Great Escape Publishing

Posted September 12th, 2016 by Bonnie Caton & filed under Travel Photography.

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again:

If you want to sell more stock photos, it’s a good idea to pay attention to what’s in demand right now.

What are people buying, wearing, eating, drinking, and doing? What are people interested in or curious about?

Trends drive stock image sales. So if you can tap into what folks want, you’re going to be that much further ahead in the game.

Here are five ways to keep tabs on what’s trending in stock right now:

Watch the blogs. Chances are that your stock agency publishes articles full of information on what’s selling now, and what types of photos they need more of. Here’s one from Shutterstock.
Let Google help you. Did you know that Google posts lists of popular stories and search terms? You can see what’s trending within topic categories or by geographic region. This is powerful stuff.
Look at what’s selling. On many stock sites you can sort image search results by “most popular.” This is a quick way to see what’s doing well within any genre you search for.
Pay attention to media. This might be paging through magazine ads, watching your social media feeds, listening to the news, or turning on a popular TV show. Over time you’ll probably notice recurring themes that could give you ideas for stock photos.
Look at your own sales. Don’t forget to look at your stock sales data! If one particular type of photo seems to be dramatically outselling the others, try and figure out why. You’re on to something, so make more of this type of photo!

Whenever you’re stuck and not sure what to shoot, just consult any or all of the above and go make some new shots.