What should I shoot and what sells well?

Branding Microstock is overrun with bazillions (okay, millions and millions) of images so if you don’t stand out your pictures will be completely lost in the crowd. Branding yourself by having a unique style that is recognizable and consistent is probably the most important aspect in microstock and also something that makes it so hard for traditional shooters to enter micro.

You cannot underestimate the importance of branding yourself! If you do, you’ll be stuck with a portfolio that doesn’t move and you’ll be confused about why you aren’t selling anything. I’ll tell you why: It’s because you have failed to make an impression on buyers – in short, you have no fans who seek you out first when they need a picture.

So here is the step-by-step breakdown on how to turn yourself into a brand:

Let’s get started – recipe for building your own brand

Step by step plan for getting started

Step One – Choose your subject
Find something you can shoot effortlessly. Something you know very well: your hobby, the sport you play, your friends, family and their lives. Shoot the things you know very well so you can make your images real, natural and genuine. Start by writing a list of things you should be able to shoot quite effortlessly.

Step Two – Stay dedicated
Decide on a style and a limited range of subject matter and stick to it. Microstock is getting competitive, but if you specialize in your field you can become a star. Another reason to shoot what you know is that a  shoot never goes quite as planned and you often have to “play the hand you are dealt” to get some good shots out of it. You can do this with the things you know quite well, but not very well with things you have little or no experience with. Write down the style and subject matter that you want to go with. Brainstorm!

Step Three – Create something that has never existed before
Shoot something new and find your very own niche instead of duplicating successful images. Duplicating is probably the fastest way to be unpopular in microstock and because microstock agencies have forums (unlike traditional agencies), this can be highly damaging for your branding and you can get a bad reputation. Don’t do it! Be fresh, have fun with using your creativity and give the buyers something that will make them smile with surprise.

Areas in microstock that need more great photos:

• Travel photography, special places and extreme nature
• Really, really old people
• Contemporary fashion
• Policemen, military and state officials from all over the world
• Pictures of currency other than Euros and Dollars
• Aerial pictures
• Stylistic still-life in soft and low contrast colors
• Fantastic panorama shots in high quality
• Motion-blurred and lively pictures
• Artistically executed lifestyle, edgy
• Natural looking people that don’t look like microstock models

Areas in microstock that are saturated and really require fantastic work if you want to stand out

• Businesspeople (too easy to put a group of people in suits around a table)
• Isolated people on white (too easy to duplicate and too many people are shooting it)
• Anything with a laptop
• Nudes
• Spa (requires so little set-up and every model in the world wants a spa shoot)
• Medical (Too easy: a scrub and a model)
• Backgrounds and “lonely tree” kind of pictures
• Beach pictures (really too easy)

So why do I share this information with you?
Reading this, you might wonder: Why would Yuri share these secrets with me, his competition?  Well the case is this: I believe in complete information sharing. I don’t hold anything back and have no problem giving away my secrets to new photographers. This was how I was introduced to stock by my mentor and this is the mind-set I prefer. I believe there is enough out there for everyone, and when we all become excellent as a group, this simply pushes the standard higher, and there’s nothing I love more than a challenge and an opportunity to do great work. Oh, and another minor detail–you still have to do the real work yourself! I can give you a helping hand and a few good micro guides, but you will have to do the hard work on your own. Good luck and always keep learning.