Creating Stock Photos and Image Gestation

I am not sure whether it is panic or greed, or perhaps both, that keep inserting their insidious talons into my photographic flesh (can I turn a phrase or what). You see, the problem is that I have a very hard time finishing a stock photo well.

That is, taking the time to make sure every detail is a good as I can make it. I have an even harder time giving it a rest period before submitting it. Yet that rest period is incredibly important.

So often I am in such a rush to finish an image and get started on the next one, and to see that first one up online and potentially earning me income, that I don’t take the proper and appropriate time to let the image gestate a bit before declaring it complete and sending it off.

The Approach That Finally Works

There are many reasons to allow for this gestation period, which I think should be a minimum of three days, and even better a week, all though I imagine each image would have its own optimum gestation period.

Some images, like elephants, might even be best with a two-year gestation…and though that might be taking it a bit far, I have actually had images sit in a unfinished condition for that long before revisiting them and coming up with the approach that finally works. In one particular elephant photo where an elephant is sitting on a bench at the beach looking out at the ocean, I let the image sit for a few days before I had the idea of adding a line of Pelicans flying by. It was a small touch but it adds a tremendous amount to the final image.

Separation, Detachment and Increased Earnings

A waiting period allows you to get some separation, some emotional detachment, from an image. That can be important because, at least for me, the emotional involvement and excitement of creating a stock photo (hey, I hold stock photography in VERY high regard), can hide flaws in the image from me, as well as keep me from seeing derivative versions that can significantly increase the earnings potential of my efforts. Once I send that image off, it makes submitting similar images or alternative versions almost impossible.

Feedback, Breathing Time and Significant Improvements

In addition, having a waiting period allows me to get some feedback from others on a photo. Sometimes someone will point out something about one of my stock images, a problem of some sort that I already knew on some level, but refused to acknowledge to myself. Other times people can give me a new and fresh perspective altogether.

While ultimately I have to go with my own judgment, if several others point out a similar difficulty, or possible improvement, then it certainly behooves me to pay attention. I find it interesting that sometimes my ego has a very hard time accepting another person’s point of view or suggestions, even while I can clearly see the validity of those suggestions.

Having the patience to give an image some breathing time can lead to significant improvements in one’s imagery with virtually no negative consequences. Now I am off to watch some mindless television while my images “gestate”!

Stock & Funny Animal Pics & Photos: Little Red Riding Hood Walks Into the Forrest

Stock Photos and funny animal pics: Little Red Riding Hood emerges from the forrest

Funny Pics and Stock Photography: pair of hands frame a road into the distance

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Advanced Digital Photography – How To Take Great Photos in Outdoors

If you’ve ever snapped your weekend outing, family reunion, or a special vacation getaway with your buddies or family, you know that outside photography can present some deeply special challenges. Direct sunlight can beintolerable. Unwelcome objects can meddle with your composition. And many times, good old mother nature is just not feeling co-operative. These are some outside systems that may benefit :
Keep It Simplistic. The sophisticated pattern and colour of an adobe wall, the straightforward repeating pattern and muted tones of planks on a fishing pier, or the uniform color of a patch of blue bonnets, snapdragons, or yellow primrose can serve as dazzling backdrops for your outside portraits. When you’re composing your portrait, you want your subject to be the focus that all eyes are drawn to. Busy patterns,can truly distract from the point of interest of the picture.
Control The Depth Of Field… The fringe of a forest, or mountains in the distance may render superbly as a background for your subject with correct control over the depth of field. If you have an SLR camera, you can adjust your depth of field to bring the background sort of out of focus relative to your subject. This serves as eye control for the observer of your portrait. The eye is naturally drawn to what’s brightest and most sharply centered.If your subject is sharply focused relative to the background, she’s going to be intensified as the focus of your portrait. Controlling the depth of field is realized by adjusting your aperture setting ( the dimensions of your lens opening, recounted in f-stops ). The more small the f-stop the bigger the opening of your lens, and the more little the depth of field will be.

Be Aware Of Distracting Objects Behind Your Subject. What’s obviously a bush, a mailbox, or a birdhouse to your eye, can appear like an extra member growing out of the apex of your subject’s head in your 2 dimensional portrait.
Control The Light. Down light ( e.g. Thanks to the shadow patterns it creates, it can bring out the worst in your subject. Lateral light ( e.g. Lateral light can be controlled and directed to form gorgeous shade patterns across the face of your subject.
Before the digital age, corrective filters or special films were regularly used for color correction in outside portraits. With digital cameras, the color can be corrected using your white balance setting ( color temperature in degrees Kelvin ). Most digital cameras today do a good job of immediately changing the white balance for outdoors exposures.

Keeping your composition simple, controlling the depth of field, and eliminating objects that may distract from your subject, all help to increase your subject as the focus of your portrait. Controlling the available natural light and correcting the white balance of your photos can exhibit and enhance the true sweetness of your subject.

To find out more about outside digital photography look at this video,. Outdoor Portrait Ideas

Hello everyone. I love photography and I believe digital photography is an art, but it most certainly doesn’t have to be complicated, no matter how frustrated you may get taking digital pictures. I hope the information you read here will help you take beautiful pictures. Understanding Digital Photography

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Digital cameras have changed the photography. They made the photography easier and every person can become a professional photographer by using these digital cameras.You can delete the pictures which you don’t like. These cameras were used by adults only and children were only able to see the picture which their parents have taken. There are many children who want to take their own pictures by using these expensive cameras. They want permission to their parents, but the parents do no allow them to do so.

Well, there is finally some good know for all of us parents out their being begged by our children to allow them to take pictures. Fisher-Price realized the need and has developed the very first digital camera just for kids called the Kid Tough Digital Camera. The digital camera is made of a rough exterior that can resist in the toughest of abuse a young child could put it through. This is a kid friendly camera by Fisher Price.

Now the Fisher Price has made it waterproof which is one of the innovative modifications. This quality allows to resist the interior parts of the camera from water. Now you don’t have to do worry even if they submerged it in water.

The Kid Tough Waterproof Digital Camera has all of the same kid friendly and fun features of the previous model, including 64MB of flash memory with the ability to save 500 photos, USB cable, Unique two-eye view screen that allows children to take photos quickly and easily.

This ones sure to be just as big of a hit as its predecessor so be sure to pick up the camera for your kids this holiday season before its too late. The kids will enjoy a lot and will have fun snapping their own photographs and it also help them in their educational growth. For example this will make your child to develop coordination, how to handle the camera, how to operate the buttons etc. Now your child can become a photographer, he she can snap the pictures of their friends, pets, vacations etc.

So get this Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera for your child for Fisher upcoming holidays and festival, and sure they will leave your digital camera.

Are You Looking for Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital camera ? Find out why is it so popular amongs Kids. Please visit our site : Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital camera

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World renowned Casio merchandise are produced by Casio Computers which was formed in 1946 in Tokyo and later incorporated as Casio Computer Co, Ltd in 1957.  It makes a broad assortment of electronics that consists of, among others, calculators, mobile phones, watches, TVs,PCs, PDAs and Casio digital cameras too. It entered the digital camera market in 1995, introducing the world’s first consumer digital camera with an LCD monitor.

On the Internet, there are thousands of websites advertising digital cameras produced by various manufacturers. As you can see, every producer does its utmost to convince that its merchandise are the best currently on the market. This is true of Casio digital cameras too with the difference that what they have to offer, indeed, is the best.

It is of interest to note that some websites deal exclusively in Casio digital cameras. They provide you with all the information about Casio’s current digital camera models and types. This is very useful in that you will not have to go from site to site looking for the model you have in mind. It is no surprise that details on products that have been discontinued are also available.

Not everyone is a professional lensman.  Therefore, it may be difficult for one to make the best selection of a digital camera out of the many hundreds of models on offer on the websites. There are some sites to be found on the Net which feature a novel way of making your choice of Casio digital cameras. All you have to do is answer several queries online with multiple answers.  The moment you finish that exercise, you will be presented with the most suitable model that suits your replies.  For a novice, this is a very new experience of having a simple solution for a complicated issue.

Make it a habit to find every possible detail regarding whatever you’re going to purchase prior to really buying it.  Read all reviews, user comments, and other tips that will prove useful. Websites that publicize Casio digital cameras abound them.  They have up to the minute details of their latest products and models such as Exilim compact camera series. These products have Casio’s state-of-the-art technology in high speed image processing. So, go for a leader in digital photography equipment. Go for Casio digital cameras.

For more Casio Digital Cameras as well as other Gizmos and Gadgets.
http://gizmosgadgetsnews.info

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Diversification and a Primary Focus

There is just no getting around the fact that we are drowning in images and it will only get worse.  As any of you who regularly read this stock photo blog will know, this is something I think about constantly, along with how stock photographers can continue to thrive in such an environment. 

I believe in diversification, which in this context, for me, means creating royalty free and rights manage imagery and distributing those images through several agencies. But I have a primary focus. My primary focus is on rights managed images.

Focusing On Rights Managed

There are several reasons I am focusing on rights managed images. First, I believe that overall the payment for those images is more commensurate with the value a user of that imagery receives. That is, for important uses, the price point is higher. Secondly, my percentage is higher.

I get twice the percentage for RM as I do for RF. Thirdly, if the pirating of images is ever curbed it will probably be primarily, if not exclusively, for rights managed images.  That reason, however, might be wishful thinking. Who knows.

Compelling Photos and Premium Prices

So, given that my priority is rights managed imagery, and given that there is a lot of resistance out in the market to using rights managed imagery, I want to create photos that are so compelling that people will want to use those images badly enough to use the rights managed system and to pay premium prices.

But what makes a picture compelling? It can be a lot of things. It can be that the photograph is unique in its content, or has a style that sets it apart, or perhaps it is just that the image is perfect for a particular users need.

Information and Data Management

The idea for this image came from a topic that seems to be very much on every photographer’s mind; data management. Particularly as stock photographers we have to deal with storage, retrieval, tracking, uploading, and tagging our digital assets. 

We have to enter metadata, track sales and, heck, even pay attention to our social media efforts. Information, data and digital asset management takes a huge chunk of my available time, and so it is reasonable to conclude it must be something that every business is struggling to keep on top of.

In my mind that means that there is a market for imagery that addresses information management and technology as a general concept.  There is opportunity here to create images that can both stand out from the crowd (hey, another great concept) and be applicable to a wide range of products and services.

Intention, Streaking Lights and Information Flow

I gave myself the intention of coming up with an image that would illustrate a futuristic sense of data management and technology that would be appropriate for a large range of applications. Then I began to go through my files (I use bridge because I am too lazy to learn Lightroom or the various other programs available) and look for something that might spark my imagination. 

I came across this cool shot of streaking lights at night that seemed to me could illustrate data or information flow.  I began to “play” with the image to see if I could make it look as if it were streaking through an urban environment. 

After about an hour-and-a-half of trying different combinations of images I realized that what might really make the image come together was a person.  At that point I put the half-complete image into an “ideas” folder and decided to complete it after shooting a model in an appropriate pose.

A List, a Model and Getting To Work

Two weeks later (last week) I was ready to hire a model to use for this and a number of other ideas. I like to create a list of ten to twenty ideas and then do a shoot to get the parts for them.  Last Saturday I photographed the model.

Yesterday I got around to stripping her out, pasting her into the streaking light image and getting to work.  I spent about three hours noodling with the image before I felt it was complete.

Flexible Cropping, A Sense O Place and Motion

A couple of points that I feel are important.  As I referred to in an earlier stock photo blog, I created the image so that it could be cropped as a vertical or horizontal, as a spread in a magazine, or as a magazine cover. It can work as a billboard or in a newsletter.

The image is a bit busy at thumbnail size, but its square crop insures a maximum footprint when viewed on a stock site, and the story can still be grasped quickly.  By having a hint of a city skyline in the background the image is given a “sense of place” which is an important plus for a stock photo.

Tom Grill, a true master of stock photography, is fond of saying that “motion sells” and the streaking lights give us that sense of motion.

Headlines, Art Directors and Designers

The woman is re-directing the flow of information and apparently pleased at what she is doing. The image can adapt easily to various headlines such as “Get A Handle On Your Data Management” or “Information Distribution At Your Finger Tips”.

I will quit with the mock headlines before I lose too many readers! Perhaps most importantly, I haven’t seen this approach done by any one else yet. I believe it to be new, fresh, attention getting and relevant to a need in the marketplace.  I just hope art directors, art buyers and designers agree with me!

Intention, Interesting Images, And A Targeted Shoot

To kind of sum things up, I set my intention to come up with an information technology stock photo. I utilized a collection of interesting images I keep on hand, for possible inclusion in stock photo composites, to help come up with an idea.

With an idea in mind (actually a list of approximately fifteen ideas in this case) I hired a model and did a very targeted shoot.  As I composited the image I kept in mind important criteria for a successful image. Last, but not least, before I left my studio yesterday I submitted the image to a stock agency.  Now on to the next one!

Funny Pics, Images, and Stock Photography: Silly Pet Pics

People and Animal Pics: Silly Pet Pics and Silly Cat Pics

John Lund Stock Photos: cat sits beneath a hair dryer in a beauty salon

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In traditional film photography of the past, the film you used was based on the ISO setting, also sometimes called the ASA. When purchasing film, you typically asked for a roll of ISO 64, or 100 or 200. The ISO is a measure of the film’s sensitivity to light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive the film is to light. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the film is to light.

In practical terms what this meant was that when you were in low light conditions, such as indoors at a family event, you would want a higher ISO film; maybe a 200 or 400.  Of course you could use the flash, but there are some instances when even the flash won’t help such as at a sporting event in a large arena or an outdoor night scene.  Another characteristic of the film is that an ISO 100 film is considered slower. This means the shutter of the camera must remain open longer to expose the film. A higher ISO film can have the shutter open for just a fraction of the time to capture the same image. Great, you ask, what does all this ancient history about film have to do with modern digital cameras?

Digital cameras also have an ISO setting. However instead of being set each time you change the film, you can change the ISO setting for each picture. The ISO setting you select, or the one the camera auto selects for you can make a big difference in the quality of your image. In the old days of film, a higher ISO film would produce a grainy shot. Imagine the pixels on your laptop were spread farther apart. Instead of being tightly packed as they are normally, there is a slight distance from one to the next, not much, maybe a few microns. How would your image look?  Not as sharp and crisp and the colors would not be as rich and saturated. This is how film grain looks. The higher the ISO, the further apart are the “pixels” that make up the shot.

Digital cameras have their own version of grain called digital noise. Generally the higher the ISO you select, the more digital noise you will get too. Although digital noise is generally an unwanted characteristic of a digital photo, you can use it as a creative design element. This may be something you want for some artistic shots, but probably not for the typical head shots of your family.

So the best thing to do is to check the ISO setting of your digital camera. If it is auto selected, make sure in low light conditions you select the setting you want and let the flash (and a tripod) compensate for the poor lighting. That way your photos will look great no matter what the conditions.

For more great tips on improving your photography and where to find the best deals on point and shoot digital cameras visit http://www.pointandshootdigitalcamerasguide.com right now.

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