PhotoAsia Blog

Young woman holding mobile phone and reading magazine, smiling. Photo Credits: Panorama Media

Know your buyers

Who will buy your image? Advertisers? Magazine? Web designers? All these have different wants and needs. You have to keep this in mind. Advertisers aren’t looking for the same photos as magazine editors. The latter are usually looking for images to illustrate their stories as many articles are already pre-written. Busy art directors running on empty are searching for images that will give them a brilliant idea to create a theme or tagline that will help launch their client’s product or services. When you see a photo opportunity, think of the concepts and the potential sales it will generate and shoot accordingly. Don’t just aim and shoot without thought or plan or randomly to please yourself. Anybody holding a camera can do that. You have to stand out and be different.

Portrait of two young women and three young men smiling. Photo Credits: Panorama Media

What are we looking for?

Every image submitted to PhotoAsia is carefully examined for clarity, colour, composition and creativity. The image must be sharp and correctly exposed, colours must be bright and cheerful and composition of the subject matter must be exciting enough to catch the eye. The image must also show the ability of the photographer to “see” the image in an unusual and original angle that is so extraordinary that it will capture the imagination of the viewer.

If we accept your images, it is most likely because we believe there is a market for that type of image. And should it generate a sale, it is a very good indication that it is marketable. Keep submitting similar images. Generally, lifestyle images that show people doing some kind of healthy activity sell the most, but are also the hardest to come by. For us to sell images of people to the largest market, you need to have signed model releases. Remember that the editorial market do not pay as well as those in the commercial sector.

Close-up of a young woman listening to music and smiling. Photo Credits: PhotosIndia.com

Tips for Contributors

• Follow the Submission Guidelines to avoid having your images rejected.
• Edit your images before sending them to us.
• More pixels are better! The minimum resolution is 3600 x 2400.
• Be creative. Make sure that your images are unique and eye-catching.
• Shoot more lifestyle images. They sell better than images of sunsets!
• Create images that buyers can’t find in other websites, e.g  Malaysians’ favourite food, multi-racial group of adults or children, people in traditional costumes to name a few.
• Plan ahead and take special note of holidays, festivals or celebrations. There is always a demand for these images in advertistment.
• Check out food or cultural promotions held in hotels and plan your visits to coincide with such events.
• Get a calendar of events in advance from your own country at the beginning of the year so that you can plan ahead. The Tourism Office of your respective country should be a good place to start to get the information you need.
• Study carefully the advertisements in newspapers, magazines and TV commercials to get the feel of what images have been constantly used in the advertisements. Once you know how the advertisers tick you will know what images to create that will sell.
• Know your country and be updated with the current marketing trends, policies and politics. If the trend is promoting multi-racial unity then create images to reflect such unity. When we have such images online that nobody has ever thought of, you bet yours will stand out and it will sell.