What type of images does Fotolia need?

Photographers ask us everyday what kind of stock photography are we looking for. While Fotolia does not specialize in any specific subject we are seeking high quality marketable stock photography.

Stock photography covers so many subjects, cultures, issues, concepts, and ideas. In addition stock photography is always changing. What was hot last year may not be hot this year.

Stock photography is essentially a catalog of photos that a potential buyer may search to find just the right image for their marketing brochure, multimedia presentation, website, billboard or other project. These buyers are often graphic designers, graphic artists, marketing professionals, ad agencies, and in some cases private consumers.

If you are submitting images that are easily obtained and similar to other photos on the website you have a good chance at being lost in the crowd.To help you increase your visibility and sales we have a few suggestions:

Technical Perfection
To get the attention your images deserve all photos submitted to Fotolia must be of the highest technical quality. This means all your photos must be properly exposed, in focus, sharp, free from noise dust and other artifacts. Photos with natural contrast and bright colors usually sell and print well for customers. Photos that are not technically perfect will be rejected from the database.

Technical Guidelines

• Minimum of 1600 x 1200 pixels for web use
  
• 2272 x 1704 pixels or greater for print use
  
• files with atleast 2000 x 3000 pixels
  
• Do not interpolate or upsize your images!
  
• All files should be 8 bit RGB Jpeg files with minimal compression
  
• Try to shoot in RAW format and then covert to Jpeg before submission to Fotolia.
  
• Little to no sharpening
  
• Images with sRGB color profiles are preferred
  

Capture a Theme
Choose a subject, situation, activity or trade that interests you and try to illustrate that idea through your photography. You can get ideas from our Representative Category section for themes and concepts like business, travel, technology.

Depict a Conceptual Idea
Create images that illustrate an abstract idea, concept or emotion
A very popular trend is for photographers to illustrate a more abstract idea such as ethics, honesty, lifestyle, the idea of pleasure, sadness, emotions, creativity, intelligence, ect. All of these more abstract ideas may be found under our Conceptual Categories.

Popular subjects and trends

• Health and medical field – pictures of nurses, doctors, surgeons, ER, operating room, medical equipment, medications, situations, wellness, physicals, check ups, technology, X-rays, shots, pharmacy, insurance, labs,
• Business related photos – people conducting business, business environment, equipment, style, design, symbols, attributes ect.
• People in activities – Pictures of people doing something like dancing, working, playing sports, laughing, eating, driving, building, are very popular.
• Controversial issues – general politics, women, gender, sexuality, crime, religion, education, family, war, race, environment, poverty, wealth. These photos should be captured in good taste portraying the subjects without.
• Religious faith – symbols, activities, locations, actions, traditions, and food.
• Technology photos – lasers, fiber optics, equipment, digital chips, clean rooms,
  
• Different occupations – Delivery person, florist, dentist, doctor, nurse, construction worker, plumber, electrician, machinist, pilot, photographer, teacher, banker, salesman, receptionist, policeman, judge,
  
• Objects – everyday or strange objects depicting an idea or symbolic of an activity. Objects like sun glasses, keys, money, sticky notes, baseball, or engine piston. These items should be captured on plain white or black seamless backgrounds.
  
• Close up shots – macro or close up shots of objects or people.
  
• Under water photos – photos of underwater sea creatures, ocean topography, scuba diving, snorkeling, mermaids and sea monsters (if you find any),
  

Identify Customer Needs
Fotolia has put together some tools that help photographers understand what customers are currently buying from Fotolia.

Unpopular Subjects
Fotolia receives thousands of images per day. While most are very good we would like to discourage members from sending in photos with low market value.

• Do not submit fine art images
  Not all great photos are good for Fotolia. We have seen some photographers submit images that are a little too artistic for stock photography. While they are wonderful fine art images they will not sell well to our customers. We prefer to receive photos that illustrate a concept or capture a situation as discussed above. We are unfortunately obliged to decline even awesome artistic photos if submitted.
• Unwanted Photos
  Fotolia is not interested in pictures of the family pet including dogs, cats, ducks, insects ect. In addition pictures of flowers, sunsets, and nature are not needed as well. We are overwhelmed with such pictures already and have no need for more mediocre photos of such subjects.
  

If you will follow these basic tips you are sure to gain a lot of attention and make a lot of money.