Getting Startedin

Stock Photography

Getting Startedin

Stock Photography

Rich LeggExclusive Contributor, iStockphotowww.LeggNet.com - www.RichLegg.com

My Background

• Trained as a portrait photographer in 80’s• Did no serious photography between 1993-2003• Discovered Flickr and Blogging• Joined iStock in December 2005

Growing with iStock

• Didn’t take seriously until March ‘07

• Signed Exclusive with 500 Images Sold

• Went Full-Time in January 2008

• Currently over 63,000 images sold

What is Needed to Begin

• Digital SLR (recommended)

• Image Editing Software

• Basic knowledge of exposure, composition and post-processing

• Patience and a thick skin

Steps to Becoming aniStockphoto Contributor

• Sign up for free account

• Fill out application

• Take a basic quiz

• Submit three sample images

Steps to Becoming aniStockphoto Contributor

• Upon acceptance, contributor can begin submitting images for consideration

• Every image is personally inspected by a paid iStock inspector to ensure it meets the required standards

Inspection Criteria

• Lack of Artifacting

• Clear Focus Point

• Good lighting

• Lack of Chromatic Aberration (Fringing)

• Not Over-Processed

• Suitable for Stock

My Steps in Editing

• Shoot in RAW

• Make Exposure Adjustments in ACR

• Remove Logos, Clean Skin, etc in PS

• Make Isolated Adjustments in PS

• High Pass Filter Sharpening

• Save as Highest Quality JPG

Subjects that Sell

• Good Looking People

• Portraying a Theme

• Everyday Events

• Unique Scenes QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

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Subjects to Avoid

• Landscapes

• Sunsets

• Grab Shots

• Your Cat (Sorry Ann)QuickTime™ and a

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Shooting Models

• I use real people and I pay them

• Everyone signs a model release

• Attractive

• Don’t look like “Models”

The Financial Side

• Base royalty is 20% of image price

• Exclusives earn up to 40%

• Gross image price varies by size

• My average gross this year: $5.75

• Paid up to weekly (min. $100)

Thank You!

• Blog: leggnet.com

• E-Mail: rich@leggnet.com

• Telephone: 801.259.3500

• Twitter: twitter.com/leggnet

• Stock Portfolio: richlegg.com