Photo Profitz Blog

In the world of stock photography, pictures of people are very sellable. Pictures of “abs” and such will sell even more. There are many different types of pictures of people that buyers are looking for. Weight loss buyers would look for pictures of the extremely obese and those in shape. Some people may want pictures of successful looking people and others may want people in action answering calls, picking up trash, etc. The possibilities are nearly endless.

The problem that comes with shooting people is the need of a model release. If you have a person in your photo and he or she is distinguishable then you will need a model release. The model release is basically a form that is signed and the model gives consent of you being able to do what you will with the photo.

It is an ABSOLUTE requirement from most stock photo agencies that you have a model release. This protects them and you from any issues that may arise. When you upload your model release online don’t just throw it away. Save it and hold onto it in case something happens.

You also will need releases for animals and such showing that you are the owner of it. This is true also for properties. If you take a picture of someone else’s house then you need a property release even if it’s your own house.

ASMP.org has model release forms you can use for photography. If you are not selling your photo or putting it into public domain you don’t need a model release form. There are also other occasions when you don’t need it but it can get somewhat complicated. Bottom line - If you’re selling your photos have the paperwork.

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Here is a quick run through of various objects and what works best when shooting them:

Silver

Using a light blue background is best as it will display the silver at its best

Jewelry

A black velvet background will work great with jewelry especially if it has diamonds. Position the most interesting part of the jewelry to be very visible.

China/Porcelain

Place the China/Porcelain against a color background that plays up a color that is in the pattern. For example, if there is some red in the pattern then have the background be red. Don’t however, have the background be red if the entire object is red. That would be an ugly picture!

When shooting objects like these the lighting is very important. Since the object is smaller there is not as much lighting equipment needed. A piece of paper could be used as a reflector and a cloth could be used as a diffuser.

If your object has lots of texture and shape then lighting from the side will bring out these attributes the best. Make sure to have a fill light or reflector to reduce the shadows to a desired effect.

Front lighting can also work if your object is very texturized and you want it to look flatter.

How to Sell Pictures Online 

The shutter speed is what controls the amount of time that light is let into the camera. The longer the shutter speed the brighter the picture. The shorter the shutter speed the darker.

If you have a very bright scene then you will want a shorter shutter speed than if it were a dark room. Shutter speeds are written in seconds and can be as long and even longer than 2 seconds and as fast as 1/2000 seconds. Being able to control the shutter speed also will let you use it for various photographic effects such as depth of field, frozen motion, panning, etc. Below are some rough averages of the shutter speed to use for various occasions.

Bright Sunny Day/Snow/Sand = Shutter Speed 1/250 seconds

Cloudy/Bright = Shutter Speed 1/125 seconds

When you are on “automatic” you don’t have to worry about setting the shutter speed. You can set the shutter speed manually by either going to “shutter priority mode” or “manual” mode.

Shutter Priority will let you set the shutter speed and the aperture will automatically adjust to have a properly exposed image. Having it on manual will mean you will have to set the shutter speed and the aperture. If you set the shutter and forget the aperture the picture may be unexposed or overexposed.

When you submit a photo to a stock photo website you will usually have the option to check the box and have your photo become “exclusive” to a certain website. What this does is make your photo only available to that website. Some companies even have their own model releases that are needed for exclusive photos.

The benefits of having an exclusive photo are that it will make more money per download. Having an exclusive photo, however, does not mean it’ll make more money. If your photo sucks you won’t sell it no matter what!

Deciding to have an exclusive photo is not a small choice. If you choose to do so you will not be able to upload it anywhere else. Don’t take it lightly when you check that button and go and submit it to other websites.

There are various stock photo websites around nowadays. These stock photos are free to get into and you can sell as many photos as you want. What does this mean?

It means if you want to sell a hundred thousand photos nobody’s stopping you! These stock photo websites are sort of like ebay except without the bidding. You load your pictures into them and anybody can see them and download them resulting in you getting paid. Your purchaser could be a photography collector, a 3d animator in need of photo textures, a guy wanting a really cool desktop, a filmmaker that needs some photos for his video, a shirt designer that needs some pictures…you get the idea!

When you sell your photo you get around .25 cents. This can go up if you have the photo “exclusively” for that stock photo website. The way people profit from stock photo websites is by submitting sellable photos in a large quantity. Submitting ten or even twenty photos will not make you rich. Submitting 1,000 photos, on the other hand, could reap some nice pay.

Hi! This is the Photo Profitz blog and is for the purpose of giving information about photography and how to sell them. There are various ways to make money selling photos and the possibilities are nearly endless. If there’s something visual then it needs a photo in order to be shown to everyone else.

If you can think of something that is sold most likely, DEFINATELY ,there is a picture of it. And if there isn’t, go and ask them if you can be the one that takes the picture for it!

Photography can be profitable even if its “artistic”. Some people think that “artistic” photos don’t sell as much as stock photos and such. However, they do if you know how to market them.

There are various ways to sell photos which can include:

• ebay auctions
• stock photos
• cards
• School Portraits
• Graduation
• Model Shots
• cars
• etc
• etc
• etc

As you can see there are many different ways to sell photos. This blog, however, will concentrate on “micro stock photos”. This is because micro stock photos are extremely easy to market. You simply upload your photos and others will find the pictures. No need to market them. The more important part of this is having sellable photos.

Sell Pictures Online