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.

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. 

Industry, global warming, pollution, climate change...

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.

Oh, I forgot to tell that my second best seller image (9% of total revenues) is...
another wooden boards floor!!
 
 


thanks grp!!

Quote from: 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.

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.

Think creatively

.

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

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

nile, I sent you a personal message

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.

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).