9 Things You Should Be Doing To Improve As A Stock Photographer

From just starting out to making a full time income, stock photography is one field that many people talk about (and have an opinion about). Is there still a chance of making a full time income at it? How do you get started in this field? And more importantly, what do you need to know to make it BIG? Here are 9 resources you to help you along the way, no matter where you are in your current quest to find success as a stock photographer.

How To Get Your Test Photo Submission Accepted

When you first decide to start building a portfolio on a stock site, you’ll have to start out by creating an initial test submission. And unfortunately, that’s where most photographers go wrong. Here’s a basic guide that will help you understand exactly what they are looking for – and how to improve the appearance of your images as well.

How To Get Your Test Photo Submission Accepted

The Importance Of Keywording Your Images

As you are adding your images to online stock sites, its easy to get caught up in the tediousness of it all. If you’re uploading 50 images that are all about the same, why not do a copy/paste to keyword them all the same? Sounds great in theory, but you may overlook obvious mistakes, forget important key phrases that pertain to individual images, or worse, get your photos eliminated all together. Here’s a great walk through on the importance of keywording.

Start Out Small, Make Money and Grow

Most photographers don’t start out with the thought “I’m going to be a full time stock photographer”. Instead, they work it into their business as they shoot other things. A wedding photographer may have a chance to photograph other things during the week. And so it begins. However you get there, once you begin uploading images, its nice to make money at it too. Here’s a great tutorial on how to get started and what you can expect along the way.

Think Beyond The Photograph

It’s easy to head out into the world and start shooting with the concept of stock in mind. But in many cases its not that simple. What do you do if you capture a great image of a person? Can you use it as a stock image? Here’s a great tutorial on photographing people – and the legalities behind it.

9 Things You Should Be Doing To Improve As A Stock Photographer

Some Things Sell Better Than Others

No matter how you shoot it and what you choose to put online, some things will sell better than others. Becoming a microstock photographer doesn’t mean throwing a bunch of images online and seeing what sticks. It means reevaluating all the time. Here’s a great guide to help you through the evaluation process and determine what is selling – and what you should redo.

Work With Your Models

In many cases you’ll have a great idea for an image … and need people to put your idea into action. Rather than relying on family and friends, hire a pro. Working with models can get you exactly what you are looking for. Here’s a quick tutorial on what it takes to work effectively with a model.

Get Back To Nature, And Sell It Too

Ahhh, the photographer’s dream life. Traveling anywhere in the world, shooting it amazing places, and getting paid for it to. That’s how many people view the enviable career of nature photography. Yet there’s more to it than meets the eye. Here are some great tips on building up your stock business using nature images.

Get To Know The Business

Selling stock is a business first and foremost. If you think of it like a business, you can turn it into a business … a very successful one. Yet there is so many misconceptions about microstock and how it works. One site you should get to know is Microstock Diaries – and here is a great article that talks about microstock in the mainstream.

Learn From The Best … Microstock Millionaire Yuri Arcurs

What does it take to be a full time successful microstock photographer? No one knows better than Yuri Arcurs. This video will give you a quick glimpse into what it takes to be successful at this amazing business.

Earning An Income With Your Photography – Passive versus Active

If any of you are fans of the Robert Kiyosaki series Rich Dad Poor Dad, or one of many other trainers out there who teach about earning income, you’ve probably heard the terms active income and 51passive income.

Active income is the revenue you  earn by physically doing something. Your income depends on you being there.

  • You show up for your job and you get paid by the hour.
  • You bring in a client and charge them for a photo shoot.
  • You shoot a wedding and have people order images from you.

Passive income is the revenue that comes from something you have in place that earns revenue whether you are there or not.

  • You own a rental house and the renters pay you month after month.
  • You have investments, stocks, dividends, or retirement funds paying you every month.
  • You write a book and receive royalty checks year after year.
  • You own a stock image that makes money month after month.

Chances are up until now you’ve received the majority of your revenue from active sources. Most people do.

But think for a moment how much easier life would be if you could have both working for you all the time.

Active Income
You are a wedding photographer. You photograph 35 weddings per year. You spend over 40 hours catering to each individual client’s needs (including initial consultations, marketing, booking, shooting the event, production, and delivery).

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