Advertising agencies, designers, filmmakers and other creatives look for compelling visuals on stock platforms every day. Seize the opportunity to develop your own personal brand by creating content you feel reflects the world today.
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Making stock work for you
Stock is an opportunity to develop your craft and creative pulse. As you work, remember to regularly submit new content to stock platforms, as the frequency of uploads plays a part in your visibility. Creating a regular workflow will install a work ethic into your creative process.
Keep an eye on what content stock platforms highlight to gain an understanding of what content resonates with their audience. Stock trends are a true reflection of what the market consumes so by observing them, you can learn what people want and how you can put your individual twist on it to help develop your own personal brand.
What type of photos are most suitable for stock?
Photograph everyday scenarios
Buyers are searching for beautiful, but most of all relatable and authentic images that speak to their audience. Everyday life situations can better reflect a visual language that the audience understands.
Display diversity and inclusion
Images that showcase real people from a variety of cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds are well perceived. Family or friends can be great models!
Create for global events
Photos reflecting current events are important to give discussions a visual meaning. With the recent pandemic, we’ve seen a range of new topics emerge. What subjects are shaping global communication?
Be ahead of important dates
Clients create their seasonal campaigns weeks before events and therefore need specific content in advance. Uploading your images several weeks ahead an important date is a good tip!
Keep space for copy
Whether you are producing or selecting content, don’t forget to consider negative space. Clients often search for content options that leave room for text inclusion and that can be used on presentations, online advertising, videos, and more.
Think about the commercial potential and industry fit
Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. How would they interpret or use your images? Understanding how a photograph might tell a story in a certain niche or industry can give you important insights into what might sell and to whom.
Take advantage of the review process
While many might see the content review process as a burden, there is huge value in having your images screened by a trained moderation team. It can help you understand how to improve and submit work that has the best chance for success.
Tips to submit work successfully are:
- Keep the main subject in focus
- Correct excessive noise
- Avoid over- or underexposure
- Avoid multiple submissions of identical content
- Comply with the contributor guidelines
- Provide model releases and property releases
- Avoid IP issues
- Include model’s ethnicity in keywords to help customers find diverse content in the collection
Master the keyword process
Buyers find your work through keywords. Adobe Stock’s auto-keyword tool suggests up to 25 keywords for you content, which makes the process easier. However, you should still review these and adjust if necessary — keeping the words a customer would use for search in mind.
Some important factors to remember would be:
- Order the keywords by importance
- Choose titles that are concise — 70 characters maximum is ideal
- Include all the important keywords from the title as keywords for an extra “bump” in search relevance
- The title and the first 10 keywords have more weight than others
- Use keywords composed of one word instead of expressions
- Stick to one language
- Be sure to spell check
Contributor Insights | Eugenio Marongiu
Eugenio Marongiu is a Cherrydeck member and Adobe Stock contributor from Milan, Italy. Authenticity is key to all his work.
When photographing people and lifestyle, the human figure is at the center of his projects. He is enthusiastic about knowing new personalities, new realities, and telling stories through his work.
Tips on how to choose the right images by Eugenio Marongiu
“Follow trends. The beautiful photo as an end in itself in this market does not make sense. It must have a usability given by the market demand.”
“Invest. In 2021 it doesn’t make sense to create images without an adequate investment in location, models, props, assistants, equipment. Improvisation is not a good thing in this market.”
“Be original. Being inspired is fundamental but copying will never give you the uniqueness needed to stand out and get interesting results.”
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