If I had a portfolio I would have shot this speeding convertible sports car image for it! Since I only shoot stock I don't have to worry about a book. Getty rejected this image because it "looks like a product shot". Blend did accept it and it will be interesting to see if I am right in my expectation that it will sell well.
Shooting For Your Book
As a professional photographer, or as an aspiring pro
photographer, shooting for your book is a given. Eager assistant, working
commercial photographer, or living legend, all photographers shoot for their
“books”. What I have always found to be strange is that most photographers
don’t consider the images they shoot for their portfolios to be stock photo
material.
A Fast Road To Nowhere
The same ingredients that go into a portfolio shot ( passion,
production value, creativity and so forth), are the ingredients that make great
stock photos. I think where a lot of shooters go wrong is in thinking that
stock images should look like, well, stock images. In reality, shooting stock
photos that look like what we all think stock photos look like is a fast road
to nowhere. In a market suffocating
in sameness the images that stand out are the ones that have the best chance of
earning significant revenue.
Portfolio Shots As Stock Photos
I believe that adding stock photography to ones photography
business is a no brainer, and a great way to incorporate effective stock photography
can be based around shooting for one’s book. It can be as simple as submitting
that portfolio shot to an agency, or using the portfolio shoot as a springboard
for stock. Once that portfolio image is captured a few additional variations,
perhaps with a bit more obvious commercial application, can be added. It is
almost like getting free images for your stock collection.
Fashion Magazines And Stock Photos
If you think your portfolio images are too “sophisticated”
or abstract to make great stock images…think again. One good example to show
how “out there” imagery can make for great stock can be seen in the work of Elena Vizerskaya. Elena’s work
is about as “out there” as you can get. It is the kind of work you would expect
to see in high end, cutting edge fashion magazines rather than in stock
collections. Yet she is doing very well in stock…microstock no less!
Images That Stand Out From The Crowd
It makes sense
though…with every passing day, and thousands of new uploaded pictures, it
becomes increasingly important to produce photos that stand out from the
crowd…images that can stop a viewer and compel them to read the advertisers
message. Pictures like the ones we make for our portfolios.
Whatever It Takes
Next time you shoot for your book it might not be a bad idea
to think of stock. And the next stock production you undertake, you might want
to think a bit about your portfolio as well. In either case doing whatever it takes to create images that
you can truly be proud of is vital to success.
