Image Categorization
Many image buyers browse through categories on ShutterPoint looking for the desired image, which is why it’s important to keep images in relevant categories. How would you feel if you see beef in the dry cereals section at the supermarket? Yum!
ShutterPoint allows up to three categories per image. If you do not select categories, your image will be placed in the very broad “General” category. Please review descriptions for each of the categories in this section: http://www.shutterpoint.com/Learn-Selling.cfm#cat. Keep our site organized and assign categories that are relevant to your images.
Keywording
So, you're uploading your image to ShutterPoint, and now it's time to type in those keywords, you quickly type in a few words and you're all set - your image is up for sale! It’s very understandable that you just want to get it out there, but if you’re serious about making money from your images, consider that assigning the right keywords is just as important as the quality of your image.
In order for the image buyer to consider your images, he or she has to be able to find it. It's a whole lot easier to find the image when relevant keywords are assigned to it. Many image buyers come straight to ShutterPoint and use our search tool to find images. Consider that there are two similar images - the one that has better keywording is more likely to be found and purchased. For example if someone is looking for an image of a child sticking out his or her tongue, they would probably type in "child and tongue" and get this set of images. Unfortunately, this image is not part of the search result - because it wasn't keyworded correctly (at the time of this writing).
In addition to internal searching, image buyers use the major web search engines to find the image they need. Again, correct caption and keywording are extremely important. Lets look at the following example:
Someone needs a photo of Ama Dablam (mountain in the Himalaya of eastern Nepal). The person goes to Google Product Search website and simply types in "Ama Dablam photo." The search results show thumbnails of photos and links to where they can be obtained.
(Google search results may vary on different computers or at different times.)
The reason images from ShutterPoint come up in the search result is because many photographers provide specific and detailed keywords for their images. ShutterPoint images are indexed by various search engines every day and if your images are described by relevant keywords, they will be discovered by anyone who is looking for them.
Now that you are convinced that keywording is extremely important, here are some pointers for proper keywording:
- Image title is a great start point for assigning keywords
- Geographical location of the photo may be stated
- Describe Items/people in the photo
- Describe colors/shapes/forms in the photo
- If photo was taken in not-English-speaking country, name items in language of that country
- Describe concept or idea portrayed in photo
- Avoid conjunctions and prepositions like "and," "or," "of," "a," "the"
- Misspellings of your keywords may also be used as additional keywords
Staying current
Nowadays, almost everyone has a digital camera and it is just a matter of time when more and more people will look through their digital images and notice a photo that is different from their loads of family and pet photos - an interesting photo - something that could possibly sell? The stock photography market is becoming increasingly competitive, with photo enthusiasts entering the market and competing with professional photographers.
Do you have what it takes to constantly produce quality images with the potential to sell? Sure you do! Try these when you are out of ideas:
- What is on your mind these days? Whatever it is, try to capture it, or the concept of it, in an image
- What is the latest and greatest gadget now? Capture the benefit of this gadget in an image
- If you live near a rare nature attraction that is fascinating to you, go and photograph it
- Take the most simple objects of everyday life and capture them in an unusual way
- Photograph people when they are doing what they enjoy most
Discover your competitive edge or your niche specialty and keep your imagery collection current!
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