[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
2008
MARKETABLE
PHOTOGRAPHY
by
SHUTTER
POINT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3
Preface
42
44
45
47
48
50
52
53
54
61
62
64
65
66
67
68
70
71
72
73
80
82
83
85
86
88
89
90
91
92
97
99
103
Children
SPOTLIGHT: Jim Glab
Cityscape
Concept
Food & Drinks
Holidays & Events
SPOTLIGHT: Donna Sherwood
SPOTLIGHT: Chee-Onn Leong
Landscape
SPOTLIGHT: Mark Plonsky, PhD
Macro
SPOTLIGHT: Bruce Becker
Military & Patrioic
Music World
SPOTLIGHT: Katariina Järvinen
Night Shot
SPECIAL GUIDE: Portraiture in Stock Photography
SPOTLIGHT: Jostein Hauge
SPOTLIGHT: Rees Gordon
People & Lifestyles
Roads & Transportaion
SPOTLIGHT: Glenn Traver
Seascape
SPOTLIGHT: David Selvaggi
Sports & Recreaion
SPOTLIGHT: Chris Harvey
Technology
SPOTLIGHT: Maria Dryhout
SPOTLIGHT: Kelly O’Donnell
Travel & Leisure
SPOTLIGHT: Jan Stadelmyer
Various Objects
Waterfalls
A GUIDE TO MARKETABLE PHOTOGRAPHY
4
MARKETABLE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY:
AN INTRODUCTION
5
6
9
11
11
11
TAKING THE PHOTO
Choosing Subject
Technical Seings
Composiion
Color
Lighing
Explore Opions
12
12
12
13
13
13
POST PROCESSING THE PHOTO
Ediing Tools
Cropping
Noise Reducion
Exposure and Color Correcions
Sharpness Adjustments
Borders and Frames
14
14
15
15
15
15
UPLOADING TO SHUTTERPOINT
Image Title and Keywording
IPTC Metadata
Image Resoluion
Price Seing
Model and Property Releases
Editorial License
MARKETABLE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWCASE
16
MARKETABLE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWCASE: AN
INTRODUCTION
17
18
20
21
22
31
34
35
39
41
SPOTLIGHT: Annika Strömgren
Abstract & Digital Art
SPOTLIGHT: Mike Dawson
SPOTLIGHT: Harry Eggens
Animals
Architecture
SPOTLIGHT: Myrthe Krook
Botanical
Business World
SPOTLIGHT: Jennifer Ralston
PREFACE
Dear Reader,
This guide has been created to assist photographers like you with understanding concepts of stock photography
and photo marketability. These concepts are explained through a comprehensive guide and a collecion of
photos from ShuterPoint.
The guide takes the reader through the steps of achieving a marketable photo. Staring from taking the photo,
to post processing the image, and inally to making the image available online. The guide ofers ips and
suggesions in many areas involved in selling photos on ShuterPoint.com.
The ShuterPoint collecion of photographs included in this guide is presented to serve as a reference or a
staring point to anyone interested in creaing marketable images. We believe that these samples will enhance
the concepts covered in the guide, as the collecion is based on some of the images that were sold via our
website during the year 2007.
The Marketable Photography Guide 2008 is made possible and distributed by ShuterPoint.com.
ShuterPoint.com Team
January 2008
MARKETABLE PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE
A GUIDE TO
MARKETABLE PHOTOGRAPHY
MARKETABLE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY: AN INTRODUCTION
In order to discuss marketable photography, let us irst describe what stock photography is about.
In a single sentence, stock photography can be deined as...
any existing photos that can be licensed for speciic use
.
You may also hear terms such as stock photos, picture archives, photo libraries, image banks,
and variations of the above – they all refer to the same concept. By accessing large collections of
images online, consumers of stock images are able to stay on budget and not have to hire their
own photographer. It allows them to save time since images are delivered via the web in mere
seconds.
The stock photography industry started shaping up approximately three decades ago, when a
large number of photographers were no longer shooting for assignments, but for stock photo
libraries instead. As the industry evolved, stock agencies started surveying their clients, trying to
better understand what type of images were needed most. Those were the irst attempts to deine
marketable photography, as well as to establish “want lists” – customer requests that could be
passed on to photographers.
Before the days of the mainstream acceptance (or existence) of the internet, stock libraries existed
in the form of collections of slides or prints, which clients could select by accessing printed catalogs
or CD-ROMs the agencies sent out by mail. Now, the internet allows accessing images online,
making searches much easier and delivery faster. At the same time, digital photography has made
the process of photo submissions much more convenient for photographers.
The relative ease of trying out one’s skills as a stock photographer and the simplicity of contributing
images to online stock photo sites have been fueling interest of many photographers in this quickly
developing marketplace. Doesn’t it seem like everyone has a digital
camera nowadays? Many people carry their cameras along everywhere
and take many photos. Certainly, not everyone produces images that
are good as “stock photos” – in other words, not every image, even
when technically perfect, is marketable. In this guide, we will take
you through the entire process of creating stock photography, from
the time you decide to take a photo to the time you upload it to your
ShutterPoint account. We will stop at every point of this process and
present the best ways to produce a marketable photo. We will describe
how to pick the subjects, and how to present them most effectively.
You will also ind advice from successful ShutterPoint photographers,
and see numerous examples of marketable imagery – each and every photo in this guide was sold
on ShutterPoint during the year 2007 at least once.
* All images used as examples on this page are presented and credited on Marketable Photography Showcase pages of this guide.
4
“...
not every
image, even
when technically
perfect, is
marketable.”
A GUIDE TO
MARKETABLE PHOTOGRAPHY
TAKING THE PHOTO
A. Choosing subject
It’s no secret that some photographic subjects are highly marketable, while others are harder
and harder to sell. Enormous growth of the stock photo industry in the recent years coupled with
internet expansion has opened doors to the world of stock photography for many photographers.
Stock photo agencies around the world have accumulated quite a large number of “non-dated”
images that will not need to be replaced any time soon. These images include animals, sunsets,
clouds, and natural landmarks – the very subjects many photographers love to take pictures of.
ShutterPoint’s own statistics conirm that these subjects are in high supply but demand is scarce.
While these images sell, getting “a piece of the pie” in these categories is hard. (Please see the
section on ShutterPoint.com for more examples of low marketability subjects).
The key to success in the stock photography ield is to ind out what the buyers
of photography want, and then shoot it. Many photographers shoot what they
want instead of what buyers want, and then are disappointed with their stock
sales. If you are seriously trying to sell your photography, you need to choose
your subject wisely. Before taking a picture, ask yourself how such an image
may be used. If you are not sure what it can be used for, the photo buyer
won’t be either. If you can create an image the buyers need, they will buy it
from you regardless of your level of experience or who you are, often paying
a higher price. This makes producing WHAT BUYERS WANT a simple, but often
overlooked concept in stock photography.
The irst step in understanding what buyers want is understanding who the buyers usually are.
Typically, stock imagery buyers are magazines, book publishers (particularly text-books and
encyclopedias), advertising and design agencies, calendar and greeting card companies, television
and ilm producers, CD/DVD ROM manufacturers, web designers and web content producers,
bloggers, political campaign publishers, and government and not-for-proit organizations. In recent
years, small- and medium-sized businesses have embraced desktop publishing, and have become
active consumers of stock photography as well. In addition, there is another type of buyer - the
ine art buyer. This buyer might be an interior designer or just someone who wants to print the
image to display in their home or give a printed image as a gift to someone. To meet the demand
of such a buyer, your photo must be truly unique and attention grabbing.
Want to further learn what buyers need? There are many ways to ind out:
•
the
, the
,
, and
to keep members informed about
the best subjects to photograph. The highest percentage of images that sell on ShutterPoint
are in Business World, Ofice World, and Technology categories. Very good sellers are images
that clearly present a certain concept or illustrate an action, especially related to the “hot”
subjects – business, inance, technology, telecommunications, the internet, health, itness,
beauty, recreation and travel.
•
Read publications that relate to the market you want to target, to get ideas and concepts
that may need to be illustrated.
* All images used as examples on this page are presented and credited on Marketable Photography Showcase pages of this guide.
5
Find suggestions on ShutterPoint.com. ShutterPoint offers
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]