Premium – everyday activities

Firstly, I have started adding “Premium” to the heading of these posts for members only so that others who see the emails about new posts on the site don’t waste their time visiting the post only to find out that they can’t read the whole thing. Thanks to one of my followers for pointing that out. It is hard to see anything in the news these days apart from corona virus stories – and quite a lot of those articles use real “news” photos to illustrate them, I’m starting to see some traction on my images, but not many yet. However, I wanted to focus elsewhere today and review some of my better selling concepts. The category I’m thinking about today is everyday activities that you do at home that could be photographed (and video’d) and maybe be brought up to date with the latest technology.

This shot, and the variants I did of it, have earned almost $700 across the stock agencies, and even a simple shot of a thermostat showing 73 degrees (F) has earned $500 or so. I wish that I had taken a few with different temperatures (and also in centigrade) to allow them to be used for articles about setting your thermostat lower at night for better sleep or to save energy. In fact an image that somehow linked sleeping well with lower temperatures in the room would be a nice concept. The image above was actually a bit more complex than it seems as the thermostat was not installed in anywhere as nice a position as the published photo suggests:

I put the white card there to help with isolation of the arm, although I think I probably used the pen tool to extract it. Looking at it now, a black background would actually have been better. I then used a blurred version of a warmly lit room as the new background that you see in the shot that is online. It was important to get the feeling of a warm and cozy home to go with the story line. I also did ones with the copy space on the left, but this version above is by far the better seller. I think the normal way we scan an image from left to right makes it more sensible to leave space on the right for any text or title.

These sort of images get dragged out every time the seasons change, and so they can become perennial sellers if they are lucky enough to rise in the search ranks. My image of the normal routine (in homes with forced air heating and cooling systems) of changing the air filters in the system also sell very regularly as there are always stories about the need to maintain your heating system and make sure it is working at full efficiency by changing those filter regularly. My shot of myself reaching up to change a filter in a ceiling mounted cover has sold for over $3000 in its various versions.

This particular one caught on (I think) because it is clear what is happening and also because it could also be used to explain that you should do this a bit more safely than I appear to be doing. If I hadn’t been lazy and had used a proper step ladder, it would have been a more boring shot and perhaps not as successful! I have a different design of a filter in my current home and images of changing that one have earned $650, including a $68 sale of a video of the full process:

These sort of perennial tasks around the home aren’t very exciting, but they are things that need to be done and are always being written about. Other things to think about are removing lint from the dryer (maybe with a camera inside the drum), changing clocks twice a year for time changes etc. Whenever you get a new bit of technology – a new washing machine perhaps – think about the normal tasks of adding the washing powder or liquid and photograph and video that activity to give those buyers a fresher look at everyday activities. Especially in the colder winter months this will give you a chance to get some new images without leaving home. And it will give you useful practice at getting the best images you can in a very controlled location.