4 Simple Tips For Selling Stock Photos
There are a number of different ways to make money with your photography.
One of them is to sell your images to stock photography companies, namely online agents.
It does not matter if you are a photographer trained at a major institution, or one who has taken a just few photography classes.
The important thing is that you know how to use that digital SLR you tote everywhere you go.
#1 The first piece of advice is to shoot the type of photos that someone will want to buy.
It sounds crazy, but would anyone want to buy a snapshot of your aunt's dog? Unless there is something very special about the dog or the way you were able to pose her for the shot, the only one interested in that photo will be your aunt.
And she won't be taking out her checkbook for you, will she? Nope, she's your aunt, and relatives expect free-bees.
What kinds of photos will folks buy? In stock photography, you can sell images that can be used by businesses.
Consider shooting pictures that can be used to illustrate concepts, such as a happy executive, corporate types shaking hands as if closing the deal, happy retired couples, and even unhappy corporate situations sell well.
Other types of images to consider are images of food or kitchens that look inviting.
You can also shoot vacation type photos where people are enjoying travel-type activities such as beaches, boating, hiking and the like.
The good news is that many of the types of images that you enjoy taking may have a market.
Use the picture making skills and techniques you learned in your photography classes, and it will serve you well.
#2 The second bit of advice is to avoid breaking the rules of the stock photo companies, and thus avoid future legal problems (or simple rejection of your submissions).
Make sure you read the Terms Of Service before you submit.
They all require model releases when there are human people in the photos.
Also note that if there is property that might be recognizable and can lead to someone locating the owners of the property, it will require some special release as well.
Even a mailbox with an address can cause red flags, or a car license plate.
It's best to cover those bases when you first take the photos.
If you know you will be submitting the photos to an agency, have a model or property release handy.
Many, if not most, individuals do not object to signing when they are aware of your intentions.
One way to sweeten the pot for the models is to give them copies of the photos you take.
They are usually quite happy with that arrangement.
Otherwise, hire professionals.
There is no problem with professionals who know the ropes and are aware that they must release the rights of the images in order to get paid.
#3 Use an abundance of keywords.
Keywords are your key to a successful stock photography money-making business.
You might think that all you have to do is take great pictures and get them online.
Wrong! If no one can find your pictures among the ga-zillions of stock photos available for purchase, no manner of excellence will help sell them.
You must add keywords to each image.
Try using keywords that answer the basic questions: what, where, who, when, why, and how (remember these from your English story writing days?).
And don't just cover the basics, either.
Think of every keyword that might apply to your images, not just the obvious ones.
It might help to browse your competitors' uploaded images for ideas about writing keyword descriptions.
Find the most popular images and check out the keywords, not necessarily to copy them but to get ideas that may not have occurred to you at first.
#4 Take Quality Noise-free Images First of all, the stock companies are very picky about noise.
They simply have too many good images to choose from to bother accepting sub-par pictures.
But you must also consider that the buyer may want to print a high resolution image of your photo, and the larger the photo, the more obvious the noise will be in the print.
Also, take your photos with the camera set to its largest file size.
It's true that most images sold are the smaller file sizes, but you never know when there will be a call for an image from an interior designer who want to decorate the wall of a large corporate office with a giant size print.
Selling to stock photo companies is very competitive, but there are plenty of photographers who are successful at it.
Why wouldn't you be one of them?
One of them is to sell your images to stock photography companies, namely online agents.
It does not matter if you are a photographer trained at a major institution, or one who has taken a just few photography classes.
The important thing is that you know how to use that digital SLR you tote everywhere you go.
#1 The first piece of advice is to shoot the type of photos that someone will want to buy.
It sounds crazy, but would anyone want to buy a snapshot of your aunt's dog? Unless there is something very special about the dog or the way you were able to pose her for the shot, the only one interested in that photo will be your aunt.
And she won't be taking out her checkbook for you, will she? Nope, she's your aunt, and relatives expect free-bees.
What kinds of photos will folks buy? In stock photography, you can sell images that can be used by businesses.
Consider shooting pictures that can be used to illustrate concepts, such as a happy executive, corporate types shaking hands as if closing the deal, happy retired couples, and even unhappy corporate situations sell well.
Other types of images to consider are images of food or kitchens that look inviting.
You can also shoot vacation type photos where people are enjoying travel-type activities such as beaches, boating, hiking and the like.
The good news is that many of the types of images that you enjoy taking may have a market.
Use the picture making skills and techniques you learned in your photography classes, and it will serve you well.
#2 The second bit of advice is to avoid breaking the rules of the stock photo companies, and thus avoid future legal problems (or simple rejection of your submissions).
Make sure you read the Terms Of Service before you submit.
They all require model releases when there are human people in the photos.
Also note that if there is property that might be recognizable and can lead to someone locating the owners of the property, it will require some special release as well.
Even a mailbox with an address can cause red flags, or a car license plate.
It's best to cover those bases when you first take the photos.
If you know you will be submitting the photos to an agency, have a model or property release handy.
Many, if not most, individuals do not object to signing when they are aware of your intentions.
One way to sweeten the pot for the models is to give them copies of the photos you take.
They are usually quite happy with that arrangement.
Otherwise, hire professionals.
There is no problem with professionals who know the ropes and are aware that they must release the rights of the images in order to get paid.
#3 Use an abundance of keywords.
Keywords are your key to a successful stock photography money-making business.
You might think that all you have to do is take great pictures and get them online.
Wrong! If no one can find your pictures among the ga-zillions of stock photos available for purchase, no manner of excellence will help sell them.
You must add keywords to each image.
Try using keywords that answer the basic questions: what, where, who, when, why, and how (remember these from your English story writing days?).
And don't just cover the basics, either.
Think of every keyword that might apply to your images, not just the obvious ones.
It might help to browse your competitors' uploaded images for ideas about writing keyword descriptions.
Find the most popular images and check out the keywords, not necessarily to copy them but to get ideas that may not have occurred to you at first.
#4 Take Quality Noise-free Images First of all, the stock companies are very picky about noise.
They simply have too many good images to choose from to bother accepting sub-par pictures.
But you must also consider that the buyer may want to print a high resolution image of your photo, and the larger the photo, the more obvious the noise will be in the print.
Also, take your photos with the camera set to its largest file size.
It's true that most images sold are the smaller file sizes, but you never know when there will be a call for an image from an interior designer who want to decorate the wall of a large corporate office with a giant size print.
Selling to stock photo companies is very competitive, but there are plenty of photographers who are successful at it.
Why wouldn't you be one of them?
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