Stock Photography - Specialize - Don't Generalize

Most photographers are very general when shooting for the love of shooting. Stock photography, however, requires specialization in order to be successful.

Because They Need Them
By Rohn Engh

A photobuyer is searching for a photo of a jack oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis), taken in late fall or early winter, before the leaves have fallen. People should be in the picture, including teenagers (13-19 years old), animated and enjoying the outdoors.

Get used to it.

The old adage, "once you've seen a tree, you've seen 'em all," doesn't work anymore. Photobuyers are no longer satisfied with catalog shots of trees. For their project in progress, your image will have to complement the message of the text. If you haven't traveled through Minnesota, Wisconsin, or the upper peninsula of Michigan, you're not going to have this image in your file. Get used to it.

PICKY-PICKY PICS

Photobuyers in the 80's and 90's weren't picky-picky. They were usually satisfied with "something nearly on-target," because readers didn't expect on-target illustrations. Besides, a decade ago the methods available to try to locate a highly-specific picture were labor-intensive and costly. Today, photobuyers are more selective. They know they can tap easily into highly specialized collections of photos, thanks to the Internet. If you don't have the exact picture they need, they'll quickly find someone who does.

The photobuyer looking for a picture of Quercus ellipsoidalis, may need such a picture just once. But if the photobuyer can find you, as a tree specialist, on the Internet, and you have the picture, you've captured that sale.

YOUR MARKETING APPROACH

Since the Internet offers access to thousands of picture suppliers, with files totaling millions of images, you might surmise your marketing approach should be to take pictures of everything in sight, and enter them onto a website of your own. Big mistake.

Put yourself in the photobuyer's shoes. She will seek out an Internet site(s) that provides strong coverage of "trees" (there are 66 species of oak trees alone).

If you keep this in mind, and specialize, the Internet is going to make you a valuable resource to photobuyers in the coming decade. They will be able to easily contact you directly, but they'll contact you because they'll be seeking content-specific pictures. Start now to begin building your stock photo files in a few choice vertical categories that have attraction for you (fly fishing, orangutans, the Chesapeake Bay, rodeos, gliders, oak trees) -- whatever subjects wild horses couldn't pull you away from.

As for those general-category pictures in your files? If they are high quality, you can place them with one of the micro stock agencies and figure on receiving a check once in a while.

A good rule to remember when marketing your pictures: Photobuyers buy pictures, not because they like them, but because they need them.

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA. Telephone: 1 800 624 0266 Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: http://www.photosource.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rohn_Engh

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These articles will provide you with a very solid foundation and a feeling of confidence regarding your rightful place in the stock photography market.

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