John M. Lund asked:


Stock photography has always been considered the ugly stepchild of commercial photography.  Originally stock photos consisted of out-takes from assignments…the “seconds” if you will.  The strategy for success for a stock shooter was to get as much content into the collection as possible…not a methodology for gaining a reputation for quality!

Bringing “Quality” To Stock

Along came Tony Stone (Tony Stone Images…now Getty Images) who changed the approach from how much material is in a collection to how good the material in a collection is.  He pared down the number of images keeping only the very best, made lots of dupes of a given image (back then you had to send out transparencies…so with more dupes of a given image that image could be in front of more potential buyers at once), and became enormously successful.  My original stock agency was a company call AfterImage.  When Stone purchased it the first thing that happened was that they sent virtually all of my material back to me and only kept a handful of images.  The second thing that happened was that my sales tripled! 

Getty bought Tony Stone Images and began to apply business principles to stock photography. It looked as though stock my finally start to be looked upon with a little more respect…then RF happened.  And again, the emphasis shifted to how much material one could get in.  In some cases photographers would sell their entire archives for a set price.

The Saturation Of Images In Stock

Now stock photography is saturated with a gazillion photos…some of amazing quality…and a huge number of well-executed but repetitive lifestyle and business image.  With crowd sourcing and the entry of non-professionals into the market through agencies like Istockphoto, stock is still the ugly stepchild of commercial photography…but not to me.

Creative Freedom

For me, stock is the highest form of commercial photography.  It gives the photographer something truly valuable…creative control.  As a stock shooter I am able to choose whatever I want to photograph.  I get to photograph my subject in whatever way I want to do it.  Unlike assignment photography there are no limits…no Art Directors to satisfy (or rely on), no account executives to please, no clients to impose their own perceptions on your work.  No limits! 

That isn’t to say there aren’t any challenges…there are challenges galore!  While there is no client to impose limitations…there is also no client to bankroll the shoot.

While there are no limits to what you can shoot…no one else is coming up with ideas for you.  While there are no Art Directors to impose their visions…it is up to you to have that vision and be true to it.

The Challenges of Creative Freedom

Creative freedom is something that I think is a core need of every photographer.  But along with that freedom comes challenges. Few things require us to use that “creative” muscles as much as stock.  We need to be creative in coming up with what to shoot.  We need creativity in virtually every aspect of stock.  Creativity in how to arrange access to a difficult subject, creativity in how to shoot without the financial resources of a client…and creative decisions need to be made on where and how to place the work.

As I write this I have a list of a hundred or so images that I want to create for stock. Sometimes it takes me two years for my subconscious mind to finally figure out how to make something work under the budget and access limits that I have.  That brings up another great point about stock.  There are no arbitrary deadlines…only the ones I set for myself. 

An example of an idea that took time for me to solve the budgetary restrictions on…and the need to exercise creativity in how to get the shots, can be found in a series of stock photos I did with elephants as the subject matter.  I originally came up with the idea because I wanted to be close to an elephant…to be able to touch one and just hang out with it for a while.  So I came up with a few “elephant” ideas.  When I found out it would cost me $5,000.00 just to rent one elephant I put the project on the back burner.  A year ago I planned a trip to South East Asia.  I was going to shoot in Myanmar (Burma) for a couple of weeks.  I would be flying to Yangon, Myanmar’s capital, out of Bangkok.  I began to wonder what I could shoot in Thailand as long as I was going to be there anyway.  Then it popped into my head…elephants!  Perhaps it would cost less to rent one there.  Yes…one elephant cost me $450.00.  For a whole day!  Well, I got to hang out with, and touch, an elephant.  And in the eight months that I have had the resulting images in the market place I have already earned almost $20,000.00 from those images! 

Because of stock I have had the opportunity to “hang with” a lion, a tiger, and an elephant…I’ve had the chance to shoot a baboon in my studio too.  Animals, of course, are not the only “perks” I have been able to enjoy from shooting stock. I spent a week (and made a nice a profit off of) one of the swankiest Penthouses in Buenos Aires, a magnificent “casa” in Mexico, …heck, I have even rented a disco (also in Buenos Aires) and had a crazy fun time shooting what in effect was a private disco party complete with a crowd of dancers, throbbing music, and smoke machines.  Cool!

For me stock is the highest form of commercial work.  It requires discipline, creativity, and guts (hey…it can take real guts to spend large sums of money on a speculative shoot).  But as they say on late-night television infomercials; wait…there’s more!  There is the friendship and fun factor.  For me, it is a lot more fun shooting stock where there is no “outside” pressure to perform and no one but myself to answer too.  Also, for a number of my shoots I have invited other photographers to join me.  For the disco shoot I shot with three other photographers.  We all shared in the cost and worked together…but each producing our own set of images.  A “creative” way to reduce the expense of our shoot, to spread the production time and labor out…and to get to work with some close friends.  When was the last time you invited some close photographer friends to shoot with you on an assignment?

Well, there you have it.  My view of why stock is actually the highest form of commercial photography.  It is all on your shoulders…and with the only limits being those you place on yourself.  You don’t have to add to those gazillion images of business people on cell phones…or laughing couples on the beach.  Sure you can…but you can also allow give yourself amazing challenges with rewards that are commensurate. 

Nicholas Normandy asked:


The best tool a freelance digital photographer has, besides a digital camera, is photoshop. Mainly, because it can increase stock photo sales and generate more profit. It can work just as well if your more into just editing digital photos, or graphic design. You are still going to need a digital camera, but putting more focus on digital editing is really up to you.

With every coming year the population of graphic designers and photo editors has been increasing. Photo editors, like yourself, are trying to find a freelance income from their work. This can be hard with competition and location. So, a lot of those people turn to stock photo sites to start a career or earn extra income. If you don’t know what a stock photography site is, the definition is basically a site that provides graphic designers, advertisers, and marketers digital photos for whatever job they need. The people selling them upload their photos, the photos are bought through a stock photography site like Shutterstock and you earn a commission or a profit. It can be said that this is mainly a freelance digital photography business but lately that has changed. Actually having photo editing skills will benefit you in the long run and earn you more sales.

The people that are buying stock photos are graphic designers and photo editors like you. Which makes it easier for you to understand exactly what a buyer wants. You can utilize this information and make more sales by providing them with the types of digital photos they need for a particular job. It might not apply as much Photoshop and digital editing as one would want but its a freelance lucrative business that can earn you a pretty decent paycheck.

You are going to need two things right at the beginning: a digital camera and an internet connection. Then you can learn how to create your own digital stock photography portfolio. It’s important that you learn about keywords, uploading, traffic, best photos to sell and the best stock photography sites. There are some books that helped me, but one source in particular I recommend is a program called Camera Dollars. Basically, this program will teach you all the technical stuff that is hard for anyone to understand. (the link is on the site). That is where I learned this information when I was first starting out. I started out only selling digital photography and in the beginning I was only earning about $100.00 per site every day. I later started using Photoshop a ton more and increased my profits multiple times.

If you are digital editor or graphic designer then I definitely recommend trying to sell your work on places like Shutterstock to see if it’s right for you. If your a digital photographer you need to get photoshop for photo upkeep and presentation. If you work hard and spend several hours each week you will earn money fairly quick. You won’t need to quit your day job, you just need enough time to take and edit photos.

John M. Lund asked:


Photography is getting easier.  A lot easier!  Being a stock photographer is getting easier too, perhaps even to a greater degree than getting “good” pictures.  The result is a tremendous pressure on “pros” that make a living at stock to be able to continue making that living.  So what’s a pro to do?  The answer lies in using your whole brain, not just the left or the right hemispheres.  You need to use the left part for creativity and right for practicality, or pragmatism or whatever you want to call common sense.

As digital cameras continue to evolve and drop in price, and as Micro sites and online communities offer every greater degrees of education for would be stock producers, creating technically competent images becomes easier and more feasible for the masses.  Too, the masses are to an ever greater extent being made aware of the possibility of “making a few bucks” off of their hobby, and of the very real possibility (real but exceedingly elusive) of making that hobby into their profession.  Indeed, after a few hours of viewing Microstock forums it seems as if every amateur photographer out there is bent on becoming a professional stock photographer! The competition is increasing.

This brings us back to that increasingly important question, just how is a professional stock photographer going to thrive, or even survive, in this new environment?  I firmly believe that despite the “democratization” and “commoditization” of the stock photo industry, there will always be more reward for great images.  By great I mean images that fill a need and do it superbly.  A quick analysis of downloads at the current Mecca of Micro stock sites, iStockphoto, shows clearly that the best of the best images do return rather significant amounts to the photographer. There is still, and always will be plenty of money to be made.

Continued success is very simple really.  Make great images that fill a specific need.  To make those great images you need the left half of your brain; you need to be creative.  To make images that fill a need you have to use the right half of your brain.  You need to stay abreast of the images that are already out there, of what businesses need what kinds of images, and of what your competition is.  You need to have knowledge. I usually do a search on the major stock sites before I commit to creating an image just to make sure I am not re-inventing the wheel.  I am always amazed at what hasn’t been done, or hasn’t been done well.  In many cases the images that exist for a given need haven’t been updated in years, sometimes in many, many years!

While no one can know what the future will bring, I can see with my own eyes that it is still possible, at the time of this writing, to make huge amounts of money in stock photography.  Photographers are doing it in Rights Managed, photographers are doing it in Royalty Free, and yes, photographers are doing it in Micro stock. There is no magic bullet here.  There is simply putting the time and intention into coming up with creative ideas, putting the time and effort into researching the market, and having the gumption to actually do it. So what are you waiting for!

John M. Lund asked:


The Guest House at the base of the Simatai section of The Great Wall was typically rural Chinese in its bare and no-frills atmosphere.  I had been sicker than a dog for a week now and really was looking forward to a nice hot shower.  It was March and here in Simitai it was freezing cold and windy.  I checked into my room and turned on the shower.  I let the water run a very long time but it didn’t seem to be getting any warmer.  I checked at the front desk and the clerk dispatched a man to my room to see about the hot water.  He told not to worry there would be plenty of hot water in the morning.  Swell.  The hot shower would have to wait.

The next morning (which at 4:00am came all too quickly), I turned on the water and surprise, no water.  Not even any cold water!  Oh well.  I bundled up, grabbed my camera gear and headed to the lobby to meet my traveling companion, Ginna Fleming, and our guide.  We needed our early start so that we could be well up on the wall and in place to shoot the sunrise.  I have learned from years of travel, stock and assignment photography that there is no such thing as “too early” but “too late” comes in a hurry!

It was a short walk to the wall.  It was too soon for anyone to be around; just the two of us and our local Chinese guide.  She was a villager from nearby.  She explained to us that the village had once been located here, but that when the wells went dry the village had to move about 4 kilometers away where they could find more water.  She told us that village life was very difficult and guiding tourists was much easier.

We began to walk up the wall, which climbed the side of the mountain at a fairly steep incline.  The top of the wall was, in effect, a stone staircase and we walk up from watchtower to watchtower one step at a time.  We climbed the “staircase” for almost two hours before the sun began it’s own climb into the sky. 

 

We passed beyond the portion of wall that tourists normally stop and past warning signs prohibiting us to go further…but it was early and in the winter and there was no one there to stop us. 

Here the wall had not been reconstructed and was in ragged disrepair.  Our guide pointed out graffiti that the men and women who built the wall so many years earlier had left behind.  The stones were loose and crumbling and we had to be careful as we hiked up the structure.  As the light began to spread across the landscape we set up our tripods and framed a distant section of wall that spread out below us like a gigantic snake undulating up and down the brown and barren ridges and hills.

For me it was one of those peak experiences, one of the primary reasons I travel.  The sense of history was almost palpable; the only sound the chirping of a few birds.  No tourists, no one hawking guidebooks.  Just this ancient wall, a grand vista of the Chinese landscape, and the cold wind pressing on us as the sun struggled through the morning mist.  When its rays finally reached the valley below us and etched the details of the wall in it’s warm light I knew the photos too would be the effort.  While I was there to create adventure and travel stock photography, I was also there for the experience and spent several hours in mostly quiet reverence. It wasn’t until we were well on our way down that we came across anther person who passed quietly by us on her own journey up the Great Wall.

Started under Qin Shi Huang circa 220 B.C., the first 3,000-mile section of the Wall required the efforts of 70% of China’s population…over a million peasants, prisoners and soldiers.

There are over 10,000 watchtowers and beacon towers on the Great Wall.

There really is no “single” wall, but rather a series of walls, some brick and some earthen and built over a span of 2000 years.

The stone and bricks from the Ming dynasty portion of the wall would be enough to circle the earth five feet high!

Our guide told us that the wall had never stopped any incursions. The intruders simply went around the wall or bribed the guards to let them through.

Felisa Rosalba asked:


You don’t have to be an experienced photographer, or someone who knows how to sell stuff online, to make money from your photographs. But you do need time and motivation to learn new things.

Is stock photography the best option for someone who wants to make money with photography? Most photographers say yes. Creating simple photos that can be used to illustrate online articles, or to be used in advertisements, is something that can be learned easily.

Regardless of what you like to photograph – portraits, animals, landscapes or people – you have the opportunity to offer your stock photos to hundreds of people. You can sell the same photograph multiple times, and make money. It all depends of what agency you select. For the so called macrostock, or traditional stock agencies, you’ll probably need more quality shots, and be more experienced photographer. If you prefer to be paid less, but with a greater chance of making your first sale in the first week or month of your photo business, then choose micro-payment stock agencies.

The most important thing is to create photos which can be used by webmasters, designers, small business owners and advertisers. Stock photographs are not art. Remember that. For some people this is bad news, but even in stock photography there’s enough room to be ‘arty’ and creative. Take a look at those photos in the “Abstracts” category, for example.

Make sure your photos are bright and colorful, and that there’s no noise or over-filtering. When your photo gets rejected don’t waste your time complaining on forums, move on and create another photo. Who knows, that photograph might end up to be in the top 100 bestsellers on a popular stock agency site.

And now, you can learn more about how to Make Money Taking Photos. You can also read tips for Making Money in Photography

.

Ron Gross asked:


Stock photography sites have made it easier for photographers to sell their photos online. However, just because you take photos does not mean a stock photo site, like Istockphoto for example, will accept them into their marketplace. To be able to sell your photos on a stock photo website, the website must believe your images can sell. Fortunately, photo blogs throughout the Internet are providing advice on how to sell your photos. Here are some helpful tips:

Narrow Your Focus: Yuri Arcurs, a well known professional stock photographer, writes a blog full of interesting facts on how to sell stock photography. In his blog post “What Should I Shoot and What Sells Well” he tells his readers to develop a niche of their own, and pursue it endlessly. I think that this works with anything that you do. I really love food photography and felt a lot better once I realized that that was where I wanted to direct my focus. And guess what? My photos got better. The better you are at your subject, the more of a competitive edge you will have within the marketplace. And remember, if you are to develop a niche, make sure you are honest with yourself. Is this something you really care about? Do you love shooting it? If you’re devoted to your subject, the more likely you are to invest the time it takes to make your photos compelling and genuine.

Add Some Edginess: Arcurs also suggests having a selection of photos in your portfolio that have an edgier feel (for the full details check out his article ‘I Spy With My Little Eye’). This edgier feel can be attained in a way that still enables you to sell your photo. Arcurs calls this adding a little ‘mess’ to your photo. In the photos displayed throughout his article, there is always a distracting element. A portrait is taken through glass, or through grass for example. By adding a little ‘mess’ to a photo you make it visually engaging and inspire curiosity in your viewers. If done right this is a recipe for increased sales.

Research the marketability of your subject: Is your subject in demand? Are there already a lot of people shooting your subject? Perform a search and see if your potential subject is something people are looking for. If you see that there is a market for your subject, but there are not that many photos of it available for purchase (such as less than 10,000 images) chances are it’s a good subject to start shooting.

Plan Your Shoots: Professional photography doesn’t just happen on it’s own. Plan your shots in advance. First scout a location or subject. Get an idea for the type of lighting you want by visiting it during different times of the day and remember to take notes. Don’t forget to bring appropriate releases for the models or property owners to sign.

Selecting Keywords: Make sure to appropriately keyword your subject so that other people can find it online. Use stock photo keyword tools to properly describe your photos. Another handy tip is to test the popularity of keywords through the Google Adwords keyword tool to determine the most effective combination that buyers might search for.

Sell your photos on multiple stock photography websites: Most stock photography sites are not exclusive, and allow you to sell the same photos on more than one site. The more exposure for your photos, the better your chances are of selling your photos and increasing your monthly revenue.

Many of these bloggers make it clear that photographers need to gear their efforts towards producing photos that will sell on these stock photo sites. Unfortunately, this does not always encourage creativity. Most stock photo sites expect certain types of photos to sell, and often reject many good photos in the process. I think things would be better for buyers and photographers alike if the stock photo site’s standards for selecting photos was less strict. As time changes, you never know what kind of images buyers will be looking for. I think it’s problematic to assume that buyers are not interested in more creative photography. Why not try putting it in the market and see if it sells? If you give buyers more choices, they may use them.

This is why I am really excited about Snapixel, a new photo sharing site that also lets you sell your photos. Imagine Flickr combined with Istockphoto. The application to sell photos on Snapixel is very easy and photographers are notified in as little as a day whether their photos will be accepted into the Snapixel marketplace. Though it strives towards selling commercially viable photography, Snapixel also seeks to open the stock photo market to include creative photography that is not seen on other stock photo sites. This gives buyers a bigger pool of affordable photography to choose from, and may very well break the waves in how stock photography is perceived.

Stock photography sites have made it easier for photographers to sell their photos online. However, just because you take photos does not mean a stock photo site, like Istockphoto for example, will accept them into their marketplace. To be able to sell your photos on a stock photo website, the website must believe your images can sell. Fortunately, photo blogs throughout the Internet are providing advice on how to sell your photos. Here are some helpful tips:

Narrow Your Focus: Yuri Arcurs, a well known professional stock photographer, writes a blog full of interesting facts on how to sell stock photography. In his blog post “What Should I Shoot and What Sells Well” he tells his readers to develop a niche of their own, and pursue it endlessly. I think that this works with anything that you do. I really love food photography and felt a lot better once I realized that that was where I wanted to direct my focus. And guess what? My photos got better. The better you are at your subject, the more of a competitive edge you will have within the marketplace. And remember, if you are to develop a niche, make sure you are honest with yourself. Is this something you really care about? Do you love shooting it? If you’re devoted to your subject, the more likely you are to invest the time it takes to make your photos compelling and genuine.

Add Some Edginess: Arcurs also suggests having a selection of photos in your portfolio that have an edgier feel (for the full details check out his article ‘I Spy With My Little Eye’). This edgier feel can be attained in a way that still enables you to sell your photo. Arcurs calls this adding a little ‘mess’ to your photo. In the photos displayed throughout his article, there is always a distracting element. A portrait is taken through glass, or through grass for example. By adding a little ‘mess’ to a photo you make it visually engaging and inspire curiosity in your viewers. If done right this is a recipe for increased sales.

Research the marketability of your subject: Is your subject in demand? Are there already a lot of people shooting your subject? Perform a search and see if your potential subject is something people are looking for. If you see that there is a market for your subject, but there are not that many photos of it available for purchase (such as less than 10,000 images) chances are it’s a good subject to start shooting.

Plan Your Shoots: Professional photography doesn’t just happen on it’s own. Plan your shots in advance. First scout a location or subject. Get an idea for the type of lighting you want by visiting it during different times of the day and remember to take notes. Don’t forget to bring appropriate releases for the models or property owners to sign.

Selecting Keywords: Make sure to appropriately keyword your subject so that other people can find it online. Use stock photo keyword tools to properly describe your photos. Another handy tip is to test the popularity of keywords through the Google Adwords keyword tool to determine the most effective combination that buyers might search for.

Sell your photos on multiple stock photography websites: Most stock photography sites are not exclusive, and allow you to sell the same photos on more than one site. The more exposure for your photos, the better your chances are of selling your photos and increasing your monthly revenue.

Many of these bloggers make it clear that photographers need to gear their efforts towards producing photos that will sell on these stock photo sites. Unfortunately, this does not always encourage creativity. Most stock photo sites expect certain types of photos to sell, and often reject many good photos in the process. I think things would be better for buyers and photographers alike if the stock photo site’s standards for selecting photos was less strict. As time changes, you never know what kind of images buyers will be looking for. I think it’s problematic to assume that buyers are not interested in more creative photography. Why not try putting it in the market and see if it sells? If you give buyers more choices, they may use them.

William Lund asked:


When my brother John started his photography business about 35 years ago…there was no such thing as an answering machine! Nor did individuals have fax machines…He remembers being very excited about getting a fax machine…because now an Art Director could send him a layout without using a bike messenger or Fed Ex!. Now, here he is shooting without film, digitally enhancing his images on a computer and delivering them via the internet.

For twenty years he shot assignments. A huge part of the business was marketing him self to ad agencies and design firms. Thanks in large part to his foray into digital manipulation of his images; he was very successful at his marketing. He was selling stock photos through “Tony Stone”, later to become Getty Images, and through “The Stock Market” along with my line of greeting cards being sold through Portal Publications. He was shooting assignments, but he was very picky and only took assignments that really interested him.

If you were an advertising agency you went to Tony Stone, The Stock Market, or a tiny handful of stock photography houses. There was no internet and thus no way for small businesses to easily purchase stock photos for their advertising needs.

After the dot com bubble burst he found him self without assignments for a couple of months…but it didn’t matter because he was making plenty of money with stock photography. One gig ended and another took over. Of course, today that industry is in turmoil…first royalty-free stock photos impacted the business…and now micro-stock. I even see pay per click ads that cost the advertiser money…advertising free stock photos! I guess he doesn’t have much to worry about that now because the prices can’t go any lower than that free!

I remember when it took a week and buckets of money to get a good print from a photo lab! Now, if I want to print a funny animal picture I just hit command-p on my keyboard and get almost free prints that are of far better quality than anything I used to get from the lab! I can make fine art prints that are even more archival than what the labs could offer right in my own office…and these prints are in my hands in just a matter of minutes.

A few years ago my brother bought a house…a beautiful house on a hillside overlooking a valley. He was surrounded by horses, deer, wild turkeys, and even bobcats and coyotes! He planned living in that house till the end of his days. A close friend cautioned him though, that he should not count on living there forever. “One day you will sell that house” he said. My brother laughed. As I write this He is planning on selling the house in the spring.

John’s greeting card business was growing like crazy. Each quarter his royalty checks were getting larger and larger. People loved the cards…the company was thriving and he was their number one greeting card artist. Still, a business consultant friend of his suggested that he create a worst-case scenario plan for his business just in case something went wrong. John found it difficult to do because he could not possibly see any worst case scenarios on the horizon. Eventually he forgot about the backup plan for his stock photo business.

Fast forward five years…the greeting card company no longer exists. It was purchased by a venture capital firm that made some bad decisions and the business for all practical purposes died. He is now with a different greeting card company and they are slowly rebuilding the business. One thing is different this time…he no longer assumes that the greeting card business will be around forever.

Two new 35mm digital cameras have just been announced…one by Nikon and one by Canon, that both shoot, in addition to extremely high quality digital stills, HDTV motion. Videos are becoming increasing popular…as evidenced by Youtube and other internet sites for sharing video clips. There is an emerging market for stock video clips.

The stock photography business is changing rapidly. More and more small business’s are turning to the internet and purchasing their stock photos online and even getting free stock photos! Digital cameras are not only prolific, but producing better images and in some cases they produce images of higher quality than you could shoot with a film camera.

I believe the future of stock photography is online. Photographers need to adapt to changing times and learn to market their work on the internet.

Who was it who said the only constant is change? That is so true…but he does have a method for coping with all this change. His secret is a good attitude and continuously reminding him self of the need to stay open and flexible.

John M. Lund asked:


Looking for a photo for your business?  Maybe you need an image for an important national campaign, maybe for a flyer or perhaps a photo to liven up your web site.  Whatever you might need a photograph for…there are millions of them out there waiting for you to choose.  In the world of stock photography there are three major categories to choose from.  You can license images as Rights Managed, Royalty Free or Micro Stock.

Rights Managed images are tracked by the licensing agency.  The fee for licensing takes into consideration a number of factors including the size the image will be used, the length of time it will be used, the industry or market it will be used in, whether it will be local, national or even international, and the degree of exclusivity desired.  Supposedly the degree of difficulty in producing…or perhaps re-producing…the images is also taken in consideration…but I have never personally seen any evidence of it. 

Royalty Free imagery is priced by size…a pricing structure that I find does not really make much sense (a small image used on the internet can have a huge impact and be seen by millions but cost almost nothing)…but there it is.  Royalty Free is actually a misnomer…one does pay a royalty…but then one is generally free to use the image indefinitely and pretty much for anything…though there are usually some restrictions.  In most cases, if one reads the fine print one will find that it is not permissible to use Royalty Free images to create new stock images…and neither is it permissible to use the images in a way that degrades the model or models in the image.

Micro stock is a new category of stock photographs.  Micro Stock came into being with photo-sharing communities that then morphed into stock agencies.  Istockphoto is the largest and best known of such agencies…and was recently bought by Getty Images…the largest of all stock agencies.  Micro Stock agencies are characterized by images mainly supplied by amateur photographers and pricing in the $1.00 to $5.00 range.  I have even seen advertisements by some Micro Stock agencies advertising free stock photos…can’t get much lower prices than that!

When deciding whether to choose an image from one or another of these categories of stock agencies there are several factors to take into consideration.  Whether or not one needs exclusivity, whether it is important to know who might have used the image before and for what, and price of course. 

Let’s take a closer look at price first.  I have spoken with a number of people who never include Rights Managed images in their stock searches.  They believe that Rights Managed images are too expensive.  I think this probably shows a lack of understanding of the Rights Managed business model more than any real need to avoid RM images.  Rights Managed images can always undercut the prices of Royalty Free!  While Royalty Free images have a minimum price, Rights Managed does not…and often are either priced lower than some Royalty Free images or can be a better value.  In the meantime…Micro stock prices are the lowest…so if super-low prices are ones most important criteria…Micro Stock might just be the way to go. 

I propose that what is most important is not price…but the quality and appropriateness of the image.  At one time Royalty Free images were considered of lesser quality than Right Managed stock images…as Micro Stock is currently considered by many to be inferior.  The truth is that there are wonderful images in all three models…and any quality differences will continue to narrow over time. 

If one does need exclusivity then obviously Rights Managed stock is the only way to go.  However, exclusivity is rarely used by most purchasers of stock…it is said that only 1% of images are licensed with exclusivity restrictions.  But Rights Managed images do give one the chance to see if any competitors have used the image already. 

Another consideration is service.  With Rights Managed images the agency will involve a sales person who knows the collection and can offer suggestions and advice to help one get the best image for a given application.  This can be important when one considers how difficult it can be to find the perfect image when faced not with a scarcity of images but rather with millions of images.  Few people have the time to spend searching through millions of stock images.  It is important to consider how important one’s time is versus the extra cost of licensing the right stock image. 

The often Herculean task of finding the right stock photo is only going to get worse as more and more images find there way into the market place.  The floodgates have opened as photo sharing and Micro Stock sites open up the stock world to literally millions of amateur photographers. That isn’t to knock amateurs either…with the advent of digital capture and Photoshop, many “amateur” images are the equal of or even better than those shot by professionals.  Where professionals do have an edge is in those shots that require special expertise, large budgets, or subject matter not readily available to non-professionals.

When faced with the task of finding the right image for one’s needs, I believe it is best not to rule out any category of stock photography. It is important to understand the importance of having the right image and understanding that value outweighs price every time!

John M. Lund asked:


John: Ellen, you have been in the forefront of the stock world as far back as I remember.  I first met you in the late 80’s. You owned After-Image, the first stock agency to carry my work. You sold After-Image to Tony Stone. Since that time you have broadened your range of experience in a number of ways.  Can you catch us up to date on that range of experience?

Ellen: One of my earliest memories of you, John, is bringing Sarah Stone to your office in SF in the late 1980s. You had a baby Mac and were just starting to play around with Photoshop. I remember you asked me if I knew where you could get some photos of clocks to put into your photos. Free or cheap photos…so you were on the cutting edge of needing microstock and didn’t even know it. Neither did I.

 Since those days I have worked at Corbis as Executive Editor, was the first employee at Artville’s photo collection after it was purchased by Image Bank, part of the initial team that started Workbookstock, was the first employee at UpperCut Images and had a brief and very unsatisfactory stint at SuperStock. Since 2006 I have worked as a sole proprietor offering appraisal services (valuation of future revenue streams from stock photography collections), as an expert witness and consultant on general stock photography issues at Dreamstime (microstock) and to individual emerging and seasoned stock photographers. Currently I’m writing a book based on the 100+ blogs I wrote at Dreamstime.

I’ve gone from rights managed to royalty free to microstock. I guess you could say that I’ve seen it all.

John: Years ago I heard Tony Stone give a speech in which he said that “Someday a huge meteor will hit the earth and stock photography as we know it will cease to exist”.  Is that meteor getting close?  Could it be Micro?

Ellen: Rather than a large meteor hitting and exploding the world, destroying stock photography, as Tony knew it back before he left the industry, the change is more like a benign growth. As it grows bigger and bigger it becomes invasive and can be as deadly as a malignant tumor.

The industry has made the mistake of creating too many of the same images over and over again. This is because instead of nurturing the photographers who have vision to combine both art and commerce to produce unique images within the standard salable subjects, they let creative decisions be driven by previous sales results and creative research based all on the same sources. This has resulted in a glut of images that all look alike. I like to call them the image de jour…everyone runs out and shoots the same style and subject with the same look on the same day, it appears.

I believe that one reason that microstock had explosive growth aside from the price point was that users could find one-of-a-kind images. Now that the major production companies are putting the same old, same old but ‘new’ images into micro in great volumes, the same problem could arise there.

John:  I am hearing predictions that Google is the ultimate stock search mechanism, and that someday all the searches will be done on Google image search…even including Agency collections.  Can you comment on that?

Ellen: I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that Google has taught us all how to search. We no longer look for anything with just one or two words. The vast amount of information on the web compels us to become more and more specific in our use of search terms and to use more words in a search. This knowledge spills over into how we search for images. I believe that photographers with collections on specific subjects and who have implemented best practices as far as SEO goes may find that they can make more money selling stock direct than with a stock company in the near future.

Today I am excited about the prospect that we may be at a convergence of technology and user behavior that will shortly enable photographers to license their existing images.

John: I have heard estimates that the non-traditional market for stock photography, made up of those who buy and/or license photos outside of the traditional infra-structure of stock, is as big as $20 billion a year.  Even if that market, composed of mom and pop businesses needing an image for a newspaper advertisement, students in need of a photograph for a homework assignment, or a church group in need of a picture for a flyer, is only a fraction of that size, it is still a huge market.  Perhaps those buyers will end up at a Micro site, or perhaps, with a Google search, they may end up at a photographer’s site.  Do you think this is a market segment worth going after by individual photographers?  How big do you think that market is?

Ellen: I disagree with the $20 billion figure. Is that Dan Heller’s? I think it is and when I read his logic (I may not remember it correctly so Dan don’t get on your high horse!) I felt it was faulty. For now I recommend that photographers who have general collections of average quality…ok admit it…there is always average in every field…put that work in microstock. I don’t feel comfortable recommending trying to reach the world of users from the high school blogger to the church website via direct sales unless the workflow is completely seamless. Even so, I don’t think most professional photographers will want to deal with the traffic that opening the doors completely will cause. The price expectations are so low that they might find themselves always answering emails and phone calls in regard to lowering license fees. The goal should be to get a certain kind of work into microstock, other types in a high end rights managed collection or license that directly.

I actually recommend that some images go on flickr under the Creative Commons copyright. I have some compelling research that shows that for some, this is a way to build reputation and actually make money. I hope to be able to present this and some other information about unusual places to license images at a seminar in the fall at PhotoExpo. 

John: To be able to effectively monetize those and other markets as individuals, outside of traditional agencies, photographers will need tools, specifically web tools, to deal with distributing their images, handling licensing and sales, and tracking abuse.  One possible answer to that need is ImageSpan.  Do you know if ImageSpan could be a viable solution, and do you know of any others on the horizon?

Ellen: ImageSpan just announced the 2.0 version. I had an early preview by the ImageSpan staff and was very impressed. They have seemingly thought of everything. Of course, photographers still have to do their own marketing to drive traffic to the site but the services provided by Imagespan are sensitive to SEO.

John: Traditional shooters fear the demise of the industry because of Micro.  Micro shooters are starting to feel the demise of their world by the entry of traditional shooters into Micro. Do you think that traditional shooters need to be in Micro? Do you think that the entry of traditional shooters into Micro Stock is going to “ruin it” for the Micro shooters?

Ellen: I think it is a mistake for traditional RM/RF shooters to have put high production value images into microstock. It is very difficult to make back investment on an expensive shoot even if the resulting images are on multiple microstock sites.  Plus if higher paying clients can get the same material on micro, why would they pay more? Now the toothpaste is out of the tube and there is no going back. Clean simple images in all the popular genres do very well on micro and that is where they belong.

John: What do you see the stock industry looking like two years from now?  Five years from now?

Ellen: More direct sales. In five years? Maybe the only stock businesses are companies that add value by scouring the web for the best work within a genre….sort of back to photo research services.

John: What advice would you give any shooter who wants to make a living shooting stock in these turbulent times?

Ellen: Think of your business as a multi-layered cake. Get your work into all the layers of the business. DEVELOP a specialty and be the best at it in the world. Even photographers on microstock sites need to build their brands within the site in order to get maximum downloads.

John: Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Ellen: Buy my book to be issued by Watson Guptill (Random House) next year.

ben maffin asked:


Stock Photography Modeling

The popularity in coffee shop culture coupled with the rise of the internet has seen an explosion in the last few years of publications requiring stock photography.

 

Stock photography publications can include literally any printed or photographic or internet material. North West Model Agency’s project managers have worked with a wide selection of publications all requiring stock photography models.

 

What is Stock Photography Modeling?

North West Model Agency considers stock photography modeling to be just as important as any other modeling discipline. It is easy to define in that it can be literally used for anything.

 

Stock photography modeling is used to ‘fill in’ or ‘round off’ publications and is used in many magazines where an article has been written about a given subject and they need an image to ‘fill in’ the space.

 

This can range from family photos to single high impact images. The scope is so huge and sometimes so specialized that it takes a professional agency such as North West Model Agency to match the model, the photographer and the assignment together.

 

Publications can also include adverts, websites, brochures. The list is almost limited to the imagination of the marketing department. The advantage stock photography modeling has over other forms is the lack of height, age, or weight restrictions. This makes it an ideal career for girls who do not fit the “sample” size required by fashion houses.

 

Remember that stock photography modeling can include just about anything. There are plenty of stock photography websites out there on the internet, have a look and you will see the sheer range of possibilities to get you going.

 

Technology in Stock Photography Modeling

With the onset of digital photography it is possible to get very high definition (commonly called Ultra High Quality or UHQ) stock photos almost instantly.

 

Because North West Model Agency use the most up to date technology UHQ Editorial photos turn around can be very quick. Combine this with North West Model Agency’s state of the art graphic studio, images can be blended, altered and emailed for a printed or online publication in minutes.

 

North West Model Agency’s studio can also deal with new media and the internet. This is the fastest growing area of Editorial modeling, and one which many ‘old school’ models and photographers do not understand. North West Model Agency can guide you through the advantages of having an online portfolio and how to promote your image. It’s to our advantage that we make our models as well known as possible!

 

Pitfalls of Stock Photography Modeling

Make sure your modeling agency and photographer are reputable. North West Model Agency vets it’s photographers before using them and will insist upon a client brief (so you know what you will be doing) before shoots and a chaperone during shoots.

 

Also be aware that many modeling agencies will charge you to make a portfolio on the pretence of work, though they never have any intention of giving you any assignments.

 

North West Model Agency will not charge you for a stock photography portfolio. They may refer you on to a preferred professional photographer if you wish to have stock photography added.

 

Stock photography modeling competition is not as intense as other modeling professions, though the gains are not usually as good. We will assign you to the most suitable role and will always make sure you are comfortable with the assignment before you undertake it. Editorial modeling is a good place to start when modeling as it allows you to ‘cut your teeth’ in an industry.

 

We ask all our models to fill out a North West Model Agency Feedback form when they have completed an assignment, so we constantly monitor our clients and models expectations.

 

As with all modeling stock photography modeling is not easy. North West Model Agency advises all want to be stock photography models to really think about the lifestyle it involves. Travel is inevitable though sometimes great fun. Although the ideal place for an assignment is a warm studio or a sunny beach it is always worth remembering that some of the best shots out there were taken on a cold day with bad weather looming.

 

Future of Stock Photography Modeling

North West Model Agency believes the future of stock photography modeling lies very much in cyber space. It is a growth industry and looks set to keep on growing.

 

Stock photography modeling is changing, make no mistake it has to if it is to survive. Stock photography modeling has languished in the prehistoric age for far too long. This can be partially attributed to the industry being formed on the old print press method of publication (calendars, magazines, tabloids). It is no secret that print is in decline and many modeling agencies are missing out on the new media and an increase in broadband access.

 

North West Model Agency is highly experienced in online promotion and the use of photographic material on the internet.

 

North West Model Agency’s one stop shop approach to stock photography modeling is a fantastic starting point for potential and experienced stock photography models alike.

 

Conclusion

If you’re fun loving, outgoing, and cannot do (or simply not interested) in other forms of modeling it is possible make a career from stock photography modeling.

 

North West Model Agency’s approach is honest and open, but remember that you’ll need to have a thick skin to survive in stock photography modeling.

 

If you are interested in stock photography modeling and you want to experience the future of Editorial modeling then visit North West Model Agency’s website at www.northwestmodelagency.co.uk