Case Study - Business Trip to Calgary

For more information on shooting/selling stock footage check out my other posts:
GETTING STARTED
KEYWORDING
WHAT SELLS?

I've been traveling a lot lately working as an Editor for the UFC and I have come to find that it is easy to get inspired by new places. If you have a chance to travel, make sure you bring your camera and tripod along. If you can find a little time after your work, or sacrifice a few hours of sleep, then you have a unique opportunity to capture images in a place you may never otherwise get the chance to shoot.

I recently traveled to Calgary and was able to capture around 40 quality stock footage clips and time-lapses.  Fortunately I like walking and Calgary is very walker friendly.  I probably walked 25 miles to see the city from all angles.  It was an un-believably productive week.  Because, not only was I earning money from my edit job, but I walked away with a lot of great stock footage that will earn me money for years to come, plus I really had a great time exploring the city. It would have been easy to just hang out in my hotel room, or go out to a bar at night, but what are the long term benefits of THAT?

Here are a few of the spots I hit:

Downtown from Prince's Island Park - 

I walked a few blocks to a beautiful park that had some great scenic views of downtown Calgary, I love reflection shots.  Unfortunately it was a little hazy out this day, but it is still a nice daytime establishing shot of downtown Calgary.  I returned one evening to the same spot to shoot a night shot and there were beavers swimming all over the pond which made very interesting ripples in my night time lapse shot.

Peace Bridge - Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Peace Bridge -

This is the Peace Bridge from the north bank of the Bow River with the northwest end of downtown Calgary in the background. Normally it is good to find a frame with some good movement in it for a time lapse shot.  The river gives some nice movement, but it was still a little bland so I added a zoom in post.  That's one great thing about shooting time-lapse with a DSLR.  My Canon t2i shoots a 5K image so with a 1080p final frame size, I have lots of room to move around the frame in post without losing any quality.

Top Floor of the Westin Hotel in Calgary

High angle of downtown Calgary - 

The first thing I do whenever I'm in a new hotel is take the elevator up to the top floor to see what the view looks like.  The Westin in Calgary had a pool on the top floor with a panoramic view of the city, perfect for a midnight time lapse shot looking down on the city streets.

See this clip at Pond5

I always travel with a pretty light load of camera gear, I've found that I am a lot more likely to cary it with me if it isn't too much of a hassle; I'm also able to look less conspicuous in places like airports where I want to keep a low profile.  I can't imagine lugging a Sony F900 or a Panasonic Varicam or something through the airport, I'd get stopped in a heartbeat.

Moral of the story, SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT! you'll be glad you did.  You can have a lot of success shooting while you're traveling, it just takes a little extra effort.

Happy Shootin!

HDCineman

Pushing to the next level

For more information on shooting/selling stock footage check out my other posts:
GETTING STARTED
KEYWORDING
WHAT SELLS?

No matter what level you are at with your stock footage business, if you are reading this blog you probably have the desire to push to the next level.

It is true of many things in life, and it has been very true in my experience with stock footage, that growth never happens in a straight line.  You will make progress, then you will plateau, then something will cause you to push through that plateau and on to the next level.  It can be extremely frustrating to be stuck at a plateau.  I will share some experiences from my personal stock footage business, and how I have broken through plateaus in the past.  I am confident that you will find something in my experience that will help you to push to the next level.


In 2007 I met a photography student who had some frustrating experiences with trying to sell stock photos on iStockphoto.com.  When he found out that I shot a lot of video, he said I should give it a shot, that they had just started excepting video and it payed way better.  That year, I decided to give it a shot and I posted a couple dozen shots of random things:

Let's call this  - Stage 1) GROWTH - I was hard at work shooting, processing, and posting.  I was putting time and effort into expanding my Stock Footage Library with no immediate rewards.  No one pays you to go out and shoot stock footage for your own stock footage business.  My rational was, "Well, if nothing else, it is good practice for my videography and I enjoy being outdoors and shooting things." however, after a couple months of this, I had pretty much fizzled out.


Stage 2) PLATEAU - I wasn't giving up, I just didn't have the energy to shoot anything new, and I wanted to see if there would be any payoff to all the work that I had put in. Even if it was a Dollar!  Then, in the beginning of June, I made my first sale for 23 cents profit.  It happened to be a still image of my Wife's Feet at the tide-pools (she was a girlfriend back then, so contrary to popular belief, shooting stock footage does not ruin your chance of having a successful relationship)...

It wasn't until August that I sold my first video clip, for a whopping profit of $2.00. These small deposits to my iStockphoto account meant nothing to my financial situation, however, they were the catalyst that helped me into Stage 3.

Stage 3) THE PUSH - With a new energy generated by a few dollars that materialized out of thin air and the hope and possibility they represented, I expanded my clip library from around 25 to 85 in a couple months. In the month of October, 2007 I earned $47.  All of a sudden, there was an amount of money each month that was measurable in real terms... $47 a month was about what my cable bill was.  So, I figured, well at least I'm getting free cable out of this deal.  What would it take for me to pay my rent??

This is a section of my crude google spreadsheet that I use for keeping track of my monthly stock footage sales. Notice that the monthly sales numbers aren't growing in a straight line, but they are obviously going up rapidly over time. 

"What If" thinking has really propelled me through some stock footage barriers and helped me come up with some creative ways to push to higher levels. After my push through the initial Plateau it was much easier to find energy to shoot, and I could see my sales going up each month.  I started the cycle again...

This 3 stage cycle will happen over and over again in your stock footage adventure.  You have to just accept it, enjoy the Growth, wade through the Plateaus, and look for the catalyst to create the Push to the next level.

The Catalyst is really the key to pushing your stock footage business to the next level.  The catalyst is the thing that gets you re-energized about your stock footage business. Below are some catalysts I used to break through the plateau:

• Expanding to Multipul Outlets - I got to a point where I was working full time and didn't want to spend my weekends shooting new stuff.  It was the source of a major plateau for me in my stock footage business.  I finally figured out that if I expanded my stock footage sales to a lot more outlets (rather than just using iStockphoto), I could grow rapidly without going out to shoot a lot of new footage.  And the work I had to do to grow this way fit better with my schedule, I had to spend more time keywording, and I had to do a lot mor uploading.  I was able to leave my computer to upload before I left for work, or over night and I was able to do some keywording in between other activities.
  
  For me, each stock footage site is like a retail outlet.  I want my product in as many retail stores as possible, although non performing outlets will not get as much service as performing outlets.  Below are the outlets I choose to use for my stock footage business. It's a no-brainer to sign up, it's free, and only takes a few minutes.
  
  iStockphoto, Pond5, Shutterstock, Clipcanvas, Revostock, Canstockphoto, Fotolia, 123RF

• Recording Audio - In order to mix things up a bit, I took a few months off of shooting video and bought a professional digital audio recorder to start recording audio sound effects.  It was refreshing to work with audio, I had a new curiosity and new subjects to start capturing in a brand new way.  The great thing about sound effects is that because they are inexpensive and there is high demand they sell more frequently than video.  It turned into a great catalyst because every time I logged into iStockphoto, I had a new sale.  Even if it is a small amount, that is energizing.  So if you are stuck, try mixing it up and shoot some stills, or record audio, or make some illustrations, whatever it takes to keep it fresh and keep you excited.

• New camera - One big catalyst for me was buying a new camera. I shot with the Panasonic HVX200 for a long time (a fantastic camera), but I felt like technology was passing me up.  I loved the shallow depth-of-field look of the 5D and 7D cameras. Also, for brining the camera with me all the time, the size of a DSLR camera was much more convenient.  I feel that the most important part of your camera set-up is the lens so I chose the Canon t2i because it has the same image sensor and video functionality as the popular 7D, but it's half the price, that way I could couple it with my dream lens, the Canon 70-200mm f2.8, since then my collection of glass has grown.  But looking through that lens, the world looked so cinematic I wanted to shoot all the time, just to look through the lens.

Another great camera for shooting stock footage would be the Canon Cameras 5169B003 EOS Rebel T3i Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55 Lens the main difference with the t3i is the nice flip out screen, it's particularly handy when shooting video.  But I don't mind crawling on the ground or laying on my back to get the shot I want.

• Mathematics - Scaling up. Another very important catalyst for my stock footage business has been theoretical Math.  I keep close track of my monthly sales and if you like to write down numbers it is easy to sit with a calculator and get excited about the future prospects of your stock footage business.  Stock footage sales are consistant enough that you can do projections.  In 2009 I remember thinking, if I can consistently earn $500/month with about 400 clips, theoretically I could expand my clip library to 800 clips and consistently earn $1000/month.
  

  

  My actual stock footage earnings and 2012 estimated income.  Based on the size of your library and your average monthly sales you can figure out (on average) what your sales/clip should be. If I do $500/month in sales with 400 clips then my sales/clip each month is $1.25. That is a fun number to play with because it allows you to do predictions based on how many clips you think you can grow your portfolio to.

  Theoretically, if I shoot/upload 20 clips per day for a year, I will have 7,700 clips in my library. Which means I would be able to earn $9,625/month or $115,500/year.  That would replace many people's household income.  The obvious benefit of stock footage income over traditional income is that stock footage income is relatively passive.  Once your stock footage library is set up you earn money with very little work, you only have to put in significant time if you want to GROW your income.  Imagine a $115,000/year passive income... what kind of freedom would that give you in your personal life? or in your professional life? It is easy to get motivated if you are creative with a calculator.  Could you realistically shoot and upload 20 clips per day?  Probably not, but if you shoot for that, how far COULD you get?  Anyways, that kind of creativity with the calculator has helped me break through plateaus on more than one occasion.

Whether you are just starting out, or you are earning $10,000 a month, I hope this adds a few tools to your repertoire that will help push your stock footage business to the next level whatever that means for you.

Happy Shooting!
HDCineman

What should I shoot?

For more information on shooting/selling stock footage check out my other posts:
GETTING STARTED
KEYWORDING
WHAT SELLS?

What stock footage should I shoot?
The short answer is, shoot anything you want! That is what is so great about shooting stock footage, anything that you find interesting has the potential to make you some money.

IMPROMPTU INSPIRATIONS
In my experience the most successful shots have come almost by chance, I see something in day-to-day life that inspires me to capture the moment. I always have my camera with me and I always keep my eyes open for unique shooting opportunities. Unique in one of two ways, either something rare (not a lot of people can shoot it) or something unique in its aesthetics (looks really cool). All of a sudden something strikes me as unique so I pull over to the side of the road, or stop what I was doing and get my camera out.

Once I identify something I want to shoot I take some time with it. As long as its not a unicorn or leprechaun (in which case I'll whip the camera out and hit record) I will sit for a few minutes and think of the best way to shoot. Here's my mini checklist:
- what is the main subject?
- would the shot be better as a wide or close-up? Or both?
- what lens/focal length should I use?
- walk around a bit, what is the best angle to shoot from?
- is the shot "stock friendly?" (will I need to blur logos, get releases, etc.)
- are there multiple angles I could shoot and have different stock footage clips?
- would it be worth doing a time-lapse shot?
- is the lighting good or would it be way better at a different time?
- will I be able to stabilize the camera properly? (with tripod,on the ground, on a rock, etc.)
- is this shot worth shooting?
- are there other subjects here that I should shoot?

Sometimes I go through the list and realize that the shot would suck. So I don't shoot it, I move on.

CONCEPTUAL TARGETED ACQUISITIONS
Other times I will go out to shoot something specific. I usually set up shots in my home studio or go out with a topic in mind to a location I know I can get the shots. During these types of shoots I can decide ahead of time what my shots should look like, when I should shoot, what equipment I will need to shoot with, etc.

Example
Let's say I want to capture "relaxing at the beach." I have a unique opportunity to shoot this topic because I live near some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (Manhattan Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Monica). I wouldn't say the beach is rare, but it isn't accessible to most stock footage producers like a freeway, or a kitchen might be.

I know around sunset I will be able to shoot some great silhouette shots that obscure people's faces and I know there are all kinds of subjects to shoot down at the beach along the topic of "relaxing at the beach" here are a couple of shots I have from the beach.

SHOOT ON DEMAND
Sometimes you can drum up some ideas for what to shoot by researching what topics are in demand.  So, how do you find out what topics are in demand?

Google it. One way to get some leads on what stock footage will be popular and translate to sales is to look for the "Top Searched Terms" on Google.  If you can generate footage that relates to the top Google searches then your footage is likely to get a lot more traffic which will translate to more sales per clip.

I found a list of "Top 5 most popular topics searched on Google" from a site called SEO Desk that have given me some ideas on topics to shoot.  The 5 topics from that list are:

1) Technology
2) World Events
3) Celebrities
4) Sports & National Events
5) Regional Results

Many of the obvious shots that would relate to these topics may not make good stock footage, however, if you are creative in the way you use this list and other information from the web you can come up with some successful stock shots and increase your sales.

These are some of the ways I go about coming up with ideas on what to shoot as stock footage.  Hopefully by sharing my thoughts you will have some new tools in your idea toolbox for the next time you go out shooting stock footage.

Happy Shooting!
HDCineman

Quick Tip - Search for your clips!

For more information on shooting/selling stock footage check out my other posts:
GETTING STARTED
KEYWORDING
WHAT SELLS?

Shooting stock footage is a great way to have some supplemental income, but shooting the stock footage is only half the battle. A huge part of your stock footage business has to be dedicated to selling your footage. If you work to improve the visibility of your footage to potential buyers your stock footage income will increase dramatically. There are some very simple things you can do to improve your stock footage visibility.

Searching for your clips is a great way to make sure you have effective keywords, and to make sure that potential buyers will be able to find your clip.

Lets say for example you have and account with iStockphoto.com, you have uploaded a looping shot of 3 candles burning in a black void. Finally the clip has been accepted so you try searching the term candles to find your clip. Obviously if a buyer types in candles, the chances are they won't find your clip because there are a million shots of candles on iStockphoto.com. Try typing in something more specific and see if you can find the clip.

If I try typing in "Dark Looping Candles" then I am able to find my clip on the second page. Ideally you want to create keywords and search terms that will find your clip near the top of the first page. Which is sometimes easier said than done, nevertheless, searching for your clip is a great way to ensure that you are using effective keywords, and may help you come up with some keywords you hadn't thought of before. Most importantly, it ensures that a potential buyer will be able to find your clip. If you are able to type in a potential search term and find your clip then it is just a matter of time before the money finds you.

Happy Shooting!
HDCineman