This is the first in what I’m planning will be a regular theme of posts under the category of ‘exposure’. Each post will look at one image, the idea being to obviously give the photo and its creator some www exposure while at the same time providing some insight into the ideas behind the image, the process of creating it and its success, or otherwise since. I say creator because while the bulk of the featured images will inevitably be mine I’m open to receiving contributions from other photographers, indeed this might be considered the second exposure post after Maurice’s excellent Maori.

The images disected under exposure won’t be exclusively stock images either as I, and hence this blog, am moving increasingly into other areas of photography for profit.

So, without further ado, the first (or second) image.

This is a fairly obvious conceptual shot illustrating success, skill, achievement etc. It’s a very simple image which I think is often the approach that works best for stock photos that need to communicate the intended message at a quick superficial glance. It is a shot you’ll find multiple variations of at virtually any general stock agency being easy to produce and perenially popular. I can’t claim mine is amongst the best necessarily but it has sold consistently since creation and continues to do so. I put this success down, in part to its graphic simplicity and also the fact it was a relatively early submission into the microstock marketplace. There is no doubt it is harder to get started and achieve a good return in microstock now than it was five or so years ago. When I submitted this image it faced a lot less competition and was able to build a good sales record which still helps it gain exposure and sales to date on most of the sites it is available on.

It was shot in 2005 with my first digital camera, an Olympus c5060. At the time this humble 5.1 megapixel tool was one of the better prosumer compacts on the market. Having been paid off by this image alone mine is still in occasional use as a carry around and family camera. I’m a big believer in less is often more in megapixel terms and think the output from this camera is often better than from newer models which try to push out more pixels from similarly small sensors. I used the c5060′s combination of a wide zoom, decent close focusing and vari-angle screen to shoot the toy dart board. It was simply lit with diffused natural light from a large window and some paper reflectors bouncing some light back to keep things evenly balanced.

At the time I shot this I was just embarking on something of a fresh start in stock photography with digital capture. Previously I’d only really shot travel material with my trusty OM SLRs and a bargain basement Lubitel TLR. I submitted to one agency, Travel Ink, who have recently had a big clear out of the old transparencies and rebranded as Latitude Stock. The remnants of my film travel stock days can be seen here. So this image is representative, for me, of several simultaneous shifts in that I started shooting other stuff, with different gear and submitted to multiple different agencies in a new sector of the market. Had I not embraced all those changes I suspect I wouldn’t still be producing fresh stock images now.

While the lifestyle of travelling to new and exotic locations to shoot images for stock is obviously appealing it isn’t viable for many. This image demonstrates it is possible to create saleable stock photos without even leaving your home and with minimal gear. It may not be as glamorous but it is certainly a lot easier to make a profit when expenses are kept to a minimum.