If you are a photographer, there is a fine line you may be tempted to cross one day, that line which separates taking pictures for fun and taking pictures for profit.
Selling Your Pictures
Okay, you saw that line and now you’ve decided to cross it. What is the first step to selling photos?
Step 1 – Take Great Pictures
This step is sort of easier said than done. Just yesterday I was speaking to a man who asked, “How can you not take good pictures? They’re all digital now.” So I went over a few things in this list that could harm your chances at selling photos.
1) Make sure your photos are in focus
Photos must be crisp and clear. Take pictures with a good lens. Point and shoot cameras are not the best if you want to sell stock photos. Also make sure you don’t shake your camera and use a tripod when necessary. Common sense helps too. Don’t take flower pictures on a windy day.
2) Your photos should be large images (at least 6mb minimum).
Some stock agencies like Alamy require large stock photos of at least 24mb
uncompressed. This is the size of a jpeg image opened up in Photoshop.
3) Pictures should not be over processed.
In the early stages of selling stock photos, we all go a little crazy in Photoshop or any other photo editor of our choice. We want to make sure the picture is bright enough, so we boost up the brightness. The same can be done with the color, so we boost the saturation. Images should also not be over sharpened.
4) The subjects must be interesting
Stock photos fit a need, typically, that is the need of a picture buyer or art director. Make your pictures interesting, not bizarre, but interesting. Take one shot, step back, move over a few steps and take a picture of the subject from another angle. It’s amazing what a few steps can do for your image quality.
These are only four areas to be aware of when you take your first step towards selling your own pictures to stock photo agencies.
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