Microstock Photography

I am writing today to share some notes on some editing I have had to do on portrait photography. Often the pictures taken in a given photo shoot are merely fodder for later retouching. This means whatever photo grab takes place on a given day is what the photo editors for the rest of creation have to work with. The stylists and makeup artists should keep in mind the end sum is not just that day’s effects. But all too often people forget that.

If there has been an overage of commercial photography advice lately on the Microstock blog, it is due to the necessity for photographers to create their own income stream and manage their cash flow using freelance work as a resource. Freelance image work can come from a variety of sources.

Planning a live model shoot and planning some excellent tableaux. We’ve got four different “types” mapped out. There is an Everyman, a “Obama” type, a Las Vegas gambler, and a religious right-wing zealot. We will be doing video and I will be taking screenshots from the MP4 files.

There is an important message here for microstock (and all photographers). While “Make Me A Supermodel winner Jen Hunter looks as if this outfit was custom-made for her”, the costume, styling, posing and lighting make all the difference. These photographs are not equal and they present a very misleading idea about the ability of even those in the industry to wrap their head around the realities of photography.

　Your first modeling assignment as a photographers demands planning, dispelling tension, attention to details, and a combination of a light touch and driving commitment that will wrangle every last marketable image from the image file yield.