receding out of focus. Remember, these are just examples, but the
“rules” they evidence are of general application.
A few useful tips for successful landscape photos on the microstocks
follow:
- Simple sells. Cut out the clutter.
- Include foreground interest with wide-angle lens shots.
- Try to place your subject away from the center of the image. Apply the “rule of
thirds” (see Chapter 4) in most (but not all) cases by placing your subject one third
of the way in and from the top of the frame. - Use a telephoto lens or setting on your camera to pick out details in the landscape
and to create an interesting compressed perspective. - Avoid washed-out overexposed skies. If necessary, slightly underexpose the shot to
keep the sky detail. - Use a tripod to avoid camera shake.
Architecture
Possibly a subset of Landscape and Travel, urban landscape and archi-
tectural details can make compelling images. Like natural landscapes,
buildings are all around us and are decent sellers on the microstocks.
However, for reasons we will discuss later in this book, you have to
take care not to include in your shots of buildings logos, product
names, or other items for which there are recognized intellectual prop-
erty rights (Figure 3.13). Because microstock is a type of royalty-free
image licensing model, there is little or no control over how the image
will be used. The microstocks will reject an image containing copyright
data or company logos, and these are commonly seen on city streets
or even on entire buildings. An exception is Shutterstock, which will
accept images with incidental logos for editorial use.
I like architectural work, but it is easy to be careless. Take care to
line up your buildings and to not crop bits off, such as the tops of
spires. Try mimicking professional large-format camera technique by
digitally correcting converging verticals.
Good architectural work sells well. Unusual shots of famous places
or images that sell concepts, like business, are in demand by designers
producing corporate brochures, Web sites, and so on.
Cityscapes
Try shooting your local city skyline. General city views make useful
stock images. An unusual angle or rare view will increase sales
potential.
I took “London Looking East” (Figure 3.14) from the top of a build-
ing not usually accessible to members of the public. The weather was
CITYSCAPES 45