Artlist’s acquisition of Motion Array marks a significant step towards the company becoming a comprehensive creative stock solution for video creators. Founded in 2013, Motion Array has over 40 employees and has developed an all-in-one subscription-based creative marketplace and technology solution for video creators, focused on delivering a variety of high-quality digital media at an affordable price.

Through this purchase, Artlist will reach more than six million users worldwide and grow its catalog by more than half a million stock assets. Motion Array’s multimedia catalog includes video templates, presets, plugins, transitions, motion graphics, and photos, as well as efficient filmmaking tools such as editing software integrations, video collaboration, and portfolio builder.

[Related Reading: Artlist Launches the Edit Challenge]

“We believe that Motion Array’s rich collection presents the perfect opportunity for Artlist to move towards becoming a one-stop-shop of creative stock assets,” said Ira Belsky, co-founder and co-CEO of Artlist. “The addition of Motion Array’s flexible tools and vast catalog, including the world’s largest Premiere Pro template catalog, will secure Artlist’s position as the leading company in the video creation industry.”

From its 2016 foundation as a bootstrapped music licensing company, Artlist has continuously worked to expand its services, launching the stock footage site Artgrid in spring 2019, and releasing a vast catalog of high-quality sound effects at the beginning of 2020. The latest acquisition is designed to strengthen Artlist’s existing catalog and continue providing video creators with a comprehensive solution for every video need. The purchase of Motion Array will also present a lucrative revenue source to more types of content contributors.

“This move is invaluable to Artlist as it helps us maintain our position as the go-to solution for creators in the constantly expanding world of video content,” said Itzik Elbaz, co-founder and co-CEO of Artlist. “We are excited to bring our high-quality curation capabilities to additional creative assets. Motion Array’s offerings will streamline our continued efforts to provide our subscribers with creative freedom and increase their video production value.”

[Related Reading: Artlist Brings Unlimited Sound Effects To Its Platform]

“We feel that this merger is just the boost needed to turn Motion Array and Artlist into a true powerhouse marketplace that caters to all creators’ needs,” said Motion Array co-founder, Tyler Williams. “This move is a fulfillment of the vision we had when we created our company 7 years ago and we are truly excited.”

“In Artlist we found kinship in the aim of making the lives of creators and editors easier through quality and affordable solutions,” said Motion Array co-founder, Eri Levin. “We are very proud of Motion Array’s achievements in the industry and its impact on creators’ works as well as on the field of digital asset creation.”

It seems that Artlist is making leaps and bounds in its niche to make itself the one-stop-shop for all your creative needs for stock footage, images, SFX, and more. Are you an Artlist user already? Would you consider signing up for their service after this announcement and addition? Let us know in the comments below.

Shooting film is like going back to high school science class—there are a lot of variables, and you need to master them one at a time. But before you can master them, you need to learn what they are! So, let’s review the foundational elements of film photography: film types, sizes, camera settings and more.

Why Film Photography?

There are several benefits to shooting with film that make it a unique and worthwhile medium for photography:

Film Photography Aesthetic

Film photography has a distinctive look and feel that cannot be replicated by digital photography. The colors and tones of film can produce a more organic, natural look with a wider dynamic range.

Tangibility & Physicality of Film

Film photographs are physical prints that can be held and touched, unlike digital photographs which are intangible files on a computer. The physicality of film prints can make them feel more real and permanent.

Intentionality and Purpose

With film photography, there is a limited number of exposures on a roll of film, which forces the photographer to be more intentional and thoughtful with each shot. This can lead to a more deliberate and considered approach to photography.

Tradition and Legacy of Film Photography

Film photography has a rich history and tradition, and shooting with film can be a way to connect with that legacy and add to the ongoing story of photography. Additionally, film prints have a reputation for lasting longer than digital files, which means they can be passed down and enjoyed for generations to come.

Understanding Film Types

Negative film

Negative film captures images as a “negative”, in which colors and values are inverted. It’s great for preserving details in high-contrast situations. Some popular negative film stocks include Kodak Portra 400, Fuji 400H, Portra 800, Portra 160, Kodak TriX, Ilford HP5, and Ilford Delta 3200.

Reversal Film

Reversal film (also known as “slide film”) captures images as a “positive”, replicating color and values directly. Because of this, it captures a rich range of colors. It’s also quite clear, with less grain than negative film. Success with reversal film relies heavily on accurate light meter readings since the film does not have a wide range of exposure latitude.

Understanding Film Sizes

135 Film

135 Film, which is also referred to as 35mm (the width of the film), has a frame size of 36x24mm with a standard of 36 exposures. The film is perforated on the edges so that it may be wound to and from one spool within the camera. Those perforations are called sprocket holes.

120 Film

120 Film is much larger than 135 film, it is 61mm wide—the larger size allows images to appear less grainy as they are enlarged. This film size has no perforated edges because the cameras used to shoot this film because instead of using just one spool, the film goes from one spool to another. The film also has protective backing paper on it. The standard frame size and number of exposures for 120 film are: 6×4.5cm/16 exposures, 6x6cm/12 exposures, 6x7cm/10 exposures.

220 Film

220 Film is identical to 120 film, but with twice as many frames per roll and NO protective backing paper. The lack of backing paper allows the longer film to fit on the same sized spool as 120 film, and the resulting thinner film requires a different pressure plate in the camera to achieve the best focus. Some cameras require a separate insert for this film type, while others come with different settings to accommodate both 120 and 220.

Medium Format Film

Medium Format refers to any film (and camera) type in which a single frame is larger than 135 film (36x24mm) but smaller than 4×5 inches. Typically, this term refers to 120 or 220 film types.

Large Format Film

Large Format refers to any film (and camera) type in which a single frame is 4×5 inches or larger (5×7, 8×10, etc). Since the film is so large, the subsequent images can be reproduced at a larger size without as much grain as the smaller formats.

Choosing Your Camera

The first step in film photography is choosing your camera. There are several types of film cameras, including point-and-shoot, rangefinder, and SLR cameras. When choosing a camera, consider factors such as your budget, the type of photography you want to do, and the level of control you want over your settings.  Here are a few great film cameras to consider:

• Canon AE-1 / AE-1 Program
• Nikon FE
• Nikon F5
• Pentax ME Super
• Olympus OM-1
• Pentax K1000
• Nikon FM2
• Canon Canonet G-III QL17

Camera Settings for Film Photography

Exposure for Film Photography

Exposure is the act of light hitting film. Exposure is controlled by both shutter speed and aperture. Underexposure occurs when not enough light hits your film, making your final images look dark & grainy and creating color shifts in the shadows. Overexposure occurs when too much light hits your film, making your final images look flat & grainy and creating color shifts in the highlights.

Shutter Speed for Film Photography

Shutter Speed refers to the amount of time the shutter is open and allowing light into the camera. It is measured in fractions of a second (example 1/125, 1/250, 1/500).

Aperture for Film Photography

Aperture refers to the size of the opening, also called the iris, within the lens. It adjusts the amount of light that enters the camera. Aperture measurements are called f-stops, written in the format f/8, f/11, f/16, etc. The smaller the number, the more light is let in.

ISO for Film Photography

ISO is the level of sensitivity your film has to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light it is. For example, ISO 100 film has a low light sensitivity, so you would need to shoot it when light sources are ample. Alternatively, ISO 800 film is more sensitive to light, so you can shoot it in low-light situations like at night or when you need to use a fast shutter speed to capture something in motion.

Developing Film

Once you’ve taken your photos, it’s time to develop your film. You can either develop your film at home or use a lab. Developing film at home requires some equipment and knowledge, but it can be a rewarding experience. If you’re new to film photography, we recommend using a lab for your first few rolls of film.

When choosing a lab, consider factors such as the cost, turnaround time, and the quality of the scans. Some labs offer both film developing and scanning services, which can be convenient.

Scanning and Editing Film

After your film has been developed, it’s time to scan and edit your photos. Scanning your film allows you to digitize your photos so that you can share them online and make prints. Basic editing techniques such as adjusting the exposure and contrast can help bring out the best in your photos.

When scanning and editing your photos, consider factors such as the resolution of your scans and the software you’re using. Some recommended software for editing film scans include Adobe Lightroom and Capture One.

Conclusion

Film photography is a rewarding hobby that allows you to capture beautiful moments in a unique and timeless way. With the right camera, film, and techniques, you can take stunning photos that will last a lifetime. So grab your camera, load up some film, and get shooting!

About Richard Photo Lab:

Richard Photo Lab is a quality-obsessed company, more interested in doing things the right way than chasing high volume or fat margins. Their passion feeds their work, and their work feeds their passion. The team at Richard Photo Lab take a great degree of care with their image processing, scanning, and handling–sweating the details of each and every frame to exceed your expectations, and take pride in the personalization of their services, developing unique relationships with clients, and treating them as the individuals they are. Clients, which have come to include prominent names in wedding, family, fine art, and commercial photographers like José Villa, KT Merry, Jen Huang, Eric Kelley, Caroline Tran, and Johnny Patience to name a few.

The competition in today’s global market is high, and a brand absolutely needs to stand out from the crowd in order to succeed. This is why having a good marketing strategy is important, and that includes incredible images of their entire product line. With the help of an experienced professional, businesses can create images that attract people’s attention and hopefully influence them to purchase the products being sold.

This article was originally published in 2020 and has been updated by SLR Lounge staff for 2022.

Product Photography Tips on Quality – Light Properly and Use the Best Gear You Have

The first and most important thing is to always take high-quality images of your product. We’d recommended you do some training to learn the skills and gear needed, ideally by taking a Photography Course. Once you’ve picked up the basics and have your gear sorted out like how to avoid pixelated and blurry images, it’s time to start creating large and high-resolution photos that drive better traffic to your website. Some of the things you’ll want to focus on include the following:

• Off Camera Flash
• Depth of Field
• Composition Theory
• Color Theory

Product Photography Tips on Using Multiple Angles and Accuracy – Apply Storytelling to Your Product Photos

Storytelling applies to product photography too!  You should always provide customers with multiple angles of your product. Whether you sell bags, cell phone cases, or shoes, remember your clients can’t pick it up to inspect it through the internet, but they still would like to know what they’re buying. That’s why the photos you take should be diverse and captured from different angles so that they present the product as accurately as possible, with all the details. For that purpose, it’s good to include detailed zooms, as well as provide all possible style options and colours of the presented product.

Always show textures and materials used in the featured product. Before taking a photo, prepare these materials as thoroughly as possible to eliminate any flaws. For example, remove any wrinkles in clothing or dust & smudges on jewelry. The customer and clients’ sharp eyes will notice any imperfection. If your photo doesn’t accurately depict the product, it may result in poor reviews from dissatisfied customers. Nobody wants that. On the other hand, accurate, high-quality photos taken from multiple angles will help build trust and brand loyalty. Everybody wants that, especially your clients.

Backgrounds – Keep it Simple!

Many people wonder what kind of background they should use for product photography. More often than not, you’ll want to keep your backdrops as simple and clean as possible. Remember, your photos should focus on selling the product, not its surroundings. For sites like Amazon, for example, a clean white background typically works the best (and is actually required for the main image). Simple, light colored backdrops work especially well when selling colored products. The contrast between the light background and the colorful product encourages viewers to focus on the product and will hopefully leave a positive impression.

On some occasions, you may want to add relevant props and used textured backdrops to give the photos a more natural feel. For instance, when photographing food for a recipe or menu, consider placing ingredients or side dishes around the main dish. With practice, you can learn how to choose and use the best product photography backdrops to enhance your product photos.

Show Products in Use When Possible

Furthermore, to encourage people to view and acquire your product, consider presenting it in daily use. In other words, in addition to the “studio” based product shots, also include some “lifestyle” and/or catalogue type images shot with happy and energetic people wearing/using the products or wearing the clothes. Clients need context to understand better their needs. Except for displaying your goods on a plain background, you can arrange them in a real environment, similar to furniture in IKEA, which is placed in fully-furnished rooms. That helps people envision the product in their lives and see how they’ll use it. It’s important to show them that the things you sell can significantly change and enrich their lives.

Product Photography Tips: Add Images to Site Search

Once you have the photos of your products, make sure that they show up in your site search. This can be painstaking to get setup, but it can considerably boost your website traffic. People are more willing to click on the auto-filled images instead of typing the rest of their search entries. Thanks to such pictures, customers can faster find what they’re looking for. If this photo is eye-catching enough, they will click on it even if it wasn’t the thing they were initially searching for. Remember that photos attract people’s attention faster and easier than the written word.

More Product Photography Tips: Use Images in Content Marketing

In addition to using the photos in product descriptions, don’t forget to include them in your content marketing. For example, if you work with sites that show related articles or reviews (from influencers or affiliates), use these photos! Photos give readers more insight into the offered product and its qualities. Moreover, a great image stays longer in our memory. We only remember about 10% of heard information three days later, whereas we retain about 65% of the information when correlated with a photo. That’s why good product photography is so essential in your overall marketing!

Final Thoughts

Presenting a product online in photos may be as challenging as describing them with words. To follow best practices, brands should hire professional photographers to create stunning images of their product(s). These images should showcase the product’s design and utility to inspire buyer to purchase with confidence. Capturing and editing final product images requires a bit of technical know-how, but these product photography tips will help. Keep pushing yourself to grow as a product photographer and build additional revenue streams to your business!

Fortunately, there has been a rise in websites that offer high quality, professional stock imagery that are for the most part completely free or fall under creative commons public domain licensing. Briefly explained, this licensing means you can copy, modify, distribute the work even if it’s for commercial purposes.  For more free stock photo sites, see this page on Stock Photo Secrets, which includes most of the same sites below but adds a ton of extras for your reference.

A Short List of Websites That Offer Free Stock Imagery

Vecteezy

Vecteezy is a website that provides vector graphics, stock images,  and stock videos for free. You can use the free images in your personal or commercial projects without any attribution required. This means you do not have to give credit when using their images. The site has been around since 2009 and they are adding new content every day.

Unsplash

Unsplash is a collection of free high-resolution photos provided by Crew Labs, Inc. The website is updated is every 10 days with 10 new photos from various artists.

Pexels

Pexels is one of our favorite free stock photo websites.  Even if you’re a photographer, this website can come in handy to supplement web pages that you may not have imagery for.  For example, we found the lightbulb image on Pexels for our support page on VF Presets.

Gratisography

Gratisography offers free high-resolution pictures you can use on your personal and commercial projects. New awesome pictures are added weekly by Ryan McGuire of Bells Design and are free of copyright restrictions.

Split Shire

Italian photographer Daniel Nanescu gives his work away for free on Split Share. He explains that his work is “love for the art and the ambition to get noticed.” All work is completely free, but for $5.50 a month, he offers a “Premium” account where your Dropbox is automatically uploaded with new images and exclusive content.

Little Visuals

When you subscribe to Little Visuals you will get a present in your inbox every week. In the gift will be 7 hi-res pictures. It is a rush to unzip the images to see what you got, or you can be boring and look at the website.

Life of Pix

Life of Pix is run by Leeroy Advertising Agency in Montreal and its network of photographers. New images are added weekly and are void of copyright.

Death to Stock Photos

Run by a duo in Columbus, OH, Death to Stock Photos aims to help brands, bloggers, and other freelancers who can’t otherwise pay for licensing. Subscribing brings 10 free photos to your inbox every month. For $10 a month, an extra pack of photos will be delivered as well as gaining access to past and future packs. Death to Stock Photos uses their own licensing that can be found on their website.

Superfamous Studios

Superfamous is run by the Dutch designer Folkert Gorter in Los Angeles. All of his work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.

Picjumbo

Picjumbo is run by Viktor Hanacek, a Czech web designer. His pictures are offered at a max resolution of 3888 px wide and can be used for commercial and personal work including web design, sliders, apps, backgrounds or templates. Hanacek also offers a Photoshop plugin for direct access to the images.

IM Free

IM Free is a carefully curated collection of free resources, all for commercial use provided by the team at IM-Creator.

New Old Stock

New Old Stock is full of vintage photos all in the pubic domain. You should try your hand in creating creepy gifs out of them.

Get Refe

Refe has two free sites, one of which are images taken with cell phones and the other is humans interacting with technology. You have to weed through to find the truly great images.

Snapwire Snaps

Snaps is a weekly collection of photos that is released from Snapwire’s royalty free site into the public domain for free use.

Jeshoots

Jeshoots is run by 24-year-old Jan Vasek. The images range from a wide variety of categories including abstract, fashion, nature, and technology.

Pixabay

Pixabay offers over 27,000 free photos, vectors and art illustrations all released to the public domain. You can use any Pixabay image without attribution in digital and printed form, even for commercial applications.

Cupcake

Cupcake is a treat from photographer Jonas Nilsson Lee. All photos are released under the Creative Commons CC0 License. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking for permission.

Kaboompics

Kaboompics are offered for free to bloggers, website owners, small businesses, freelancers & social media ninjas. Most of the images are offered at 3888 to 5472 px wide. The site aims to provide a wide range of images for any situation.

Foodies Feed

Over 660 people subscribe to the delicious Foodies Feed. You can indulge on food and food related images to your heart’s content. Download as many pictures as you want, no one will judge you if you go back for seconds.

Jay Mantri

Jay uploads 7 new images every Thursday and are released under the Creative Commons CC0 License.

Foter

Boasting over 335 million stock images available in their database, Foter has over 220 million of those listed under the Creative Commons!

StockSnap

StockSnap has a large collection of High-Res images that are under the creative commons, as well as linking to Shutterstock for additional paid content.

FreeImages

Just like the site url, Free Images is a site loaded with stock photos that are free for private and commercial use, as long as credit to the author is given when used for editorial purposes.

FreeRange Stock

A creative commons stock site with a 50/50 blend of professional and amateure content. The catch, is you’ll have to jump through some hurdles to get to the download.

CC Search

CC Search is a tool that allows openly licensed and public domain works to be discovered and used by everyone.

Conclusion

Popular sites like Flickr offer Creative Commons licensed images, but most are uninspiring and will take a large amount of searching to find what you’re looking for. There is a continuing growing number of beautiful stock image sites like these. Each site has different licensing policies, and make sure that when using the images to give the proper citation. If I missed your favorite free stock photo company, make sure to leave a comment and share!

This could be a wonderfully helpful tool for videographers and video editors, as they claim it’ll make missing shots a thing of the past. It is now much easier to find footage resembling — or shot in — a certain location as well as scenes that feature a certain light temperature, wall color, or object.

What is Reverse Image Search?

In the simplest terms, Shutterstock is using “machine learning” AI to break down it’s library of over 280 million images and 15 million video clips at a pixel level, identifying key features. Then once it’s recognized what’s inside each image, it visually searches the database (from your submitted image) to find others that match its basic composition, returning you results that should match the image/video you’re looking for.

It’s been working pretty well for Shutterstock for the last few years in terms of photo searches, and now with its adaptation for video, it effectively searches the clips frame by frame to find results that match the image or screenshot you submit

For instance, as a test I submitted an image I captured while in Death Valley of the Eureka Dunes

What returned was a variety of sweeping landscapes, dunes, and mountains as seen here;

[Related Reading: Stock 4K? Shutterstock Quietly Launches 4K Support]

Given how generic the image I uploaded as a test was, i’m actually pretty impressed with the resulting video samples it returned! You can effectively throw in anything into the search and while it may take a while to analyze, it’ll return with some pretty accurate results for your video clip needs. Regardless of your stance on stock photography/videography, this is still a pretty impressive feature for people putting together a video project. Definitely a MASSIVE time saver now that you can simply drag and drop a screenshot of your existing footage to find clips that are similar in nature and available for licensing.

Personally, if I were a creative director or producer looking to finish up a film or commercial project, this would be incredibly useful, and a massive time and cost saving tool. What do you think of this? Will you use this for your video projects? Let us know in the comments below.

Selling your images as stock photos is a good way to earn extra money with your work. Regardless of your professional level, there will be stock photo websites that may host your photos that customers can purchase. Getting your photos hosted isn’t just about sending a photo, you also need to make sure your photos abide by the requirements of the stock photo website.

Here are a few details to observe before attempting to sell your photos to a stock photography site.

You Must Follow The Image Requirements of The Website

Each stock photo website will have its own respective rules when it comes to its image requirements. Sites such as Shutterstock require images to have a minimum size of 4 Megapixels set to the highest quality setting for your image to be acceptable. The maximum file size you can upload photos using a web browser is 50 MB for photos, while Getty Images lets you upload images as large a 3GB in JPEG format!

Following the required file types and sizes will make it easier for your images to be approved by the stock photo website. Each site will have their own rules regarding the dimensions and file sizes of an image, so planning ahead and abiding by their requirements would alleviate the concern the company may have regarding your image quality. This way you won’t have to re upload and re-size your images time and time again.

Build Your Reputation By Concentrating On A Specific Genre For Your Photos

Choosing a specific audience for your photos can help provide a steady stream of income. You can turn a one-time buyer into a repeat customer by creating photos that the customer wants.

For example, if you want to cater to restaurants & bars, focusing on a food and beverage images will help build your credibility as a photographer so buyers in stock photo websites will look for you. Building up your portfolio of quality food photos will help you establish a reputation for creating great photos that companies will look for.

Let’s say that one company loved your drink photos so much that other companies would ask for your photos via the stock photo website as well. You can have more people regularly buy your photos by concentrating on a specific audience.

Use Clone Stamp to Remove Corporate Logos

Photographers can’t use corporate logos in stock photography because the corporation can ask for a portion of the profit made every time the photo is sold.

Selling a photo with a corporate logo to a stock photo website means you are making money off that company’s logo. Thus, stock sites require you to take photos without any corporate logos to avoid getting sued by the corporation who owns the logo. This also applies for registered works of art, and real estate/property.

You can avoid the headache of a potential lawsuit by editing and retouching your photos to make them generic, (like you see on most tv shows where known brands have stickers or something blocking the products logos). You can take care of this by using the clone stamp or healing tools in Adobe Photoshop.

The clone stamp function lets you select a portion of an image and cover over an imperfection of the photo. In your case, you want to find a blank portion of the photo that matches the space occupied by the logo.

If you really want to include the corporate logo into your photos, you will have to seek permission from the appropriate sources and get a release form to go along with it.

Have a Photo Release Signed by People or Property Owners in Your Picture

Getting a subject’s consent is important when getting your photos hosted on a stock photo website. You need to get the person’s consent so they understand the possible consequences of having their image used in advertising. Photographers can get the person’s permission with the help of a photo release form.

[Related Reading: Model Release Form Template]

A photo release form is used to seek permission from a person or object that was photographed. Depending on the kind of photograph you want to sell, you will have to seek a photo release from your subject. There are two types of photo release forms: Model Release and  Property Release.

• Model Release: You seek the permission of a person or a group of people in a picture.
• Property Release: You seek permission from the owner of a property or object in a picture to sell photos of the place or object you shot including the corporate logos and trademarks.

The person will know that their image will be used in photos that the stock photo website feels is appropriate. Besides, asking for the person’s consent to upload their photos is a form of good manners as well as professional. When the person understands that their image will be used in advertisements, they will not be shocked to see their faces slapped on a giant billboard in the city.

When you upload a photo to be reviewed by the stock photo website, there is a release form on their website freeing the stock photo company from any responsibility if anything happens to the person in the photo because the photo was used in advertising.

Appealing to Stock Photo Websites

The tips mentioned above are just a few of the many tips you can use to make your photo the chosen one among the many submissions that a stock photo receives every day.

• Each stock photo website has its own set of requirements and following each website’s requirements will make it easier for buyers to purchase your photo through the stock photo website.
• Using a clone stamp will help you avoid getting in trouble with big corporations and their intellectual property.
• Requesting Photo Releases isn’t just good manners. Photographers and subjects will both be aware of how the images will be used.
• Concentrating on a specific topic will help build your reputation as an expert on the topic and bring you more repeat customers than one-time buyers.

Getting your photos hosted is not just about making the photo look good. The elements in the photo should be processed and checked with permission from everyone involved. Going through the proper processing will give you a higher chance of getting your photos hosted in stock photo websites, and subsequently, getting more sales!

Guest Post Written by Rebecca Van Ommen of Paper Boat Creative

*Images shared with permission from Rebecca Van Ommen.

Holiday Gift Guides: 

• THE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS | $100 & UNDER
• THE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS | $100-$500
• THE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS | $500 +

RELATED: 2016 HOLIDAY SALE! UP TO 50% OFF

Without further a do, here are some of our favorite small, inexpensive items that we recommend.

FUJIFILM INSTAX MONOCHROME $12

Last Holiday Season was dominated by Fuji Instax sales, and for good reason. Fuji Instax cameras have become ubiquitous features at all manners of social events, bringing back the instant gratification to tangible photography, and all in a handsome package. Now, there’s the new Monochromevariety brining the classic and artistic qualities of black and white photography back to Instant film, and for those of you who may be holding out for a Leica Sofort Instant camera, rest assured your camera will be compatible with Fujifilm.

• Get it Here

GERBER DIME MULTI-TOOL $13

Have 10 tools ready wherever you go with the compact and convenient black Dime Multi-Tool from Gerber which features a keychain ring and pocketable size. The stainless steel tool is durable and features spring-loaded needlenose pliers, a wire cutter, and a fine-edge blade as well as a specialized blade to cut and open retail packages. Other tools include spring-loaded scissors, Phillips and medium flat tip screwdrivers, a bottle opener, tweezers, and a file.

• Get it here

String Lights

These inexpensive AA battery-powered string of lights are great for adding interesting foreground or background elements to your pictures. Put them in front of your lens and use it as a GOBO, like you see in the image below; or if you need a creative ring shot, consider putting them behind your subject for some interesting bokeh.

ATMOSPHERE AEROSOL $12

We’ve sung the virtues of this ‘smoke machine in a can’ for some time now, and will continue to do so. When it comes time to add a particular amount of flare or drama to a scene, adding a big of ‘fog’ to the environment can change the entire dynamic of something bland, into something special, but fog machines can be expensive, and certianly cumbersome. Atmosphere Aerosol dispels with the inconvenience and cost to bring a lightweight solution that’s easy to use, and truly effective. Right now you can buy 3 cans and get one free.

• Get It Here

KODAK PROFESSIONAL TRI-X 400 BLACK & WHITE NEGATIVE FILM $5

If you hadn’t noticed, film has made a come-back worthy of its own, err, film, in recent years. An absolute staple and go-to for photographers and film emulation users all over is Koday Tri-X and if there’s a film shooter you know that you’re looking for, a few rolls of this will show savvy and be welcomed.

• Get it here

SLR Lounge Education

Many of you know that you can download our education in our store. But did you know that you can pick up many of our popular workshops directly on Amazon Prime? Check out our selection photography education here. We’re offering a holiday discount through Christmas on our most popular workshops that include: Photography 101, Natural Light Couples Photography, and the Newborn Photography Workshop.

• Find all here

6″ Prism

In the last couple of years, more and more photographers are incorporating prisms into their photography. Popularized by Sam Hurd out of Washington DC, prisms can be used to create interesting reflections or introduce different colors and lens flares to a composition. The image below is shot with a prism held just below the image.

• Get it here

PEAK DESIGN CUFF WRIST STRAP $19

The Peak Design Cuff wrist strap is a deceptively addictive piece of kit, coming in a simple understated box, it has quickly become one of the favorite pieces of our Editor, Kishore. It’s a strong, small quick-connect system that can mount to any piece of gear that has a loop or D-ring; from DSLRs to mirrorless to compacts, it can handle them all and hold them should your camera slip from your hands. It functions off Peak Design’s quick-release plate and lug, and you can snap your camera into the system and out of it with the push of a very secure button. Also, when you’re camera isn’t attached it can wrap around your wrist to be tidy and get’s out of the way. It’s utterly surprising and great for anyone who wants a strap security solution that is not obtrusive.

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Canon Lens Mugs

For the Canon shooter in your life, consider these fun Canon lens mugs. They offer model replicas of a few of their most popular L lenses, including the 24-70mm f/4L, 70-200mm f/4L, and the 24-105mm f/4L that can be used as a cup or pen holder for your favorite photographer’s workstation.

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Spray Bottles

Simple Spray Bottles are useful tools for creating interesting effects. Photographers can use spray bottles to create mist or even to emulate rain. Or as Pye of Lin and Jirsa often does, photographers can spray water directly on the lens to help capture unique flares.

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Sephora Double-sided Mirror

It’s no secret that reflections can help create interesting imagery. But what if they are not naturally available in the scene? Having this small mirror in your gear bag can really come in handy. Beyond using reflections creatively, a mirror can be an asset when on location with a couple during an engagement shoot, or with a model doing tests or any shoot really, and a small quick access mirror like this easy to use and easy to hide.

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BLACKRAPID RS-7 CURVE CAMERA STRAP $48

The black RS-7 Curve Camera Strap from BlackRapidis a lightweight, right-handed strap with attachment points to customize the strap with a choice of storage and other features. It is designed to work with Black Rapid’s MODS system. The ballistic nylon material gives it extreme strength. Additional materials include a polyester base and an underside of 1cm thick TPE (thermoplastic polyethylene) foam padding with fused knitted polyester mesh. As far as useable, unassuming and high-functioning pieces of gear goes, this is near the top.

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Memory Cards

Over time, all memory cards need to be replaced, creating this continual demand for more memory cards among photographers. SD Cards like the Lexar Professional 64GB Card or CF Cards like the SanDisk Extreme PRO 32GB CF card will fit perfectly in that stocking.

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Manfrotto PIXI EVO Mini Tripod $50

Getting a camera in just the right position for just the right framing is a big part of taking the right photograph. There’s little size or weight penalty with the PIXI EVO Mini Tripod from Manfrotto. It’s a tabeltop tripod that can hold up to 5.5 lb while weighing only 9.4 oz. It has two leg sections that are adjustable in five steps, allowing it to extend from 2.4″ up to 7.7″ high. The legs can be set at two different angles via the sliding selector. Easily enabling you to place your camera in portrait orientation, a 90° notch is built into the integrated ball head. One of those gifts that will be small but with big impact.

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Domke 15×15″ Color Coded Protective Wrap $13

This is for all those who want to make sure your gear is protected, no matter the shape of the bag. The Domke 15×15″ Color Coded Protective Wraps are constructed of padded knit nylon with a non-scratch nylon backing. These squares can be wrapped around small cameras, lenses, electronic flashes, tools, or anything else that will fit inside a bag or case. Touch fastener tabs on all four corners allow them to be wrapped in any shape. Particularly good if you don’t use highly protective camera bags or make non-camera bags into them with inserts and so on.

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Tiffen 52mm Photo Twin Pack (UV Protection & Circular Polarizing) $30

UVHaze filters can help protect your lenses from dust, moisture and scratches, and if desired they can be left on the lens at all times for protection. Haze filters provide additional benefits of correction for Ultraviolet (UV) light which can register on film and videotape as a bluish cast and can obscure distant details. Ultraviolet filters allow you to correct for the UV effect to varying degrees. Haze-1 filters absorb approximately 71 percent of UV.

The circular polarizers are used to select which light rays enter your camera lens. They can remove unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as water or glass and also saturate colors providing better contrast. The effect can be seen through the viewfinder and changed by rotating the filter. The filter factor varies according to how the filter is rotated and its orientation to the sun. This is a great kit to get into using filters.

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Two Sides to the Argument

Let’s start with the general landscape of the stock photography industry and introduce two sides of the arguement.

For the professional photographer, the opinions are typically mixed. On one side, the photographer stands to make some money selling images through stock agencies, but on the other side, many feel that these micro stock agencies are lowering the value of the images and making it harder to make a living as a photographer.  Recently, companies like Pexels and Unsplash are offering free stock photos, which is one more step in the direction of devaluation.  However, the old adage of “you get what you pay for” seems to apply to this scenario because paid stock images typically have much higher quality.  In addition, those images will be much more rare and less likely to be seen on a myriad of other sites and ads.

The argument has been ongoing for many years and will likely continue for many more. It reminds me a little bit of the old argument about shooting on spec — and guess what — crowd sourcing is growing by leaps and bounds with more photographers jumping on board every day. At its core, it is similar to that old spec model that we all feared.

Who is the Stock Photo Industry For?

Today, the micro stock, or stock, industry is filling up with talented photographers, many of whom are choosing to work full-time at creating images on their terms and in a style that suits them so they can sell those images through one or many different stock agencies. If you consider the benefits of shooting stock alongside other work, it may become harder to dismiss it so easily.

Some of the advantages that have come out of the expansion of the stock sites are:

• Castoff Images – Photographers have a market for what would otherwise be castoff images. Those images that the client just did not like for one reason or another may make great stock images — and guess what? You already got paid to create them.
• Freedom – Shooting stock allows you to create the images YOU want to create. The downside to this is that if you want to shoot images that no one has a need for, they may never sell. It is a roll of the dice whether you can really do this AND make money at it.
• Fill Time – Stock sessions can fill slow days in the studio and offer you a chance to experiment with new or different techniques. Let’s face it, the client that is paying your $900 day rate sure doesn’t want you trying something you saw on YouTube or just heard about at a workshop, but you could create these images on your downtime then sell them as stock to pay for the time you spent shooting.

The truth is that this list could go on and on.  As a food photographer, it is almost standard that some of the images I create for each client just don’t make the cut for one reason or another. These are great images for my stock portfolio, and unless I have a contract that specifies otherwise, they will be uploaded and sold many times over.

Sure, there are downsides. The sheer number of images needed in a photographer’s portfolio to remain relevant and compete in the stock arena is mind-boggling. The truth is that you will need at least 1000 images in your portfolio just to be a player on the field in this game. If you have the images and the stamina to maintain a portfolio like this, stock can be a great way to make yourself some extra money.

Give it a try yourself to see if it fits your style. Who knows, you might just be the next great stock photographer.  Have you had good experience with stock photography?   What are your thoughts?  Let us know in the comments below.