So you are a stock photographer ... Do you have stock images you can use?

Early in my stock photography experience, I took hold of the concept, and what stock photos
were actually used for.

1. Stock images were used by companies who did not have enough venture capital to hire a photographer.
2. Designers who were not photographers, but were in need of a photographer's services.
3. Web masters and Bloggers, who just needed images to match the what they were representing on the net.
4. Free lance designers designing for another business in need of their services.
5. Advertisers looking to promote an idea, concept, or product.

When I realized just how many different people, business, and companies were in need of stock images, It
dawned on me that in order for me to be successful, I would have to meet the needs of all these people.

At first I thought.... "Impossible, I can't do that.... no way - there's not enough things for me to shoot with may camera"
I did not have a studio, I didn't have a large budget to hire models. So all I was left with were items I could shoot on my kitchen table.

As I began to peruse other people's portfolio's I realized we had something in common. They had the same items I had shot
but with different other items in the images also. I soon realized that I could double, triple, even quadruple my stock image output if I just
had a stock library of my very own. I actually have my very own stock library where I use the images over and over numerous amounts of time.

I have images of clouds, computer equipment, my own hands and fingers, package wrappers, and boxes, tools,    ....and on and on....
I have literally used some images over and over,  making more than 20 or more images, just from one subject item.

I write this post here not to brag about my work, but to give you the same advantage some of the more successful Photographers have had.
Start your own stock library. Put together your own campaigns, think business, and what other business men need.
Start by photographing every thing you can get your hands on. Place them in categories or folders on your hard drive. Name the folders,
"Tools, ....boxes, ....clouds, ....buildings.....etc. When you have a library that your proud of, then start gathering up ideas.

Some ideas that I key on:
1. Business, marketing, graphs,
2. Finances, money
3. Holidays, appropriate images
4. Computer, monitors, keyboards, mice
5. The internet, cyberspace, viruses, identity theft

Here are some examples of using my own stock library:


The clear plastic container once contained a USB hub I bought at Best Buy!


This one monitor has been used in over 40 images in my portfolio


Books are an excellent source for creating tons of images
You can change the covers, titles...etc.

So.....get busy! Start today taking images of everything in your house! Don't worry about
how your going to use the images.... that comes later. Just build up your very own STOCK LIBRARY

Be well, and good luck to you,
The MIZ

Hey Sean!

You know something, your absolutely correct!
Wow I forgot all about that. The truth being, I do so much writing, I have begun to
forget which magazines, websites, and forums I did articles for. On top of that, I am
going nearly 18 hours a day for the last 45 days (Jan 1, 2008) on my own work, and the numerous tutorials.

I think it's time for a break. I thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Thank you kindly,
The MIZ

But do YOU actually sell many images like this.

RTimages.
I have managed to sell 4,687 images and made $3653.26 on DT alone.

Now my question to you ..... why are you sales so low? Maybe I can manage some time to help you
out, and give you a few tips. Drop me an email, and let me know how I can help you.

Your friend always,
The MIZ

Haha... I was amazed at how you manged to sell so many there as well, it's probably got something to do with the fact that you make loads of posts in the forum there, or the fact that you've been submitting images with them for a year and a half longer than me.

Strange that you didn't bring up your iStock figures or any of the others?

But if you want to quote figures here's some from iStock:
In 2 years and 8 months you've managed to only sell 2913
In 1 year and 2 months I've sold 5256

So in answer to your question, no thanks you would be the last person I'd ask for help.

Why don't you do a tutorial on an image that has then been accepted and sold well, that might give you a bit of credibility, it's a genuine question, I'm just intrigued as to why you do tutorials on images that are either very easy to do or are so small that you can't see the actual effect.

Helix, you are correct about every piece of junk in the house.  That's likely not what Miz was entirely meaning, but sometimes I see things and don't quite know the useful purpose for them but know that it's a shot I need to take.  I do have folders of certain things that are not stock by themselves.  Flowers, skies, clouds, flower pots, tea cups, boxes, etc.    A couple just viewed their proofs on the weekend and asked if I would could put their little girl in a cloud.  Well.... I have a collection of clouds and I'll photograph my angel wings too.  I may not need the wings this time, but I'll have the file for future.    LOL, nothing like embarrasing your family lying on your belly by the fish pond, but I came home with a nice water lily that I finally got to stick a friend's baby in!

MIZ:  what category does your photoshop work fall into.  Are they now illustrations, or are they still photos?

It's interesting how different microstock sites view this sort of stuff differently - it's just about impossible to get images like this onto istock, unless you are Really good at photoshop compositing (I'm good enough for web sized imagery but don't have the patience for it to bear the sort of scrutiny that istock puts onto files), whereas other sites like shutterstock and DT sell them by the bucket load. One of the downsides of being exclusive to istock.

Bob you are the king of the conceptual images.  Me and Bob go back and forth over instant messager usually every day, and I like to try and give him ideas when he gets into a rut.  I get ideas from him as well, and sometimes I actually find the time to execute them (but rarely). 

Keep up the good work, buddy - your work is proof you don't need a studio to create awesome stock images.

Bob - your gallery was recently featured in the StockXpert newsletter!  Not bad for your first month uploading seriously