In difficult times your camera-time is most likely going to be as limited as your cashflow, making it just as valuable. So you really need to make sure you only spend it shooting material with real commercial prospects.
This means putting in the study time ahead so that every time you're faced with a photograph op, you're fully clear on what your likely markets are for the subject matter, who a couple of your prospective purchasers might be, and what sort of photographs they'll need.
Aimlessly shooting anything and everything for stock hasn't worked for years , and in tough times it's a waste of time and effort. Much better to treat every shoot as a mini-assignment with an end-user under consideration and a clear notion of what photographs you want to get.
In fact the top photographers will take it a stage further and make an in-depth shot list before they even start.
This discipline continues at the modifying stage. Consider a two-stage workflow where stage one applies basic processing and backups to every new photo set. Then stage 2 is applied selectively, only to those pictures with real commercial prospects.
Rather than spending hours uploading each image from every shoot to your stock catalogue, apply the 80-20 rule and choose only those photos that sell. Get them broadcast As soon as possible and then get out and shoot more photographs.
If a buyer is interested in the subject although not 100% satisfied with the selection, they will customarily check to determine if you have any more... And you can dig them out & process them then.
It's usually possible to publish additional photographs later but for now target your efforts on those photographs most liable to make you cash!
You can put this approach to work straight way. Jot down a list of the 10 subjects that you'll shoot in the following couple of months and do some basic market research for each.
Write each subject on a new page, and then make some notes on all of the possible consumers for that subject? What industry are they in? What goods or services do they supply? How will they use the photographs? Who are their customers? What type of message does your buyer need to convey to their clients?
Try to list a few precise examples of real companies that could use pictures of that subject, and then jump online and check their website to see what sort of photos they already use. Make notes on mood, style, lighting and composition. If they use models, make notes on ages, gender, ethnicity, attire and face expressions.
The idea is next time you are shooting these subjects, you'll have so many particular concepts of the shots you would like, you'll not only take more marketable images, you'll get a whole lot more of them as well!
This means putting in the study time ahead so that every time you're faced with a photograph op, you're fully clear on what your likely markets are for the subject matter, who a couple of your prospective purchasers might be, and what sort of photographs they'll need.
Aimlessly shooting anything and everything for stock hasn't worked for years , and in tough times it's a waste of time and effort. Much better to treat every shoot as a mini-assignment with an end-user under consideration and a clear notion of what photographs you want to get.
In fact the top photographers will take it a stage further and make an in-depth shot list before they even start.
This discipline continues at the modifying stage. Consider a two-stage workflow where stage one applies basic processing and backups to every new photo set. Then stage 2 is applied selectively, only to those pictures with real commercial prospects.
Rather than spending hours uploading each image from every shoot to your stock catalogue, apply the 80-20 rule and choose only those photos that sell. Get them broadcast As soon as possible and then get out and shoot more photographs.
If a buyer is interested in the subject although not 100% satisfied with the selection, they will customarily check to determine if you have any more... And you can dig them out & process them then.
It's usually possible to publish additional photographs later but for now target your efforts on those photographs most liable to make you cash!
You can put this approach to work straight way. Jot down a list of the 10 subjects that you'll shoot in the following couple of months and do some basic market research for each.
Write each subject on a new page, and then make some notes on all of the possible consumers for that subject? What industry are they in? What goods or services do they supply? How will they use the photographs? Who are their customers? What type of message does your buyer need to convey to their clients?
Try to list a few precise examples of real companies that could use pictures of that subject, and then jump online and check their website to see what sort of photos they already use. Make notes on mood, style, lighting and composition. If they use models, make notes on ages, gender, ethnicity, attire and face expressions.
The idea is next time you are shooting these subjects, you'll have so many particular concepts of the shots you would like, you'll not only take more marketable images, you'll get a whole lot more of them as well!
About the Author:
Matt Brading is a photographer and writer with the GlobalEye Stock Photo Agency. GlobalEye offers a unique platform for photographers wanting to get started selling photographs online without the constraints (or commissions) of a traditional stock library.
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