There comes a time in the life of every photographer when they realize that the art of the hobby photograph has left them and that their habitual way of looking at images is part of a money earning, career growth concern. The path to riches is lined with…pixels! This is what makes the micro stock photographer a professional instead of an amateur.
After mentioning you are a photographer, the next thing to talk about is what your specialty is. Kids? Sports? Action? Think about being able to state what your specialty is. Your business card might hint at this, or your website or photo gallery might feature prominently images of your specialty as the first album or gallery folder. Market your specialty so networking can multiply commissions and image sales.
There are always low cost legal image markets you could be specializing in. Food photos for low cost legal images are an excellent example, for recipes, blogs and cooking sites. It is expecially strategic when you everyone in the microstock markets is zigging and you decide to zag. In photography terms, if the whole online microstock photography populaton is submitting mad space to files of sports images and pharmaceuticals, it’s time for you to get ocean image file shots and food markets.
I got a few emails stating the confusion over my previous post “The Ordinary”. What I had meant to convey was the low cost legal image vending potential inside very plain, unadorned images for multiple focus end user purchases. But the use of the word “ordinary” seemed to overdeliver conveying ugly or unattractive connotations. I realize now some examples might prove my point better.
Microstock video is an exciting new market that many microstock image photographers may be ready to sink their teeth into. If you have 30 frames or faster, you are in a position to make quality video uploads for sale and consideration on Istockphoto and other online legal image vendors. Video on even modest digital can happen at the touch of a button.