Hey all,

I've been working on my microstock photography for about a month and have close to 50 pictures on fotolia. Once I get my numbers higher I plan to start submitting photos to other sights as well. I'm having some trouble being able to find places where I could make some good micro stock photos and was looking for suggestions. I have my friends to photo but they are only available and willing to help out occasionally. I've yet to ask a stranger to sign a model a release, think I should start asking? Any places you could suggest would be appreciated. I'm a graduate school student and work part time. This gives me a lot of free time to take photos. I would like to try and turn this into a full time job but can't imagine how to fill a 40 hour work week of just taking photos, editing, and uploading? Suggestions greatly appreciated!!!

It's great that your friends are willing to help! So far I have also only done model releases for people I know, and family of course. I think that the key is to shoot photos of them in different situations, where they do different things, either everyday activities, or perhaps sports, or just interacting with each other. If your friends or family can do this, it can be a great start. Later, they usually appreciate if you tell them you sold their photo at least they can say they have done some modeling
Perhaps, a good place of approaching people you don't know would be in places where you think they have already seen you, that is, where you are not a complete stranger. For example, your university, gym, or any place where you are seen on a regular basis. Just my two cents...

EDIT: I forgot to mention, since you already have pictures ready and uploaded to Fotolia, you might as well start uploading to other sites as well. You can benefit from learning about each sites details, in terms of taste for images, and how they are done. I can see that you already know about FTP clients that let you upload to multiple sites, and that makes it much easier.

I absolutely agree that professional models are better than family and friends. I guess it all depends whether paying for them makes economical sense at a particular moment. For someone who is just starting in stock photography, and perhaps learning the ropes, it might not make  sense to pay for models until they getting enough experience and confidence to do so. I am saying this assuming that's the case for Klapamos. If I'm wrong about that, Klapamos, I apologize.

It's great that you already have the lighting taken care of. You can even build a site yourself using some online website tools.

I sent you a private message.

I'm having some trouble being able to find places where I could make some good micro stock photos and was looking for suggestions.
... I would like to try and turn this into a full time job but can't imagine how to fill a 40 hour work week of just taking photos, editing, and uploading? Suggestions greatly appreciated!!!

You need to sit down with some magazines and brainstorm by yourself.  Many, many people have no problems coming up with plenty of ideas, and have the means or the foresight to hire models or buy equipment at this point.  You need to figure out what your expectations are and how to get there, especially if you want this to be a full time job, but you can't see yourself doing it full time.  There's a big world out there, and you need to be creative enough to see parts of it uniquely.

Rather than making the generic imagery you've done so far, you might consider exploring and exploiting the unique environment you have access to. If I was a graduate student I'd be shooting stuff that had a university/college/education/research/science angle to it. Although I haven't explored this arena, I'm under the impression that it's relatively weak.

I guess I am the odd one out here.  I prefer to work exclusively with friends, family, and referrals from friends/family. 

Although this has turned into a good income stream for me, I still do it mostly for fun. Working with people I have a personal connection with makes it an enjoyable experience for me and for them, and IMO results in better pictures.  When this stops being fun I suspect it will also stop being profitable.

I am very careful to explain the model release and the possible uses of their images, but so far have been lucky that there has not been a use that anyone objected to.  The only remotely embarrassing use is one beautiful mature woman who was used in an article talking about "cougars", but she has a great sense of humor and was flattered young guys thought of her as sexy enough to illustrate their point. 

I also have been paying my most successful models for a couple of years.  They may not have started out pro, but they have certainly developed to pro level, and deserve to share in the success of their images. 

 

This thread has got me thinking now; perhaps I'm not being specific enough in telling models how their images may be used.  Up to this point I've only said that they could be used for commercial purposes, but that the buyer may not "defame" the model.  So what should I be telling them, exactly?  How detailed do you get?  What do you all tell your models?