A Riddle . . .
By
John Terence Turner
Stock Asylum Columnist
March 5, 2007
©
2006 John Terence Turner
Why do some stock photographs earn a lot of money while others (presumably
just as good) earn far less?
In this column, I'll compare two similar images and analyze them. Then I’ll tell you which one was the winner in the marketplace. But, before I do, take a look at two images below and see if you can guess which one sold the best.
 Can you guess whether this image or the one below sold better as a stock photo? ( © John Terence Turner ). |
First of all, I like both shots a lot. I think each has the qualities I was after.
The red-shirt shot (right) has excellent blur in the background; the strobes froze the creek water coming off the front tire just the way I wanted.
The rider’s expression is happy; he’s clearly having a grand time.
In the yellow-shirt shot (below), the cyclist gets big air. He’s having a great time flying off a bump in the forest.
His expression shows a bit of the uncertainty about having his feet firmly attached to the pedals of a mountain bike flying through the woods.
The blurs of the forest and the cyclist contribute to the sense of speed. The sheen of sweat on the cheeks contributes to the authenticity of the action.
Consider the similarities:
Both shots are
mountain-bike action shots.
Both shots feature
the same rider.
Both shots are
slow-shutter speed pans.
Both shots are
lit by two strobes.
Both shots have
blurred forest backgrounds.
Now, consider the differences:
The brand of the bike and shocks are readable in the red-shirt shot.
The red-shirt
action is right to left, the opposite of the action in the yellow-shirt
image.
The action in
the red-shirt photo is through the water. The action in
the yellow-shirt image is through the air.
The expression
of the yellow-shirt rider shows effort, while the
expression of the yellow-shirt shot rider
shows pleasure.
In the red-shirt
shot a portion of the front wheel is cut off. In the
yellow-shirt shot part of the back wheel is cropped.
The red-shirt picture was shot with a Nikkor 300mm f2.8 lens. The primary (Nikon Speedlight) strobe was connected to the camera by a 30-foot custom cable. The second strobe, was slaved to the first and located to the left of the camera and in front of the cyclist. The shutter speed was 1/30th of a second.
 Though two images may be very similar, the market decides which is the financial winner. The answer to Turner's riddle is below. ( © John Terence Turner) |
The yellow-shirt shot was made with 20-35mm f2.8 Nikkor zoom. The primary strobe was on the camera and the second one, slave-triggered, was in the bushes in front of the cyclist, to the right of the camera. The shutter speed was 1/15th of a second.
One potential sales-dampening aspect of the red-shirt shot is the legibility of the manufacturer's name of the bike.
Most buyers don’t want some other company’s name in a picture they are using. Accordingly, I paid to have the bike re-painted for future use. In the yellow-shirt image, there is no brand name anymore.
Also, there is a school of thought that it is better to have action in a picture moving from left to right because, as English-speakers, we are trained to read words from left to right.
As such, written copy with a left-to-right action picture will read the same direction as the action, which may be more comfortable for the reader.
So, if you have not guessed, here's the answer:
The yellow-shirt photograph has sold very well, while the red-shirt shot has not.
I like them both; I think they ought to have somewhat similar sales records. But, the market decides. Every sale is different. Every image-buyer has his or her own clients and requirements.
I guess it all comes down to the old Roman saying “De gustibus non est disputandum.” “About taste, there’s no arguing.”
As stock photographers, we must make the best pictures we can. We must capture that imagined image that exists only in our minds. Then we must depend on buyers with good taste to use that image for their clients. It does happen, but not always the way we expect.
(John Terence Turner has been shooting stock photography for 20 years. His work can be seen at Getty Images, Alamy and, of course, The Stock Asylum, where his column appears twice a month. He lives and works in Seattle, WA.)
Turner's web site can be found at: http://www.johnterenceturner.com.
For more of his images: click here.
For all of Turner's columns: click here.
