Microstock Photography How to Make Money from Your Digital Images DOWNLOAD
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 Understanding the Microstock Revolution 1
About Stock Photography 1
Shop until You Drop 4
The Early Days 4
Extinction of the Dinosaurs 6
Microstock Is Born 8
The Opposition 10
Comparison with Traditional Libraries 11
2 How to Make Dollars from Cents 13
No Pain, No Gain 13
Sales Models: The Choices 16
Royalties and Licenses, or “Where Is the Cash?” 21
Submission Strategies 27
3 What Sells and What Does Not 29
Business and Lifestyle Images 30
Fashion 36
Seasonal and Festive Images 36
Food 40
Landscapes and Travel 42
Architecture 45
Cityscapes 45
Objects 48
Flowers 52
Concept Shots 57
Vectors 58
4 How to Make Sure Your Pictures Win 63
Composition 63
The “Rule of Thirds” 65
Crop Tightly 68
Use Bold and Complementary Colors 69
Use the Best Aperture and Shutter Speed Combination 69
Get down Low—or up High 74
Use Unusual Focal Lengths 75
The Winning Formula 76
5 Technical Issues: Killing the Gremlins
before They Kill Your Pictures 77
The Microstock Inspection Process 78
Read the Rules! 78
Kit 78
The Raw Deal 79
16-bit Manipulation 82
Shoot at Low ISO 83
The 100% Rule 85
Noise 85
Artifacts 91
Chromatic Aberrations 93
Moiré and Color Noise 93
Dust Blobs 96
Removing Copyright Symbols and Logos 97
Sharpening Your Images 99
6 Equipment 103
Film or Digital? 103
The Best Digital Camera for You 106
The Big Guns: Medium-Format Digital 113
Scanning Backs 114
Scanning Film 114
Summary 118
7 Setting up a Home Studio 119
Table and Window Setup (Available Light) 119
Macro Lenses 122
Simple Studio Setup 123
People Shots 125
Business Shots 126
More about Isolated Images 126
Clipping Paths 129
Software Shortcuts 133
Advanced Lighting Techniques 134
Slave Relay 138
Color Balance 138
Final Note 140
8 Twenty Tips and Tricks to Winning
on Microstocks 141
Tip 1: Buy the Best Equipment You Can Afford 141
Tip 2: Decide if Artist Exclusivity Is for You 143
Tip 3: Buy Decent FTP Upload Software 145
Tip 4: Buy and Use Adobe Photoshop 145
Tip 5: Buy a Macro Lens if You Own a dSLR 145
Tip 6: Buy a Tripod to Go with That New Macro Lens 145
Tip 7: Join the Forums 146
Tip 8: Get an Independent View by Joining
Independent Forums 146
Tip 9: Set up Referral Links 146
Tip 10: Check What Is Selling—and What Is Not 149
Tip 11: Enlist Friends and Colleagues 149
Tip 12: Upload New Work Regularly but in Small Batches 150
Tip 13: Set Key Words Accurately 150
Tip 14: Use Selective Focus 151
Tip 15: Challenge Your Creativity 152
Tip 16: Use sRGB Color Space for Submission 153
Tip 17: Read the Manual! 155
Tip 18: Don’t Crop Too Tightly 155
Tip 19: Shoot the Light 155
Tip 20: Get Networking! 156
9 Mixing It with Rights-Managed Stock 159
Specialized Libraries 161
Cultural Differences 162
What to Do 163
10 Case Studies 165
Stephen 165
Jo Ann 167
Carsten 168
Colin and Linda 169
Marianne 171
Wrap Up 172
11 Copyright, Trademarks, and Model Releases 175
Copyright 175
Registration 176
Infringing Others’ Rights 176
Privacy 179
Trademarks 179
The Practicalities 180
Property Releases 182
Model Releases 182
12 The Future of Microstock Photography 183
The Gap 183
The Wolf Eats the Lamb 186
Consolidation 186
Diversifi cation 187
Predictions 187
Appendix 1 Microstock Library Links 189
Appendix 2 Model and Property Releases 191
Appendix 3 Useful Links 199
Traditional Stock Photo Libraries 199
FTP Software 199
Noise-Reduction or Modifi cation Software 199
Color Artifact Removal 200
Third-Party Raw File Decoding Software 200
Copyright Resources 200
Photo Equipment Review and Discussion 201
General Photo Sites of Interest 201
Stock-Related Discussion Groups 201
Lighting Tips 202