Author Topic: Shutterstock Article: What are Buyers Looking For? (Read 5812 times)

Adeptris · « **on:** July 24, 2009, 02:03 »

Shutterstock have published a new article on what buyers want, it has many of the same views that were in the PhotoShelter article with the same name.

More natural images seems to be the theame, when PhotoShelter had this idea it did not filter down to the inspectors and many of the images the submitters shot with the article in mind were rejected.

just interested in a general discussion if you have a diverse portfolio and have seen a changed in what is being accepted?

David

Phil · « **Reply #1 on:** July 24, 2009, 04:52 »

interesting, seeing that as far as landscape and nature goes, ss likes the oversaturated and unnatural. For a long time at the bottom of the submission email was the message of why dont you have a look at the best sellers and get ideas etc, which a lot people took as go copy the stuff that is selling. now they are saying not to

I would be interested to see how many sales some of those images have that they used as examples, in particular the little girl and the guy fishing. Not that they are bad shots, I just dont see them pulling a lot of sales on SS.

Adeptris · « **Reply #2 on:** July 24, 2009, 05:40 »

Quote from: Phil on July 24, 2009, 04:52

I would interested to see how many sales some of those images have that they used as examples, in particular the little girl and the guy fishing. Not that they are bad shots, I just dont see them pulling a lot of sales on SS.

Phil,
I would agree there is limited use for the samples, would you upload them to earn $0.25 - $0.38 or would you target Direct Sales, Alamy, Midstock or some of the new more Arty style websites and collections that will pay a much higher revenue.

Quote

Through multiple venues of customer interaction, including at tradeshows, in emails, phone calls and more, Shutterstock clients continuously request “more natural feeling” images -- photos that convey an idea or concept without the stiff and overly-posed characteristics held by much of today’s stock.

While handshakes and studio-lit business shots are fine for certain situations, we would like to see photographers supplement their galleries with more shots conveying the idea of spontaneity. We want to be less aware of the presence of the photographer in your images and more focused on the photograph itself.
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Read design and photography magazines. Industry magazines such as Communication Arts, Creative Review and Photo District News (PDN) publish “photo annuals” that showcase some of the best photography over a wide range of categories, including stock, editorial, commercial, and personal to name a few.

If the buyers are requesting this style of image they would already be purchasing from other traditional or niche agencies and going forward from microstock collections like Istock Vetta, and paying quite a bit more than a few credits, so yes it would be good for Shutterstock and the Buyers but what about the artists?

I.M.H.O. it looks like Shutterstock want to add some diversity to thier library at the artists expense, this would be the production, preperation and upload time to capture a small number of downloads, as the style of images they are requesting are more suited to macrostock, midstock and RM collections rather than microstock libraries, as these will not be multi-downloaded big sellers, as an artist you would be looking for more than $0.25 - $0.38, even more than for an EL licence, if an image has a narrow market appeal and limited use you need to maximise the revenue, possibly with a RM license to capture any recurring use, regardless of the production cost, the value of an asset is weakened by similars where the image is harder to find a premium is in order.

David

Phil · « **Reply #3 on:** July 24, 2009, 06:15 »

I think you are right, the challenge will be getting the reviewers to accept it

also think it is not just ss, similar messages keep coming through, more natural, less posed, more travel, more creative... more like the macrostock and more of the macro market, images that are harder, slower and more expensive to produce.

I have a number of images that shouldn't be on micros, unfortunately so do thousands of other people as part of that learning process. I have been building collections this year of stuff for the macro market, but I see more and more the push for the gap in styles and topics to be closed and really wonder how long the macro market (especially macro rf) will survive in any real viable form and whether I am better off just dumping on the micros and earn $5-$10 a year on it. The lack of real info and barriers to get into the macro stuff, really make that decision hard

I think Vetta at least got some people thinking that perhaps some images are worth more than micro prices, i like to see others (including ss) take it on board and build midstock collections.

Phil · « **Reply #4 on:** July 24, 2009, 06:27 »

last submission I did 21/6/09 still had

Be sure to have a look at the top 50 photos and top 100 keywords for more ideas

also thought it ironic that the 'popular images' on the email (and when you click it on the site) is not of the style suggested

massman · « **Reply #5 on:** July 24, 2009, 06:30 »

Quote from: Phil on July 24, 2009, 06:15

I think Vetta at least got some people thinking that perhaps some images are worth more than micro prices, i like to see others (including ss) take it on board and build midstock collections.

I think this is without question the way forward.

etienjones · « **Reply #6 on:** July 24, 2009, 07:22 »

The new set up at FP is tending in that direction, they now are at the beginning of building a Macro (Mid) collection, . . . . . also RM.

We will see.

melastmohican · « **Reply #7 on:** July 24, 2009, 11:00 »

Bla, bla, bla, every agency says think out of the box then reviewers compare with what sells and it's just pure waste of time for contributors.

gbalex · « **Reply #8 on:** July 24, 2009, 13:58 »

SS has been making numerous policy changes. It makes you wonder what is going on behind the scenes.

Now a shift toward “more natural feeling” images. It makes you consider just who is actually asking for these changes.

Personally I think they are headed in the right direction and as mentioned earlier in this thread; the addition of a higher quality collection would be a positive change.