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Stock Photography Tips And Tricks

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Stock photography is essentially imagery that anyone can use for a myriad of things, however with certain licensing restrictions and purchase uses. These tend to be a group of images that anyone can use, from companies to bloggers and everyone in between. With a quick search, you can find photos about practically anything and everything.
There are many websites where you can find these images.

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Be aware that most of the photos on the Internet need to have some form of permission, and these are usually defined within the documentation of particular websites. Images of people and landmarks need to have a model release, otherwise they could get you in trouble legally and financially. These forms protects the rights of the owners, subjects and the photographer(s).

Companies such as Shutterstock have millions and millions of photos to sell in their image bank and you can practically find everything there, including videos and music.

The biggest benefits of stock photography are that the photographer can create a business out of the images they produce, and they tend to be versatile in use by an end user while still high-quality and rich in detail. Some photographers with a good portfolio are able to live off their royalties due to their ability to supply a qualitative and quantitative set of image products for the demand. Same can be said about videographers and musicians participating in the image marketplace.

So, we’re gonna take you through everything you need to know about stock photography – as a photographer or aspiring photographer.

You need a camera, and while great cameras mileage go further, novice photographers sometimes worry a bit too much about the quality of the equipment, and perhaps that what they have is not good enough. Unless the camera is digital and ancient (like the first few generations of digital cameras), it should be fine. A camera is a camera as long as it has the basic functions, and in many cases with the latest cellphones, the camera can rival some older DSLR’s or digital cameras. So unless you are doing a expensive campaign work, you don’t need to spend money on a top-of-the-line professional camera.

Getting into stock photography websites can sometimes be a frustrating process. Images are sent for approval to photographic reviewers, which can be picky and who can easily deny submitted images. Competition is also growing and quite huge as far as pool of talent and submissions are concerned, growing steadily each day.

Your best bet is to sign-up for newsletters providing recommendation on subjects or images that are less competitive or in demand, or to conduct research into what the latest trends are, or what niche areas might be missing from image banks. This makes you stand out and lowers the competition as far as your submissions are concerned.

One of the things that you must also have is post-processing software, such as Photoshop or Lightroom for example. These help you add meta data and properties to the image, package the images, and present formats for submission. It also allows you to do any necessary clean-up you may need.

Keywords are essential to people find your photos, with the ideal number of keywords being in the 20-30 range, but they have to be relevant and descriptive.

Look for logos and brands, specifically for commercially licensed photos, you will need to make sure your photos don’t have brands or trademarks (or you’ll need to get permission and signed contracts to be able to use them). This is very important, your photos can be denied and potentially a legal or financial issue for you because of this.

Write about your photos, travel, tips and tricks. If you want to be successful and live off of selling stock photos, it’s very important to market yourself well and to stick out from the crowd.

Remember that the only way to get better at taking photos is to go out there and take more and more photos, to try new techniques and to learn with other photographers. Adding your own take on the creative aspect doesn’t hurt either.