Don’t do this! Over the years I have had my share of near disasters, mistakes and lessons learned (or not).  I guess it all started back in the early seventies when the train hit my camera.  I was just starting out at the time and wanted to shoot a dramatic shot of a speeding train for my portfolio.  I went to the local camera store and talked them into loaning me a 20mm Nikkor wide-angle lens.  I set my camera up on a tripod near the tracks, real near the tracks.  As the train Readmore

I am always on the look out for source material.  While walking along a pedestrian path along the shore of San Francisco bay I encountered a sailboat that had broken loose from its mooring and was beached while the tide was out.  I didn’t know how I was going to use it, but I photographed the boat any way, and from a variety of angles. About six months later I was photographing rough seas off the Coast of Marin County (at Rodeo Beach) when it occurred to me I could composite the Readmore

There is something very simple you can do to increase your stock photography sales.  If, like me, you engage in digitally composited photos, you can even enhance your entire business immeasurably!  That simple thing is to photograph backgrounds.  By backgrounds I mean images that can serve as a backdrop for an inset picture that might be a product or person, or that can serve as a location, a background, for a composited image. The need for background pictures There is a huge need for such Readmore

I have compiled the advice offered to photographers from the photographers, CEOs, agency owners, art directors, designers, photo researchers and others who I have interviewed over the last year. Jack Hollingsworth, Stock Photographer, Blend Images Co-Founder, Social Media & Photography Consultant The money is in getting the photography in front of the consumer. Marc Romanelli, Stock Photographer (Stills and Motion) I choose to shoot what I know, shoot what feels right, diversify by Readmore

What is Stock Photography? R. Dodge Woodson What is stock photography? To many photographers it is a path to profits. Other photographers find it to be a hole of frustration. Realistically, stock photography is somewhere between these two extremes. There are three ways to look at stock photography. The first is the view that photographers have of it. Stock agencies will see stock photography differently.  Buyers of stock photos are sure to have their own impression of what stock photography Readmore

Entertainment Advertising and Images We Want To See Entertainment advertising is upon us. With the advent of TiVo and technologies that allow us to zip past commercials, with pop up window blockers, with viral advertising and with such a vast quantity of, well, stuff, to choose from on the Internet, on Television and even on Satellite Radio, advertisers are increasingly at the mercy of our viewing discretion. If they want to get their messages across, to get their messages seen, more and more Readmore

Stock photography is simply photos taken “on spec”. This means the photographer takes pictures of various objects, people, or situations, and sells them after the pictures have been taken. They are not on a specific photography assignment, instead they are taking photos of subjects they’d like to take pictures of. Stock photography is primarily used in printed advertisements, brochures, magazines, and web sites, though there are many other ways stock photography can be used. Readmore

When the already obtainable photographs are accredited for definite usage, then they are called Stock photography. These are also known as ’stock photos’, ‘photo archive’ or ‘image banks’ in USA. Outside the United States, the term ‘picture library’ is generally used to refer to these stock photos. Stock photographs generally consist of still images, illustrations and videos. Stock photographs are useful to a large section of people that Readmore

The best tool a freelance digital photographer has, besides a digital camera, is photoshop. Mainly, because it can increase stock photo sales and generate more profit. It can work just as well if your more into just editing digital photos, or graphic design. You are still going to need a digital camera, but putting more focus on digital editing is really up to you. With every coming year the population of graphic designers and photo editors has been increasing. Photo editors, like Readmore