Photography Tips and Tricks

If you want to sell your photos on stock photography sites, you need to know what the sites are looking for. Here are some tips to getting your photography sold with ease.

Fresh Content

Much of the stock photos that sites get are the same old pictures of flowers and rainbows. Content sites are desperate for fresh content that contains the unusual.

The number one need of most content sites is photos of multicultural (non-white and non-black) children. These photos should be of these types of children doing everyday things such as brushing their teeth, playing outside, and going to school in modern settings.

Pictures of seniors, healthcare, and modern technology is also greatly needed. Studies by Photoshelter.com noted that these were one of the greatest needs in stock photography.

Legalities

If you are shooting people, you always need to get a signed model release. Stock photography companies will not take on your photos unless you have a model release. You can read more about model releases here.

File Size

File size is very important to stock sites because they want high quality images that clients can enlarge. Files should be around 11MB up to 125MB uncompressed (common sizes for a 4-megapixel camera) in JPG, JPEG, TIFF, and TIF formats.

Lighting

Good lighting is very important in stock. To get the best light when shooting outside, avoid the harsh light during the hours between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Indoors, you will need to bounce light to avoid shadows. To learn more about bouncing light see this blog.

Photo Editing

It may be tempting to “fix” your photo by sharpening it, adding contrast, upping the color saturation, etc., but that is a quick way to ruin your photo for stock usage. For example, sharpening is done by the in-house art department of magazines and ad companies because they have different sharpness needs. If the photographer does this before the sale, the image may have the wrong type of sharpness for the company that wants to buy the image. The best stock images are great without having to do anything to them.

Selling your photos as stock photography can be a great way to make money. Here is an overview of what stock photography is and how you can get started selling your photos.

What is Stock Photography?

Chances are, you’ve seen some form of stock photography in the last ten minutes. Advertising companies, magazines, and websites use photos to liven up and add content to their media. Most of these images were taken by freelance, amateur, or professional photographers who were not employees of the company.

How Companies Find Stock Photos

The company finds these photos by going to sites such as PhotoShelter.com, typing in the subject they are looking for, and choosing a photo that best fits their needs. They pay a fee to use the photo and the website gets a commission for helping the photographer sell the photo.

How to Sell Your Photos

First, you need to produce photos that will work well for stock photography. Here are some tips:

· Take photos that are “light and airy.” This means that your photos should be full of light and shouldn’t be too full of stuff.

· Keep the background uncluttered or blur the background.

· Keep the subject simple.

· Try to come up with a title for your photo before you take it to keep your focus tight. Some examples are, “Child Blowing Bubbles,” “Children Playing Jax,” or “Dog with Bone.”

· Notice how all of the titles above could be search terms? This is why your pictures need to focused and clear. A buyer will want a photo of exactly what he typed into the search box.

Next, you need to post your images on a well-recognized stock photography site. PhotoShelter.com and Stock.Xchng.com are two good ones. When you upload your photos, you will need to come up with a good caption and keywords to help your photo be found. Read the tips that the site provides because the rules can vary from site to site.

How Much Can You Make?

So, how much money can you make? Well, it depends on who buys the rights to use your photo. Here are some sales averages quoted by PhotoShelter.com:

· Magazine sale: between $150-500 per photo

· Advertising sale: $5,000-$50,000 per photo

· Web usage: around $50 per photo

As you can see, you can make a lot of money from your digital images. So, start taking photos with an eye towards selling them as stock!