photo stock library

I shall be thankfull if someone could guide me how to start business
of photo stock library, I live in pakistan, thanks n best regards

"waheed shaikh" wrote in message om...
I shall be thankfull if someone could guide me how to start business
of photo stock library, I live in pakistan, thanks n best regards

I would start with a few books on the subject: search
http://www.abebooks.com and http://www.amazon.com with "stock photography"
as keywords. Many books on the subject are available at abebooks.com for
under USD $5. I have found books cross international borders very easily
and often order from Europe - I don't know if the situation is the
same in Pakistan, though.

I would get both books on 'how to' and books showing the catalogs of
established stock agencies.

Also, visit the web sites of stock photo agencies and see what they offer.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
f-stop enlarging timer: http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/

"waheed shaikh" wrote

I shall be thankfull if someone could guide me how to start business
of photo stock library, I live in pakistan, thanks n best regards

Another alternative to starting your own stock business is to sell to
stock agencies. Comstock and Corbis are two that pop up often. Again
search w/ google for "stock photo agency".

Comstock has zip on Pakistan. Corbis shows Pakistan to be entirely
made of mountains and populated by American mountain climbers and
"colorful tribesman".

There may be a market for more representative pictures of Pakistan,
what with it being in the western news, and the western press being
the largest consumer of stock photos.

The world has enough mountain and natives pictures to last for a long,
long time, and does not need any more. Any new picture of a mountain
will be competing with the thousands (millions?) already out there.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 15:24:30 GMT, Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:
[snip]

What he said ... plus:

* If you;re going to place your pictures with an existing library, be
prepared for them to be tied up for some time, and make sure you're in a
position to supply a reasonable quantity - a couple of thousand would be a
good start.

* If you're going to try creating your own agency - and why not - be aware
that the users of stock photography have largely gone digital. It also
saves you a lot of admin, cost and heartache if you supply images digitally
rather than as transparencies. But it means you need the following:
- Broadband Internet connection (many customers will want images supplied
over the line rather than waiting for CDs). Many photo libraries currently
store images in formats that result in image files of 40-70Mb (digital
originals shot on small-format digitals cameras are often interpolated up
to this size, especially if the library is serving the advertising market).
- A high-quality scanner and the skill to use it if you're going to convert
existing images (you can scan these on an as-needed basis when requests
come in).
- Excellent IT, including lots of storage and excellent backup.
- A first-class web site.
- A budget to promote yourself - no-one will buy images from you if they
don't know you're there.
- Lots of luck.

thanks Nicholas, I appreciate yr help
regards

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message link.net...
"waheed shaikh" wrote

I shall be thankfull if someone could guide me how to start business
of photo stock library, I live in pakistan, thanks n best regards

Another alternative to starting your own stock business is to sell to
stock agencies. Comstock and Corbis are two that pop up often. Again
search w/ google for "stock photo agency".

Comstock has zip on Pakistan. Corbis shows Pakistan to be entirely
made of mountains and populated by American mountain climbers and
"colorful tribesman".

There may be a market for more representative pictures of Pakistan,
what with it being in the western news, and the western press being
the largest consumer of stock photos.

The world has enough mountain and natives pictures to last for a long,
long time, and does not need any more. Any new picture of a mountain
will be competing with the thousands (millions?) already out there.

thanks steve, I am really thankfull to every one here

Steve wrote in message .. .
On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 15:24:30 GMT, Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:
[snip]

What he said ... plus:

* If you;re going to place your pictures with an existing library, be
prepared for them to be tied up for some time, and make sure you're in a
position to supply a reasonable quantity - a couple of thousand would be a
good start.

* If you're going to try creating your own agency - and why not - be aware
that the users of stock photography have largely gone digital. It also
saves you a lot of admin, cost and heartache if you supply images digitally
rather than as transparencies. But it means you need the following:
- Broadband Internet connection (many customers will want images supplied
over the line rather than waiting for CDs). Many photo libraries currently
store images in formats that result in image files of 40-70Mb (digital
originals shot on small-format digitals cameras are often interpolated up
to this size, especially if the library is serving the advertising market).
- A high-quality scanner and the skill to use it if you're going to convert
existing images (you can scan these on an as-needed basis when requests
come in).
- Excellent IT, including lots of storage and excellent backup.
- A first-class web site.
- A budget to promote yourself - no-one will buy images from you if they
don't know you're there.
- Lots of luck.

On 16 Mar 2004 09:23:20 -0800, waheed shaikh wrote:

thanks steve, I am really thankfull to every one here

Let us know how you get on...