Search Tagging Your Images
- chatsworth train station
This image was part of a casual photography sweep as I browsed the Chatsworth train station in Chatsworth, California. Good search word and tags for this image would be Western, Indian, wagon, history, building, display, train Amtrak, station, exhibit, and California.
I was struck by the tasteful display inside the cool building at the terminal. The obvious effort to convey a connection to local California history resulted in an appealing display.
Suitable search tags often frustrate a media buyer because the “obvious” word they would think of as a descriptor for a certain picture is not the same ten to fifteen the photographer thought of. Tagging is something that seems instinctive until you examine the varied user base doing the search for the same image.
When you are submitting your potential saleable photo at a microstock site, remember this. Look a the picture. What are all the associative terms that could tangentially connect to the image? What would a stranger see? What is the subject? the background? The major composition colors?
Place names can be important. You may know you are walking about Cincinnati Ohio but someone looking for the image may not. You may be taking pictures at one of the most famous landmarks in a city but the person looking for the picture has never been there. this will increase image views if the key words and tag terms are intelligently matched.
Geographic and place name microstock photography should be well spelled out. Key details of a statue or building should be included, especially the architects name and cross streets. Copyrighted buildings should not be offered unless copyright photography rights and usage permissions have been obtained.
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