Shoot! The Day Salable Images Winners

Shoot! The Day Salable Images Winners

With only 31 entries to win 4 prizes, this was probably the easiest
contest in the world to win! We would have preferred having
more choice, but that’s ok, we’re happy to give away prizes to the
community for participating!

“Most salable” is an elusive concept, so we picked the winners by consulting with our sales team. Part
of the decision is being able to conceptualize how an image could be used commercially, and some of the essays were interesting because many people have
very literal or stereotypical conceptions of their images. Scenics were
often described as “calm” or “peaceful,” and yet our sales people were
hard pressed to think of how such an image would be pitched to a client.

Some images had obvious problems with production values
— Blurry, poor contrast, unnatural color cast, objects coming out of
people’s heads (i.e. not paying attention to your backgrounds).
Remember that you need to look objectively look at the elements that make up the photo while divorcing yourself from the emotions that you feel looking at the photo.
Training yourself to have a critical eye is one of the most important
attributes you can have as a visual artist.

Some people
believed that having something “quirky” equated with most salable.
Although it’s common to see quirky images on a greeting card some
times, quirky images are usually more associated with a “feature” image
in a newspaper — i.e. an image that isn’t about news, pe se, but
rather something that’s visually interesting. On slow news days,
photographers often are tasked with finding a “feature” image to run on
page 1. But enough chatter…

The Winners

Michelle Lane
JPG Magazine Subscription

michelle.jpg

Michelle’s
image was on the “contemporary” side of the fence, but we
thought it could be used on a Valentine’s Day card, or maybe even a
book cover.

F McKenty

Nikon Capture NX 2.0

FM.jpg

Our
sales people thought the goose that was looking the other way was a
good conceptual illustration for an annual report (“One of these things
is not like the other,” “doing it our own way”, etc). The fact that all
the geese have one leg in the air was a bonus.

Jan Klier
Apple Aperture 2.1

klier.jpg

Jan
had a straight-forward, highly usable coffee shot. No trademarks
present, and the beans on the ground provided some texture to the
image. And in case there was any doubt, “coffee” is what’s for sale.

Ryan Cardone
Lowepro Flipside 300

cardone.jpg
The
addition of the model into the shot gave this image a nice feel. It
allows us to transport ourselves to the end of the dock, and instead of
being a scenic shot, it’s more of a lifestyle image.

Congratulations to the winners, and we’ll be announcing a new contest soon!

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This article was written by

Allen Murabayashi is the co-founder of PhotoShelter.

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