Am I on the right track?

[modernway]

Hi all!

 

I'm pretty new to stock and I know I've got a long way to go before I'm more likely to make sales, especially regularly and that i'm even further from that. But can anyone let me know if I'm on the right track with how I'm already doing things? For example captioning and key-wording?

 

Criticism will be taken on board and is truly appreciated!

 

Many thanks

[Armstrong]

Hi, Welcome to the forums.

 

I've just had a quick look at your portfolio. The first thing that struck me about your performance photos was that there is very little specific detail in the keywords. The who, why, what, when. 

 

Michael

[spacecadet]

I think I'd want the names of the performers, released or not. They might get famous, or even infamous.

I have very few closeups of people, but where I do, I have the names.

[Bryan]

I also feel that you need to be a bit more specific with your keywords, and that you need to think rather more carefully about what your potential customers might want.  

 

Try to imagine the context in which the shot might be used. For example you have a photo of a broken clothes peg, which you have accurately described, but why would a customer buy it? I suspect that the market for broken peg shots is not going to be large, but customers might be interested in the difficulty of recycling plastic items where more than one type of plastic is bonded together, so your keywords should perhaps be suggesting this.

 

You clearly have access to a fashion scene, and you are correct to exploit any special opportunity that you have, but there are lots of similar shots here. You might be better served by being a bit more selective in what you upload.

 

To do well ( even survive)  in stock you have to know what people are buying, and aim to supply the market.  Take a look at All of Alamy to see what search terms people have used in the last year. Use the % sign before a word so that you get all the occurrences for that word.

 

You might also spend some time looking at the Images Found threads on the forum to see what is currently selling.

[Peter Noyce]

I'd also be careful on onward supposition keywording as in EJT01X  ... and then baking for a Christmas or roast dinner.

KY- baking, british, christmas, christmas dinner, cookery, cooking, cuisine, english, food, glass bowl, herbs, mix, mixing, ready, roast, roast dinner, stirring, stuffing, uk, water,wooden spoon

 

It's stuffing in a bowl, there is no sign of christmas, roast dinner, water. It may have herbs in it but I can't see them just as it's probably got breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, etc. I would even question stirring as I can see no action either by mechanical or human means.

 

Those doing a one word search for christmas or roast dinner are unlikely to be looking for this.

 

The photo is of ready mix stuffing made up in a in glass bowl with wooden spoon. So I would be looking at things like 'ready mix, instant, preparation, food, just add water, etc.

[Robert Brook]

IMO your work has a fresh, oblique, interestingly composed look that a lot of buyers will be interested in.  Good keywords will help, but in the end it's about not being boring, yours certainly aren't.  It might be an idea to describe visual content using standard phrases (horizon line, large group of objects, low angle view, light effect, diagonal line, etc).  When I say 'standard' I mean these are standard on the sort of sites that creative buyers look at.  But keep these phrases in the background.

 

Girls:  girls, how they sell, but you should try and get releases, and place them in ordinary situations that people will identify with - but stick with your styling.

[Guest]

Can't agree with Robert on this. The people images are fine as caught moment but there's no additional value in them beyind a documentary image which doesn't work well in stock any more...just ask Magnum... other non-stock outlets may be one road.

 

The lighting on the still life work is really poor, you need to light the subjects much, much better to be looking at reasonable sales potential. The stuffing on the bowl looks like it was lit with one light/flash and little care over the b/ground. There's a lot of competition in stock so your production values have to be higher than ever.

 

Robert will have liked the art-based work but that doesn't sell well as stock, at least not compared to other potential outlets for it.

 

I see a port where somebody is not looking at what is actually being used in stock, especially commercially.

 

Sorry to be harsh but in stock you can make serious sales with relatively few images - less so on Alamy but certainly in the wider market.

[Robert Brook]

I think the argument here is between production of engineered stock and pursuing a personal vision.  The problem with the engineered work is that it tends to date quickly, and needs to be top notch to bring in returns on investment.   Work I do now which sells well, and is designed to sell as stock (not here) may go dead in a few years time.  For that reason I prefer to sell it as RF to maximise the possible outlets, make it a much easier buy, and still allow the option of non-RF editorial sales. Most of the 'fun' arises from the problem solving involved.  Personal work is something else entirely.

 

As far as personal work goes (I don't care much for the term 'art photography', because that implies that a press or commercial photo can't be 'art', which is nonsense), there is absolutely no guarantee that it will sell anywhere - as stock, in a gallery, via a dealer, at a jumble sale, on EBay.  There are, however,  a number of photographers who do what is essentially personal work, and have learned to integrate personal vision with an understanding of the marketplace, and are doing well now, and have a long-term future.  I suspect Don Smith or Jools here fall into that category.

[modernway]

Thanks all! I'll bare the points in mind, especially naming the people and being more specific keyword-wise.