Photography clients want. Top 3

 

Top 3 tips from client feedback

We like to keep our photographers up to date with trends, styles and client requirements.

As leaders in the field of creative stock photography, we often see a vast amount of images prior to a successful submission and with it, a wide array of techniques, subject matter and styles within contributor portfolios.

In addition, our International Account Managers are in constant contact with Designers, Art Directors and Picture buying businesses. In other words, we get a good feel for what the picture buying industry is looking for and of course it also varies market to market.

Book Publishing:

It’s no surprise that we lead the way within the book industry and especially the thriller market. We have always been very strong suppliers to the book publishing industry and are well known for our high profile thriller covers and have successfully provided images for all other book genres and themes. We continue to grow stronger and as such will always require more high quality imagery that crosses genres. However, we have some important notes for photographers, that will help you sell more images and create a more relevant portfolio applicable to more than one genre. Here are our 3 top tips taken from client feedback.

1. Bring the light..

Whilst it’s great to supply images that fit the thriller/horror genre, we must be careful not to supply only one style of imagery. There is a huge demand for brighter cleaner imagery also that works across many other genres. Book publishers don’t just work with horror/thriller books and neither do Arcangel. If you have a dark portfolio try to bring the light and offer some alternative styles to capture the eye both in the submission process but also for clients that will be looking at our website, our blog and all the marketing material we send to them.

2. Lay off the textures

One of the biggest comments we received was to lay off the textures. There is a place for them sometimes but in the main, we have seen a strong shift to clean imagery. We have already responded to this trend as it’s not a new one. It is however, important to share this information so we make sure we shoot in response to client demands and expectations.

3.  Don’t just shoot what you like, shoot what sells the way you like..

We all have our own personal style. Some of us like to shoot Dark and Gothic and some of us like to shoot bright, clean advertising style photography. One thing to remember is that whilst it’s great to have your own style and we welcome it, it’s also hugely important to build a portfolio of work that is saleable.

When working with stock photography buyers and stock libraries, we must remember that we should be creating work that sells, we shouldn’t be thinking about putting all of our personal work into a library in the hope that it might. This doesn’t mean that we have to become corporate robots churning out images of men with suits holding mobile phones. (although they too have their place). It means, that we look at what is selling and then think about how we can improve on it,using our own creative styles and techniques to bring a freshness and creativity that blows buyers minds.

We hope you find the top tips above useful. Keep up with the blog and follow us on Facebook to stay ahead of the curve.

 

 

 

 

Arcangel