MicrostockGroup

Some sites actually tell you what they are looking for. You just need to surf around and spend some time looking. For instance, here's the page on istock:

http://www.istockphoto.com/tutorial_5.0_neededfiles.php

Nothing wrong with that.  Good luck!

Do you know Illustrator? Maybe photo isn't your game, but being trained in graphic design (as I was) might lend to using Illustrator to get into creating stock graphics and illustrations.

But keep in mind, as Sean mentioned, don't put the cart before the horse. Get comfortable with creating great images before you bother even trying to sell them. Find your niche, your style, the type of image that works for you, and hone your skills.

You need to have the first spingleplonk then.
You know what sells like crazy? Hands with 6 fingers!
 
Nobody with a clear mind is going to tell his potential competitors what will sell best.

is that stating the obvious?  I meant SOME sort of guideline would help, which a  "kind soul" advised earlier

I've thought the same __ but I don't think I could handle the rejections if I'd spent hours working on my 'masterpieces'.

A few years back I had a very talented illustrator in my CN on IS. His stuff outsold my photos by at least 4x relative to portfolio size but even so he had about a 60% rejection rate (against my own 15%). He'd also go ballistic when they kept deciding his vectors were only worth 1 credit rather than 3 at the time. He gave up in frustration but I'm sure if he hadn't he'd be making a very good living from it.

the original post was changed to include nothing... .. which makes the subject of the thread nothing  

I changed the title of the original post so the thread had a title again.

What happened??? Did Modster remove his original post?? Maybe he gave up on what sells and what doesn't. I know anyone thinking about getting into the stock business needs to sit around here and read these post for about a week ....then make up their mind rather it's worth all the aggravation

Many people will hate me for it. 

This is not a nice forum nor a social club but if the OP can't stand the heat, he should stay out of the kitchen. He got some very sound advice for free. I have to temper my statement about blogging. It was about microstock business sites (with the exception of a few, like Lee), not about tutorial sites. Those are great.

As to a spingleplonk, I had the rare occasion to photograph one. It looks like the hand of Attila the reviewer, it grows on Lucky Olivers and it opens up only in moonless nights near the equator.
 

But he actually got some very good pointers. His initial shots were landscapes, and since landscapes and landmarks are amongst my best sellers, my advice was honest and complete imho:
What would he expect? We give our shoot list and concepts away for the coming months? Gaps in the concepts present online we found with a lot of research and we plan to shoot later? I don't know of anybody here doing that.
Did he expect shoulder-tapping like on Flickr? If he can't deal with some realities here, how would he be stress-resistant enough to deal with rejections when he starts uploading?

I'm going to stay out of this kind of threads if it just generates frustration.

Darn all I have is a shot of a green one... 



Since the OP has fled the scene, I would have said shoot what you enjoy and find pleasure in creating, the sales will follow. If not at least you had a good time?

If this was all about starting out and making money, that's a whole different topic than "what sells". They are not necessarily the same thing.

Maybe it would be easier when the next person comes up with the same question, to give examples of what not to shoot, which will save them time and wasted effort? Even then, some stuff that doesn't sell, will sell.

Of course, a Wisconson-ite would know that. Especially a Packer Fan!