8:19 AM
Life style images photography is one of the most under appreciated stock photography niches. It's a field packed with high-paying customers with a never-ending need for fresh current photographs, and it is a field many photographers just aren't interested in. And that makes it one of the best fields of all for the savvy Life style Photographer.
Strong commercial images of life style themes capture a slice of life in an engaging way that draws the spectator in and establishes an emotional connection. It gets the spectator to a mental space where they can imagine themselves (or their friends/family members) in a similar scenario, or at least leaves them considering what the experience would be like.
It is that viewer-connection that lifestyle picture buyers are on the lookout for, so that they can append their own message to the image. When you capture lifestyle pictures that convey that sort of message, you are creating pictures with real sales potential, high appeal and very limited competition.
For better or worse, most photographers are a touch shy when it comes to photographing people, and many of these who do are unwilling to get involved and actually direct their models. A lot who consider themselves life style photographers tend to hang back and document human activity, rather then going hands-on and composing the photographs their purchasers need.
As a consequence, those lifestyle photographers who take a pro approach and work with carefully selected and directed models to produce strong images with a clear message or story, are usually going to do very well.
You need to use (unpaid) friends and family as your models, as long as you control the shoot. That typically means ensuring everyone is clear of what message you are trying to convey, and ensuring all of the components of the image... Location, clothing, styling, props, poses, expressions,lighting are all congruous with that theme.
As far as lighting goes, the key is generally to make it simple. Plan outside shoots with dual locations: the perfect overcast day location and a back up site out of direct sunlight. Have reflectors and fill lighting available to balance it out. Indoor shoots can mostly be handled with a simple off-camera flash set up, again using reflectors and bounced light to create the required result.
For the shoot itself, communication with your model (s) is all important. Prior to starting everybody should be on the same page, absolutely clear on what you have got planned. Then as you start the shoot, try for a few different moods and themes, and watch what your model is most comfortable with and adept at. When you've 3-4 specific ideas, work thru each individually, directing the model as required to get the photos you desire.
For all this direction and management, the key for shooting successful images of life style subjects is to ensure the pictures are natural and unstaged. Models will not usually be looking at the camera, but instead should be connecting emotionally and physically with the situation that you have placed them in.
All of the elements of the pictures need to fit, and there should be something going on "aside from a photograph being taken "that the audience can straight away recognise and connect to. There should be adequate detail to tell the story, although not so much that it becomes cluttered.
Beyond that, there truly are no restrictions to the subjects and themes that will work. Sports are big, as is any type of hobby or pastime, family activities and interactions, eating, drinking, relaxing: anything people do can work, and if you shoot it in a way that photo buyers can hitch their own message to the image, then it'll usually sell too.
Lifestyle photography buyers will have an interest in the demographic and ethnicity of your models as much as the activity itself, so try to use different models in the same set up whenever your are able to. You can vary clothing, styling and props to form different moods & storylines from the same set, and boost your output dramatically.
Finally, remember that lifestyle photographs are all about the individual being photographed and what they're experiencing at that point of time. The difficulty with amateur models is that they often struggle to convey that, so if you're serious about selling stock photos of lifestyle subjects, you'll either have to pay for professional models or get very good at directing your volunteers.
Either way, if you concentrate on producing photographs that people can look at and identify with; pictures that people see themselves or their own friends and family in, or wish they could be part of, then you will be shooting some of the most profitable stock photography possible.
Strong commercial images of life style themes capture a slice of life in an engaging way that draws the spectator in and establishes an emotional connection. It gets the spectator to a mental space where they can imagine themselves (or their friends/family members) in a similar scenario, or at least leaves them considering what the experience would be like.
It is that viewer-connection that lifestyle picture buyers are on the lookout for, so that they can append their own message to the image. When you capture lifestyle pictures that convey that sort of message, you are creating pictures with real sales potential, high appeal and very limited competition.
For better or worse, most photographers are a touch shy when it comes to photographing people, and many of these who do are unwilling to get involved and actually direct their models. A lot who consider themselves life style photographers tend to hang back and document human activity, rather then going hands-on and composing the photographs their purchasers need.
As a consequence, those lifestyle photographers who take a pro approach and work with carefully selected and directed models to produce strong images with a clear message or story, are usually going to do very well.
You need to use (unpaid) friends and family as your models, as long as you control the shoot. That typically means ensuring everyone is clear of what message you are trying to convey, and ensuring all of the components of the image... Location, clothing, styling, props, poses, expressions,lighting are all congruous with that theme.
As far as lighting goes, the key is generally to make it simple. Plan outside shoots with dual locations: the perfect overcast day location and a back up site out of direct sunlight. Have reflectors and fill lighting available to balance it out. Indoor shoots can mostly be handled with a simple off-camera flash set up, again using reflectors and bounced light to create the required result.
For the shoot itself, communication with your model (s) is all important. Prior to starting everybody should be on the same page, absolutely clear on what you have got planned. Then as you start the shoot, try for a few different moods and themes, and watch what your model is most comfortable with and adept at. When you've 3-4 specific ideas, work thru each individually, directing the model as required to get the photos you desire.
For all this direction and management, the key for shooting successful images of life style subjects is to ensure the pictures are natural and unstaged. Models will not usually be looking at the camera, but instead should be connecting emotionally and physically with the situation that you have placed them in.
All of the elements of the pictures need to fit, and there should be something going on "aside from a photograph being taken "that the audience can straight away recognise and connect to. There should be adequate detail to tell the story, although not so much that it becomes cluttered.
Beyond that, there truly are no restrictions to the subjects and themes that will work. Sports are big, as is any type of hobby or pastime, family activities and interactions, eating, drinking, relaxing: anything people do can work, and if you shoot it in a way that photo buyers can hitch their own message to the image, then it'll usually sell too.
Lifestyle photography buyers will have an interest in the demographic and ethnicity of your models as much as the activity itself, so try to use different models in the same set up whenever your are able to. You can vary clothing, styling and props to form different moods & storylines from the same set, and boost your output dramatically.
Finally, remember that lifestyle photographs are all about the individual being photographed and what they're experiencing at that point of time. The difficulty with amateur models is that they often struggle to convey that, so if you're serious about selling stock photos of lifestyle subjects, you'll either have to pay for professional models or get very good at directing your volunteers.
Either way, if you concentrate on producing photographs that people can look at and identify with; pictures that people see themselves or their own friends and family in, or wish they could be part of, then you will be shooting some of the most profitable stock photography possible.
About the Author:
Matt Brading is a contributor to GlobalEye Photo Stock Agency, which represents many top life style photographers. Click here to view their best images of lifestyle themes. If you'd like to know more about selling stock photos online with GlobalEye, you can download a free stock photography business kit in our photographers area.
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