Yuri Arcurs a blog about selling your photos online

Styling: Pure hell, or your secret weapon?

Here goes another article about the more "in depth" considerations of a professional photographer. This article is about styling matters. 

When you plan a shoot, how much styling is involved? Do you think up an idea, hire a model (or beg a friend to come by), tell her to bring her own clothes and hope for the best? Well, if you do this and you’re really really lucky (ie: she has the right look and has her own great sense of style), you may get some decent shots. And I also recommend you buy some lottery tickets. But if that’s your habit, in reality your results are more likely to be sloppy and vague.

Canon vs. Nikon: Battle of the Titans

I recently bought a new Nikon D3X and after playing with it I’m now ready to let you know how it stacks up against the some other comparable cameras on the market, specifically the Canon 1Ds Mark III.

Today in my studio you’ll find the one Nikon D3X, three Canon 1Ds Mark IIIs, two Canon 5D Mark IIs, and one 39MP Hasselblad H3D-II. Because I’m constantly swapping between bodies, a lot of practical experience has surfaced about these cameras. Through time, trial and error, I’ve realized that each body has its own particular place to shine. I also get a lot of feedback from my assistants as to which cameras they prefer to shoot with and why.

I spy with my little eye…
How letting a little mess into your photos = sales

Successful stock images are clean, conservative and simple…right? Well, yes. And no. You can also create blockbuster images by breaking those rules. If you’re running a little low on inspiration, consider messing things up a bit.  I’ll tell you how I like to do it.
First, let’s face it: basic stock images are often bland, square, and all around vanilla. Yes, these photos have their place, but if you want to add a little spice to your portfolio, consider doing something more random and authentic. Use the I spy method and add a little mess to your pictures. I promise they will instantly stand out from the crowd.

If you’ve been reading my blog you’ve heard me talk about branding before. Branding yourself is extremely important. Today I attribute10-15% of my sales to the brand I’ve created. For me that translates into over $10,000 USD per month—have I gotten your attention yet?
Since I first wrote about the importance of branding yourself as a photographer, things in the microstock industry have changed and the concept has gotten even more important.

Why you must brand

Let’s use Shutterstock as an example. When I first wrote about branding, Shutterstock was accepting about 30,000 new images per week. This week, almost 80,000 new images were accepted. Think about that: 80,000 new images this week alone! This is an astronomical amount of new product added each week. Many people wonder if that quantity is really sustainable. The answer is yes, and I predict these image libraries will continue to grow at a breakneck pace. Like it or not, there is huge competition out there and this is just the beginning.