those pictures could be incorporated into a variety of themes and topics.
Technically you're not giving up your creativity by creating these types of shots, it's just a different type of creativity and that type is difficult for some photographers to adjust to.
Depth of Field
Another example is depth of field. Many photographers take beautiful pictures of something, and purposely use low depth of field to make it much more creative. Often times unfortunately, these works of art may be rejected by stock photography agencies, because there is not enough clarity to make the photo useful for designers.
A close up photo like this could be rejected by most stock photography agencies, because the boy's head is cropped off.
Cropping
One other creative technique that doesn't always work well for stock photography is cropping. This is often done when taking pictures of people: The photographer gets in really close, and makes a gorgeous photo of a person or object. Often this is done at the expense of some part of the object or person you're photographing. With people for instance, close shots frequently don't include the entire head, or an ear may not show in the picture.
Stock photography agencies may reject these types of close shots often, because they're considered to be cropped too closely. You see designers prefer to choose the cropping themselves. So they look for stock photos that have the entire object or person in place, then they do their own creative work with cropping or not cropping.
The other reason cropping is not overly popular with stock photography sites is "copy space". The term copy space refers to blank space on a picture, where words can be inserted. Think of a magazine cover... it may have a wonderful picture on it, but there's also many words, sentences and phrases too. Magazines, art directors and designers often select pictures based on how much room they need for text. In other words: They need copy space on the photos, so they'll bypass any that are cropped too close because there is no where to put text on the picture.
So be prepared for rejections. Particularly when you're just starting out in stock photography and particularly if you have a very creative photography style.
Follow my next article in this series about selling pictures of people and model releases.
Backup Your Photos Online - Unlimited Backup
Do you have your photos backed up, secured and stored somewhere safe? You probably have them on your external harddrive, or burned down on several dvd's or cd's. But are they really secure there? Well, they probably are secure - to some extent.
What is the worst case scenario? Well, a fire at your house may actually take everything with it, computer, external harddrives, discs, etc. - and there goes all of your hard work! I know it is a highly unlikely scenario but why not be prepared for this situation, like you buy insurance for almost anything else. And what if you can actually make backup easier and at the same time secure yourself for the worst case scenario?
Imagine losing all of your hard work with your camera!? Years of hard work that is almost impossible to replicate. I can not bear to think about this situation. That is why I looked into the possibility of backing up my files online, that way removing the risk of losing my photos and files. Today there are many solutions for online backup, and some of them have become both user friendly and highly secure.
Mozy Backup
When i was looking for the best online backup solution I wanted to find a solution that would give me unlimited space, or at least the equivalent of a large external harddrive.
I found only one solution that would offer unlimited backup at a reasonable price. Some of the solutions would have you pay per GB, and going above 100GB would cost you an obsene amount of money.
However, Mozy was the solution I chose, because they offer unlimited space for only $4.95 per month, and also several reviews has established that Mozy is also a very secure solution. I now have all my photos and files backed up in my online storage space with Mozy, and I am just glad that my files are now secure and backed up without having to go through the hazzle of burning dvd's or worrying about how large my external harddrive should be.
All you have to do is download their program to enable you to store your photos and files in your online space. There are a lot of configuration possibilities with Mozy, where you can decide when the backup should take place, and even allocate bandwidth to the online backup.
Mozy also offers a free solution, where you can backup up to 2GB's of files. This is a good way to get to know Mozy, as you can always upgrade to the unlimited solution.
Get your Mozy online backup solution here.
Other Solutions
Mozy is not the only solution on the market, and it is up to you to find the solution to fit your own needs. I can mention a few of the other solutions here:
- iDrive
- Keepit
How to Make Money from Your Digital Images - Review
If you are looking to get started with Microstock Photography, it is a good idea to seek help and inspiration from already successful photographers/artists, either on the Internet or from books or other sources. This article gives you a review of the book: How to Make Money from Your Digital Images, by Douglas Freer.
One of the sources I turned to first was the book by Douglas Freer, an illustrative book answering some of the basic questions about getting started and becoming successful with Microstock Photography. Douglas Freer has written a comprehensive book that details the technical and commercial processes of the microstock industry. He gives tips and tricks to how to get started, which types of photos will sell, where to sell them, and all the what-not-to-dos.
Over 60 illustrations and photographs help you improve your skills, learn new techniques specific to shooting stock photography and better understand what the microstock market demands.
The book primarily helped me with inspiration, and helped me focus my shooting, instead of trying out in every direction wasting precious time on the approval process of all the agencies. The right focus can help you shorten the approval process and increase approval rating - this is the first step to becoming successful with Microstock Photography.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking out success with Microstock Photography, or just want to get introduced to making money from your personal photos.
About the author: Douglas Freer is the former principal of a niche online rights managed stock photo library, a semi-professional photographer and the London based senior partner of the law firm he founded in 2004. He is highly regarded in the industry of microstock photography and has founded one of the largest microstock forums. He is a contributing photographer for IStock, Shutterstock, Dreamstime, 123Royaltyfree and Fotolia and a member of the Royal Photographic Society.
Get the book from Amazon.
Warm Summer Days - Aaaaaaaahhhh
 Thinking back to the warm summer days, sipping weis-beer with your sunglasses right at hand. This is taken in a small German town along the river Mosel. Beautiful place with an incredible atmosphere, and the beer only ads to it.
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutterspeed: 1/125 sec.
ISO: 200
Lens: 18-55mm (27mm shot)
World's Best DSLR - Canon EOS 5D Mark II
In my local Digital Photo magazine they recently had a review of the new Canon DSLR, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which they called the world's best digital camera below $20.000. Not a bad verdict, and it even includes video in full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels). According to the magazine the only camera that beats the EOS 5D Mark II is the Hasselblad H3DII-39 with 39 mio. pixels, weighing 5 pounds at the price of $27.000.
Some of the highlights of the camera are: It is the first professionally oriented DSLR with an autofocus with face recognition. ISO goes as high as 25.600! It is the first Canon DSLR that can record video.
In the review they compare it to the Nikon D700 and there are just a few points where they find the Nikon to have an advantage. The Mark II has an amazing picture quality, impressive auto focus, and apparently all the flaws of the EOS 5D from 2005 have been corrected in the Mark II.
Some Specs.:
ISO: 50-25.600
Weight: 892 grams
Pixels: 21.1 MP
Frames per second: 3.9
Screen: 3 inches LCD
I think this is a bit out of my league at the moment, but in the future I will definitely be looking into this camera (or at least the series). For anyone that might be interested, go check it out.
If You have any experience with this camera, please leave a comment.
What's Your Favorite Microstock Photo?
Show me yours and I'll show you mine! Well, actually it will be the other way around in this article. I'll show you my favorite microstock photo that I have found, and then I hope that you will show me yours (leave a comment).
I chose this picture because it displays a lot of different emotions in one shot. You get a lot of adventure and movement, but at the same time the water and landscape is perfectly level and calm. Beautifully captured, and this is one of a series of similar shots, that all compliment each other.
Go check it out, and then leave your favorite in the comments.
Microstock Strategies
When starting your microstock ventures there are some things you should consider before uploading your first photos. When visiting the different microstock agencies available online - some of them you find here - there are questions that you should seek to answer:
- What is the commission structure like?
- Do they offer both single-sale and subscription-based sales?
- Standard, extended or enhanced licenses?
First of all the different agencies have different commission structures, without exceptions. Dreamstime claims that its royalties are the best in the industry, at least in terms of percentages - you can get somewhere between 50 and 60 % depending on the license. Shutterstock likes to keep things simple and offer commissions of $0.25 for each sale, and $0.30 if you have at least $500 in earnings.
Sales Models
Different agencies have different sales models, and this is highly relevant to both photographers and buyers. In general there are 3 different models to consider:
- Credit Package (single sales) sites: Buyers purchase images using credits purchased in advance.
- Subscription sale sites: Buyers purchase a monthly (usually) subscription and can then download a set number of images during the subscription period.
- Hybrid sites: Combination of both.
Recommendations
When you choose your strategy for submitting your photos, you can go one of two ways (consider what is best for you): Either you spread your work around a number of agencies to maximize your exposure, or you go exclusively with one agency and take advantage of the advantages of submitting with exclusivity.
I recommend that you:
- spread your work around at least 4-5 microstock agencies in order to spread your risk and increase your exposure to different types of buyers
- make sure that the microstock agencies you choose are hybrid sites, offering both single-sale and subscription-based sales
- get to know the commissions structure of each agency
Share your experiences and tell us about your own strategy for making money on microstock photography - leave a comment.
Fotolia celebrates 3rd Birthday
No doubt that Microstock is here to stay, as exemplified by one of the important players on the market, celebrating 3 years in the microstock market. Fotolia has within three years build up a solid platform with now more than 4 million images available for download.
Fotolia is a great place to start if you are new to Stock Photography, or if you are looking for royalty free stock photos at a low cost. Until November 30th you can save up to 35%. Check out their web site for more information.
www.fotolia.com
For those who already has experience with Fotolia, please tell us about it by leaving a comment.
Notre Dame Lightshow
A visit to the Notre Dame in Paris revealed this lighting experience during a sermon. The photo was taken handheld, so a high ISO and low aperture was necessary in order to maintain some of the sharpness. But the best about this photo, I think, is the lighting effect from the spots shooting down towards the center of attention. Judge for yourself :)
Aperture: f/5,6
Shutterspeed: 1/5 sec.
ISO: 800
Lens: 18-55mm (18mm shot)
How to shoot in HDR
I recently became familiar with the concept of HDR. Well, that is, I finally learned what is was all about. First of all, you need a DSLR with Manual setting, a tripod (or concrete hands), and Photoshop (or the like) to combine your great shots.
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