PhotoAsia Blog

PhotoAsia would be interested to hear from photographers who have stock images covering the following topics:

Hari Raya is the main festival for Muslims in Malaysia, marking the culmination of Ramadhan. For a sample of what we are looking for, take a look at our special Hari Raya Gallery. With Ramadhan just around the corner, we’re looking for the following images:

1. Practising silat – demonstrating moves, group or single person
2. Lifestyle – family celebrating Ramadhan, breaking fast, preparing traditional cakes like ketupat, visiting parents in kampung setting, lighting oil lamps
3. Still life – close-up of oil lamps, ketupat, etc.
4. Entertaining non-Muslim guests, serving traditional cakes/food

If interested, please contact Christopher Tvärne for more details at chris@photoasia.com.my.

Brother and sister running outdoors smiling. Photo Credits: Monkey Business

I was reading an excellent post by photographer Jonah Kessel, who recently was responsible for the redesign of a major newspaper in China. To summarize, the post was about whether to take the leap from doing editorial photography and also doing stock photography as well.

There’s a big difference between the two, of course. For editorial images, e.g. images that appear in articles in newspapers, magazines and similar medium, you don’t generally require model releases. For images used for commercial purposes, it is required that you have model releases to show that you have obtained the model’s permission to publish his/her images to promote a product or service. It is always the publisher who takes the risk when they decide to use an image. So it makes good business sense for them to make sure that they will not be liable.

This gives me a little more respect for stock photographers who actually setup life style shoots with all sorts of situations and peoples, although I feel like most of them are sitting at their house taking pictures of inanimate objects. However, are they actually visually representing life accurately with their models?

Or better yet — are they even trying to? Do stock agencies want a “real image” or the “idea of a real image?”

Young woman standing by mailbox reading postcard. Photo Credits: Moodboard

The above is a quote from Jonah’s post and something we want to highlight as it is critical to whether the images will sell or not: capturing people in real situations and not “faking” the images. In stock photography a less harsher description is not faking it but to create a situation in a photo shoot. Creating images in a controlled environment is what stock photograpy is all about. This is one aspect of stock photography that is in great demand because creative directors of most advertsing agencies want stock photographers to anticipate their requirements, get inside their heads, think ahead of their creative minds and outside the box as well. So it is not as easy as going into a market scene and shooting at every photo opportunity you can find on that day. Having said that, it does not mean that images of natural market scene or any good random shots whether indoors or outdoors will not sell as stock images as well. They do but not in such great demand as images specifically created for the advertising market.

It’s not the first time we’ve talked to a photographer voicing this to us. By far, the most common response we get from photographers that aren’t doing stock, is that they believe everything has to be “fake” and the models have to be beautiful/handsome. Obviously, there is truth in these statements. Clients that choose stock images to advertise their products or services want to create a postitive reaction. They know that using a young, attractive model to advertise their product is more likely to get a positive response than no images at all or one that will generate a negative feeling.

Little girl sits on mother's lap, both smile at camera. Photo Credits: Alex Mares-Manton

However, as a stock library, we want to encourage our contributors to shoot more images that look natural and candid. In every photo shoot, a photographer will never see any return in his/her investment unless the images show spontaneous, candid shots together with some shots that show the models smiling naturally into the camera. Images that show the models posing for the camera will never sell. If the photographer can capture an intimate moment or a candid expression in a photo shoot that image will sell and that is what creative directors in all advertising agencies are searching for. It is much harder to achieve this when you are shooting specifically for stock and directing a model to create that look or expression but there are stock photographers out there who are doing it and they are the ones making big bucks.

Achieving this balance between genuine and commericaly viable images for stock is probably the hardest thing for a successful stock photographer to do but with practice, information of the current market trends and a passion for lifestyle images, any serious stock photographer can succeed. I hope this will motivate you not discourage you from shooting for stock.

PhotoAsia would be interested to hear from photographers who have stock images covering the following topics:

The current market trend is targeting the modern Muslim consumers. Agencies are now working towards Islamic branding for their clients. In view of this PhotoAsia is looking for images related to Muslim lifestyle big time. These images do not necessarily have to be taken in Malaysia. They can be from any Muslim countries worldwide particularly from Indonesia, Turkey, Middle East, Pakistan even in Europe and the United Kingdom.

1. Shopping – interior shots of Muslim men and women shopping in luxurious shopping malls, supermarket (inspecting packaging/product, at checkout counter, paying with credit card)
2. Business meetings/discussion in office or conference room, presentation, at the computer, using modern technology gadgets, etc.
3. Dining in restaurants, relaxing with friends in cafe
4. Muslim praying – group or single person
5. Leisure – vacation/holiday destinations, kids playing the park, relaxing in the sun, family picnic, etc.
6. Watching TV with family, working at home with PC & mobile phone
7. Muslim housewives doing laundry, in a modern kitchen, feeding baby, family meal time.

Images with identifiable people needs signed model releases. The client is going to use the images for commercial purposes.

If interested, please contact Christopher Tvärne at chris@photoasia.com.my.

PhotoAsia successfully recovered damages for copyright infringement from a client who sheepishly confessed that they have used our images for commerical use without authorisation. After five weeks of negotiations the client finally agreed to pay RM127,790 ($38,438.83) in damages for the use of 30 images from 18 different photographers represented by PhotoAsia. The 18 photographers have not been contacted yet but they should be getting their share of the damages by the first week of April 2010.

What caused the client to confess this infringement? We found out later that another library has sent them a lawyer’s letter for copyright infringement for an image. This started a chain reaction and the client decided to do some housekeeping, digging out all their projects that used images to see whether they have all been paid. To their horror they discovered that the staff in charge of these projects have not paid for the reuse of many images or renewed the licence to continue using some of the images. According to the client the staff has already resigned sometime ago and her inefficiency has only now been uncovered.

This particular client has been a regular and loyal client and we have no reason to doubt that this was an oversight on the part of one individual staff and not a deliberate desire of the company to infringe our copyright. In view of the fact that they themselves came forward to make retribution, we were happy to reduce the penalty and charged the client only three times the normal rate. They even came to hand us the cheque personally and I have to say that this is the easiet settlement that we have experienced and without the aid of a legal counsel too!

Doreen Lau (left) presenting cheque to Pastor Johnson (right)

PhotoAsia organized a charity calender project in partnership with photographers and photo libraries who generously donated their images for use in the 2010 desktop calendar. Four thousand copies of the calendars were sold and and MYR10,000 were raised from the sales.

PhotoAsia hopes to continue to use its images to make a difference in the lives of the underprivileged and like to thank all the libraries and photographers who have willingly agreed to allow their images to be used for free in the charity calendar. It was through their support and the assistance of many people who have helped in every which way they could that PhotoAsia had succeeded in raising MYR10,000 for Stepping Stones Home. We hope with their continued support this will be the first of many such projects initiated by PhotoAsia.

The cheque was presented to Pastor Johnson, founder of the Stepping Stones Home which is located in Taman Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur. The Home provides a safe haven for children from needy and broken homes regardless of background or belief.

About Stepping Stones Home

Stepping Stones Home is located in Taman Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur. It was started in November 1998 by Pastor Johnson to provide a safe haven for children from needy and broken homes. Currently, children and single mothers are welcome into the Home regardless of background or belief, and are taught to live in, by and for God.

The Home in Taman Seputeh is the first. There are four others which make it possible for older boys and girls to be housed separately. The Home, which has 110 children, 12 mothers and 10 elderly persons is totally dependent on contributions from well wishers and friends.

Please support the Stepping Stones Home to enable the Home to answer every child’s cry for help, every single mothers plea for financial aid and every elderly person’s need for shelter.

PhotoAsia will be continuing organising such projects to raise funds for a needy home annually. Should you wish to support this project in any small way do contact us at 03-7955 3237 or email us at info@photoasia.com.my.

Join to support the children on the Stepping Stones Homes Facebook page.

Image Gallery

Red Chinese lanterns display at Thean Hou Temple, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during Chinese New Year celebrations. Photo Credits: Wong Sze Fei

The Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year is the most important annual festival for the Chinese community and is celebrated all over Malaysia. The first day of spring in the Lunar Calendar this year falls on the 14th of February 2010.

Marking the first day of the first new moon, Chinese New Year is traditionally an occasion to settle old debts and begin the year with a clean slate. Prayers and offerings are made. New clothes are bought and plenty of food are prepared. Although the festivities continues for fifteen days, the main festival is celebrated on the first three days. On the eve of the Chinese New Year, the family have a joint family dinner to welcome the New Year. Younger ones of the family visit their relatives and get red packets of lucky money known as ang pow as gifts.

PhotoAsia would like to take this opportunity to wish all our friends, good fortune, good health and a prosperous new year!

Portrait of three young women smiling with arms around each other. Photo Credits: Glow Images

Premium Subscription Service from Glow Images now available through PhotoAsia!

Glow Images is a multi-ethnic commercial Royalty-Free subscription service from MYR 1.46 per image! Choose over 1.2 million images and download 750 images a month. Every Glow subscriber gets access to our entire collection of high-end subscription images for one month. Select a plan that’s right for you – full access, unlimited, print or web.

Feel free to view the collection of images at www.glowimages.com.

The Right Plan for Every Budget

Web – Web resolution. 25 downloads / day. Perfect for designers and web publishers who need access to lots of images for one low fee.
Print – Up to 15MB files. 25 downloads / day. Ideal for brochures, newsletters and higher resolution interactive projects.
Unlimited – Up to 25MB files. Unlimited downloads / day. The designers survival kit.
Full access – Up to 60MB files. 25 downloads / day. Get access to every image, file size or resolution.

Pricing

Web – MYR 1,100 / month
Print – MYR 2,100 / month
Unlimited – MYR 2,700 / month
Full access – MYR 4,200 / month

To order Glow Images subscription, fill out the sign-up form on this page.

Want to know more?

Contact us at 603-7955 3237 or email us at at info@photoasia.com.my if you want more information.

Portrait of a young woman standing in a robe in a garden. Photo Credits: ImageDJ

ImageDJ is a new Royalty-Free Asian photo collection at PhotoAsia with over 250 CDs covering a wide variety of subjects ranging from people, lifestyle, nature, technology, business, scenery, medicine, science, architecture, to transportation. The formats are composed of photography, illustration, web image, 3D modeling, composite layered images and more. With over 20,000 images, ImageDJ delivers diversified and professional quality imagery in one stop.

Search ImageDJ Royalty-Free Images
Browse this collection’s CDs (251)

Can’t find what you are looking for? Call us at +6(03) 7955 3237 or email us at info@photoasia.com.my.

2 for the price of 1 - Buy one PIXTAL Virtual CD and get another one for free

Buy an image or CD from the Pixtal collection and choose another one for free!

Search in the Pixtal Royalty-Free Image Collection
Browse this collection’s CD titles (385)

The promotion is valid from December 1st through December 31st and it is limited to purchases of images and CDs separately; the two types of products cannot be combined to qualify for the offer. The free image must have the same value as the purchased image. The offer is limited to offline purchases only.

Can’t find what you are looking for? Call us at +6(03) 7955 3237 or email us at info@photoasia.com.my.

Offer ends on December 31, 2009.