This weekend I’m in St. George, Utah attending an iStockphoto event. We had one location with three different sets to photograph … so far things are going great! I go into these events with a “no expectation” policy. I obviously like to come home with great images, but since a lot of the specifics of what we shoot is unknown until we show up to the location, and so I just like to “go with the flow”. So far I’ve gotten some good stuff, and we still have a full day of shooting tomorrow. :) More tk …

A friend of mine spotted one of my images used on the United States Postal Service website today. Pretty cool! Thanks Sam :)

Here’s another image from the SLC Library iStock photo shoot. It’s 100% natural light, and I took a quick photo w/ my iphone to show the scene a little bit better. There are windows directly to the left that were flooding the area with light … this type of lighting is what I try to achieve when creating stock images with strobes. Fortunately for me I’ll soon have a studio with wall-to-wall windows so I’ll have this same light at my disposal whenever I want. :)

When I choose images to upload to my stock portfolio on iStockphoto, I do my best to not upload images that are too similar. Sometimes (in the eyes of the inspector) I do, and those images don’t go through … but my philosophy is that if I can see something significantly different in the image then I will upload it. My guess is that if a designer likes the look of an image (the model, setting, subject, lighting, etc.) but are looking for a composition or element in an image then it’s always better to include as many variations as possible.

The two images above are an instance where I made my own judgment call and was wrong. In March 2008, almost two full years ago, I uploaded the image on the left. I had assumed that the other image, the one on the right, was too similar to the one on the left because the only difference was that the boy is in focus on the first image, so I figured that would be more “sellable”. I also assumed that one of the images would have been rejected for being “too similar”, and so I picked the one that I like the best.

Fast-forward 1.5 years to September 2009 when I received and email from a designer who absolutely loved the image on the left but wondered if I had the same shot with the baby chick in focus. After going through my old files I was able to assure him that yes, I did, and I even edited it and uploaded it to iStock for him to download. If he had not emailed me then it’s possible that he would have moved on to find a different image that maybe wasn’t exactly the one he wanted but worked for his design, and I would have lost a sale.

Because I shoot stock and don’t work with art directors or designers who have a precise idea in mind for how they want the image to look then it’s up to me to think of what potential buyers might want. I do my best to shoot from as many angles as possible and also include/exclude things in the images to give as several options to the buyers. So my question to all the designers out there who use photographs in their designs is … how much variety do you want to see? Do you want several variations to choose from, or would you prefer that the photographer only selects their favorites (which might mean only a handful of photos from each shoot)?

Please feel free to leave your comments below … gaining insight from people who actually search for and use images on websites like iStockphoto.com is very valuable information and usually ends up helping out both the photographers and the designers. IMO win-win scenarios are always the best outcomes. :)

Click here to view the Design Spotlight page on iStockphoto

I found this image in use through a Google Alert today … here’s a link to the original image on iStock, and a link to the website it was found on. :)

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L lens, 1/125th sec @ ƒ/8, ISO-100

I’m getting near the end of my back-log of stock photos to edit. The photo above is a sample from a shoot I did a few months ago, and I still have a handful of images left to edit from a previous shoot as well. My goal is to have 5,000 files in my iStockphoto portfolio by the end of the year. I have enough photos to edit and upload, and I definitely shouldn’t have any trouble finding the time to get them all uploaded over the holidays. No time-off for Nicolesy Photography this year! ;)

I’m really looking forward to next year, when I have a clean-slate and can allow myself to shoot all of those ideas crammed in my head. I have such a long-list of stock-photo ideas, and I plan on tackling them one-by-one throughout the year to build my portfolio. I’ll probably keep up with the food photography, too, and maybe even find a few other things to keep me busy as well. :)

Nikon D200, Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, 1/250 sec @ f/11, ISO 100

This weekend I’ve been pushing to edit a bunch of images I have sitting on my computer, most of them back-logged from earlier in the year and I’m finally taking the time to finish them and get caught up with my work. I still have quite a ways to go (more than 300 images still to edit and upload) but hope to have them all done in the next few months. My goal is to have over 5,000 images in my iStockphoto portfolio by the end of December.

This is one set of three images I thought was so cute … I really miss this little girl and her brother! They are the children of my good friend who I knew while I was in the Navy, and they just loved being photographed. (I have a whole collection of their images here in my iStock portfolio.)

Wow, it’s been a busy week, but I thought I’d sneak in at least one blog post before the weekend. :)

I was notified by iStockphoto about an image of mine in use (the designer submitted it to the “Design Community” section on iStock). They used several photos but it was cool to see that they used one of mine at the very top of the website.

Click here to view the original design, and here to see the design on iStockphoto.com.