photo by guvendemir via iStock
Stock photography can add a welcome income stream for photographers. Travel stock photography is one of the more popular categories among the stock photography niches.
Since so many of us are curious about beginning to work in this type of photography, we’ve put together a short list of five travel stock photography tips to help out.
Some travel stock photography tips may surprise you, while others will be helpful reminders that benefit our other for-profit photographic endeavors. Here’s what on the agenda:
Travel Stock Photography Trends
photo by Ron and Patty Thomas via iStock
Just like everything else in our digital, online world, one of the things that stays the same in travel stock photography is that things change all the time. By changes in travel stock photography, I mean that there always seems to be some new trend that takes center stage for a while.
Please note, I don’t mean fads; trends is the important word. What’s the difference? It’s hard to cash in on an online fad. Once you actually see it saturating the online world, especially social media, it’s often already on its way out. It’s also difficult to predict fads, though if you do happen to catch a faddish wave before it breaks on shore, enjoy it!
Trends are more like a direction that image buyers are leaning towards. Some trends may last for years or months, so you may have some time to get up to speed. Inserting a person leading the viewer into a familiar view of a tourist attraction is a trend that I at first thought was a fad, but its popularity seems to have stood the test of time.
photo by ke via iStock
An important aspect of following travel stock photography trends is to watch out for an oversaturated market. That trend I mentioned in the last paragraph is a good example of that. There are so many images like that available for every imaginable tourist destination, that the chances of our image-making a sale are very small.
So, how do we find trends that we can tap into? Believe it or not, the stock photography agencies actually help us out! It’s in their best interest to increase your sales potential, since they get a cut of everything that passes through their sites. We have to do a little work for ourselves, though.
For instance, if you’re signed up as a provider for iStock by Getty Images, you can read their blog pages, such as the regularly updated Creative Trends section. Other stock agencies have similar photographer assistance. These are excellent resources to help us keep up on trends within the travel stock photography market.
Look for Unique Views
photo by tawatchaiprakobkit via iStock
Travel stock photography is an interesting genre of professional imaging. Users are always looking for certain types of images or travel destinations to illustrate, but we don’t want our images to get stuck on page 30 of the same point of view of the same place.
Looking for a unique view for our travel stock photography can sometimes be as simple as changing our angle of view or zooming with our feet. A low angle of view of a familiar place can capture attention. Really, any change from the standard eye-level view right in front of a place can greatly impact whether or not our images get chosen.
Other unique views may include not being in the same place at the same time as everyone else with their smartphone cameras.
photo by markchentx via iStock
As an example, there are so many images of Bourbon Street in New Orleans, especially during Mardi Gras. But what is 2 blocks over? What does that area look like during the fall or in the dead of winter? Are there similar sights in Galveston, Texas or near Gulf Shores, Alabama? You get the idea.
Same thought applies to other travel stock photography destinations. Big Sur, California, Windsor Castle, Sydney Opera House, Eiffel Tower, downtown Tokyo, Moab, Utah, Denver and the Rockies, New York City, and the list goes on. What else is in that area? Maybe even include the well known thing in the background, but provide a different and fresh view.
Learn More:
- How to Pack Your Camera Gear
- Be Prepared for Every Shot with this Photography Gear
- Camera Safety Tips for Your Next Trip
Be Ready for Anything in Travel Stock Photography
An opportunity for capturing a very special travel stock photography image can come up right before our eyes in a moment’s notice. Or, inspiration may suddenly strike us as we’re out photographing the city, town, beach, or forest we’re in.
Being ready can refer to our state of mind, photographically, and it can also refer to having the right gear to assist our creative state of mind. Two items I find helpful in this are a great bag solution and a compact camera mount.
Hold Fast Gear makes the Sightseer Modular Lens System that can be used as a standalone bag by itself or attached to the MoneyMaker camera harness. The Sightseer bag is crafted from waxed canvas, American Bison leather, and Aztec flannel fleece, making it excellent protection for your extra lenses and an attractive camera accessory for travelers.
With the Sightseer, you can have your other lenses, such as an ultra-wide-angle lens or a fast telephoto zoom ready to go at a moment’s notice. Sometimes that unique point of view from the previous thought can be found in a different lens choice. A fast telephoto can give you a tighter view and selective focus. Or an ultra wide lens can be placed down low for another perspective.
Using a low angle of view or finding a fresh perspective can be handled easily with a good camera mount. A very compact and highly versatile tripod alternative is the OctoPad Camera Mount. It’s a weighted disk with a ball head and it can be placed virtually anywhere. Its non-slip pad even allows it to sit securely on surfaces angled up to 45 degrees.
Another part of being ready is to look for the Defining Moment. This applies more to street photography than it might to regular travel stock photography, but it’s a good principle to use in a lot of our photography work. Several of our street photography articles discuss this idea in detail, check them out.
Try Special Techniques
photo by undefined undefined via iStock
Special techniques that may benefit our travel stock photography could include camera and lens usage, post-processing, or a combination of both.
A technique involving our camera work and post-processing is bracketing and merging HDR photography.. HDR is for much more than special effects images, it also helps tame dynamic range issues in a scene and can even remove people from crowded places. (Look for “ghosting” instructions in your post-processing instructions or other online tutorials.)
Shooting with an eye for processing in Black & White is another creative technique that has a huge potential for creating travel stock photography images that stand out. Several of the popular post-processing programs such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom have very intuitive controls for adjusting our image files into awesome B&W photographs.
Be a Critic of Your Own Travel Stock Photography
photo by mcouper via iStock
One of the hardest jobs for a professional photographer is to be our own critic. This holds true for shooting part-time as a provider of travel stock photography, too.
Many of the stock photography agencies have very specific and quite demanding standards. Our images need to be technically superb, but also artistically excellent. We may look at an image we made and remember all the good feelings about being there, but will the image stand on its own without our personal memories?
If we can look at our travel stock photography images with a truly critical eye, we will constantly be uploading excellent photographers that have a higher probability of being sold. Critical doesn’t mean being down on ourselves, but rather, viewing the images through the eyes of the realities of the travel stock photography marketplace.
The previous point about keeping up with trends in the world of travel stock photography will help us out a lot as we cull through our photos before we even try to submit them to any agency. Combine these ideas with being ready for anything and looking for fresh perspectives should greatly boost your travel stock photography success.
Learn More:
- Tips for Traveling with Photography Gear
- How To Find Your Personal Photography Style
- Essential Street Photography Tips