20 stock photography ideas to help you earn income from stock photography
When digital cameras arrived on the photography scene, marketing and advertising agencies were being presented with a large and growing source of relatively cheap imagery for use in commercial projects for their clients.
The history of stock photography
Stock photography has been around since the 1920’s however, now gone are the days when agencies and their clients would exclusively pay photographers and graphic designers to produce a large proportion of their advertising imagery. From around the year 2000, a larger and growing percentage of ready-made marketing material could be purchased through stock photography agencies.
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Economic opportunities in stock photography
More and more photographers and graphic designers could see an economic opportunity in creating stock photography imagery for use by commercial marketing and advertising agencies. Income is earned through a royalty payment to the contributor each time their image is downloaded by the stock photography agency’s client. The more downloads a contributor has, the more royalties can be earned.
In the beginning
In the early 2000s the number of stock photography agencies and the number of images available were limited. This meant that photographers and designers could almost guarantee to be able to earn an income through quality images. As the years went by more and more stock photography agencies emerged, and so did the number of contributors!
Stock photography today
Where once there were tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands of images available, today there are hundreds of millions of stock photo images available for purchase. This has driven down the price paid to contributors and has also made it harder for creatives to earn an income through stock photography due to the sheer number of images available.
Stock video
Stock video is a much younger genre of stock imagery. Although stock video has been around since the 1980’s it has really taken off markedly since the advent of high-quality video equipment around the 2010s and remains another avenue of income for stock creatives.
Read more about the genre of stock photography on our dedicated stock photography genre page.
Earning income from stock photography in an over saturated market
So, how do you earn an income through stock photography in an over saturated market? The answer is to get creative, be unique in your field and keep up with commercial advertising and marketing trends! Stock imagery is not just exclusive to photography, these images regularly include elements of graphic design from small elements right up to one hundred per cent graphic design images. So learning Photoshop and Illustrator or other photo editing and design applications will help you immensely during the endeavour of earning an income through stock photography.
Stock photography best sellers
Finding the right stock photography best sellers can vary depending on current design trends and cultural changes in society. Some of the current popular trends in stock photography include:
Business and Entrepreneurship Concepts
Stock images of business settings, business people, office environments, and imagery related to financial concepts.
Technology
Images of modern technology and devices, including smartphones, laptops, and other digital devices.
Lifestyle
Stock images of people in different situations and lifestyles, including travel, fitness, and leisure activities.
Food and Drink
Images of various foods, drinks, and culinary experiences.
Healthcare
Images of medical professionals, patients, and healthcare-related concepts.
Education
Images of students, teachers, and educational environments.
Animals and Pets
Images of animals, including pets and wildlife.
Sports and Fitness
Images of athletes, sports equipment, and fitness-related concepts.
Trends
Stock photography trends are a constantly-moving beast! Keeping up with changes in trends, topics and current affairs is vital.
Graphics
Images that are entirely computer generated are popular. If you have the graphic design skills that can be a genre to try and create unique concepts.
20 stock photography ideas
We have a list of twenty stock photography ideas you can try.
- Conceptual Business Photos: Businesses are always looking for imagery that will showcase their products or services, so illustrating business or entrepreneurship concepts in a creative way through your stock photography, such as a person standing on top of a mountain holding a briefcase can assist them in achieving their goals.
- Aging: With the world’s populating aging, concept images of aged care, aged people enjoying their retirement and the like will be a good and growing avenue to explore.
- Food Photography: Create a uniquely styled food scene using natural foods and health dishes. Include raw ingredients, herbs, spices and edible plants in the scene and in the finished dishes.
- Lifestyle Photography: Showcase different lifestyles in a creative way, including health, travel, fashion, fitness, and hobbies. Examples are gym workouts, family-time scenes and those very sought-after influencer-types of images of travelers in natural and beautiful settings. You may have these in your collection already if you have attempted social influencing already!
- Environmental Portraits: Capture people in a natural environment, such as at work or carrying out work and play in their daily lives. Climate change concepts are current and can be a good avenue to explore.
- Cityscapes and Architecture: Stock images that are high-quality and that show cities and buildings, including both traditional and modern architecture can be sought-after. Just be aware that you will likely need approval from the building owner to be able to use identifiable architecture.
- Creative Still Life: Everyday items arranged in a creative and visually appealing way.
- Conceptual Art: Concepts are always in demand. Try creating the new realm of conceptual art by creating images that lean more towards an abstract and artistic style. Create sock images by using colors, shapes and lines that convey a culture, current affair, emotion or message.
- Creative Textures: Capture and design textures of different materials in a way that is visually interesting. For example macro and close-up images of wood grain or metal textures and surfaces.
- Travel Photography: Travel destinations can be popular, so try to take images that are not from just tourist angles, but from out-of-the-way and unusual locations. There are only so many of the same images stock photography agencies will accept. Create high-quality images of various unusual travel destinations and cultural experiences.
- DIY: Concepts related to the do-it-yourself (DIY) industry is an avenue to research and explore. The DIY industry is big business, and concepts and visualizations related to this industry may be popular.
- Medical and Healthcare: Images of medical professionals and healthcare equipment, including hospitals, clinics, and laboratories. These may be difficult to obtain, however if you know someone in the healthcare industry or are working in it yourself it may be easier to finalize a concept that you have thought of
- Mental Health: Mental health is a growing concern across the world at the moment. Explore concepts in mental health by capturing and creating images that convey the concept of mental health.
- Education and Learning: High-quality images of students and teachers, including classrooms, libraries, and educational materials.
- Minimalist Stock Photography: Although minimalist photography falls generally within the realm of art, simplistic and clean images of products or concepts can be effective in conveying a message. Everyday objects arranged neatly on a flat surface, with elements of graphic design can be useful.
- Macro Photography: Capture the intricate details of manufactured items such as computer parts or natural objects, such as textures of rocks and stones.
- Pets and Animals: Capture images of animals and pets in a creative and visually appealing way, such as close-ups or action shots.
- Family and Children: Excellent-quality images of families and children, including portraits and candid moments.
- Sports and Fitness: Capture athletes and fitness enthusiasts in action, including both outdoor and indoor sports and concepts related to this genre.
- Products and Goods: Create quality images of various products, including both simple and complex ones.
What type of stock photography will be rejected?
Before venturing too deep into the realm of stock photography, learn and be aware of contributor guidelines with regards to what you can and cannot submit as stock photography to stock photography agencies.
You are unlikely to have images approved for inclusion in a stock photography’s listings that contain these concepts;
- Likeness of or actual trade-marked items
- Logos
- Custom designs
- Alcohol
- Tobacco
- Drugs
- Illegal activity
- Adult content
- Racism
- Copyrighted items, locations and structures
- Imagery that has already been covered innumerable times such as flags, flowers and abstracts
Stock photography contributor requirements and agreements
Stock photography agencies usually have specific types of images they are looking for. It may be business concepts, current affairs, climate or environment. Explore some of the requirements and agreements of each of the agencies below. This will help you gain an understanding of what you can and cannot submit as a contributor;
Other legals
The LawTog have a stock photography agreement bundle for stock photography sellers and contributors.