All good stock photographers know that even the most dynamic, engaging and saleable images will sit on a virtual shelf gathering dust if the keywords and caption applied to them isn’t detailed and accurate. Indeed, more than that, captions must contain all of the relevant information that a potential buyer might require. Captions must be brief yet comprehensive, it’s a challenging aspect of the job but it must be right.

When captioning, you have to put yourself into the position of a buyer looking for that particular image and ask “What words would I use if I were searching for this specific image”. Specific location information must, of course, be included and it’s got to be accurate. Editors won’t thank you if they run a double-page spread of a picture of a beach in cuba and tell their readers that it shows a beach in Brazil, as happened to the UK’s premier Travel mag recently. Captions must include all relevant information but including too much detail can be as damaging as not including enough.

There’s certainly an art to it and a good vocabulary combined with a grasp of conceptual keywords is an essential quality for those wishing to bring their images to the attention of potential buyers. I wouldn’t say that it’s as important a skill to develop as the photography itself - I’d say that if you ever want to market your images successfully that it’s much more important than that.

Having spent some time and energy honing my captioning and keywording skills and having agonised at length about how to get exactly the right combination of words into the Metadata in my images it was with great delight that I read this morning’s post from the Photoshelter blog.

Poor old Martin Corben is an Argentinian photographer who has a captioning style all of his own. Check out the other examples of his unique approach but this one was my favourite, Martin’s suggested caption is below.


“This I shot during a weekend getaway with my good friend Luciano. A month after this his boyfriend saw the picture and sent me the stupidest e-mail ever.”

Tags: photoshelter

I have a strategy for recording things that I want to do. It works. I'm reminded of everything.

Eventually.

Sometimes I'll just write a note in my diary, which means at the very latest I'll see it at the end of December when I look back through the year. Post-its are pretty good as I've taken to buying bright green and orange ones and I leave them where they overlap pages so they'll stick out of the pile on my desk. When I'm feeling especially technical I'll record an audio memo on my phone or take a quick snapshot with the phone's built-in camera. Taking pictures is very useful when I'm in a bookshop and see a book that I want to look for on Amazon later. The audio memos and photos are automatically synchronised with my Mac when I plug the phone in. It's very high-tech and tremendously efficient. Providing I remember to look into the sync folder.

I rarely look into the sync folder.

When I see web sites that I want to spend more time looking at later I'll drag the link onto my desktop. This is perfect because having more than five icons on my desktop sends me into an Obsessive Compulsive panic I end up going back to those pages pretty soon so that I can bin the icon. Sometimes I'll stick a note into the Google Notebook application for reviewing later and I found this morning that although it might take some time to reappear, it will come back to me eventually.

This unnecessarily long introduction was by way of explaining that I first saw an article discussing Model releases in May 2007 and copied the link into my Google Notebook for immediate inclusion into my blog. And so here we are, stretching the definition of the word "immediate".

Model releases are a tricky thing although I know that my travel images will have a greater potential market if they are accompanied by a release from the people I've photographed. I've never carried Model Release forms with me when I've photographed overseas although I have when on assignment in the UK. Perhaps it's because I know that it will often be difficult for me to give an adequate explanation of what the implications of signing the form are to my subjects and I don't want to feel that I've taken advantage. However, that's a pretty weak argument if you're taking photos anyway. I think having a local guide who can communicate effectively will help and I know that I really ought to at least carry Model Release forms with me in future.

Having said that, the piece in the article that resonated most strongly with me and which seems to fit most closely with my own approach is this discussion with Victor Englebert.

When I asked Englebert how to cope with the fact that I sometimes feel like I owe my subjects something in return for their time-and for making it possible to earn a living as a photographer-his advice was simple: "Just be nice, and they won't expect anything from you." He added that it is important to "avoid giving anything in return for the pictures you take except for a smile, a handshake or a hug, and your gratitude, otherwise it will soon become a terrible burden. If your subject is poor and has been good to you, give him or her some money, and be done with it. But don't overdo it, or soon no one will be allowed to take pictures of anyone without paying first, as is happening in many African countries."

The subject of whether or not to try to get model releases signed is a tricky one and, like most things, depends on the individual photographer's approach and especially perhaps to the style of photography. Images with a very obvious editorial feel might rarely be suitable for more commercial work anyway so perhaps the added burden of trying to get model releases is not worth the effort. I'm going to go with the "play it by ear" school of model releases in future and will ask for signatures when I can be confident that my subject understands what they're being asked to sign and why.

I've copied the article to my own site (click the read more link) in case it's ever removed from the MacTribe web site as it's a valuable piece and well worth returning to. In about a year's time probably. However, do please visit the MacTribe site to read the article in full.

Read more...

Tags: model releases

Getty Images has been sold to private equity firm Hellman and Friedman for $2.4 billion and shares in the company climbed by over 30% following the announcement.

Tags: getty

I'm not entirely sure of the significance of the news that Digital Railroad is to cut staff. Charles Mauzy, CEO, has said in a statement to stockphototalk that Digital Railroad would be concentrating more on the Marketplace feature in future. Marketplace is a recent development in Digital Railroad's history and allows members to see images directly to buyers and gives buyers a central place to buy members' images from.

It's been suggested that Digital Railroad might be saying goodbye to over 20 employees, which would be almost half of its work force. Either those people have genuinely become surplus to requirements as the company moves its focus or something more problematic is afoot. It seems strange for a company that's received so much investment and which is supposed to be rapidly growing should feel the need to shed so many staff.

Time will tell I'm sure but I'd watch this space.

Tags: digital railroad, photography

The British Journal of Photography has an interesting, albeit brief, summary of what it draws photographers to shoot travel these days. There is mention of further discussion of Travel Photography in this week's edition and although I'm not a subscriber I will look out for this issue and see what else is said.

Tags: bjp, article, tpoty, photography

I’ve been a Digital Railroad user for a while, posting my pictures to their online service and using the cataloguing features of their web site. I first met up with some of their representatives at a seminar in New York and then again later at a similar event at the Apple Store in Regent Street. There’s obviously a vision for Digital Railroad that’s been followed since the service launched, perhaps at some stage to sell out to a Getty, Corbis or similar. The recent launch of the Marketplace feature seems to tie in with that vision.

Photographers with work on Digital Railroad can now sell their work through the Marketplace. It’s good for individual photographers as we can combine our images with other photographers’ work, in what in effect has become a library. Providing there is sufficient content then I assume buyers will like it because it will offer them a one-stop shop for new images.

I’ve heard a few reports of photographers making sales through Marketplace although it’s early days (for which you can read that I haven’t had any sales through it myself). I suppose that in this day and age it’s becoming increasingly important to have what I’m told is called an “online presence” and Marketplace may well offer another string to a photographer’s bow in that sense.

Tags: digital railroad, marketing, photography

BBC Worldwide has bought a 75% share in Lonely Planet and has announced plans to put the full Lonely Planet guidebook range online in the near future.

The BBC don’t have an especially good reputation among photographers who often complain that the BBC’s contract is a little unfair, demanding, as it does, that contributors grant a “perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right” for the BBC to use the pictures where and when they like. The prospect of those contract terms influencing dealings with Lonely Planet Images is quite unappealing.

Having said that, the opportunities offered by the BBC linking up with Lonely Planet could be very inviting. These are two iconic organisations and I’d hope that the BBC would reinforce and support the Lonely Planet brand. If that proves to be the case then the weight of the BBC’s reputation can only enhance the perception of Lonely Planet in the public’s eyes.

The expertise that the BBC has built up in creating one of the world’s best web sites is bound to help the development of the Lonely Planet site too and that online presence will be vital in years to come, especially as competition in the travel market increases.

All in all, I think the take-over is good news for Lonely Planet contributors and for Lonely Planet readers but we’ll have to wait and see if the BBC are going to treat Lonely Planet photographers fairly. Yes, it’s another “fingers crossed” moment. I seem to be running short on fingers!

Links:
BBC Report
Wall Street Journal Report

BBC Worldwide
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet Images

Tags: bbc, lonely planet

I recommend a quick look at the Lonely Planet Images Newsletter for September. I’ve recently started contributing to Lonely Planet and their images have long been a source of inspiration, not only in photographic terms but also in terms of destinations.

I think the six pictures in the “Habitat” gallery sum up what the typical Lonely Planet image looks like: bags of colour, great composition, masses of impact and something that leaves you asking “where is that?” and “how can I get there?”.

The “Living” gallery is great too of course and the first picture in the sequence is one that any travel photographer would be proud of. Well, this travel photographer would be.

If you have time, take a look through some of the older editions of the newsletter, there are some great images on display.

Tags: lonely planet