Here’s a slideshow I wanted to share from a recent Spring time engagement session photoshoot with some friends of mine. The location was a country New England orchard, and made for great scenery. These images will soon be available for royalty-free stock photo licensing.
One of my favorite selects from the shoot is the photo of the diamond engagement ring wrapped around the wild onion grass. I love it when you are working with a couple who is willing to add their own creative ideas and suggestions. It’s easy to get lost in the photo shoot and to forgot certain details that you wanted to capture, so when I’m able to work with people who are also creatively minded, it helps us to push the shoot to an even higher level or variety. We also were able to hang the ring on some apple flower buds, that was just starting to turn into tiny baby apples. I really enjoy photographing engagement sessions, because there is a wide variety of things to capture – from the location and environment, the couple doing certain activities (such as tossing a frisbee, or riding a motorcycle), down to the very tiny details.
You can see a few more stills from this shoot here on our facebook page.
Did you ever think that having images on your blog would actually drive traffic to your blog from the search engines? Don’t overlook this fact. Yes, it’s true that most search engines only find your website with text, titles, and keywords. But thankfully, there are a lot of ways to get them to actually “see” the images you post on your blogs and websites, as well. I’m not talking about TinEye or Google’s search by image.
Alt tags and title tags are the key. They’re there for a reason, so make sure you use them! Google’s bots and crawlers eat them up like delicious chocolate pudding cups. If you don’t use them, they might just see the default image title, which might be something like IMG_3535.jpg and they’re not really interested in that number (nobody is). The more you describe your images, the more you will be able to ensure they can be found in the search engine image searches. Related text in the post, and related keywords will also assist in getting them indexed and ranked in these image search results as well.
When people browse for images of a certain topic, they might just stumble upon a link over to your website. Then, they might just poke around a while, and like what they see. They might even buy your product or service. This isn’t a longshot, because think about it – you’re doing targeted marketing, all because of your specific stock image selections. Make sure that when you’re writing an article about dogs that you don’t use a photo of a gorilla. This is obvious. Take the general gist of what the blog post is about, and use some royalty free stock images from that same theme or subject.
Blog posts filled with nothing but text might contain great information, great for SEO. Rich content is always valuable to have. As you probably already know, we really only have about 6 seconds to capture a web visitors attention, before they decide to leave. Why not ensure that you aren’t losing people because of a lack of visuals? You almost have to compare web surfers like toddlers or infants with uber short attention spans. How long is a baby going to flip through a children’s book that has nothing but text in it? The images are what gets them to keep turning the pages, as they browse and investigate further.
Here are a few pointers: Make sure the stock images you license for your blog are specific enough to what you are blabbing about. You want stock images that both look good, and that tell a story. Generally, stock images that are smaller, lower resolution sizes are extra cheap. They are almost always more affordable than higher resolution stock photos or vector illustrations. You don’t have to break the bank, to breath more life into your blog. Not only will it be more aesthetically pleasing, but those little images will help drive more traffic to your website.
When it comes to stock photos, trends and the the cool factor have a shelf life. What is cool or in style today may or may not be fashionable 5-10 years from now. Even so, trends still hold a great niche in the wonderful world of royalty free stock photos.
Here is a stock photo of a young man wearing thick black framed nerd glasses. It’s funny (when you really think about it) that the styles from the 70s and 80s are all back, and many people see vintage and retro styles as cool again. This is just what happens in the world of fashion. Everything has been done under the sun, so trends seem to repeat themselves after some time. Nonetheless, these nerd glasses series images have been licensed hundreds of times within the last few years.
Another example is hair feather extensions. They are the hottest thing since sliced bread in the hairdressing and beauty world. They might already even be on their way out. Easy come, easy go. Will women be clipping bird feathers in their hair a few years from now? What about 10 or 20? We can only wait and find out.
When producing royalty free stock images, we have to realize and acknowledge that images like these may or may not have a lasting shelf life. While some looks and some models (including their clothing and hairstyles) will be able to hold up to the tests of time, others will fall flat on their face. Not many graphic designers or art directors are going to approve of using stock images of business people wearing plaid suit jackets from the late 70s or early 80s. Even photos of kids, or senior citizens with certain hairstyles can be considered. How long until this royalty free stock photo of a skateboarder becomes obsolete? There’s no way to tell how long skateboarders might be into wearing plaid shirts.
This is exactly why when you’re in the business of shooting and producing stock imagery, it is a non-stop job. Images, themes, and subjects will require constant refreshing and updating on a regular, yearly basis. Some of these stock images are going to have a shelf life (like an expiration date on a milk carton), some much longer than others, depending on how generic we can make them. Covering stock image subjects with both the “cool factor” and the ability to withstand the tests and trials of time, are always on our minds. We all know what is considered cool today might be dumb tomorrow.
We live in the age of the SHARE! People of the masses generally think that they have the right to freely share everything and anything, digital. It’s all good, just SHARE it all. You had to have heard about the SOPA dilemna by now, partly involving these issues. While sharing content can be great, in some ways; in other ways it hurts businesses. Some reason: why pay for something when you can get it for free? That’s what mothers have been saying all these years to their daughters. Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free? If you run a business of your own, you probably already know that it’s always good to give a little something away for free. I’m not talking about being free and loose with your goodies, whoring out the whole store. It’s a simple fact that quality content helps you to get more traffic, to advertise, to get backlinked to, and even to grow a large following. We do that here using giveaways, coupon codes, even by posting creative inspiration and tutorials, or maybe even some funny stuff. Content is key, with any online business. Free samples work great in grocery stores, and restaurants. You need to woo potential customers over with a little something something, in this age of information overload, and fierce competition.
Pinterest is one of the hottest social bookmarking networks right now, along with Tumblr as another major blogging and bookmarking platform. Both platforms are really cool, and many actually enjoy using them. Another similar one is VisualizeUs, and there are probably a slew of others. What’s the big deal about them? These websites make it a cinch to “reblog” or “repin” anyone else’s posts. That means you can easily take; no wait, “SHARE” someone else’s post with a few clicks of the mouse, so that you will then have that content on your own page. You don’t know where the content of the post really originated from, but it’s all in good fun… right? Sharing and hotlinking random images with these services right now might seem innocent to most. If you have a Pinterest or Tumblr account, you’ve probably done it yourself. Maybe you’ve reposted a cute comic, or a photo of an adorable kitten playing with string. Maybe it was that really cool car photo, or the hilarious stock photo that nobody can find any real use for, other than to laugh at it. Guess what? This is going to change a lot about the way most people think about hotlinking. Read the rest of this entry »
When people browse for images of a certain topic, they might just stumble upon a link over to your website. Then, they might just poke around a while, and like what they see. They might even buy your product or service. This isn’t a longshot, because think about it – you’re doing targeted marketing, all because of your specific stock image selections. Make sure that when you’re writing an article about dogs that you don’t use a photo of a gorilla. This is obvious. Take the general gist of what the blog post is about, and use some royalty free stock images from that same theme or subject.
Here are a few pointers: Make sure the stock images you license for your blog are specific enough to what you are blabbing about. You want stock images that both look good, and that tell a story. Generally, stock images that are smaller, lower resolution sizes are extra cheap. They are almost always more affordable than higher resolution stock photos or vector illustrations. You don’t have to break the bank, to breath more life into your blog. Not only will it be more aesthetically pleasing, but those little images will help drive more traffic to your website.
Pinterest is one of the hottest social bookmarking networks right now, along with Tumblr as another major blogging and bookmarking platform. 
Both platforms are really cool, and many actually enjoy using them. Another similar one is VisualizeUs, and there are probably a slew of others. What’s the big deal about them? These websites make it a cinch to “reblog” or “repin” anyone else’s posts. That means you can easily take; no wait, “SHARE” someone else’s post with a few clicks of the mouse, so that you will then have that content on your own page. You don’t know where the content of the post really originated from, but it’s all in good fun… right? Sharing and hotlinking random images with these services right now might seem innocent to most. If you have a Pinterest or Tumblr account, you’ve probably done it yourself. Maybe you’ve reposted a cute comic, or a photo of an adorable kitten playing with string. Maybe it was that really cool car photo, or the hilarious stock photo that nobody can find any real use for, other than to laugh at it. Guess what? This is going to change a lot about the way most people think about hotlinking. 
