Picture for the Day - Stock Photography

I've been trying to use some of this off-season wedding time to dabble in the world of Stock Photography. For those of you who don't know what that is - Stock Photography is photography shot on general subjects, pencils, apples, painting, etc for use by designers, advertisers, etc.

As a designer myself I will often look to the stock sites to search for an image I need - a christmas ornament for a corporate christmas card for example. In the world of micro-stock these needs cost you a few bucks to use the picture and then bada-boom, bada-bing, you are on your way to a completed project. With micro-stock others can also download and use the same picture, so the photographer gets paid for each download, and as a designer you could see that image elsewhere. With other forms of stock photography you can pay for exclusive rights to images. There is also "stock illustration" out there, so if you needed something, let's say like a fleur de lis design for your wedding invitations, you could search for one, choose one you like, purchase and download it - assuming you have the right graphic software to work with it (i.e. Illustrator or InDesign).

So, the image above is one of my stock photography images. I did a bunch back in November then got busy and haven't really touched it since, though I have several sessions waiting to be edited and submitted. (Not everything you create as a stock photographer gets accepted, there are rules and guidelines about lighting, editing, composition, etc. And you have to get approved to be a stock photographer first.) This particular image here was downloaded by someone yesterday - my first download! I was pretty excited, even though it only meant $1.25 for me. Many successfull stock photographers have tens or hundreds of thousands of downloads and so I'll let you see how the math on that can be great for your bottom line. There are several wedding photographers who do this "on the side" in their downtime and easily pay the rent with their earnings. My paltry buck and change won't be doing that, but hopefully one day it will add up. And it makes fun photo field-trips a little more profitable.

Now the fun part is watching for my image to show up randomly in a magazine or ad somewhere....

If you are looking for more info, shoot me an email and I'll hook you up!