Songkran Festival 2012 Editorial Use Stock Photos

Songkran Festival Editorial Use Stock Photos

A friend once asked us for advice on how we started making money from photography online. After explaining our methods to her, she then described how she wanted to become a photo journalist one day. I can't profess to knowing a lot about the path of a photojournalist but there was something I'd been doing that would set her on to the right tracks.

It's called 'Editorial Use Only' images on www.istockphoto.com

In basic terms editorial use only photos are pictures taken, uploaded and sold on istockphoto that can't be used for commercial purposes like adverts, labels, posters or any media that can be deemed for commercial use. Editorial Photos can be used in blogs, written articles and magazines that are using the images as visual illustrations to compliment what they are writing about.

So if you were blogging about Songkran Festival in Thailand, you could purchase editorial images like this one and use them to illustrate your article.

Songkan Festival Chiang Mai 2012 - Kid gets splashed hard

The link between istock editorial and photojournalism is the fact that it doesn't need to be the set up photo shoot affair you sometimes find yourself in with regular royalty free images. No model release is required and branded logo covered objects can be all over the place in your images and they are still eligible for submission. So all those street photography projects you may be thinking of doing can be uploaded for sale on istockphoto.

There are some rules and regulations though. All manipulative editing is forbidden such as airbrushing, spot healing, HDR and extreme cropping. They just won't accept that because it detracts from the story that the image was intend to tell. The most extreme edit you'd be allowed to submit is a black and white conversion with some levels and contrast adjustment, like this image.

Songkran Festival Chiang Mai 2012 - Boy uses Shield

Also istockphoto isn't looking for current news event coverage. So if there is a specific riot happening on the news right now and you're nearby so you photograph it for editorial use. Istock won't take it because their licenses won't cover it. Getty images is the best place to send your work should you want to get into that type of photography.

All in all 'editorial use only' photography is still a viable way to make money from stock photography. I'd recommend covering events that people would want to write or blog about, much like a photojournalist might. That way you'd stand a much higher chance of people finding your images. Also branded objects and products can be shot in the same way. Like this.

Good Luck with the shooting!

If you'd like to see the rest of our Songkran Chiang Mai 2012 Professional Editorial Use Only Images. Check out this lightbox.