Instead of limiting yourself and only thinking about shooting for Commercial purposes, you can learn how to incorporate the Editorial option to your shooting routines. This option will open up your possibilities and make it possible for you to be creatively free while shooting.
We often forget that we can actually shoot brands or people without needing the releases for them, by submitting them as Editorial. As you know, on Wirestock, we are allowed to submit our images as Commercial or Editorial. If you choose to sell your image for commercial purposes, you will need a release for any visible person or recognizable trademark. The advantage of submitting Commercially is that you will reach a large group of buyers. Sometimes, however, we do not have the releases. In this case, you can still sell your photo by selecting the Editorial option. With Editorial, you make your photo available for sale for usages without a commercial character (i.e. selling a product or promoting a service). Typical editorial sources are:
⦁ Educational material in books and in magazines
⦁ Informative or documentary articles on the internet or in magazines
⦁ Newspaper articles
⦁ Informative presentations for businesses
I recommend shooting whatever subjects that you want in the best way that you can - first. I always believe if you shoot what you love you will see the positive results in your images. Afterward, when reviewing your images, you can decide whether you submit them as Editorial or Commercial. I hope this tip will make the stock photography shooting process easier and more interesting for you. Keep in mind there are many customers out there that need exclusively Editorial images showing real people doing real things, in candid situations. People often need images that show certain brands and logos (Editorial as well).
Remember: Shoot people doing things in real environments. Please keep in mind to not disturb people’s privacy. In general, you are safe to shoot in public places like cities, shopping malls, parks, and other open places. On the days you can’t go outside, consider photographing branded toys or food. There are endless ways you can shoot editorial photos. See below for more examples:
Hopefully, you can get inspired to go out and shoot those Editorials.
If you need some more advice you can always contact Eric the head of the content of Wirestock, eric@wirestock.io.
All photos courtesy of Mirco Vacca
