What To Shoot For Stock: A "Senior" Image

 

Corny, but eye catching, this stock photo illustrates concepts of security and safety for seniors.

 

What To Shoot For Stock Photography Collections

When trying to determine what to shoot for your stock collections, it isn’t a bad idea to try and anticipate what images are going to be needed in the near future. The further out you try to anticipate the greater the chances you will miss, yet if you don’t push the envelope enough your imagery will fall into that great morass of middle ground where its chances of standing out enough to succeed will be all too small. Another strategy is to try and come up with unique, but obviously useful imagery for concepts that are important in significant segments of the market, concepts that are both current and timeless.

The Needs Of Seniors

One such category of opportunity is found in the needs of seniors. Our “mature” population is burgeoning, and is faced with tremendous challenges on all fronts, from medical costs to health issues to insurance needs and even to the proliferation of scams that the ongoing transition from the world our seniors knew to the new digital age that is engulfing us all, is proving fertile ground for. It was with all the threats that face our seniors (ahem, guess that includes me…), that I came up with the idea of creating an image illustrating the concepts of safety and security, applied to seniors, and doing so in a way that could capture a viewer’s attention.

A Senior Woman Knitting...With A Twist

In my last photo shoot I included an image of a senior woman knitting...for which I planned a "twist". I didn’t spend a lot of time on the shot, just had her sit on an office chair with a basic lighting set up and fired off a dozen frames or so. As she had white hair, and was against a white background, I had my partner Stephanie hold up a blue yoga matt behind her head (hey, it was handy), to allow for an easier job in stripping out her hair. I actually don’t know if that was the best way to go about in dealing with the hair…but it worked. 

A quick shot of a mature woman knitting to be stripped out and composited with a Lion, in a penthouse.

A Lion And A Buenos Aires Penthouse

In my archive I retrieved an image of a Lion I had photographed in my studio years ago, and a photo of a couch shot in a Buenos Aires penthouse.  It took me a couple of hours with Photoshop to combine the elements into what I believe is a visually compelling picture that shows a happy senior relaxing in the pursuit of her interests and secure in the knowledge that she has a potent advocate, a protector or guardian, if you will, that few would want to “mess” with.

Corny…But Fun!

Okay, a bit corny…but fun nonetheless. Having her knitting actually adds to the humor and makes it clear that she represents the “retired” community. She is in an upscale environment that is important in representing her as successful and in control. The lion at her feet is alert and vigilant…a powerful symbol of strength and protection. This image is ambiguous enough to apply to a wide range of services and products for seniors, yet is unequivocal in its positive message of strength and security on the behalf of seniors.

Rights Managed, Royalty Free And Old Paradigms

The image is a bit on the sparse side, but is a quick read even at thumbnail size. I crafted it so that it can be cropped as a vertical for a magazine cover, or horizontal for a spread, or even a square. I think this image would do well as either an RF or RM image. I chose RM because (I will be honest here) of my natural bias for Rights Managed images. It might do better as an RF image because of the larger pool of people willing to use RF images. But hey, I get a higher percentage with RM, and I do have the excuse of having a fair amount of “post” work and having the King of Beasts included, something that did, after all, cost me a considerable penny back when I rented him. Still, I may will be guilty here of a classic case of clinging to old paradigms. Oh Well….

Lessons From Stock Photo Sales Reports

 

This lifestyle image of a couple flying a kite on a beach is a best selling image...but why?

Everything Sells

Once again I have been studying my stock photo sales reports trying to glean some insights on how to grow my income based on what is and what isn’t selling. As I have reported before, my inevitable conclusion is that everything sells, some photos sell more than others, and it is just about impossible to predict which images will become best sellers.

Everything Sells, Predicting Winners Is Tough

When I say everything sells what I really should be saying is that in my experience images from every shoot sell, and images in every category sell. Predicting which images will do well is tough. Images that I don’t expect to make a lot of sales do, and images that I expect to sell well often don’t. To further confuse the situation, images may go for years before suddenly making a lot of sales, or conversely, can have an explosive start and then suddenly stop. I am regularly surprised, when I look at the sales history of individual images, at how some images that I assume have little or no sales, are suddenly up to a thousand, two thousand, or even more in revenue.  It happens frequently!  The image of a couple flying a kite at the top of this blog (with Blend Images) is a good example. Over the last five years that image has earned thousands of dollars…while other similar images from the same shoot have earned very little or nothing. I can’t figure out why. 

New Versions Of Best Selling Images

In addition to the confirmation that everything (all types of images) sells, and that I cannot predict which ones will be the best sellers, I have found that my attempts to create new versions of best selling images has virtually always failed.  Even if they do succeed, they are probably cannibalizing sales from the first image.  I have also come to the conclusion that whether an image is RF or RM is not nearly as important as the image itself.  A great selling image works in either RF or RM. Sure, in RM there are those images that sell once for several thousand dollars and then never sell again, and that’s fine, but a great selling image sells multiple times in whatever licensing model it is in. In terms of total revenue earned, my top earning images are about half RF and half RM.

OK, so to summarize:

All kinds of  images sell.

I cannot predict which images will be best sellers.

Sometimes images take years to “mature”.

It is almost impossible for me to successfully duplicate my best selling images.

The image is more important than the licensing model.

Sage Advice And Photographers Who Are Making It Work

When I look at those conclusions it helps remind me of some sage advice given to me by Tom Grill…who practically invented stock photography. He said “What ever your plan is…keep doing it.” My plan is to create compelling and creative images that either have a clear use in the marketplace, or are so fun to look at that art directors will find a way to use them, and to get those images in front of buyers. That last part is probably the most important part…get the images in front of buyers. Even the coolest image in the world won’t sell if nobody sees it. Obviously you want to make creative images with high production values and strong concepts. You want to diversify the imagery you make so you don’t cannibalize your own body of work, and you need to get those images out and into circulation. The photographers I know who consistently do this are doing well.

Leveraging Your Photography Business

As a photographer you can leverage yourself in many ways including employees and associates.

Making Money And Leverage

I believe it was Archimedes who purported to have said “Give me a place to stand and I shall move the world”. He was talking about leverage, and to make money, a lot of money, it helps to use leverage. In building a photography career that you want to support yourself with, leverage is a key ingredient and there are a number of ways to go about that task. The key is to pick the method of leveraging that is compatible with who you are, and the life you want to lead, and go for it.

Leveraging Yourself

Leveraging yourself can be as simple as providing yourself with the right equipment, or establishing a strong brand, or as complex as hiring a workforce or being a conduit for the work of other photographers. Over the years I have tried my hand at a number of ways of leveraging myself with varying degrees of success.

Leveraging Through Equipment

Early on in the world of digital photography I experienced the benefits of leveraging when I purchased a scanner. It was a Scanmate 5000, a 5000 dpi desktop drum scanner that cost of $50,000.00. I got a free trip to Denmark to learn how to use it to boot! The lease payments on that scanner cost me $1,000.00 a month, but I earned several times that amount every month by charging clients for scanning, scanning images for other photographers, and having increased access to scanned files (this was before digital capture) for my stock photography.

Leveraging Through Building Your Brand

In fact, pulling the trigger on buying that scanner helped me leverage my photography business in another way as well. In those early days of digital photography, the early 90’s, I was able to establish myself as a leader and pioneer in the digital arena, something that resulted in my being able to get more clients (I was doing assignment work back then), charge higher prices, and be the recipient of free software and equipment (I was once given a $45,000.00 digital camera back on the provision that I shared my positive experiences with it at trade shows). 

Leveraging Through Employees

I leveraged my business further when I had employees. At one point I had five people working for me…which certainly did leverage my business, but didn’t suit me as a person very well. I hated being the boss and taking on all of that responsibility. I could never, for example, leverage myself the way Yuri Arcurs has so successfully done.

Leveraging Through Timeless Stock Photography

I remember when I first began to produce stock photography it was because I felt I could leverage my business by creating timeless images that would earn me money even when I was on vacation. That theory is still working, though as we all know, not quite as well as it once did!

Leveraging Other Photographer’s Work

Eventually that led to becoming a conduit for other photographers’ work, something that continues to bring me additional income to this day. The key to making that effort work is in finding the right contributors. For me, this means talented, independent, self-motivating photographers who feel they can leverage themselves by taking advantage of what I have to offer, be it equipment, ideas or distribution channels.

Leveraging That Works For You

Now I am leveraging my business on the Internet through uploading content and SEO efforts (including this photo blog), seeking new revenue streams for my imagery with everything from coffee mugs and T-shirts to greeting cards to stock licensing and even to advertising (Google Adwords) income. Leveraging your business works, and there are many ways to do it. You just have to find what works for you.

Photography: In The Path Of Change

Dealing with change is always difficult, especially when your crystal ball isn't clear!

A Monochromatic Experience
I am going to age myself here. Way back in the summer of 1969, when I was seventeen years old, I spent almost three months on a student tour of Europe. As part of that tour se spent several weeks behind the Iron Curtain, including two weeks in the Soviet Union. Towards the end all of us were depressed. When we crossed the border into Finland we suddenly knew why. In the Soviet Union all the cars were black. There was very little of anything in the way of consumer goods, at least compared to what we were used to. But as soon as we crossed that border there was color, there was choice, and there was vibrancy. The people we met in Russia were wonderful, but compared to the West our experience, at that time, was monochromatic.

Microstock And A Lack Of Variety

I am reminded of that Iron Curtain experience when searching on microstock sites. There are some amazing microstock photographers...and there are some truly awesome photos. But on the whole there is sameness, a lack of variety…and if you don’t believe me search “Business Concepts” on iStockphoto.com, then do the same on GettyImages.com.

Image Buyers, Microstock And Potential
I am unhappy that the image buyers who frequent microstock sites are not seeing my images. I have just a taste of the potential of that market in the returns I am seeing with images I have in The Agency Collection. The Agency Collection is a collection of images that appear on both the Getty sites and on iStockphoto.com, but at RF prices. My early returns are encouraging to say the least, and it whets my appetite to tap into that huge microstock market.

Microstock Prices, Huge Amounts of Money, And The Agency Collection
Even at microstock prices some of the better selling microstock images are making huge amounts of money, and the success of The Agency Collection indicates that a significant number of buyers are willing to spend more money on images that really meet their needs…something also borne out by the success of the higher-priced (than traditional stock) Vetta collection. Yes, I know that iStockphoto.com has lost a lot of traffic due to their higher prices, but again, the anecdotal evidence I have from the shooters I actually know is that their income has gone up.

All Of The Buyers And All Of The Imagery
I am really looking forward to when we can reach all the buyers with all of the imagery at all of the price points. I desperately want that microstock audience to have the option of seeing and licensing my RM imagery as well as all of my RF imagery. I also think that it would behoove microstock shooters to be participating in traditional stock photography models.

Photography In The Path Of Change

Change, as they say, is constant, and resisting change is a good way to go down in flames. The stock photography market has changed and is changing. Microstock, which was the change is now in the path of change. Both traditional and microstock shooters need to stay open to change.  How to stay open to change and to deal with that change is certainly a challenge for me, and I am doing my best to deal with it. I hope my best is good enough!

The Stock Photo Image Glut And Making A Living

A tidal wave of photos are flooding into the stock photo market and the Internet.

Huge Increases In Stock Photographs

Jim Pickerell reports that in a little over a year the number of images available on stock sites has increased by over 41% (see his full article here: http://www.selling-stock.com.  There are now more than 375,000 individuals, world-wide, who are creating and contributing stock photos. Of course, this doesn’t count the number of images being added on flickr, and other non-commercial photo sharing sites.

Making A Living At Stock Photography

One would think that with those mind-numbing numbers that it would be pretty much impossible to make a living at stock photography anymore. Certainly Jim believes that.  Yet, when I take a quick look around, the majority of the stock shooters that I know personally are surviving (though not all are exactly thriving). There are also cases of individuals who are thriving and who have broken in recently and are doing well. While I am too lazy to go back and find out who those individuals are so that I can share them with you, they do exist. I do know that in the case of a photographer who contributes through me, his income has consistently grown over the last several years…and that continues. I am holding my own, up some months, down others, but overall still doing well…and that is without creating tons of new images.

Three Years Of Uploading And Six Thousand Images

As long as we are talking large numbers of images, I have kind of reached a milestone as well. Today I uploaded my six-thousandth image onto my website. Phew! Three years of uploading! I only have about a thousand left to do…not counting images I create from here forward (and the images my associate photographers create).

A Thousand Unique Visitors A Day

I don’t believe that one has to create thousands of images to do well in stock. You have to create images that sell well and figure out how to get them seen. My own efforts to get additional eyeballs on my images (and the images of my associate shooters) is both encouraging and discouraging. After three years I am getting roughly a thousand unique visitors a day to my site. Far below the number I thought I would have by now. But on the positive side, I am making sales because of that traffic as well as earning a bit of adwords income, some Cafepress.com income and print sales through imagekind.com. 

Website Work, SEO And Creating New Images

On the down side, the amount of work I have put into the web site, and SEO, would have earned far more income for me, at this point, had I put that effort into creating new images.  I am not exaggerating here either!  I would say, conservatively, I and my webmaster (my twin brother), have put in an average of three-hours a day, six days a week, for three years now.   Arrgh! And yet I still believe that long-term, I will be glad I did this.

Make Images And Get Them Distributed

Stock photography, at least as a contributor, is really a very simple business. Make images, get them distributed. Of course, you can go the Yuri Arcurs route and conquer the world, but you have to have a lot more motivation than I do! My stock efforts are more of a plodding nature, just working at a steady pace creating images that I enjoy. My expenses are incredibly low. I have no employees, a moderate studio (that I actually don’t even need, but do enjoy) and only shoot about once a month. I do have the advantage of having been creating stock photos for over twenty years which provides me with an ongoing income stream that would be hard to duplicate if I started all over again now…and affords me the pleasure of working at a pace that doesn’t stress me.

The Secret Of Success

Getting back to those numbers, yeah, there are a lot of images out there and if you think too much about that you might give up before you get going. And yet, there are success stories. People are making it work, and doing so in a wide variety of ways. The secret of success, if there is one, is in finding a way that really works for you, a way that you enjoy enough to forget how much hard work you are doing!

Riding A Rhinoceros And WTF Stock Photos

WTF? Sometimes images, such as this businessman riding a rhino in a corporate office setting, doesn't have to make sense to be an effective stock photo.

WTF Stock Photos

I often espouse the importance of creating images that are needed in the market place, images that have a clear concept. But I also like to punctuate my work with the occasional WTF! image.  These are “Why” stock photos…as in why would I make that image and what the heck is the message or concept? Who is going to use it and for what?

Images I Enjoy Making

My WTF images are ones that I enjoy making and enjoy looking at. They are ideas that intrigue me enough that I violate my rule of making images with clear messages. The idea behind them is that if they are interesting enough then art directors, designers and art buyers will use their creativity to figure out how to use the images. Further, if they live up to my expectations they will stop a viewer and compel them to read the copy…, which after all is pretty much the job of a stock photo.

Versatile Compositions And Making Images Usable

I created a versatile composition that can be cropped as a square, horizontal, or vertical. Something pointed out to me by Rahul Pathak of Lookstat (which offers a great way to analyze your sales), is that in an increasingly Internet world horizontal images have an advantage, but I don’t want to eliminate potential magazine covers or other vertical uses either. There is also room for headlines, copy and inset photos. I always try and eliminate all the variables that I can that can make the image unusable for a given situation. 

A Difficult Image For Art Directors To Use

Because this image, in my opinion, is a difficult one for art directors and designers to use, and because it did take a fare amount of work to create, I believe it should be a Rights Managed image. I am certainly not afraid to put images that take a lot to create into Royalty Free, but the chance of this image being used a lot strikes me as slim, and at the same time my gut tells me that there are entities out there that are willing to pay a decent price to use the image. Time will tell on that one.

How Can This Image Be Used?

So just how can this image be used? I can see a headline that says something to the effect of “Does Your Sales Team Have The Right Tools?”. This type of outrageous visual can be used as an example of what not to do in order to bring attention to what should, or could, be going on.

Getty Images, Rights Managed And Blogs

To sum it up, I have now submitted this “WTF” image to my editor at Getty Images with the hope that it is accepted for one of their Rights Managed collections. If someone sees it as a result of this blog and wants to license…so much the better (hey, it actually does happen)!

Creating Concept Stock Photos On Voting

A sky of brewing storm clouds represents change; Add the voting machine and you have a stock photo of change through the ballot box and similar ideas.


Stormy Skies, Money, The Flag And Voting Images

In this photo blog post I will finish what I started with my previous post on creating “voting” images. At this point I have now finished a total of four images, which for me is a pretty typical effort and approach to a given topic or shoot for stock photography. The three new voting images I am covering here are all of the same voting machine, but in three different situations. The first is against a stormy sky, the second is with money (one dollar bills) pouring out of it, and the third is against a sunrise and American flag.

Stormy Skies And Promises Of Change

Because one of the primary, and seemingly endless, promises from our wily politicians is of how they will bring about “change”, and the ideas that change through the use of the ballot box is a good thing, I wanted to create a voting stock photo that could center around the idea of change.  Having the voting machine situated against a sky that has half storm and have clearing seems to work on several levels. Depending on the headline and body copy employed, the image can illustrated change for the better, change for the worse, and change by the ballot box.

Voting For Change

To create the picture of  “voting for change” I used three different sky photographs layering them together and using layer mask to blend them together. Next I simply used the pen tool to silhouette the voting machine and paste it into the sky composite (I photographed the voting machine in my studio). I tried to composite the image in such a way that it can work as a vertical, square, or horizontal crop with plenty of room for headlines and body copy.  When I photographed the voting machine I used relatively flat lighting, bouncing a single strobe head off of the ceiling directly over the machine. That had the added benefit of giving the impression that there is light eminating from with in the voting machine…which adds a subtle “power” to the machine and therefore to the importance and strength of the “vote”.

Introducing the element of money to a voting machine opens the door for concepts such as corruption, buying votes, and lobbyist excesses.


Money Flowing And Political Corruption

Next I wanted to address the negative aspects of our political process; the influence of money. For this image I just needed money flowing out of the voting machine. The introduction of dollars flowing form the machine can then illustrate everything from political bribery, to buying votes, the influence of lobbyists. The resulting image can be about buying votes, or making money off of the political process. Again, the photo has a clear message when combined with the right copy, and is ambiguous enough to fit many needs. Creating this image was simple enough. I found the money image in my archives from another shoot, the sky from my collection of sky images, and the same voting booth (or machine) pictures already pen-tooled and selected, to paste into the scene. I also pen-tooled the money and pasted it into place. Voila! Electoral Corruption!

Corny, yes...but it will sell! This American Flag/Voting machine image speaks of patriotism, getting out the vote, and the duty and privilege of participating in a democracy.
A “Corny” Image People Will License

The final image is testimony to a couple of things. First, that I am not above making “corny” images, and secondly, that I am open enough to admit it!  This image of an American flag, a sunrise (or sunset), and the voting machine is all about getting out the vote, the duty and privilege of voting, and so forth, not to mention a blatant appeal to those easily fired up over patriotism. Yes, it is corny as hell, but I bet people license it!

The American Flag And Getting Out The Vote

To create my “Patriotic” getting out the vote image I simple photographed the flag, pen-tooled it to create a selection, then copied and pasted it into my sunrise image (interestingly enough, the sunrise actually happened in Mongolia). I then used a layer mask to fade the flag into, or out of, the sunrise image. Once again I pasted in the voting machine picture and played with the composition until I was happy I had a versatile image.  It was interesting to me that while I was making this image I was both cringing at the image itself, but also enjoying seeing it come together.

Voting Images And Time For A Change

After three days of voting images I am ready for a change! Now it is back to my “idea list” to see what else I can come up with. There still may be another few voting images in me, but I will wait until I talk to my editor at Blend before committing to any more of those. That brings to mind another of my favorite things about stock photography. If I want to stop and turn to other things…no problem! Now who wouldn’t vote for that?