Life style images photography is one of the most under appreciated stock photography niches. It's a field packed with high-paying purchasers with a never-ending need for fresh current images, and it is a field many photographers just don't want to work in. And that makes it one of the most lucrative fields of all for the savvy Life style Photographer.
High quality commercial images of life style themes capture a slice of life in an engaging way that draws the spectator in and establishes an emotional connection. It gets the spectator to a mental space where they can imagine themselves (or their friends/family members) in the same situation, or at least leaves them wondering what the experience would be like.
It's that viewer-connection that life style picture customers are looking out for, so they can append their own message to the image. When you capture life style images that convey that kind of message, you're making photographs with real earning potential, high appeal and quite limited competition.
For better or worse, most photographers are a bit shy when it comes to photographing people, and many of these who do are unwilling to get involved and fully direct their models. A lot who consider themselves life style photographers tend to hang back and document human activity, rather then going hands-on and composing the images their customers need.
As a consequence, those lifestyle photographers who take a pro approach and work with carefully selected and directed models to produce strong images with a clear message or story, are usually going to do very well.
You need to use (unpaid) friends and family as your models, as long as you control the shoot. That typically means ensuring everyone is clear of what message you are trying to convey, and ensuring all of the components of the image... Location, clothing, styling, props, poses, expressions,lighting are all congruous with that theme.
As far as lighting goes, the key is usually to keep it simple. Plan out of doors shoots with dual locations: the best clouded day location and a back up site out of full-on daylight. Have reflectors and fill lighting available to balance it out. Indoor shoots can usually be handled with an easy off-camera flash set up, again using reflectors and bounced light to make the desired result.
For the shoot itself, communication with your model (s) is paramount. Before you start everyone should be on the same page, totally clear on what you've got planned. Then as you start the shoot, try for distinctly different moods and themes, and watch what your model is most happy with and adept at. When you have 2-3 specific concepts, work through each individually, directing the model as needed to get the images you want.
For all this direction and management, the key for shooting successful images of life style subjects is to ensure the pictures are natural and unstaged. Models will not usually be looking at the camera, but instead should be connecting emotionally and physically with the situation that you have placed them in.
All of the elements of the pictures need to fit, and there should be something going on "aside from a photograph being taken "that the audience can straight away recognise and connect to. There should be adequate detail to tell the story, although not so much that it becomes cluttered.
Beyond that, there actually are no restrictions to the subjects and themes that can work. Sports are popular, as is any kind of recreational activity, family activities and interactions, eating, drinking, relaxing: anything people do can work, and if you shoot it in a way that photo buyers can hitch their own message to the image, then it'll usually sell too.
Lifestyle photography buyers will have an interest in the demographic and ethnicity of your models as much as the activity itself, so try to use different models in the same set up whenever your are able to. You can vary clothing, styling and props to form different moods & storylines from the same set, and boost your output dramatically.
And finally, remember that life style pictures are all about the person being photographed and what they are experiencing at this point of time. The problem with volunteer models is they frequently struggle to convey that, so if you're serious about selling stock photos of lifestyle subjects, you will either need to pay for pro models or get very proficient at directing your volunteers.
Either way, if you concentrate on creating images that people can look at and connect with; photographs that people recognise themselves or their own friends and family in, or wish they could be part of, then you will be shooting some of the most profitable stock photography possible.
High quality commercial images of life style themes capture a slice of life in an engaging way that draws the spectator in and establishes an emotional connection. It gets the spectator to a mental space where they can imagine themselves (or their friends/family members) in the same situation, or at least leaves them wondering what the experience would be like.
It's that viewer-connection that life style picture customers are looking out for, so they can append their own message to the image. When you capture life style images that convey that kind of message, you're making photographs with real earning potential, high appeal and quite limited competition.
For better or worse, most photographers are a bit shy when it comes to photographing people, and many of these who do are unwilling to get involved and fully direct their models. A lot who consider themselves life style photographers tend to hang back and document human activity, rather then going hands-on and composing the images their customers need.
As a consequence, those lifestyle photographers who take a pro approach and work with carefully selected and directed models to produce strong images with a clear message or story, are usually going to do very well.
You need to use (unpaid) friends and family as your models, as long as you control the shoot. That typically means ensuring everyone is clear of what message you are trying to convey, and ensuring all of the components of the image... Location, clothing, styling, props, poses, expressions,lighting are all congruous with that theme.
As far as lighting goes, the key is usually to keep it simple. Plan out of doors shoots with dual locations: the best clouded day location and a back up site out of full-on daylight. Have reflectors and fill lighting available to balance it out. Indoor shoots can usually be handled with an easy off-camera flash set up, again using reflectors and bounced light to make the desired result.
For the shoot itself, communication with your model (s) is paramount. Before you start everyone should be on the same page, totally clear on what you've got planned. Then as you start the shoot, try for distinctly different moods and themes, and watch what your model is most happy with and adept at. When you have 2-3 specific concepts, work through each individually, directing the model as needed to get the images you want.
For all this direction and management, the key for shooting successful images of life style subjects is to ensure the pictures are natural and unstaged. Models will not usually be looking at the camera, but instead should be connecting emotionally and physically with the situation that you have placed them in.
All of the elements of the pictures need to fit, and there should be something going on "aside from a photograph being taken "that the audience can straight away recognise and connect to. There should be adequate detail to tell the story, although not so much that it becomes cluttered.
Beyond that, there actually are no restrictions to the subjects and themes that can work. Sports are popular, as is any kind of recreational activity, family activities and interactions, eating, drinking, relaxing: anything people do can work, and if you shoot it in a way that photo buyers can hitch their own message to the image, then it'll usually sell too.
Lifestyle photography buyers will have an interest in the demographic and ethnicity of your models as much as the activity itself, so try to use different models in the same set up whenever your are able to. You can vary clothing, styling and props to form different moods & storylines from the same set, and boost your output dramatically.
And finally, remember that life style pictures are all about the person being photographed and what they are experiencing at this point of time. The problem with volunteer models is they frequently struggle to convey that, so if you're serious about selling stock photos of lifestyle subjects, you will either need to pay for pro models or get very proficient at directing your volunteers.
Either way, if you concentrate on creating images that people can look at and connect with; photographs that people recognise themselves or their own friends and family in, or wish they could be part of, then you will be shooting some of the most profitable stock photography possible.
About the Author:
Matt Brading is a contributor to GlobalEye Photo Stock Agency, which represents many top life style photographers. Click here to view their best images of lifestyle themes. If you'd like to know more about selling stock photos online with GlobalEye, you can download a free stock photography business kit in our photographers area.
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