Digital Stock Photography: How to Shoot and Sell Paperback – September 18, 2007

I have two other books by Ms. Heron and the one is the old film version of this book so I knew she was an experienced author in what she was writing about. I started looking into stock photography years ago and mainly learned from the materials of the late Rohn Engh. His approach was that this is something that can be done by yourself and not through a stock agency so much. I emailed him several times on his bulletin board and got answers from him as well as other stock photographers. I even talked with him on the phone once. I think the first thing that I noticed about this book is that she is always telling you to have your assistant do this or that. For the person starting out, affording a person to file your photos and make back up copies is not going to happen most likely. The book is a little outdated when it is talking about technology such as she tells you to have a laptop computer to down load your photos to. Yet in the front of the book she is talking about 2 Gb memory cards and telling you to get 4 Gb cards so you don't run out of space. With memory cards many times that now, I don't think a laptop is all that necessary. Rohn Engh encouraged you to specialize, but she doesn't go into that from what I can see. That is he felt you were better off shooting helicopters and after having a bunch of them, then switch to horses or cars for example. That way you are known as a horse photographer or helicopter guy. There is a lot of information in her book on selling that I didn't know about online. I'm glad I purchased it and it is a good place to start. I no longer recommend Rohn Engh's books even though you will find some useful information in them. The business has changed so much due to digital and even though his last book dealt with it, it is a little out of date. As for me, I have never sold a photo to a magazine or other publisher, and really don't know if I will pursue stock photography after reading this book. Stock is 'area dependant' if I can use that word. Say you want to shoot pictures of jet fighters, but you live 200 miles from the nearest airport. That might not be the best choice. However, if you live in Wisconsin like I do, you will have ample opportunity to shoot farm scenes. So think those type of things over. Anyway, do buy this book if you want to get started in stock. I also suggest books by Lee Frost. Have fun.

This book, that was updated in 2007 from the one written in the 1990's, has all the right and current updates on the state of stock photography today.Michal addresses what you need to do and how to determine what gear you need, depending on who you shoot for. I shoot for Getty Images and now Alamy, and each has equipment requirements that are different.She did a great job updating this book for today's digital stock photography market. Even though this book came out 13 years ago, it still as relevant today. She just about predicted how the stock photography market would progress.Make sure you check out the resources recommended. While some of the sites she write about no longer exists, her top recommended resource still exists and will catch you up on the market today.Anyone shooting stock photography or who wants to, needs this book. I can't recommend this book strongly enough.

This review pertains to the KindlePC version. I find this book to be excellent for my purposes. It contains 25 shooting projects with 1,2,3, steps which I need in order to become more organized. You need this book if you are trying to figure out what to shoot, how to get models, how to work with organizations to gain permission to use locations and so much else. This book will be one of my most used. I am selling some stock but I really want to become successful. If you like books that basically hold your hand you will like this one. It is not a book on how to take beautiful pictures. It gets you started in stock photography. The book does exactly what the title says. I appreciate that.

..so I can't really say whether this is a good book or not, but from looking at the table of content, it seems that it covers everything about shooting and selling stock photography. Which is what the title says. So at least it is a complete book. Whether it is up to date with the current state of digital stock photography or not, that might be another issue that I don't know whether this book covers adequately or not. Because I haven't finish reading the book yet.

Digital Stock Photography: How to Shoot and Sell I originally bought this book to learn more about the business of stock photography, which I did. However, I learned more about digital cameras and how to use them than I did from the manual that came with my camera (I have had SLR and 35 mm cameras for several decades). Sure, the owner's manual said to go online for questions, but when you are out in the field, it's nice to have a reference book to rely on. Also helpful are the types of photos to have in a portfolio, obtaining permission from models and property owners, and what NOT to show in a photo. Excellent book for the novice photographer as well.

Bought a bunch of kindle books for my new kindle app and my new passion for photography. Of all the stock photography books i purchased this one was the best. Very engaging, built up my confidence. Opened my mind to new potentials for ways to differentiate myself in this industry and gave me realistic expectations on what to expect when attempting to sell my work.

This book was very informative and well written, but lets you know right off that getting started in stock photography will not be easy, and probably quite expensive. The equipment requirements may prove to be prohibitive for those on a tight budget. Nothing worthwhile in life is easy, and stock photography is no exception.

Looking for ways to market my photos I found this book full of useful comments. There is major difference between what one "likes" to shoot, and what "sells" in the marketplace. This book teaches you to shoot for the marketplace and develop your eye for those concepts.

This book is well written and easy to read. The book is very dated for the current stock market, and resources mentioned are for the US market.

Dated but possibly still useful