Deciding what and what not to shoot for stock images is something that
needs to be given serious consideration. The whole idea of shooting
stock images is to make money
off of your photography, nothing more, nothing less.
If you only want to make a few dollars here and there to cover the cost
of your film and processing, then you'll be happy to just shoot whatever
you feel like shooting and hope that some of your pictures will sell.
Stock photography
is basically enthusiast photography taken one step further.
If you want your stock photography to be a profit-making venture, then
you need to think more carefully about the type of things you photograph
for stock images, otherwise you could end up investing a lot of time
and money in your photography and get nothing in return.
First, consider the type of pictures you take for fun and how commercially
marketable they are. It's almost impossible to look at a selection of
stock images and pick out which ones are going to be best sellers. You
can pretty much guarantee that some types of stock images will sell
better than others however.
Landscapes and travel are popular subjects for stock images. They tend
to generate relatively small fees unless you have something really special
or different however. To make a decent income from them you need to
have thousands of pictures in the library's files, so lots of small
sales add up to a respectable amount of money. At the other end of the
scale, subjects like concept
cars, motorcycles, trucks, business and commerce, lifestyle and
concepts tend to generate higher fees, so you can make a lot of money
with just a few pictures (providing they're of the highest standard).
There are also fewer photographers shooting such subjects, so competition
is less.
You can't suddenly switch from one subject to another just to make money.
Different subjects of stock images require different skills. You can
change direction slowly and start adding more commercial
subjects to your repertoire however if you wish. You can also increase
the chances of making sales by actively trying to plug holes in the
stock photography library's files, instead of shooting for the sake
of it and merely duplicating shots that are already there.
To do this you need to speak to stock photography
library staff on a regular basis and look closely at any wants lists
they issue, so you're aware of any special requirements and can respond
to them.
