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Microstock Photography Forum - General => Newbie Discussion => Topic started by: nile on July 30, 2008, 07:40

Title: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: nile on July 30, 2008, 07:40
I have had some discussions about selling for .25$ a photo of a person, so I've not submitted yet a photo with a face in it.
So, searching for the best sellers without persons in the shot...

what can I found?  ???

landscape?
architecture?
billboards?


help!!
  :-\

and thanks!!
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: fotografer on July 30, 2008, 08:05
Go to istock and put in the word 'nobody' in  the search and sort by popular to get a good idea of what is selling without people.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: litifeta on July 30, 2008, 17:11
isolated white vans, pantecs, trucks
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: nile on July 31, 2008, 03:47
thank you both!!

OK, I see nature, isolated whatever, and those blue lines and backgrounds everywhere. That's in Istock with "nobody".

Lets see if I find some new idea about the same matters.  ::)
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: Joyce on July 31, 2008, 16:22
Specific landscapes for me.

If that mountain in your locale has a name, make sure to include it and the city/nearby locations. It appears that a lot of my sales come from tourism brochures and the like.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: Kngkyle on July 31, 2008, 17:16
Industry, global warming, pollution, climate change...
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: grp_photo on August 01, 2008, 02:01
Specific landscapes for me.

If that mountain in your locale has a name, make sure to include it and the city/nearby locations. It appears that a lot of my sales come from tourism brochures and the like.
You can sell this stuff much better and higher as RM.

Isolated stuff, easy concepts (like paperchain man etc.) and simple graphics are still the best sellers with no people in it.
Do a research on all sites it's easy to proof!!!!
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: nile on August 01, 2008, 02:38
thanks again!!
yes, I can do a search in all the microstock webs (there are now a lot), that's the best idea to see the best sellers... and that was my question.

But, if I try to sell the same kind of bestsellers, maybe I'll be in competition with too many people doing the same.

So, the best idea will be again the same kind of images?
Maybe the same theme but with a different point of view?

For me it's always a surprise to see what will sells OK and what not.
Now I have a wooden board floor image that is almost the third part of my earnings! I have a 250 images portfolio in 9 micro webs. That's the 0,4% of the portfolio doing the 33% of the revenues!!

And I think... and don't find an explanation to this, I don't see nothing special in that image, I think it's not the best in my portfolio.

Sure I will get it when I understand better this world of microstock, I'm still young in it.. 2 months.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: grp_photo on August 01, 2008, 02:43


But, if I try to sell the same kind of bestsellers, maybe I'll be in competition with too many people doing the same.


I wondered about the same but my own test proofed that there is an obviously endless demand of this stuff at microstocksites. You can make very good money with this kind of stuff just try it!!!!
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: nile on August 01, 2008, 02:46
Oh, I forgot to tell that my second best seller image (9% of total revenues) is...
another wooden boards floor!!
 
 ;D :o ;D :o


thanks grp!!
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: DanP68 on August 01, 2008, 05:27
How about...most everything!

Seriously, you can shoot landscapes to business to abstract, and everything in between.  Provided it has some application, it can work in microstock.  The key is to shoot it well.  Anybody can go out their door and snap a picture of a stop sign, then bring it inside and isolate it in Photoshop.  What you need to do is be creative, expose well, and consistently strive to improve.  The money will follow.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: Joyce on August 01, 2008, 07:17
Specific landscapes for me.

If that mountain in your locale has a name, make sure to include it and the city/nearby locations. It appears that a lot of my sales come from tourism brochures and the like.
You can sell this stuff much better and higher as RM.

I've been considering Alamy for best of my more recent images (which I've refrained from submitting to microstock) ever since joining MSG. Time will tell whether they can make the cut though.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: sc on August 02, 2008, 22:38
This might give you some direction

http://blog.photoshelter.com/school/2008/06/buyer-survey-2008.html
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: graficallyminded on August 03, 2008, 07:58
Think creatively ;)
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: Sophia on August 03, 2008, 12:03
This might give you some direction

[url]http://blog.photoshelter.com/school/2008/06/buyer-survey-2008.html[/url]


A very interesting survey, thanks for sharing :)
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: chumley on August 03, 2008, 17:05
.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: nile on August 05, 2008, 03:55
This might give you some direction

[url]http://blog.photoshelter.com/school/2008/06/buyer-survey-2008.html[/url]


this is really interesting!!
thank you!
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 23, 2008, 20:41
How about...most everything!

Seriously, you can shoot landscapes to business to abstract, and everything in between.  Provided it has some application, it can work in microstock.  The key is to shoot it well.  Anybody can go out their door and snap a picture of a stop sign, then bring it inside and isolate it in Photoshop.  What you need to do is be creative, expose well, and consistently strive to improve.  The money will follow.

OUCH!  that was my foot you just stepped on  :'(  I too had noticed what was selling and am trying to convert from wildlife and landscapes.  After working editorial for so many years, conceptual images don't come easy.  Guess I'll just copy what I find in searches until I come up with something original. 

Meanwhild, Hope there is a huge demand for stop signs.  LOL

Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: RacePhoto on September 03, 2008, 00:20
This might give you some direction

[url]http://blog.photoshelter.com/school/2008/06/buyer-survey-2008.html[/url]


Nice survey, with some things I find amusing.

Candid shots that don't look posed, but with good lighting. Nice trick having all that special lighting but having people not posing for candid shots. Heck I use a monopod with telephoto and people spot me fifty feet away! You think that umbrellas and fill flashes going off, might tip them off? :D Then how about that model release.

Photos wanted, cars/trucks/auto parts, which when we take get refused for trademark issues.

Overall, don't take pictures of attractive white people.  :-\
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: Adeptris on September 03, 2008, 02:52

Nice survey, with some things I find amusing.

Photos wanted, cars/trucks/auto parts, which when we take get refused for trademark issues.

Look at this from another perspective, that could be just the reason the Buyers want them, as the Microsites have to manage risk more than the traditional sites, the reason is quite simple the "Buyers", the world and thier mum can buy a few credits for little dollars from a microsites and  use these to licence and download an image, and belive it is theirs to use how they want, prints, presentations, website, flyers, collages etc:, I mean does Joe public ever reads the T&C's, so the mocrosites have to be very strict over copyright infringement content, as they are unsure of how the iamge may be used and how aware the buyer really is.

Now the traditional sites have mainly professional account customers, many editorial customers as well as commercial, so for editorial the "Nike tick" on a trainer is not an issue or used in a travel context, the editors and designers will know what for and how they can use an image, and they also have checks and balances in place to protect the client, thier job and themself, so the risk management is less for these traditional sites.

David
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: leaf on September 03, 2008, 04:34
This might give you some direction

[url]http://blog.photoshelter.com/school/2008/06/buyer-survey-2008.html[/url]


Nice survey, with some things I find amusing.

Candid shots that don't look posed, but with good lighting. Nice trick having all that special lighting but having people not posing for candid shots. Heck I use a monopod with telephoto and people spot me fifty feet away! You think that umbrellas and fill flashes going off, might tip them off? :D Then how about that model release.

Photos wanted, cars/trucks/auto parts, which when we take get refused for trademark issues.

Overall, don't take pictures of attractive white people.  :-\



Candid without the six flashes going off etc. is something that is totally missing in the micros.  I feel it is that type of image that sets macro apart from micro.  The image reviewers on micro don't know the difference between a great image that doesn't look like it is from the studio and a snap.

the new poster here, Jay Reilly is a perfect example.  The pics on his blog
http://www.mycameraisbiggerthanyours.com/
would make very good stock, and obviously do as he submits to all the big agencies (corbis, getty, etc) but I have a feeling lots of them would have a hard time getting past a typical microstock reviewer.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: Dreamframer on September 11, 2008, 06:59
nile, I sent you a personal message
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: bobek on January 25, 2009, 09:11
Almost anything what is on white background. The reason is that it's easily integrable into buyers designs.
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: null on January 25, 2009, 18:34
the new poster here, Jay Reilly is a perfect example.  The pics on his blog
[url]http://www.mycameraisbiggerthanyours.com/[/url]
would make very good stock, and obviously do as he submits to all the big agencies (corbis, getty, etc) but I have a feeling lots of them would have a hard time getting past a typical microstock reviewer.


Correct. I have loads like that, people in natural environments and just having fun and doing their thing. His shadows are quite hard so I mostly use fill-in flash or sunlight reflectors. Those shots hardly get accepted and don't sell that much on MS. Overwhites sell much better. Perhaps I should venture into RM.

To the OP: studio people shots are very competitive since they are very easy and fast to (re)do by the industrial shooters. My best-sellers are in a niche of non-people shots that are difficult to repeat. For landscapes/architecure: take very generic or very recognizable landmark shots and do it better (viewpoint, light).
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: Poncke on June 30, 2012, 07:31
Old thread - but the answer is ...... Food !
Title: Re: what kind of "no person photo" are the best sellers?
Post by: kikkerdirk on July 02, 2012, 18:34
I just launched a new microstock website BIG in microSTOCK. It includes an article on what images sell and what images don't. It is called People images sell better or not, in the article I try to analyze what kind of images sell best. It is not only focused on people images. You can check it out at http://biginmicrostock.com/pages/advanced-microstock-selling/people-images-sell-better.html (http://biginmicrostock.com/pages/advanced-microstock-selling/people-images-sell-better.html)

Have fun!

Dirk