We’ve been in Austin, Texas at South By Southwest all week working hard to sell your stock. On Monday night we threw an awesome party, and have gauged a ton of excitement in your work each day to over 20,000 media savvy attendees on the trade show floor. If you’re in Austin, you have one more day to check us out at booth #1211.
By Karl Rosencrants, Bigstock Contributor
The filters built into Photoshop are powerful tools. They help to add a creative touch to photos or designs and allow almost unlimited possibilities for improvement and enhancements. Thankfully, they are also very easy to use.
By Karl Rosencrants, Bigstock Contributor
Photography, at its core, is the creating and capturing of images, and light is the foundation of making such images amazing. It is the direction, absence, intensity, color, and size of the lighting that alters the look of a photograph and creates stunning art work.
As photographers and artists, what we do with light in our work can either create bad or great looking images. In other words, a great photographer is a master of light.
We’re excited to tell you about a new program we’re offering to a select group of contributors at Bigstock’s sister site, Shutterstock. We’re calling it the Bridge to Bigstock. Here’s what we’re doing and why we think it’s a win for everyone.
As you may know, Shutterstock and Bigstock are two stock image sites owned by Shutterstock. They’re run as separate brands and marketed to different customers—Shutterstock to high volume image users and Bigstock to users who only need a few images at a time. In early 2010 we relaunched Bigstock with a new look and a new search engine. The upgrade was a hit with customers and contributors alike. Now we’re ready to crank Bigstock up another level.
The details:
10 Tips to Shoot Better Stock
Other than constantly shooting to further hone your craft, it’s important to understand the purpose of stock: to sell or promote a product, concept or idea. With this in mind, here are ten tips to help you shoot better stock, hence more earnings.
1. Create images with clear subject matter.
Images with a unique theme and clear point of view are most useful to buyers. Think about what message your image is making when you create it, and your image will likely be a stronger one.
You may start to instinctively create images that send a message or tell a story. That photo you shot on a hike? It says something about perseverance, and denotes accomplishment.
2. Leave space for text.
Have mercy on that art director, and remember to leave space for text in your image, when possible. A clear, clean space alongside the subject is always useful for layout purposes. Thinking about the final product can make shooting even more fun and purposeful, too. You may find you like composing images this way!
Using elements in your pictures which naturally provide a clear space for type is a great way to make more versatile stock imagery. Here, the composition allows for text by leaving space in the sea and the sky.
3. Shoot your image both horizontally and vertically.
Don’t go crazy with endless variations on each image you submit to Bigstock, but providing both horizontal and vertical layout options can be very helpful.
Even just a couple variations on a theme can be the difference between getting a sale or getting your image passed over. Help out that art director and find a few variations.
Have your subject look into the camera as well as away, and shoot from a few different angles.
4. Use depth of field to your advantage.
Depth of field is a trick every photographer should have in her toolbox, and can add substance and nuance to an image. Focusing in on one element of the frame lets your viewer know where to look, and highlights the theme of your picture.
Depth of field is often most advantageous when shooting multiple objects on varying planes.
5. Make sure your subject is in focus.
This may seem obvious, but it’s important to keep those images crisp and clean – especially your subject.
Motion is no excuse, either! Decide which part of your image will be in focus, and shoot at the appropriate shutter speed for your subject.
6. Use an unsharp mask.
Further to the point above, make sure to run an unsharp mask in Photoshop before you submit your images to Bigstock, to make them as layout-ready as possible.
An unsharp mask will give you a crisp result and make your picture more dynamic, but be sure not to over sharpen, or your images may appear noisy!
7. Give your image some color.
Adjusting color and saturation will help your image become a final product. Photoshop offers an auto color command, which can be quite useful.
You don’t want your image to depart too much from reality, but giving it a little added boost can be helpful to make the picture more illustrative and interesting.
8. Give your images some punch!
Adjusting levels and contrast in Photoshop is important as well. Make sure those blacks are black, and the image is well-balanced.
A good black is not to be underestimated, and often if you don’t make sure there is one, the image can look soft or gray.
9. Crop when appropriate.
Sometimes full-frame is just fine, but very often, cropping slightly can improve your composition. Keeping in mind space for text, the subject of the picture, and the balance of the frame, cropping can make your picture just that much better.
There’s an old adage about magazine editors loving square images, because they look so good on the layout of the page. Square frames can be fun to create and are versatile — try them out.
10. Get a model release or property release
Perhaps the most important tip – procure a model or property release for your image, so that your artwork can be used without infringement!
Otherwise, your family having fun in the sun is not much use to an art buyer.
Happy shooting!
There’s realism, and then there are wrinkles. When we edit a portrait, we aim to make the subject look vibrant and authentic. We are not trying to smooth the model’s skin to make it as smooth as a newborn.
In this demonstration of Adobe Photoshop’s Clone Stamp tool, we will work on separate layers as we smooth out some wrinkles. That way, if the effect looks unnatural or exaggerated, we can easily make adjustments to turn it down. Here’s the image we’re starting with:
We know stock photographers are hungry for information about how to shoot good pictures and achieve the most success in licensing them. As the industry grows, there are an increasing number of books on the subject. We recently came across one that does a great job of explaining our sometimes-esoteric business.
Microstock Money Shots is a new book by Ellen Boughn, a photo consultant who has worked as an executive at several stock agencies, and who knows the industry as well as anybody. The book includes many real-world examples of top-selling images, with explanations of what has made them successful. Boughn knows how to choose subjects in high demand, cast models, and compose photos in ways that increase their potential. One chapter explains how to appeal to specialty customers, like textbook publishers and greeting card makers. (Sample advice: “Young children have to be photographed using appropriate props and wardrobes, such as wearing bicycle helmets and carrying the see-through backpacks that many schools now require.”) There are also chapters on the dry but important topics of keywording and legal compliance.
Some of the book’s advice will seem basic to people who have been doing stock a while, but it’s a valuable orientation for beginners. Even experienced shooters may find ideas for inspiration, and can glean insights from some of the business’s top artists, including Bigstock contributor Andres Rodriguez, who wrote the introduction.
© CBurkhardt/Bigstock
By Lawrence Wee
HDR, or high dynamic range, images are created in a two-step process: the capturing of multiple images of a singular scene in the camera, and then off-camera processing. This article will address the first step, how you should take photos for HDR creation.
To make a good HDR image, the captured photo must be of high quality to begin with. And by “high,” I mean of sufficient technical quality to meet the acceptance standards for stock photography.
While technology has been advancing to the point where we’re now getting enabled to create HDR in-camera (anyone see the new iPhone app?), for the moment, this is usually achieved off-camera with software. In film days, this high dynamic range problem was ameliorated by use of Graduated Neutral Density filters (GND). GND can be simulated digitally as well, and it is an alternative to HDR processing when your dynamic range requirements are not too large.
Come visit Bigstock at booth 242 at Photoshop World in Las Vegas, NV! We’ll be joining hundreds of our friends from September 1-3, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. As Photoshop enthusiasts enjoy seminars by the world’s leading Photoshop experts, we’ll be there to talk about the ways that photographers and illustrators can earn money by contributing to the Bigstock collection. Stop by the Bigstock booth to chat, grab a Bigstock t-shirt and other free stuff!
One of the questions we get asked the most from submitters is “What do the buyers want?” The answer is not so simple. We have customers from different parts of the world, all searching for different images, and different types of projects. The most important thing to remember is that variety is key. Try different subjects, and be open. One week you may want to shoot only women, the next you can do farm equipment. It can help you in many ways, but more sales will be one of them.
Also, trust your instincts on whether you think an image is versatile enough to be interpreted in many ways. This way, more people will have use for the image in their work.
Aside from that, here are five tips that can make your images more likely to sell:
Take both a vertical and horizontal shot of the same subject—
The orientation of the image can give a different “feel” to the subject, and that might be what the buyer goes for first. Also, both orientations provide different cropping options. Images by iko.
Go with the flow to capture subtle movements—
Images that are too posed or artificial looking are less likely to appeal to buyers. Help your models feel comfortable and have fun, you’ll capture their subtle, natural movements. Images by barsik.
Play with different types of lighting—
Because you never know what the buyer will need from the subject. Lighting can change the mood and the overall image might look completely different. Images by Paha_L.
Expand your Concepts—
There are many ways to shoot the same subject, and each way can have a distinct feel or meaning. Maximize your models and props! Images by Anton Prado PHOTOGRAPHY.
Smiling vs. Serious Models—
Although most of the images of people that we sell are smiling, many buyers will have a need for serious images for many reasons. Images by tobkatrina.
If you follow these tips and (most importantly) have fun with your photos, you should see an increase in your skills and sales. Good luck!
This article was adapted from a Shutterbuzz post written by Shutterstock submitter, iofoto.
