Dos and Dont's
Pictures that sell? Who is the buyer? Think like the byer, check ads on the street, in the newspapers, tv, web, mailbox, pamflets, newspaper articles...all for inspiration and possible usage.
Modify your pictures after what is new, mordern, going on in the world.
-Newspapers - upload picture about finance when the is a crisis, pictures of homes when the housing market booms or crashes. Check the newspapers!
- Advertisers - upload christmas pictures in good time before Christmas. Look at the ads everywhere!
Do's
- Read their instructions carefully and participate in their forums.
- Keyword your pictures carefully
- Use lightboxes/folders etc to group and promote similar pictures.
- Use more than one micro stock site.
- Use a high quality lens and a new camera. Demands and competition you know...
- Use a tripod
- Calibrate your computer monitor
- Promote your pictures elsewhere and lead users to your portfolio at your agents.
- Don't give up - it will take time to learn and to get a good number of pictures out there.
Dont's
- Too arty or blurry pictures - leave that for the buyers
- Dark pictures. Check the histogram.
- Deep shadows - hard to use.
- Upsize - it doesn't add quality, only filesize. Save everybodys time, just don't do it.
- Downsize - smaller pictures means lower income and lower margin for the buyer quality wise.
- Pets - surely lovely but not for others
- Photograph your own shadow.
- Similar pictures - pick one of a variation, use your friends for advice if needed.
- Travel pictures - probably only interesting for you and your family.
- Flower/ Nature pictures - they have seen them all.
- Frames, copyright or datestamps.
- Pictures from airplanes, trains or automobiles.
- Use foreign language in description
- Keyword spamming - use ony keywords that directly apply to your picture, avoid synonyms.