Our Process
When thinking about editing your stock photos, it is very important to consider how you’ll setup and keyword your images. We shoot and edit grouped by subject and models. We try to have all images we are editing for a day have the same models in them, as it makes them much easier to upload the model releases. If possible we will also limit it to one subject, such as shopping or nursing etc… If you are shooting objects or still life it won’t matter, but you’ll still want to edit pictures from the same shoot together.
We usually shoot RAW files, but JPG would work as well. If we’ve shot 100 pictures of a group of models we will sort out our 40 favorites accounting for various angles and orientations, and expressions. We load those files into Adobe Lightroom and edit them for color, with a definite leaning toward making them light and bright, those images always sell better than darker ones. They are usually all shot at the same time in the same lighting, so after we edit one we just sync the rest and export them as full size JPGs.
Next we open Adobe Photoshop and click FILE>BROWSE IN BRIDGE which opens up Adobe Bridge. Navigate to the folder where your files from Lightroom were saved and highlight them all.
Next Click FILE>FILE INFO and you’ll see this box pop up. You need to fill out the three fields we’ve filled out here.
Keywording
TITLE: Must have at least 3 words
DESCRIPTION: Must have at least 7 words
KEYWORDS: Must have at least 12 words, separated by commas. The keywords you put here will determine if your image is seen during searches. Be careful to include everything relevant, but nothing that isn’t. Misleading keywords will hurt the image ranking, and leaving out keywords that are applicable will lose sales also. Keywords are the most important part of editing your stock photos, as they control when they will appear in search results.
Click OK when finished and you are all set to upload to the agencies.
From there you just need to log in to your account and click upload. Once it completes, the fields should populate for you from the keywords you entered. You’ll need to submit them by picking a category for the images and also assigning any model releases necessary.
Editing Your Stock Photos – Stock Photography Guide
This post, Editing Your Stock Photos, is part of our Stock Photography Guide. To start earning money selling your photos go read the rest.
