cover image Shooting for Stock

Shooting for Stock

George Schaub. Amphoto Books, $27.5 (144pp) ISBN 978-0-8174-5870-6

Once a dumping ground for seconds, the stock photography market, explains Popular Photography magazine editor Schaub, is now a lucrative, highly competitive field that attracts images of technical excellence. The key to success, he emphasizes, is familiarity with the diverse needs of the stock photo marketfrom shots of a local greenhouse or faraway Thailand to fresh images of nature or of special events like the Statue of Liberty centennial celebrations. The camera work for most stock photography is straightforward and gimmick-free; Schaub, therefore, includes little technical detail about how he created each of the 180 full-color photos reproduced here. Rather, he concentrates on where and why he took a photo and which markets have found it useful (pictures are typically parlayed and resold). Readers will find the sound, lucid information on copyright law and on organizing a picture file particularly helpful. Photography Book Club main selection. (June)