Great Escape Publishing

Posted September 6th, 2012 by Bonnie Caton & filed under Travel Photography.

How saleable are the photos that you like to shoot most? Let’s find out. 1.Get out a piece of paper and a pencil. 2.Write down your top five favorite things to photograph. 3.Now, go to a stock photo agency website, such as iStock.com, and search for each of the things you wrote down, one at a time. I’m willing to bet that no matter what you wrote down, there’s a booming market for your favorite photo subjects. That’s the great thing about selling your photos as stock… there’s a buyer for just about everything. Bonnie, here, creator of the Breakfast Stock Club, where we talk about selling our photos online as stock. I asked Breakfast Stock Club readers what they like to shoot most, then I took their responses and did a search on iStock.com to find out how well each of their niches sells… ** From Kathleen Salai Howell: I seem to be doing well shooting food. This simple salad photo has sold over 5,700 times — which means that the photographer has likely made more than $5,700 from this one shot! Yes, food is definitely a big stock niche. ** From Mary McLean: I love to take close up photos of the flowers in my garden. Yes, there are already a lot of flower shots out there already, but if you do them right, close-up shots of flowers can still be very successful stock images. This one has sold over 400 times on iStock — which means it’s likely made well over $400. ** From Rosi Berry: Nature… especially birds. This momma duck with her ducklings in tow has sold over 300 times. ** From Karen Padilla: Animals – especially dogs. This dog catching a Frisbee has sold over 100 times. Not bad for a fun photo of your pup. From Paul Heser: Night shots and action shots. This classic night shot of Nashville has sold over 700 times! What does your town look like at night? From Elizabeth Coughlan: Paris taught me to love people shots, although I also like travel and tourism ones. People photos and travel photos both sell very well as stock. Combine the two and now you have a super niche. This photo has sold over 3,700 times. Not sure what you like to shoot? Don’t worry, you can sell your photos as stock whether you have a niche or not. The trick is knowing what kinds of photos sell… and how to take photos that are technically perfect. And that just comes down to practice. [Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel. Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]