Digital Camera World » stock photography

Stock photography tips: how to shoot and edit stock photos that sell

jmeyer — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:30:36 +0000

Tired of your stock photography endeavours going to waste? Start making some money from your photography; use these stock photography tips to start setting up your shoots and editing photos in a more commercially minded way.

Stock photography went through a revolution as the microstock market established itself using the internet as a platform, and today there are a huge number of sites through which you can make a little extra income from your hobby.

However, the bottom line still remains – stock photography needs to contain a strong commercial subject and concept, while being useful to designers. It’s unlikely you’ll make much of a success from pictures of your kids, pets or garden flowers because these areas have been comprehensively covered.

Likewise, applying multi-filtered effects or creative crops will have a negative effect on your sales because buyers will find limited potential when put in context with their specific projects.

Our original shot

The path to success is simple – plan and arrange a strong concept shoot, compose your images with plenty of room for potential titles and/or copy, and edit your Raw files in a sympathetic manner that enhances the photo while minimising any further effects of compression artifacting.

Shooting in a Raw format is generally advisable because this allows some flexibility when running your initial processing.

Bundled along with Photoshop, Adobe Camera Raw provides some basic editing tools that can often provide the fundamentals needed to get your images virtually up to standard, assuming your photography skills are reasonably strong. Try to avoid burning out highlights or blacking out the shadows because these can never be salvaged.

Although it’s basic, Camera Raw provides some effective tools that are all too often overlooked because many consider the tool to be a simple Raw conversion tool.

Take some time to understand at least the most basic contrast and colour correction tools because processing at this stage substantially reduces the amount of artifacting introduced in the later Photoshop processing stage.

Once you have your images in Photoshop, keep all of your edits as basic as possible so as to simply enhance the original photograph.

Remember that your image will be an asset within a bigger design, most commonly for online or print use, and designers putting together such material may want to further edit them to match a house style.

If you impose a texture or make generous use of post-processed effects such as cross-processing, then these edits may make your image unusable to many potential buyers.

One of the most important elements to consider is an image’s contrast, so use Levels to set your black and white points. Colour temperature or white balance adjustment is much simplified using a simple slider in Camera Raw.

Some diligent use of the Spot Healing tools is good for removing any sensor spots or unnoticed logos, and finally, some simple straightening or compositional cropping might be beneficial.

Once you’re happy with your edits, save your file first as an uncompressed TIFF, should subsequent work be necessary (following a rejection for an overlooked logo, for example) and finally as a JPEG at the highest setting possible, making sure not to upsample because this only degrades quality unnecessarily.

How to edit stock photos that sell

01 Camera Raw adjustments
Study and master the controls within Camera Raw and you’ll find the majority of your processing can be done before you fine-tune things in Photoshop.

02 Photoshop edits
With Camera Raw taking care of the essentials, you can polish things up in Photoshop with the Healing Brush tool and Blend Modes, or you could apply advanced colour retouching.

03 Saving your file
Always use the highest settings when saving your final image. Set image compression to None for TIFFs and put the slider all the way up to 12 for JPEGs.

Final Tip
Many stock sites import EXIF data, so save time by embedding pertinent keywords in Adobe Bridge.

Sell Photos Online: edit your pictures to make money through microstock

jmeyer — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:30:28 +0000

As one improves as a photographer, you might find yourself asking less about photography tips and techniques and instead how to make money from photography. One popular method is to sell photos online via one of the numerous microstock libraries.

In our post below we’ll show you how to prepare and edit your pictures so that when you go to sell photos online through a microstock library you stand the best chance of making money.

You may have printed and framed a few of your favourite shots or shared them via online galleries such as Flickr, but the majority of your images are probably just occupying space on your hard drive. Why not shake the digital dust off of your collection and sell photos online with a microstock library?

In these financially tight times, art editors can’t always afford to commission a photographer to shoot specific images to illustrate a book cover or magazine feature. Instead, they’re likely to turn to one of the many online stock photography sites, such as iStockphoto or Shutterstock, where they can download cheaper images.

The microstock library will take the biggest share of the money, but if your images aren’t already making you cash, then you have nothing to lose trying to sell photos online. You can spend any money you earn on accessories for your kit bag!

Having a large collection of photos to sell online isn’t an immediate licence to print money. Although stock photos are relatively cheap, the client will want images that have a sharp focus point,a healthy range of tones and vibrant, correctly balanced colours.

Sell photos online: our original image

For this reason, stock photography sites will subject every photo you submit to extreme scrutiny, and will reject any shots that don’t come up to scratch.

Here we’ll show you how to edit a photo in Adobe Camera Raw and the Photoshop Elements editor so that it stands a better chance of getting a thumbs-up from quality-control inspectors at the major microstock libraries.

01 Open image
Open your image in Adobe Camera Raw. At first glance this image looks like a decent shot,but the eagle-eyes of a microstock photography inspector could find reasons for rejecting it. For starters, the colour temperature is a little cold. To warm up the scene, drag the Temperature slider to 5600.

02 Improve exposure
To give the shot more impact, we can brighten it up a little, but we need to make sure that we don’t clip (or over-expose) the highlights. Press O to turn on the highlight clipping warning. Drag the Exposure up to +0.35. To remove any red clipping warning patches, drag the Recovery up to 18.

03 Darken shadows
The contrast is a little flat due to the scene’s high-key lighting. Drag Blacks to 10 to darken the shadows. By pressing U you can see any clipped shadows as patches of blue. Clipped pixels will print with no detail, which is a common reason for rejection by a stock agency.

04 Bring out shadow detail
The high-key lighting has filled in most of the shadows on the child’s face. You can bring out more detail in the remaining shadows by dragging the Clarity slider up to +16. This subtle and gentle change in mid-tone contrast helps emphasise the shape and contours of the child’s face.

05 Crop in
To remove the edge of the studio backdrop, hold down the mouse button over the Crop tool and tick Show Overlay. Drag the mouse to select the entire image, then hold Shift and drag a corner handle to tighten the crop. The Overlay helps keep the child’s face at the centre of the image.

06 Discover artifacts
Click Open Image to continue editing the shot in the standard Photoshop Elements editor. Select the Zoom tool and click 1:1. Hold down the space bar to activate the Hand tool and drag the mouse to view all of the background at 100% magnification. There’s a subtle spot above the child’s foot.

07 Remove blemishes
Select the Spot Healing Brush tool from the Tools palette. Set Size to 150 pixels. Spray the brush tip over the sensor spot to remove it. Reduce Size to 25 pixels and spray over the shiny snot on the subject’s nose (and the drool from his mouth) to make him look a little more presentable.

08 Reduce noise
Stock inspectors will reject shots featuring picture noise. Noise is most noticeable in this image in the mid-tones at the base of the backdrop. You could try using Filter>Noise>Reduce Noise to remove it, but this runs the risk of blurring sharp details. Use the Blur tool to target and soften the problem areas.

09 Darken highlights
The skin’s brightest highlights could have a little more detail. A quick way to tweak a shot’s tones is to choose Enhance>Adjust Color>Color Curves. In the Select a Style section click Darken Highlights. This causes the highlight area of the curve to dip down a little. Click OK to proceed.

NEXT PAGE: How to edit your pictures to make money through microstock – Steps 10-16

Get cash for your pictures: the right way to submit to stock photo agencies

jmeyer — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:00:05 +0000

Selling your pictures to an agency isn’t as simple as uploading them and then sitting back waiting for the money to roll in. However, if you plan your approach carefully – and if your shots are good enough – then it’s possible to generate some useful cash through one of the many stock photo agencies online.

When you offer your photos for sale to stock photo agencies, the rights you offer to users via an agency are generally either rights- managed or royalty-free.

Rights-managed means that a customer buys the right to use your photo for a specific purpose; for example a magazine may buy a picture to use once in a specific issue, and if they want to use the image again they’ll have to buy the right to do so again.

Royalty-free means that the customer pays one fee and can then use the image as many times as they like.

Some royalty-free agreements may restrict usage for a single purpose – so if someone buys a picture to print on a T-shirt they can produce as many T-shirts as they like, but if they want to print the same image on a mug, they’ll need to pay another fee.

Various factors determine the price charged for the use of an image, and therefore how much you’ll earn.

These include the size at which the picture is to be used, the publication’s circulation figures, and the placement; getting an image on the front cover of a magazine, for example, will earn you more than if it’s used inside.

Agencies to investigate include: www.alamy.com, www.picturenation.co.uk, www.shutterstock.com, www.bigstockphoto.com and www.istockphoto.com.

01 Research existing images
Look at an agency’s existing images. Your images need to complement them, but be different too. If your photos are similar to those already held by the agency then don’t bother, but if your photos are of an unusual angle, have different lighting, unusual weather conditions or offer unusual extras (the Red Arrows flying overhead), then it may be worth pursuing.

02 Read the contributor agreement
Submitting images for sale via an agency means entering into a business arrangement, so read the contributor agreement. Commission rates, and how the agency sells your images varies between agencies. The agreement also stipulates when payments are made, which currency commission is paid in and when the agency requires model release forms. If you’re happy with the conditions, create an account.

03 Check contributor guidelines
Agencies set down strict guidelines, so comply with them – you’re dealing with a business, and competing with other professional photographers. For example Alamy requires all images to be JPEGs and RGB files, with a minimum file size of 24MB. They don’t want images containing trademarks or company logos, and images will be rejected if they’re out of focus, or have dust spots. Avoid over-sharpening images.

04 Select your test images
When you sign up, most agencies ask for a batch of between four and ten test images. Pick your best and ensure they meet the agency’s criteria. Images are usually rejected because of camera shake, blemishes (dust spots, sun spots) and noticeable retouching. Use Photoshop to clean up dust or sun spots, and always use View > Actual Pixels to view your final image at 100% to check the quality.

05 Upload your images
Once you’re happy with the quality of your images, it’s time to upload them. Some agencies ask for test images to be submitted on CD-ROM, others will accept uploading via the internet. You might find it useful to create a folder on your computer for images you want to submit. Once submitted, most agencies will try to respond within ten working days.

06 Add your keywords
Once you’re past quality control, you then need to keyword your images. Think of words a customer may type into the agency’s search fields when they’re looking for images. This is a skill that you’ll develop over time, but check for guidance from the agency. It’s not just the literal description of your image (Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey, Wales, UK); think of emotions and moods (calm, stormy, soothing,) as well as the picture’s orientation (portrait or landscape).

Top tip for selling photos online
Making a sale can be a numbers game. Alamy has over 26 million images competing for the same customers, so don’t expect your first sale within days or even weeks.

Get into the habit of submitting a small batch of images frequently to gradually expand your portfolio; the more images you submit, the more likely you are to see some reward for your efforts.

Stock photo agencies won’t make you a millionaire overnight, but they offer an opportunity for some of your images to work for you, rather than just clogging up your hard drive.

How to be a Getty contributor

jmeyer — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:37:15 +0000

Regular Digital Camera contributor David Clapp also shoots for Getty Images

Chances are you’ve seen an image by a Getty photographer – not just full stop, but today. In the last hour, even.

So diverse and pervasive is the esteemed photo agency, that the growing band of Getty contributors casts a wide net all over the globe. Getty photographers cover every major world event, and even the ones that don’t make headlines. And the agency is increasingly relying on a network of landscape and wildlife photographers to fill its needs in other genres.

We recently spoke to Anthony Parkin, Getty Images’ Director of Editorial Content, to find out how the agency finds new Getty contributors.

Digital Camera World: Apart from a strong portfolio, what do you look for in a Getty photographer?

Anthony Parkin: In a photographer I look for integrity, a great eye, consistency and a fresh approach. In their work, I need to see the ability to tell a story in either a single frame or a short series of images, whether it’s a reportage piece or a commercial lifestyle set.

It’s also important to not discount the portfolio, or more commonly a website and blog. This is often the photographer’s first point of contact and you can tell a lot by their presentation, image selection and picture quality.

With so many photographers out there, a well-thought-out site with carefully curated content can be the difference between a call back or a pass.

DCW: What is the vetting process like?

AP: It depends on what the photographer is providing. For assignments, it is often being a versatile photographer in a great location, while with editorial submissions the process is likely to include access, approach and stories that are of national and international interest.

If a photographer combines all or some of these, the chances are we are going to be in touch.

DCW: Can a photographer approach Getty Images, or does Getty Images approach the photographers it wants?

AP: Happily, we receive a large number of approaches on a daily basis from photographers all over the world. That said, for specific commissions, or if we see outstanding content, we often contact new photographers to work with them.

DCW: What is the ideal Getty image?

AP: Engaging, exclusive and unexpected.

DCW: Are there set criteria or standards that must be met in every picture?

AP: As you might expect, we have fixed criteria for all submissions and certain assignments carry additional standards depending on the particular client’s usage. Metadata is a universal requirement and has to be right to ensure the content is accepted and searchable.

Once a Getty contributor is set up, we supply them with all the information necessary, from shoot guidelines to caption style, ensuring they make the most of their submissions.

DCW: Many people think of Getty Images photographers shooting documentary work, but we know a number of landscape and wildlife photographers who shoot for Getty Images. Are these genres a growing part of the business?

AP: Getty Images has an incredibly diverse range of contributors and image partners providing our customers with unparalleled content. Landscape and environmental imagery have always been in demand and we continue to see strong customer interest in Wildlife from our National Geographic collection and also through to our Flickr contributors who bring a new perspective to the table.

DCW: Does Getty Images send its photographers on specific assignments or does it set them free in the world and ask them to send in images from time to time – or a mixture of both?

AP: Through our assignment division, as well as our news, entertainment, sport and creative teams, we are continually sending out photographers to shoot content for us and for specific client commissions.

We also receive material from a trusted network of freelancers, and our Reportage division works with a number of award-winning photojournalists who undertake their own commissions and collaborate with the team to syndicate their stories internationally.

DCW: What’s the oddest assignment one of your photographers has taken?

AP: One of the oddest assignments was sending a photographer on a whirlwind trip across America to photograph alternative theme parks (low key attractions competing with the big names).

It sounds like fun, but due to a fast approaching deadline, the drawback was five different locations shot over 10 days – shoot day, travel day, shoot day and so on, so it was a bit relentless for the photographer.

After nine days he was absolutely exhausted and nearly became lunch, when he and the venue owner got a little too close to the main attractions at Gatorland!

DCW: Photographers often tell us what specs they would like on their next new camera. From your standpoint, what new innovation within the industry would make your job easier?

AP: It is a great time to be working in the industry with HD film capable DSLR’s, 360 Video, 3D, light-field photography and the brave new world of content shot on camera phones.

I’m not necessarily looking for an innovation to make my job easier, but I am looking forward to the technological developments that will empower image makers to produce new and exciting content in ways we haven’t seen before.

Anthony Parkin’s Bio
Anthony Holland Parkin, Director, Editorial Content, develops the merchandising of Getty Images Editorial content through close partnerships with editorial teams globally. Anthony liaises with Editorial Directors of Photography on editing policy, and has recently taken on the management of Getty Images’ lauded annual Year in Focus, as well as concentrating on editorial social media output across all platforms.

Prior to his time at Getty Images, Anthony co-founded photographer’s representation agency, Felix Management, in New York where he was the agent for Robert Erdmann, Julian Broad, Alan Clarke and Trevor Ray Hart amongst others. Anthony returned to the UK seven years ago and joined Getty Images to build two premium editorial collections, before becoming the Art Director of Getty Images’ photo assignments division. He was promoted to the role of Director, Editorial Content in 2012.

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Freelance photography tips: magazine publishing

dcworld — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:38:52 +0000

With 1000s of titles published every month, magazines are the most accessible market available to budding freelance photographers – here are our tips for success

Think of a subject and chances are there’s at least one magazine title in print that deals with it. Photography, gardening, canoeing, caravanning, walking, camping, fitness, food, wildlife – the list goes on and on. Despite the shift from print publishing to digital, these magazines still have a voracious appetite for photographs – they couldn’t survive without them – and the vast majority are supplied by freelance contributors. Getting your shots printed in magazines doesn’t have to be difficult, you just need to know how to approach them…

Don’t send editors a huge collection of images in the hope that there might be 1 or 2 that strike a chord…

Don’t assume that only professional photographers stand a chance of getting published in magazines. Editors are constantly looking for new, inventive and fresh photography, and it may just be that your particular vision coincides perfectly with theirs. However, don’t go to the other extreme and assume that as soon as they see your work editors will be fighting to get to you first. There are any number of great photographers out there and you’re just one of them – no matter what you might think about the quality of your images.

Brilliance and style are important, but patience, persistence and willingness to study the needs of the magazines you’re approaching are what really count.

The easiest way to start selling work to magazines is by targeting specialist titles that deal with a subject you know something about. Photographic magazines are an obvious choice, but you may also have other hobbies – restoring classic cars, backpacking, angling, and woodworking. They’re an ideal market because you’re bound to take photos while you’re involved in those other hobbies so you may have material on file already.

Before making a submission, spend a little time analysing magazines that you could target. Specialist interest magazines almost always rely on freelance contributors and though the same names may crop up month after month that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a closed shop. Editors tend to rely on regulars who they know can come up with the goods, but they’re also keen to use work by new photographers as well.

Improve your chances

DON’T send editors a huge collection of images…

… in the hope that there might be 1 or 2 that strike a chord. What actually happens is any really good images that might be in there will be obscured by a fog of mediocrity. That’s assuming the editor even gets as far as looking at them all. Any editor will have a glance at 6 photos, might be losing interest at 12 and if faced with dozens may not even bother to start.

DO try to pick 5-10 of your best images…

… and concentrate on the ones best-suited to the magazine and its readership. If you’re photographing a car restoration project, the readers might tolerate 1 or 2 ‘arty’ shots, but mostly they’ll want to see that the door decal (for example) has been positioned exactly the right distance from the sill. And if you’re submitting a manipulated landscape shot to Digital Camera or PhotoPlus, say, then it won’t hurt to include the ‘original’ shot too and maybe a couple of different variations, so that the editor can see how it might form an interesting story. This is an important point. You might be used to thinking of photographs as single, static images, but magazines are actually about ‘stories’.

DO consider the mechanics of magazine reproduction…

… as full-page photos often need space for headlines or other information and pictures used across a double-page spread need space for the ‘gutter’ in the middle. While you might not submit pictures with this kind of space initially, it wouldn’t hurt to shoot variations with this in mind.

DON’T stop at supplying images either…

… why not write the words too? You may be surprised to learn that pitching articles is a much easier route into magazines than photography alone. Many special-interest magazines are happy to run complete features from contributors and obviously, you get paid more! However, before you spend hours or days working feverishly at your computer to produce a literary masterpiece, it’s worth emailing an outline of the feature, along with a small selection of images.

DO think about seasonality…

… as an important factor to consider is the ‘lead-time’ magazines work to. This means anything seasonal has to be supplied well in advance. There’s no point sending autumnal shots into a photographic magazine in October, for example, because they’ll usually be required back in July or August.

DON’T be too pushy…

… when you’re approaching editors, as you need to be aware that they work in a hectic environment. Phone calls aren’t necessarily the best approach because the editor will often be in an open-plan office, juggling a big stack of mail on an overflowing desk and with a phone already wedged under one ear. Email or letter is often the best first approach – with a link to or example of the best and most relevant images, of course. If you submit by post, send a CD including high-resolution images. Also include a shot of yourself, a caption document and a thumbnail sheet. If your submission is already complete and ready to use, it may increase the chances of getting published.

DO make sure that all the materials you send have your name and contact information on them…

… including covering letters, contact sheets, prints and CDs. These can easily become separated in a busy office – the editor might keep a covering letter, say, but pass a CD over to the art editor to take a look.

Common mistakes

OK, so you’ve sent in your submission and you want to know what’s happening. An editor might consider a quick phone call after a couple of weeks reasonable, but most would prefer an email and none will like being harassed – that’s probably the quickest way to get this and any future submission thrown out.

If you intend to send your pictures elsewhere, you need to make that clear. You must not send the same work to competing titles at the same time. Magazines don’t necessarily check with you that it’s OK to use your work. They assume that what you’ve sent them is being offered to them exclusively. If two magazines use the same image at the same time, you’ll be unpopular.

Don’t send magazines shots identical to those they’ve already used either! You may have seen a dozen images by now of old wooden jetties on mirror-like lakes at dawn, but that doesn’t mean you should send more. Editors want something that’s both relevant and new.

What will you be paid?

Many specialist newsstand magazines pay by the page, so the proportion of the page taken up by your photo determines your fee. If you were submitting both words and pictures you could get anywhere from £60-200 per page, depending on the magazine. Clearly, you’re not going to get rich quick with fees like this on offer, but if you build-up a relationship with several different magazines, given time the returns can be surprisingly high.

If you do have work accepted then you need to know the ‘rights’ the magazine is buying from you. It’s common for magazines to insist on full rights in perpetuity. This means they can re-use the image in reprints, digests, foreign editions and so on. You still own the picture, but they’ve bought the right to use it. The terms vary between publishers and it’s important that you’re absolutely clear what you’re selling.

Whichever route you take there are no guarantees of success, and initially you’ll probably find that most submissions are rejected. However, if you learn from your mistakes and keep trying, eventually you’ll see your work in print. Once you’ve achieved your first sales, it’s surprising how easy it is to repeat your success.

Freelance photography tips: selling to stock libraries

dcworld — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:26:59 +0000

Stock photography – we don’t need to tell you it’s a competitive business. But we can tell you how to give yourself the best chance of successfully selling your pictures…

You have a growing collection of images you’re sure could sell. You’ve tried local door knocking and it’s fallen on deaf ears. You’re bored with prints too; everyone looking and no one buying. You dream of recognition and escaping the payroll. Selling your photos through stock agencies could be the answer. Many of the UK’s top photographers – David Noton, Charlie Waite, Joe Cornish – are businessmen extraordinaire and have used libraries to climb the ladder. So what’s stopping you? UK landscape photographer David Clapp shows you how to play the stock market and what to expect along the road to success.

Getting contracts with subject-specific stock agencies and learning to diversify, that’s the key to financial gain

1. How a stock library sells your shots

Traditional stock agencies sell images from contributing photographers to an ever-fluctuating client base. All of them are now internet-based, selling images either from digital cameras or scanned transparencies. Whether their use is for magazines, newspapers, websites or digital mediums, the images are sold based upon five main criteria:

LICENCE
– Rights managed (one-off commercial use), editorial (reportage in newspapers) or royalty free (many uses for the same image) Depending on this licence, the following criteria may apply:

USE
– Magazine, book, calendar, website banner etc.

SIZE
– Quarter page, A4, A3, billboard or digital dimensions.

DISTRIBUTION
– How many copies are to be made, UK or worldwide?

DURATION
– Is the image to be used once or for a period of time?

Agencies like to specialise, supplying subject-specific work – such as wildlife, architecture, travel, regional – to regular clients. Most try to create a market niche, promoting a database of stylised and consistent quality imagery. Other agencies pride themselves on the opposite, catering for all styles and subject matter. This approach has been questionable in times past, as some agencies disregarded quality on their quest for volume, lowering their prices simply to up the sales. But it’s this situation that created a blueprint for another type of agency – ‘micro stock’.

Micro stock libraries like to stack it high and sell it cheap. They stay afloat like linked rafts, selling low-cost imagery by spreading the same stock through a chain of multiple agencies. Looking for an acceptable image to spice up the village fete flyer? Who would want to pay £70 when they can pay 70p? Although a photographer makes little on the sale of an individual image, the agency can sell the same images many, many times.

Agencies offer photographers 2 forms of contracts: exclusive and non-exclusive. Each has its place and photographers can hold both types of contracts with multiple agencies. Usually the photographer is still able to market any image held by the agency directly, which keeps sales potential unrestricted.

Images managed under an exclusive contract can’t be placed with any other agencies, but those same images can usually be sold by the photographer directly (you’ll need to check the small print – sometimes only ‘non-commercial’ promotional use is allowed). Images managed under a non-exclusive contract can be placed with other agencies, as long as they also operate a non-exclusive contract. These images command lower prices, but can be placed with many agencies to compensate for this reduced earning potential. The photographer is also free to market these images directly.

Most stock libraries ask for a minimum period of 5 years, to help them nurture the photographer’s potential. Good relations and good sales can only flourish from mutual commitment.

2. What sells?

Buyers love everything from straightforward nondescript landscapes to lifestyle and workplace interaction – but it has to say something and be pitched to the right client base. Getting contracts with subject-specific agencies and learning to diversify, that’s the key to financial gain. Produce pictures that can be put to a whole range of uses, no matter what the subject. Think outside the box, too, as ‘conceptual’ shots are popular for illustrating dry news stories and business magazines. Shoot every orientation (portrait, landscape, square, panoramic), and think about front covers as these can yield high profits – although leaving space for text and titles feels strange at first. Fill memory cards full of variety, process every usable image and then put those images with the right agencies.

3. How to think ‘stock’

Get into the right mindset when you intend to make money from your pictures:

WRING EVERY POSSIBILITY OUT OF A LOCATION

– shoot for calendars, tourism, magazines, websites.

ADAPT YOUR SHOOTING STYLE TO SUIT CLIENT DEMAND
– learn to spot interaction, contradiction, juxtaposition, anything thought-provoking that may sell within and outside your specialisation.

SHOOT ALL DAY

– sticking to the ‘golden hours’ shows a lack of business sense.

UP AT DAWN, COLLAPSE AT DUSK

– stock photography requires well thought out and flexible plans, but above all a relentless disposition and punishing self-discipline.

4. Know your rights!

It’s vital that, as a potential contributor, you understand that images are sold with different usage rights which have an effect on their monetary value.

RIGHTS MANAGED
Images sold in this way are sold to a client with certain restrictions. The buyer is buying a licence to use the image, depending on intended use, medium, size, length of licence and distribution (regional, national or worldwide). The more flexibility required by the buyer, the more expensive the cost. An A4 magazine cover sold for national distribution for 1 month will command a much higher fee than the same size image positioned inside that publication. Yet a smaller image required for an entire year inside a worldwide publication can command an even higher price. The buyer is also getting assurance that the image will not be published within the same period by one of its competitors; the rights are carefully managed. A purchase history can also be requested.

ROYALTY FREE
These images are sold with far fewer restrictions. The buyer is able to use the image for multiple uses. If a company requires an image for both digital and paper media, it may be far cheaper to license a royalty free image than a rights managed image. Should their needs change, the buyer doesn’t have to license the image again.

5. Keep it legal

When shooting images on private property or pictures that contain people as their main subject (or even pets) a ‘release’ is required. It’s a signed document that states the model or property owner agrees the images can be used by the photographer for commercial gain (either with or without restrictions agreed between the two parties). Agencies require any releases to be submitted with restricted images, so buyers can be made aware that they’re free to use them without being be sued by an angry property owner or model.

So what happens to images that don’t have licenses? Are they of any use? You photograph a celebrity leaving a boutique, or a spectacular interior to a historical building, can these be sold commercially? Yes, they can, as ‘editorial’ imagery. Shots of building interiors can be used, so as long as there were no obvious signs stating ‘no photography’ when the images were taken. Exterior shots can generally be used without requiring a release as long as the image wasn’t taken while you were standing on private property.

6. Adding detail

It’s your responsibility to embed descriptions, contact info and keywords so that the agency can slide your submission into their database trouble free. The agency will usually supply the photographer with guidelines. Some also supply a Photoshop template if their requirements are more specific. Image data can be input using a specialist program like Adobe Bridge, or just using Photoshop’s File Info template (found in the File menu). Bridge is far more intuitive, as data can be input on batch.

First provide a detailed description of the image identifying the subject, the context and location: ‘Light reflecting on maram grass, a colourful sunrise across the sand dunes at Bamburgh Castle, on the beach near Budle Bay, Northumberland, England, UK.’ This description is packed full of information.

In terms of keywords, more is better. Agencies will remove inappropriate ones and also add their own to fit in with the ‘collections’ that your work matches. The main concern is that generalised keywords like ‘landscape’, ‘flower’ and ‘rock’ will be of little use to them, but may be useful in categorising your own archive. Where is the landscape? What is the Latin name of the flower? Is the rock sandstone or granite? Add conditions (stormy, still, calm) and feelings too.

7. Focus on quality

If you decide to start working towards selling your work through stock libraries, you may need to consider the quality of the equipment in your kit bag. Most professionals buy flagship digital cameras as a way of protecting their future sales. It’s not because they demand the absolute best, but because they require the largest file size possible to maximise sales potential. You could already have a camera that an agency would accept, but all too often it’s poor lenses, careless photographic technique and shoddy post processing that get a contract turned down.

LENSES
Ensure you use the best glass you can afford. This doesn’t mean spend £1000′s on premium glass. You may be surprised to learn that there are plenty of ‘alternative lenses’, decades older and often far superior that can be adapted to fit your system. Do your research. Using older Contax, Olympus and Nikkor primes could be the answer on a budget.

TECHNIQUE
Make sure your pictures are pin sharp. Using a solid tripod at every opportunity or shooting with image stabilisation will help greatly. Agencies check all shots at 100% so you’ll kick yourself if that jaw-dropping sunset is better appreciated as just a sharpened web JPEG.

PROCESSING
Learn to pull the best from your imagery with competent processing. Agencies are rarely interested in shots that display obvious computer tampering; excessive HDR, soft focusing effects, over-saturation and poor cloning will all usually confine your work to your home hard drives. It’s important that you’re ruthless when choosing images in the first place, too.

EDIT IMAGES WITHOUT EMOTION
Stock photography is about developing a sharp sense of business acumen. It’s crucial that you learn to wear different ‘hats’ and develop a detachment from your artistry. This is business. Become a visionary behind the camera and an unbearable critic at the computer. Edit your work by detaching yourself from the memory; no one else can feel how special your life may have felt at the point you pressed the shutter release. To an editor it’s just another image that must tick certain criteria or it will not sell – that’s all that counts, it’s nothing personal. Discussing why images were rejected will only help refine your skills, so see your failures in a different light.

8. Can you hit the required file size?

Most consumer DSLRs produce TIFF files that fall short of the 8-bit 50MB 300 dpi limit agencies require. For instance, after processing even a Canon EOS 5D image as a 16-bit TIFF, you end up with a 72MB file. Once converted to 8-bit the image is just 36MB. (You can find out this information for your own camera by opening the file in Photoshop and clicking on Image >Image Size). However, by increasing the file size using Photoshop it’s possible to ‘up-res’ an image without degrading it. Check a stock library’s submission guidelines to ensure they accept interpolated images first though.