HNC Stock-review task

Unit title: Photography: Image Editing1 and Photography: Location Stock,

Unit code: DW89 34 and DW86 34
Tutors – Keith Brame, (Neil Sinclair and Allan McGregor)

Review task

Hand-in: Easter break

You have been shooting a series of projects for submission to a stock photography library, ‘Travelogue’.

Shooting stock successfully is a professional skill that requires an understanding of the visual style required, plus a clear grasp of photographic technique and an ability to deliver work to precise technical specifications. These skills are only built up by shooting regularly, and by constantly investigating the market for stock photography.

In your own words, write a short essay that explains stock photography, by answering the following questions:

What is stock photography? http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/06/what-is-stock-photography.html

What is the visual style and production quality of stock?

Who buys stock?

What is editorial photography, what is the visual style associated with documentary or photo-journalistic photography? How is it different from lifestyle or commercial stock photography?

Looking through Photoshelter’s photographers, find 3 examples of photo-journalistic/editorial style photography and 3 examples of lifestyle or commercial stock photography.

Are Model Release forms necessary? When would model release forms not be required?

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/06/model-and-property-releases-in.html

What basic retouching tasks in Photoshop do you need to understand to submit pictures for stock?

http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/image-retouching-techniques.asp

What is the difference between Royalty Free and Rights Managed?

http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/image-licences.asp

Why are captions and keywords important? What information do you put in a caption?

http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/captions-keywords-descriptions.asp

What technical guidance do these libraries offer to photographers? What do they expect of you? Look at Alamy’s guidelines for photographers:

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography-guide.asp

What file types and file sizes do they expect?

From the list of stock libraries I have provided, or from your own research, identify four agencies that you think might take your ‘location stock’ project pictures.

Include a side-by-side comparison of your pictures and theirs. Compare the subject and content, composition style, colour, focus, depth of field and technique. Four of your pictures compared with four of theirs would be adequate.

What file types and file sizes do they expect?

http://www.trevillion.com/

http://www.alamy.com/

http://www.scottishviewpoint.com/

www.loopimages.com/

http://creative.gettyimages.com

http://www.creativeeyecoop.com/

http://library.mira.com/

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/editorial/frontdoor/redferns

Also look at Tim Gander’s blog:

http://timgander.wordpress.com/