Knowing What to Shoot for Stock Images

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.