Christmas Stock

I had another session with Rachael yesterday. First we headed over to the bus garage to take pictures of her in her school uniform as if she were getting on and off the bus. Then her older brother joined us for some Christmas pictures. The local hardware store was kind enough to let us take pictures in front of one of their fire place displays. We are planning on doing a few more pictures upstairs on Friday where they have lots of Christmas decorations for sale. (The last picture was taken upstairs next to one of their display trees.)

Her mom has lots more ideas - so this model will be keeping me plenty busy! :)

Featured Light Box

I just discovered that the above photo is in the Fall Lightbox over at Shutterstock. This featured lightbox is on their front page and having a photo in it translates to lots of extra attention and sales! Not only is it selling better because of this exposure, but my gallery is getting extra exposure/sales as well. Pretty cool!!! My understanding is that it stays in the featured lightbox for the entire month - YAY!!!!!! I've been shooting stock now for just over a year and I feel like I'm just beginning to catch on to what makes a good stock photo. I still have lots to learn - but I've made progress in just the last couple of months! If anyone would like any tips on getting started feel free to email me at fotoimpact@verizon.net.

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To start making money with your photos by clicking on the links below:

Istock
Shutter Stock
Dreamstime
Bigstock

Lil Pumpkin

We have had such beautiful weather! Perfect for taking pictures!!! I'm soooo glad I was able to take advantage of them. It's a little late for pumpkin pictures as far as stock goes... but I'm still hoping to get them into my stock gallery ASAP!

The Painter

New Faces to Photograph

This week I'm crazy busy photographing different models! Yesterday I had the priviledge of photographing this beautiful and talented young lady. I took her over to the park and while she sketched, I was snap happy! Hopefully I'll have several shots to add to my stock portfolio.

I love black and white and sepia pictures. I suppose it comes from my love of high contrast scenes!! While this scene is high contrast (you can see the strong lighting coming from the back and to the side of the model highlighting her hair!), I really didn't think that it would make for a good sepia picture because of the beautiful fall foliage. I thought I'd miss the color. But for whatever reason I converted it anyways (always pushing the limits!) and was pleasantly surprised that I really didn't miss the color.

This photo would have been impossible to get without the aid of either a reflector (which is what I used) or fill flash. Her face would have just been too dark - but the reflector lit it up nicely.

Tonight I have another photo shoot with a little girl from church and the tomorrow Bethany is coming over for some maternity pix! That is if she doesn't have her baby first. I told her that I would be unselfish and pray that she DOES have her baby tomorrow as it is her birthday and I think it would be the perfect birthday present for her! Don't you agree???

After I do a shoot there is still TONS of work to be done.... I will be spending many hours processing and editing all of my photos! A photographer these days had better enjoy the editing process almost as much as the photography. Thankfully I enjoy it more and more!

Lot's More Stock...

I went over to Beka's yesterday to take some more stock photos. As the girls raced away, I snapped pictures.





I've been working really hard at building up my stock portfolio and I'm seeing my sales go up, up, up! Sure hope they stay up!





Whenever I can't find people willing to model for me, I often turn to the dogs...
Or I find things around the house to take pictures of...

I can't take credit for the set up of the duck pictures. One night Heather was goofing around with her camera and took a similar shot. I asked if I could do one for stock and she graciously agreed. :)

Designers often need borders or backgrounds. I intentionally left a lot of negative space in this photo for that purpose. There's plenty of room for text!

I'd still rather be doing portraits.... but I'm paying the bills AND doing what I love best, taking photos! And I must admit it's fun watching my numbers go up. Maybe eventually I'll learn to take stock photos that I love as much as portrait and wedding photos!! I know it can be done as I have seen them, I just haven't figured it out yet.

I do have some more photo ideas in my head though that I'm pretty excited about so stay tuned!!

By the way... if anyone else is interested in getting into stock photography just click on the links below! And if you need any help getting started feel free to ask away!!!

Istock
Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Bigstock

Oh... and for those of you with artistic talent, vectors sell very well!!! Better than photographs I hear. You don't have to be a photographer to do this!!

Tis the Season...

I worked on a few more stock pictures. Christmas pictures sell year round!! But the real rush for Christmas pictures begins in August. So, I'm a bit late in getting some Christmas pictures for stock. *Sigh* I do have a few Nativity pictures that I put up last year that are selling. YAY!

Romeo wasn't too sure about posing for the camera. Or maybe it was sitting in the basket he didn't like! I'm sure he would have sat still if he had understood that we would give him a biscuit for each picture he let us take. He certainly will do just about anything for a biscuit!! I actually didn't work on it too long cuz I had to go. I will try some more tomorrow....

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As for Teena - I think I was right all along. She does not appear to be pregnant. In fact it looks like she's slimmed down again! Nipples look the same to me. Maybe it was just hormones??? haha!! We are both relieved and disappointed....

Stock

Heather asked me a while ago how I make money selling photos online... I've been attempting to write an entry on this for sometime.... But I suppose I make everything too complicated!!! For the quick, easy response, you can check out my Xanga Blog Entry which also includes a link to Shutterstock where you can learn even more!!! Heather (or anyone else!), if you are interested in pursuing this be sure to email me (go to whiterosealbums.com and use the contact us!) and I will help you get started with several different websites!

School Daze....

Can anyone relate????

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I took this series of photos for my stock gallery. Stock is a completely different kind of photo than wedding pictures and portraits. And while I don't tend to enjoy it as much as weddings and portraits, I have learned a ton from the process and I believe my photography has improved as a result. Plus, I get paid! :) Oh, and it's so fun to find one of your photos published somewhere!!! So it certainly has it's perks.