Stock Photos, Leveraging Assets And An Email Campaign

An elephant at the bar...and an email campaign to promote my stock photography.

Leveraging Assets

I often find myself wondering why the world needs any more stock photos, and lamenting the fact that so many of my images have disappeared both in terms of visibility and in terms of sales.  It has occurred to me, frequently, that I might be better off leveraging those old assets (stock photos) rather than just creating new ones. I have actually been working to that end in my efforts to get more traffic to my website where almost all of my images can be found. But I have decided to up the ante a bit by actually promoting my work. To that end I have signed up with AgencyAccess and have put together an email campaign for the next year. I actually made my first mailing a few days ago…I sent out 4700 emails to mostly art directors and art producers with ad agencies, in house art departments, and a smattering of magazines. I will report the results in my next blog post and will report my overall progress here as things develop.

Focusing On Humorous Animals

As part of this same project I have also changed my website a bit. I have focused the home page gallery and the portfolio section on conceptual and humorous animal imagery. If some one searches using the search window or the “Stock/Categories” all of my imagery is available. Probably 90% of my images are handled by agencies, primarily Blend Images (of which I am a part owner) and Getty but also with SuperStock and Corbis. It is a slow process, but I am linking each image to the agency that handles the work. If that linking has not been done yet then when someone inquires about licensing an image the query comes to me, otherwise the interested party ends up at that particular image on the stock agencies site. I am also having a light box added but that may take another week or two to be implemented.

Google Image Search

The vast majority of people finding my images on the Internet don’t end up on my home page but on the individual picture page via a Google image search.  But I think by focusing my home page on the funny animal pictures I can get more links that should raise up my imagery as a body of work higher in the search order of the various search engines. At least I hope so!

Licensing And Assignments

In the worst case scenario I will be out a couple of thousand dollars, I will know one more thing that doesn’t work, and I will be better able to focus on finding what does work. On the possible (and I hope probable) up side I hope to get some good licenses and perhaps even an assignment that fits my situation. In addition, if more people come to my site, find images they are interested in, and then go on to license them from an agency, then those images will also start to rank higher in the agency searches as well…hey…at least the theory is good! I firmly believe that the biggest challenge facing photographers today is getting our work seen, and that sitting back and waiting to be found is not the best route to success.

In Photography Attitude Is Everything

Luka Esenko, one of tour leaders (along with Jeremy Woodhouse) shoots a sunrise on Socotra Island.

The Importance of Attitude

On my recent trip to Yemen and Socotra with Jeremy Woodhouse and Luka Esenko, I was reminded again of the importance of attitude. While travel can be great at exposing bad attitudes, and emphasizing the importance of a positive attitude, what was really brought to my attention on this trip was the importance of attitude in photography.

Believing You Can

They say that if you believe you can, or if you believe you cannot, you are probably right, and that is what I experience on this “adventure/travel” journey. A number of times we would find ourselves in a given place or situation and I would look around and think “nothing here to shoot” (don’t get me wrong, those times when I didn’t see the opportunities were the exception on a fabulous trip for photography). Then Jeremy and Luka would be shooting like crazy. Sometimes watching them would help me realize that there was indeed something worth shooting and I would dive in. Other times I would just shrug and stick with my assumption that any effort expended on my part would be a waste.

Impressive Photographs

Later, when I saw the results of what both Jeremy and Luka were getting I realized that they had indeed gotten some pretty impressive photographs…even to the point where I was a tad envious and kicking myself just a bit. Granted, I have a very mercenary outlook and often these beautiful images wouldn’t seem particularly saleable…but beauty for beauty’s own sake is still worthwhile, and I have also come to realize that pretty much anything can sell and that figuring out what will sell, or more accurately what won’t sell, is almost impossible!

Bad Attitudes And Failure

I remember once when shooting an annual report with a designer we arrived at the location and no sooner had we stepped out of our car than he began to moan that we were screwed, that there wasn’t anything worth shooting.  Now I had been to worse locations than that, shooting by myself for that very same designer, and he had always loved what I came back with. But that was not the case on this day. We did not get a single image that he like during the whole day’s shoot!  I don’t really know the intricacies of that whole dynamic, but I do believe that his bad attitude was a major part of why we failed to get our shot that day.

Taking On The Challenge

The next time I find myself camera in hand and thinking “nothing worth shooting here” I hope I remember to kick myself in the butt, change my attitude, and take on the challenge of finding or creating something beautiful no matter the circumstance.

Infographic On The Cameras Used To Shoot Stock

Amos Struck of the online stock industry magazine Stock Photo Secrets sent me this fun graphic about what gear shooters are using for stock. They polled 157,000 microstock shooters (Dreamstime Shooters I believe) to compile this information.

It has long been the standard answer among professional photographers, when asked which camera they use, that "It isn't the camera, its the photographer". While there is no doubt that more sophisticated cameras can offer advantages, there is still a lot of truth in that "stock" answer. Personally, I have shot stock with (not counting all the film cameras) a Leaf DCB I, Canon 1DS, 1DS MKII, 1DS MKIII, Canon 5D, Canon 5D MKII, Nikon D800, A Sony RX100 II, and, yes, my iPhone 4G.

At any rate, it is interesting to see what choices microstock shooters are making in terms of equipment!

A Trip To Yemen, Photos And Renewal

The Old City of Saana, capital of Yemen, at dusk.

Yemen, Socotra And Ton Of Photos!

It has been two weeks since I returned from a trip to Yemen…a photo tour led by Jeremy Woodhouse (a fellow Blend Images founder) and his co-leader Luka Esenko.  Why Yemen you might wonder? The primary reason for going was to experience (and photograph) the island of Socotra that lies off the coast of Yemen and has been referred to as the “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean”. The trip was amazing, if not a bit arduous (in a good way) and I got a ton of photos some of which will become stock and most of which were really just shot for my own pleasure.

Learning About Photography

One of the most interesting aspects of the trip was how much I learned about photography! I have been shooting professionally for thirty plus years so one might think I didn’t have a lot left to learn…turns out I do!  Jeremy and Luka are both high-energy enthusiastic photographers who are totally generous in sharing their knowledge, ideas and techniques.

Old Saana And Photo Opportunities

I didn’t just learn about photography either. Probably the biggest take away from the trip was how incredibly friendly the Yemeni people are. I have been to forty countries and have never been to a friendlier one than Yemen! Yemen isn’t just full of friendly people either. The old section of Saana, with its intricately decorated buildings, is a beautiful place to photograph.  In the narrow streets of the Old City, with buildings that date over a thousand years old, there is a wealth of photo opportunities from young curious children to dignified elders. We drank hot sweet tea from vendors in the markets, ate wonderful kebabs and Nan from small restaurants and wandered through streets lined with small shops selling everything from spices to Jambyias (the traditional dagger worn by almost all Yemeni men).

In the Old City of Saana, Yemen, women wear Abayas, the traditional all-covering black garment, as they go about their lives in the ancient streets.

Travel And Profit

At any rate, I don’t mean for this post to be a travelogue about Yemen and Socotra. Rather I would like to share how I intend to recoup my travel expenses and make a little profit as well. As those of you familiar with my work know, most of my stock photos are conceptual in nature and assembled with the help of Photoshop. My reasons for undertaking this journey were twofold: I felt I needed a little “adventure” and a break from my usual routine and I felt I could get some good raw material for my composite work. Both missions were accomplished!

Traveling Light

As an interesting experiment I decided to travel light on this trip. I carried a Nikon D800 with a 24-120 zoom lens. For back up I had a Sony RX100 II. I also took my Gitzo carbon fiber tripod with a Right Stuff head. That’s it. Not even a camera bag! As it turned out I was totally happy with my equipment decision.  Only twice did I regret not having another lens. Once was when we happened on a flock of eagles hanging out alongside the road (I wouldn’t have minded an nice 400mm) and another time when shooting an ancient city atop a mountain ridge when a slightly wider lens would have been handy. However I did get some eagles shots that I have already turned into a couple of stock images and made the wide angle shot work as well.

My First Yemen Stock Photo...

As I mentioned, I plan to make a profit from the trip through stock photography. But I am not really a travel photographer so my emphasis is on capturing raw material for my composite work. As it happens, the first image I made upon my return was made possible by photos I took of a burro of all things!  I have been trying to get a donkey or burro shot at zoos for years, but have never had a clear shot at a burro’s side before.  So it turns out that my first stock image from a trip to Yemen is this humorous look at politics! 

Politicians on the edge of the cliff, a humorous political commentary stock photo made possible by a trip to Yemen!

Great Travel Shots

Of course, on a trip like this one you can’t help but get some great travel shots so I will have some of those in my stock collection as well. I haven’t yet finished my editing, but to see some of the kinds of images that we had the opportunity to get check out Jeremy’sYemen images (what link should I use here?) and Luka’s Esenko's Yemen imagery.

Renewal and Gravy!

Perhaps most importantly I came back from the trip fired up and ready to go, renewed if you will. Getting out of my normal routine, especially on an exotic trip to an unusual destination, always does that for me. The images I get, and the raw materials I can capture, are all gravy after that!

To see Jeremy's Tours: https://www.pixelchromephototours.com

Having Fun Creating Stock Images

Sometimes you just have to have some fun making images...the driving force behind this nuclear armageddon image.

Fun And A Mushroom Cloud of Flame

Every once-in-a-while you have to just have some fun. That is what I did with this image of a fiery mushroom cloud of flame rising up from behind the silhouette of a city skyline. Of course, I still intend to make money with this image, though I hardly expect it to be a best seller. Because the image is not something that there are many uses for I am pegging it as a Rights Managed image…though as I submitted it to the Getty House collection it may yet end up as an RF image.

A Metropolis Skyline Silhouette

The image began as a skyline shot of New York. I pen tooled (created a clipping path) of the buildings, created a selection and created a new layer. I used the hue and saturation control to create the silhouette by bringing the lightness slider all the way down. I wanted the city to be a more generic metropolis so I added more buildings from a San Francisco skyline shot to create the final city skyline. Next I experimented with different sunset and sunrise images behind the skyline finally settling on a sunrise shot from Mexico.

A Sunrise And A Nuclear Explosion

It was while I was playing with the sunrises behind the city silhouette that the idea came to me for the “nuclear explosion” image. One particular fiery sunrise image looked as if the city was back lit from and explosion or fire. I went to my archives for flame shots…I had some fireballs from my time at burning man…and was able to fashion them into the mushroom cloud explosion.

Cropping Flexibility And Copy Space

As usual I made the image to have cropping flexibility and room for headlines and copy.  When making stock images I believe it is better error on the side of extra room for art directors and designers to use than to make tighter crops that might be a bit more esthetically pleasing.

Creativity, Science Fiction And Getting Seen

I can see this photo being used as a book cover for a science fiction thriller, or perhaps for a sensationalistic editorial on the danger of nukes or terrorist attacks. Certainly the image can serve to illustrate concepts such as "armageddon, nuclear holocaust, and the end of the world. With stock images you just never know when an art director or designer will come up with some really creative way to use your work.  Of course, the biggest challenge, as always, is getting your work seen by those creatives.

Closing The Barn Door After The Horse Is Gone

A man closes the barn door after the horse is gone in this concept stock photo about prevention, timeliness and procrastination.

Shutting The Barn Door After The Horse Is Gone

After thinking about it for about two years, I finally got around to taking some photos of a friend, Pippa Murray, while she worked her horse.  I spent about an hour shooting while she was being coached on jumping her horse, and getting some pretty good material for my stock imagery in the process.  As usual, when I shoot for stock, I went in with a shot list that included “shutting barn door after the horse is gone”. As Pippa was prepping and grooming her horse Bella, I had Stephanie, my partner, grab a quick shot of me pretending to pull the sliding barn door shut.

Building My Image In Photoshop

Back in my studio I went over my material, picked one of the “door shutting” images and brought it into Photoshop. I used the pen tool to create a clipping path on the inside of the barn door opening. I excluded both myself, and the barn doors, from the clipping path. I then made a selection with the clipping path using a one-pixel feather, inverted it, and used the selection to create a new layer. This gave me a layer that included everything except the background. Going back to the original background layer I applied a layer mask “reveal all”. After creating a new background (bottom) layer of white, I used a large soft brush to fade away the original background layer making the image look as if the scene outside the barn were overexposed and “blown out”. The next step was to add the horse.

Should Have Brought That Shot List!

Naturally, when shooting Pippa riding her horse I neglected to shoot specifically for my barn door image (should have brought my shot list and checked it off…so lazy!), so I had to improvise. I did get a few images of her and Bella clearing jumps from behind…but only a very few. Those images stood out though because when jumping the horses’ rear hooves, in their highest position, gave the animal a lot more sense of action and added a bit more of a humorous feeling. The only problems were that the horses’ front two legs were obscured by the jump, and Pippa’s leg and saddle obscured a lot of the horse’s side. It took about three hours of work to make the horse look the way I needed it to look by cloning, copying and pasting and so forth.

Qualities Of A Successful Stock Image

One never knows if an image is going to sell in stock, let alone do well, but I believe this photo has a lot of the qualities that make for a successful stock image. First of all, I think it is a concept that can apply to a lot of messages. The idea is one of prevention and of timeliness. “Have You Backed Up Your Data” could easily be a headline that would go with this photo of an escaping horse…after the barn doors are being closed. In fact, there are a ton of businesses, services and products that are designed to help us prevent bad things from happening or help us deal with such events including everything from firewalls to insurance to training. In addition, prevention is a difficult concept to illustrate making this image one with less competition. The potential is there for a good selling image.

Humor Is A Plus

Humor is also a plus for this shot. Any time you can inject a little humor into an image you dramatically increase it’s chance for sales. The humor here is a little subtle, but I think it is hard to avoid smiling when you see the photo. The semi-silhouette lighting adds both drama and plenty black areas providing copy space for headlines and text, and the image is easily cropped square, vertical or horizontal.

Rights Managed or Royalty Free?

I wrestled with whether this should be a Rights Managed or Royalty Free image, but finally went with Royalty Free because I think the shot can be used to advertise so many different products and services and for a lot of editorial uses as well. With this image I am counting on the large market of Royalty Free users will pay off more than the SOMETIMES higher fees of Rights Managed. Time will tell!

Succeeding In Stock Photography

The stock photography business has become a roller coaster of ups an downs, but some photographers are still doing well.

Poor Sales And Pulling Imagery

I just read a post on a forum in which a photographer complained about his sales (or lack of sales) at Alamy and is going to pull all of his imagery. Everywhere one turns photographers are decrying the state of the industry. I can’t even count how many photographers I have heard give up on Getty and Corbis. Even microstock photographers are hating on iStock (formerly iStockphoto) and Shutterstock. There is no doubt that these are challenging times in the stock photo industry, but I think it is important to keep in mind that the ones we hear from most are the ones who are having a hard time. The shooters who are experiencing success are for the most part eschewing the forums to…drum roll…make images!

Photographers Succeeding In Stock

There are photographers who are succeeding in stock.  So while that one unnamed photographer is pulling his imagery from Alamy, Jon Boyes has found a formula for making Alamy pay well…and is experiencing increasing sales.   Cristian Baitg is finding success with iStock. Others I know are growing their sales at Getty (I can’t speak to Corbis as I don’t personally know anyone who is an active Corbis contributor). Even the upstart agency Stocksy, with just a few months under its belt, is claiming that several of their photographers are making good livings (though I would sure love to know exactly what that means….). I am also aware of many Blend Images photographers who are doing well.

Making Stock Photography Work

My point is that we photographers can still make stock work for us, but need to understand what model suits our particular abilities and style. Jon Boyes, for example, has the patience and discipline to understand and make the most of key wording at Alamy.  Cristian Baitg knows what works, and how to shoot it, for the micro model. 

Rights Managed, Royalty Free, Microstock And Roller Coasters

I hear photographers say their RM imagery is doing well but that they are giving up on RF…and I also hear the exact opposite. I know at least one photographer who has given up on Getty to shoot microstock! I personally am experiencing what I am sure many other shooters are…a roller coaster of up and down months. One month I think things have turned the corner and the future is rosy, the next I have to grit my teeth and not let a disappointing sales report interrupt my productivity. When you hear the sky is falling, take it with a grain of salt and learn as much as you can about your own situation and what will work for you.

Understand Your Distribution

To succeed in stock photography these days it certainly helps to understand which agencies offer what. Getty, for example, is still the 600 lb. Gorilla, but is not offering much in the way of individual art direction. Blend Images (disclaimer…I am a part owner of Blend), as another example, offers vast distribution and individual art direction.  Shutterstock boasts a huge customer base, but certainly isn’t right for my style of imagery…at least not “as right” as Getty or Blend. On top of everything else agencies are going public, venture capital is coming in, and agencies are jockeying for position with renewed vigor. Change is afoot and it may be very important to pay attention to it!

What To Shoot, How To Shoot And How To Distribute

Each of use needs to really understand what to shoot, how to take advantage of our own skill sets and shooting styles, and which distribution channels work best our own circumstances. If we can understand those things we can still thrive in stock photography...it just isn't easy.