Cattle Grazing in Lush Pasture - My Vision

These are Black Angus beef cattle grazing in a pasture near Afton, Wyoming (USA).

Bigger is not always better - a composition tip for increasing your stock photo sales: You'll note that this image has a lot of blank space, making the main subject, the cattle, smaller. This is not only a composition choice (following the "rule of thirds"), but I have found over the years that many of my stock photos sell much better if they have space for designers to place type or other photos. By giving the designer this option, I often see my images published as the main photo in a story rather than being used as one of the smaller, accent or filler images. And if you'd like to see your images reproduced full-page, don't forget to shoot the same scene vertically as well as horizontal (see below).

The larger your images are reproduced, the more money you'll make (that's when bigger IS better). It don't matter whether you're licensing your images under a rights-managed model, royalty-free, or as microstock, larger uses make you more money. At many microstock agencies, the prices for "large" or XLarge download sizes are three to six times greater than those for "small" or medium downloads!


Another stock photo tip: if you'll looking for additional ways to increase your sales, read this short article I wrote about shooting on "spec".

You can also view my Flickr Photostream to see more of "My Vision."

Coy Little Kitten in Tall Grass - My Early Vision

A coy little kitten poses under a clump of tall Cat Tail Grass. This photo was my first ever attempt at "serious" photography. Let me explain... (Click on the image for a slightly larger view.)

A Walk Down Memory Lane: I came across this photo yesterday, and decided to publish it on my blog. I took this picture when I was 17 years old -- that was 43 years ago, in the summer of 1966. The kitten was a little barn-yard friend who followed me around during my milking chores on the family farm.

I had been in love with photography for a little over a year, and I had read every book my small town library had on the subject. I came across an article in an old Popular Photography magazine (given to me by a high school teacher) about how to improve your outdoor photos with light reflectors made from crumpled aluminum foil, flattened and wrapped around a sheet of corrugated cardboard. I had to try it out!

I transplanted the grass onto a table I made so that it would be easier to photograph my subject (hey, that also makes this my first attempt at "table-top" photography ;-). I used my father's old Argus C3 35mm rangefinder camera and a roll of Kodachrome film*. I rotated the table so that the late afternoon sun was back-lighting the grass and my kitten, and then illuminated him from the light of my homemade reflector (placed between the kitten and the camera, and slightly to the left).

My little kitten friend was a real sweetheart that played well to the camera, don't you agree?

BTW, some call this foxtail grass, but my neighbor calls it "cat tail grass" -- wouldn't that be a coincidence!

*I only took two or three shots on that roll, so it was a couple of months before I finished the roll and could afford to have it processed, in order to found out if I had been successful.

You can also view my Flickr Photostream to see more of "My Vision."

Hand Protecting a Young Plant - My Vision

I could have title this post, "How to breath new life into old photos". This was originally a black and white photograph, taken several years ago in the studio, on 4x5 B/W sheet film. I asked my next-door neighbor to be the hand model (cheap ;-).

I recently scanned the negative, and colorized the image in Photoshop. It has become one of my best stock photo sellers!

You can also view my Flickr Photostream to see more of "My Vision."