By: Alfonso Gutierrez 

Let me imagine that all stock photographers have in mind this question at one moment or the other when taking pictures. Of course, besides those who think they have created a fine art masterpiece every time they push the trigger, the rest of us have doubts when getting out to shoot. For those who drag the bag full of all unimaginable gear around, the question becomes an anxiety moment. 

What makes a picture to sell, we ask all the time. What makes a photograph interesting to someone to pay (small, today) money for it? The answer is pretty straightforward, one single word, “relevancy.”

When we stock shooters take a picture, the result will have to be “relevant” to motivate the wish to buy. But the immediate question is “relevant” to what, you may ask. And the answer is clear “relevant” to the buyer. Therefore, if you go out to shoot and don’t have a clear idea of what you will shoot, it would be like taking your dog for a stroll.

Are all users the same? No. A textbook publisher is not like a calendar printer. A travel company is not the same as an advertising agency, and a Graphic Designer is not a Pet Food manufacturer. All are buying photos, but depending on the buyer, your photography will need to be different.

It all depends on your approach to photography. Are you conceptual or descriptive? Patient, impatient? Good on ideas, do you master your tools, or do you expect things to happen in front of you? Do you know how to find concepts or interesting topics around? Do you like details and can find the beauty of objects? Are you daltonic or see the world in technicolor? Do you like wide-angle or favor a telelens when shooting? Are you proactive or passive? Do you know that from a photography approach, everything has two lights, sunrise and sunset? Therefore, every road has two directions, two lights, one going up and another coming down. And, in the end, do you have a sense of humor? If you don’t, why the held you take photos for? Follow me; all these questions are part of the system analysis need to produce images that could sell despite the price.

A forest of millions of uses for an image is possible. Still, it could be synthesized in a few market segments that classifies stock photography very much and apply to paper and websites.

• Publishing
• Decorative
• Graphic Design and advertising
• News, Press, Editorial

Is this what has been left? It sounds very few, but almost all photographs that sell worldwide fall in these segments that define how to take images relevant to buyers.

If we review the segments’ needs, you quickly discover that it is not the same to take a photo for a decorative calendar that an image for promotion of a lipstick. It is not the same news photo of a demonstration in the street that the editorial image on how people get vaccinated for the Covid 19. However, these two images could be used easily in a textbook by a publisher. It seems clear that the final use defines the characteristics of the photo. Like it is true that there a few photographers as chameleonic that their production can cover all possible market demands and segments.

Style is what defines photographers. If I take a descriptive definition, I would say it as “a way to take pìctures that can easily identify the shooter” We say that “style” is essential in stock photography not only on what you shot but also on how you describe your subjects photographically.

A photographic style is personal, but there specific basic guidelines the many forget. For example, when shooting scenery, not with a drone, make sure that you include the sky in all your images, whether vertical or horizontal, and if possible, make sure that there are clouds in it. If there are not, add them, there are programs that make that very easy. Shoot the same view in the early morning and the late afternoon. You will get two completely different images. Every road has two directions in the morning and another in the afternoon.

In all kinds of subjects that you may be shooting, COLOR must be the essential part of your style. It would help if you had a calibrated camera, a screen, and postproduction software to play carefully with the Clarity, Vibrance, and Saturation (CVS), including color temperature (Temp), as the vital tools for every subject. Playing with them is your most needed key to producing images that will be hard not to be tempting to buy. Equally, if your style is black and white, deep blacks and toned shadows are a must to make B&W images to be a winner. If you are simply not post-producing your pictures, you are not creating “pictures to sell,” I wonder what you are doing here.

Nowadays, most postproduction needs are covered by many programs that can help your imagination to fly. Don’t ignore Artificial Intelligence Software that assists you with color, textures, backgrounds, clouds, and light that may completely transform your photo if you are an imaginative persona. If you are not, what are you taking pictures for? I like this AI program, “https://skylum.com/lumin” very much, and while it could hardly be used in news and journalism, it is a must to almost everything else.

Knowing the appropriate lens for the subject is another discipline to learn that many forget. Too far from the issue, using a wide-angle will result in a flat image, which is a prevalent mistake. The opposite, too close, with a telelens, will make a hard-to-understand photo provided that you, for example, are not taking pictures of birds in nature. Distance to the subject, therefore, the intelligent selection of the right lens is the real secret of these photographers that sell. 

Every image should have a good image description; a description explaining the photo’s subject, the location, and what is happening in the picture is a must if you want to sell images. Descriptions are essential in geography, nature, botany, zoology, research, industry, medicine, science, etc.. Even images that might seem self-explanatory, such as lifestyles or business situations, should have a clear and descriptive caption to help customers quickly understand what is shown in those images and be fast indexed by Google. 

Maybe you are not aware, but Google does not see pictures but indexes them using descriptions and keywords. Fail with descriptions and keywords, and your images will lose all selling possibilities.

It’s crucial in all kinds of images that the description contains all of the critical information. The information should be clear, precise, and factual. Use proper punctuation and logical order to avoid a mass of confusing information. Be as concise as possible so that the client can find the necessary information very quickly. Good descriptions are those that identify the subject of the picture and provide a context for it. And I´m sorry to say that microstock photographers send routinely the best captioned and keyworded images.

Alfonso Gutierrez

April 26, 2021. Alfonso was CEO of AGE FotoStock, Barcelona and former President of Cepic, the Center for European Picture Industry, until he passed away December 2023, after having made his contribution to Photography for over 50 years.