Taking Pictures That Sell: People

If you want to take pictures that sell very well - particularly in
stock photography portfolios - you need to be taking pictures with
people in them.

People add variety, interest, and unique perspectives to pictures.
Even if you take a picture of something others have taken pictures of
millions of times before, if yours has people in it, it will be unique.

Consider: How many ways can you take a picture of an apple? And yes,
apples can say a wide variety of things: Nutrition, healthy eating,
fruit, food, hunger... all sorts of things. But if you add a person to
that picture, you open a whole new world of possibilites. And by
opening those possibilities, you have a much better chance of selling
your picture more often, to more people, and possibly for more money.

If you're starting a stock photography portfolio, here are three ideas
that work very well with people in the photo.

1. Business concepts. Creating business oriented stock photos can
create excellent income for you. And business concept photos sell best
when people are involved. You could simply have stock photos of people
in business suits, or you could have people in business situations too
- at a desk, with a laptop, or standing in front of an office building
for instance.

2. Health and Fitness concepts. Stock photos of fitness equipment or
fitness concepts sell well by themselves, but they sell much better
when people are involved. Create stock photos with people on fitness
machines for instance, or people in exercise cloths. You could also
create stock photos with people get their blood pressure taken, using
an insulin glucose meter, or simply eating healthy foods.

3. People doing things. Yes this sounds generic, and that's actually a
fantastic thing. People doing almost anything will sell nicely in a
stock photography portfolio. You could have photos of people swimming,
jumping, laughing, hugging, crying, talking, eating, sleeping and more.

So there you have it. Three ways to start incorporating people photos
into your stock portfolio, and making much better money with your
stock photos.

For additional information on stock photography with people, please
see this followup article: "<A
HREF="http://www.stocktography.com/Model-Releases.php ">Stock
Photography of People: Model Releases</A>"

&copy; 2006, Kathy Burns-Millyard. Visit The Free Online Guide to
Stock Photography at http://www.Stocktography.com