Rethinkhowyoucraftyourimagesandensure
thatyourcreativeintentmatchesclientneeds
SALES
SUPERCHARGED
W
hen it comes to selling your
images, one of the main
challenges is how very
subjective photography is.
What makes a good picture? Apart from
technical aspects like resolution, sharpness
and signal-to-noise ratio, which are
numerical characteristics, the perception of
how successful a shot is will obviously vary
depending on the tastes of the viewer.
This can be tricky when you want to sell
your work to publishers or stock agencies,
where your files will encounter the scrutiny
of picture editors based on predetermined
quality guidelines, but also be subject to
individual differences in the tastes of the
people in the screening process.When creating images for stock or
commercial use, there is almost always
a disparity between the artistic intent of
the photographer and the requirements of
the end user. And while you as the person
behind the camera have your own set of
ideas and preferences, you can’t be always
be certain that the images you shoot will
then meet a publisher’s needs.
When selling images to an agency,
remember that you need to meet their
standards as a third party, but you also
need to think ahead to how someone
buying your stock might wish to use the
files in the future.
So what’s the solution? How can you
ensure that your work is general enoughto cater for an unlimited number of
potential functions, but also specific
enough to stand out from the competition
and appeal to people seeking imagery for
niche products?
A key skill is being able to identify
whether your shots have all of the aspects
required by people other than yourself, and
this might mean contradicting your own
creative aspirations from time to time.
We’ve done some digging, and here
we’ve gathered some revealing insight from
three professionals – all with different
perspectives on the process of selling
your images. Turn over to learn from
photographers and picture editors on a
range of publications.© GettyimagesSUPERCHARGED SALES