I seem to be on a roll this month with posts. I think it is because I have finished processing all my Hawaii shots and have got those online and I’m waiting for the next project! That is also giving me some time to look at some of the shots I have taken and trying to improve ones that are worthwhile. The first one could have been a great shot of a proud (and wild) cockerel overlooking his territory on...
I had a 50 minute online chat with the host of ImprovePhotography.com, Jim Harmer, earlier in the week about stock photography. While I think I probably waffled on a bit, it was a good discussion and Jim has now posted the podcast on his site. He also wrote a nice blog post about the subject and the interview, which has done wonders for sales of my book on Amazon! If you have an empty hour to fill, and you always...
This may seem strange – I have my own book on stock photography and here I am talking about a competing one! However, the new release by Alex Rotenberg called The Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography is actually a very nice complement to my own book! Alex takes a broader view of the subject of stock photography, first looking at the market and what buyers are seeking, then going through some very useful tutorials (or reminders) of the various...
I currently have 620 images on Fine Art America, although I would be the first to admit that some of the early images I uploaded were probably not very suitable for display purposes. It is too easy to think of what might sell for stock, and just upload that, but in reality, people are looking for something to put on their walls and so you really need to think about what you yourself would be willing to print and frame....
I mentioned Alexandre Rotenberg before but he has posted an interesting article on his blog about the decision whether to submit images as RF to all the microstock agencies or RM to the more expensive midstock or macro agencies. That got me thinking about what this decision is really all about and whether he has asked the right question! So I’ll try and work through the question with some examples. Firstly, this is not really about RF or RM –...
One of the many issues with uploading videos to stock agencies (apart from the sheer size of the files) is the lack of an ability to automatically keyword and describe the files before uploading them. That generally means you need to visit each agency and either upload a csv file with that required information or do a lot of copy and pasting to get each video file ready for submission. On my recent trip to Hawaii I took 31 videos...
I’d become accustomed to two things recently in my earnings – one was the lack of large priced sales on Shutterstock and the other was the non-existence of sales on Alamy! This month (in fact the past week) has shattered my expectations (and in a good way!) Normally, I get almost zero sales on Alamy. I don’t know why – I have 5500 images on the site under my own account. I think there are elements in the Alamy search...
A friend of mine wrote a blog post about entering for the Travel Photographer of the Year contest as a way of expanding beyond stock photography. I think that is a great objective and I’m certainly going to look into it myself. Interestingly, after the digital entries are refined down to potential winners, you need to submit physical prints of your work – a great choice I think! What struck me about the competition rules was the very comprehensive section...
With the constant pressure to create more saleable stock images, it is easy to forget that we also do this because we enjoy photography! I talked about some great images I managed to capture on my final evening in Kauai, and I kept thinking about how best to show what I think is going to be one of my favorites. The answer, of course, is to print it! We get so used to looking at things on the screen, but...
I’m still processing images from my recent trip to Maui and Kauai, but as I was going through them I thought about how I find out where to go for the best photo opportunities when you go to a new place. How did I know where to find this lcoation for sunset? I start, before I go, with a guidebook – I know that is old fashioned when you have Google at your fingerprints, but at least I get...
