The last seven years as a full time stock photographer have been very good to me thanks to my unusual niche ( luxury home interiors ). The thing to remember is that stock photography is not a place for the "art of photography". While artistic images might be accepted and sell in limited quantity these are probably not the best way to go if you want to make some good earnings. Likewise the photos that a lot of people praise either by word of mouth or in comments on a site like flickr do not necessarily make good stock photos; these often look pretty or have a wow factor, but usually lack a meaning or concept, this is a common mistake for most beginning photographers dipping their toe into the stock industry.

From my experience and that of a few other industry commentators I have read, stock photography is a place for 'clean and simple" 'middle of the road' photos. One tip I would give is to make sure that your images look good as thumbnails, that might sound like an odd thing to say, but there are some photos which are quite striking when viewed at full size but due to their lighting, color palette or composition lose their impact when viewed at small sizes. Thumbnail readability is very important for getting high volume sales, your images need to stand out on the search page as "the perfect image".

 

Three key features of all successful stock photos:

A successful stock photo can be broken down into three main components, all of which must be correct to make a high selling image.

1) Choice of Subject, be it an appropriate model or props, an object placed in a context that creates some kind of concept, something quite abstract that only really gains a meaning when used in a matching context.

2) Execution, how well you captured the photo, or how you used your photographic skills to express a mood or concept. Atmospheric lighting, high or low key, choice of focal point to add emphasis.

3) Keywording and Description, your choices further emphasize the meaning of your photo and allows it to be found by buyers.
Without proper execution and good keywording a photo of a well-chosen subject won’t sell.