Stock Photography Tips - How to Create Keywords for More Sales

[@billyjohnmondiguing7493]

You just exposed how much of a novice I still am at keywording. The keyword suggestions they have on the top stock agencies (Shutterstock and Adobe Stock) are powerful and helpful, but they can make you complacent. You managed to uncover so many genuinely useful keywords by doing it yourself with a process. I'll be manually going through the 5'w first from now on, then I'll add any relevant suggested keywords if there are any left. The good thing about just starting out is that I can course correct earlier. Thank you for this. Well, back to binge-watching the rest of your stock image tip videos.

[@photographybyraul]

Glad the process was helpful. Thanks for subscribing and best wishes. 👍😊

[@romiemiller7876]

Your stock videos are more helpful than the others I've found.

[@photographybyraul]

Thank you Romie 😊

[@kigabuma]

I like writing keywords for my stock photos. :)

[@photographybyraul]

Great! Thanks for watching and subscribing! 👍😊

[@debbieb9815]

Awesome tutorial on keywording! Thank you!

[@photographybyraul]

Thank you Debbie. So glad you liked it 😊 hope you’ve subscribed 😊

[@miamited69]

Great information. Thanks.

[@photographybyraul]

Glad it was useful. Thanks and best of luck! 👍😊

[@JeevesTCW]

Very comprehensive & professional keywording approach thank you Raul. One tip I picked up was to upload images to Shutterstock without keywords and then use Shutterstocks own keywording tool to suggest many keywords so you only have to type in some of the more image specific words (For example if I take a pic of St Pauls cathedral it wont know its St Pauls but it will suggest things like 'building architecture dome church religion famous landmark historic' etc). Then I copy and paste the keywords & desc to the original file on my computer. These files are then uploaded to other photo libraries or on demand print sites. Hope this is useful. Rich.

[@photographybyraul]

Thanks Richard! I also use the Shutterstock keywording tool but I always start with a keyword set from my Lightroom catalog and expand the set as I discover new ones. It’s an evolving process. The SS tool is great for new contributors that only contribute to SS or have no interest in the catalog process.

[@JeevesTCW]

@@photographybyraul Hi Raul, SS is not my main site but like I said you can copy & paste the info to the JPEGS on your pc/laptop before you then submit them to other libraries. I use Alamy mainly to sell. NB I dont use PS so perhaps I am unaware of the power of sets in Catalog that you refer to.

[@photographybyraul]

The keyword sets I’m referring to are in Lightroom. I have unique keyword sets based on the image category and I copy the metadata from those sets to newly imported images to Lightroom. This process proves very beneficial if you contribute to several agencies - Lightroom is an invaluable tool for those contributors. 👍

[@toms2145]

Wow - I THOUGHT I was good at key wording, but today I learnt I wasn’t. Thank you again. ✌️❤️

[@photographybyraul]

So glad I could help 😊👍

[@99.YamanKumar]

Very helpful video sir Thank you for the video 🙏🏽🇮🇳

[@photographybyraul]

Thank you Yaman and thanks for subscribing 👍😊

[@99.YamanKumar]

@@photographybyraul my pleasure sir 🙂

[@digitaltechvs]

Wow so much information in just a few minutes this is cool

[@photographybyraul]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful

[@mirovrlik]

Great work Raul

[@photographybyraul]

Thank you Miro! 😊

[@CaughtInTheMiddle0823]

I think another topic many of us would like you to talk about is which stock sites you utilize and why.

[@photographybyraul]

Have you seen my Top Tips for Stock Photography video? I cover most of my agencies and Why in that video. I also talk about my historical RPD. Thanks

[@fsphotographic7683]

Looks like I been getting lazy on the why part. When coming up with keywords, I don't think that I am getting detailed enough. I don't use Lightroom for adding in the keywords, I found that for me Bridge seems to work. Mainly because I adding the keywords after I have done the editing - it's an afterthought. Thanks for doing this video, nice to get ideal to better the process.

[@photographybyraul]

Thanks Felipe. The “why” is often the most difficult to capture. Lightroom is invaluable for me for both image editing and keywording - one stop solution!

[@evolve2bloveable]

Hi Raul, what file format do you shoot for stock photography, "raw" or "jpeg", does it matter which format and size to upload..? great content, thank you for sharing your wisdom...

[@photographybyraul]

I shoot RAW and upload jpeg. Most agencies require jpeg and have MIN and MAX file size limits. Raw is generally not accepted due to the large file size. Thanks, glad you like the content and hope you subscribe :-) Nice name! :)

[@evolve2bloveable]

Hi Raul, what color space setting do you tend use on your camera for stock photos, sRGB or adobe RGB.... thanks, hope your doing okay & have a good day...

[@photographybyraul]

Hi there. I shoot RAW in Adobe RGB but export sRGB to the Agencies. Doing great, hope all is well with you. Thanks 😊

[@romiemiller7876]

Also "how". We don't always know why. I probably wouldn't have thought of most of these key words.

[@photographybyraul]

Trying to keep it Simple with only the W’s 😊.why is because we can figure it out 😊

[@nightwhite2477]

I didn't know that I can make a keyword in the Lightroom. Thank you for new information. I wonder if I can use it in shutterstock. Because as you know, in shutterstock there already has keyword algorithm.

[@photographybyraul]

Yes, can export the images from LR and upload to SS 👍

[@nightwhite2477]

@@photographybyraul Thank you! 😀

[@AndyNguyen360]

Hi Sir! Do you still continue work for stock photography?

[@photographybyraul]

Yes 👍

[@AndyNguyen360]

@@photographybyraul I watched a lot your video. I like it. I began upload about two year and now had 4500 photo and 1700 footage in shuterstock but I got a few money. Do you think is it bad?

[@photographybyraul]

@@AndyNguyen360 I’m glad the videos were helpful. Unfortunately, Stock income continues to decrease every year. Do you submit to the other big agencies such as Adobe and iStockphoto? Adobe is performing far better for me than shutterstock.

[@AndyNguyen360]

​@@photographybyraul Yes Sir! I also upload Adobe, IStock and Pond5. Maybe It's a long term game. Anyway thank you very much. You haven't been making videos lately?

[@MrPadnob]

Wouldn’t be this photo editorial content? I mean, don’t you need a property Release for the boats? Sorry in case you already said it. Thank you!

[@photographybyraul]

No. Since it’s a cityscape scene with many elements in the composition it’s ok to submit as commercial. If the boats had any recognizable trademarks or logos then editorial would have been required. If the image only contained a single recognizable boat as the primary subject and no trademarks are visible then a property release may have been required.

[@CaughtInTheMiddle0823]

It might now be your thing, but, I think a LOT of us would love to see your monthly stock earnings... even if "certain" agencies names were withheld 🤣🤣

[@photographybyraul]

Don’t need to bore you with all the mega $$$ I’m earning but I do share my yearly RPD in my Top Tips video 😊