I have been shooting stock photography all around the world for many years and get asked by many people the same question. What is the best subject to focus on to make money when shooting stock. One of the things that I stress the most is the importance of finding people for your images. The best selling photographs at just about any stock agency worldwide usually have people in the images. These are the most sought out images from so many advertisers all over and they need people of all ethnicities and looks for their images. These images, although not always the easiest ones to capture, can produce some of the top money making images for anyone with a desire to make money from their photos.
Being able to shoot people with good compostion, backgrounds and finding the best light is essential for getting great images of people. But this is only the beginning and shooting people for stock you not only have to be great at capturing faces but be very creative at the same time.
Probably the top category for shooting people for stock is Lifestyles. Some examples of lifestyle images are of family, work, success, happiness, the future, reliability, trust, food, time, teamwork, winning, competition, money, culture, conceptual ideas, school, education, computers and so many more. It can cover so many aspects of normal everyday life and these are probably the most needed images for so many stock agencies worldwide. However, you need to think outside the box as well when shooting people and coming up with great ideas is key to shooting people for stock. There are endless categories and ideas but getting great faces to pose for you is the first step.
I love finding people that have the right look on the street locally or especially when I travel….and I ask them if they would want to model for me. I let them know that I will pay them or give them photographs in exchange and most of the time they say they would like to. Many of my students express to me how hard it is to get up the courage to ask strangers to pose for them… but in time it gets easier.
At first, it is a little intimidating to walk up to someone you do not know and ask them if you can photograph them but you will get better at it the more you do it. Having a business card with a good photograph on it will make you look more professional and help them know that you are probably pretty good at what you do and having a good looking website is also essential! Persistence does pay off and if they think that they might also get some great shots of the shoot, it might be worth all the effort. Don’t give up easily as getting the right people in your images will help you build a great image bank.
Below are four shots from a shoot I did on the campus of UCLA, where I also teach photography. I had met these two adorable Korean girls and their parents in a video store and fell in love with them. I gave them a business card and they looked at my website and then later called me to set up a shoot. They were amazing to photograph and I ended up getting some great shots from the shoot that day. Many of the shots are just typical everyday kind of poses and these kinds of images do well for big and small stock agencies. These are typical lifestyle situations and when you set them up…you try and make them look as realistic as possible and not too posed. You will wind up with many winners if you think of good set ups and locations.
Getting people in your viewfinder is the key to money making images if you ever want to pursue shooting stock. However, don’t forget to have them sign model releases or else those images will not be worth as much as they could. Model releases are the key to stock when shooting people and end up keeping you and your agencies safe from possible lawsuits that can occur. Shooting photos of people of every age and nationality is the key to making real money in stock and this is what I focus on here at home and when I travel abroad. I have to think of many ways to capture people and I end up making shot lists of my ideas and I make contact sheets with photos also for ideas that I take with me on locations and also show to my subjects.
Creativity is the key for successful images and you have to be thinking all the time to create images that will make money.
I am constantly thinking of every aspect of getting the perfect image for stock and finding and using great subjects is probably what I focus on more than anything else. Trying to come up with fresh ideas and perfecting those ideas will get you noticed. Getting the right people for those images and photographing them in unique situations, in the right composition and with great light is the key to making money from your images in the stock world.
Hello Scott, Re; Your Nik webinar,ecellent thank you, I’m a long time owner of Nik.( and of onOne). My question: when you submit an image to your stock agency, do you submit different effects of the same image.???
Thank you
erik
Hi Erik,
glad you liked the webinar…….. Love Nik stuff. so…yes sometimes. If I like the photo enough to experiment and feel there are more than one good way to show it…
then I send in a couple variations….but usually not more then 2…… and half the time it might be a B&W version…………as sometimes I cannot tell if I like the color one or the B&W one.
hope that helped Erik……..
have fun playing with the goodies!!!!
scotty
Hi Scott. Suddenly, surfing in the web i found your web page and blog and i have to recognize that are completely amazing :D. Sorry for my english but im spanish so maybe my words are not so perfect.
Also im travelling around the world, up to now by my self… and getting images and portraits off a lot of parts of the world. Im selling a bunch of photos in diferent stocks agencies (like fotolia or shuttestock) but never with people. This is because, for example, in India there is no possibility to get the National identification Number (and, as you know, this is an obligatory field on the models release). So, on those cases, what are you doing? I cannot believe that in Burma, for example, you get all the personal information needed to sell a photo in the stocks agencies 😉
To finish, just thanks in advance to share all your photos and experiences with us 😀
Hello Victor,
nice to hear from you……….glad you are a traveler too. It is the best. We only live once….right??
I am not sure what a National Identification number is……but it is not required for anything that I do…or what my friends do. Maybe this is different where you live/??
I have my regular model releases which is what the big companies require. In Burma and everywhere else……..I have everyone sign a release…… and it works great!!!
wishing you lots of luck coming up Victor………
thanx for writing….
scotty
Hmm it seems like your blog ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any tips and hints for rookie blog writers? I’d
certainly appreciate it.
Hey there,
not sure I did see your last post…sorry about that. But I saw your blog and it seems like you need no help!! You do a great job and I just have fun with it. I write about things that I want to share….and it’s fun.
but I love what you write about and you should be telling others how to do this!! You are great at it…..
anyway…… keep it up!!!!
scotty
What do you use for a model release, something simple and fits in camera bag?
Hi there Barbara,
I use a printed out model release from one of my agencies…. and I make many copies. I just fold them up and put them in my camera bag. you can download a good model release from different stock agencies like Getty or Corbis… and that should do the trick!
but.. they are always in the bag. never know when you need them.
hope that helps Barbara..
scotty
Thanks Scott, what classes are you giving near Sedona? I am interested in learning more
Hi Barbara,
I teach at the Sedona Arts Center here in Sedona and you can contact them. But I will be teaching in June at Sedona Photo Fest and giving a workshop on shooting late afternoon and after dark at an amazing junkyard near here.
Plus other classes at the art center…
so do keep in touch!!! and I usually have classes listed on my website which is http://www.asa100.com
see ya!
scotty