Sunday morning colorful art

[texxter]

Here is a stock image I created this morning while my daughter was working on an art project due tomorrow. What I found was:

• my daughter, looking fresh and girly after taking a shower, with a cute pony tail.
• a mess of crayons and art stuff on the kitchen table
• diffused window light

What I changed:

• moved her chair so that the background was the green wallpaper and the light was coming from camera left
• placed a large pencil box longitudinally in front of her, and added the thread as well

I left the top space for copy, and did little postprocessing, just ensure that the white balance was right.

I tend to photograph my kids all the time, but I enjoy photography the most when I photograph what I love and do it for me. Additionally, this series of her doing art will sell well as stock because I think it has the right elements: natural lovely light, a cute, innocent child, art/education theme. What I love about stock is that I get paid for shooting what I like to photograph they way I like to do it.

[ChristopherCoy]

Do you paint every wall in your house to look like a background? LOL

[texxter]

Originally Posted by ChristopherCoy

Do you paint every wall in your house to look like a background? LOL

Yes, of course! My whole house is a studio!

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by texxter

Yes, of course! My whole house is a studio!

Well its workin for ya! LOL

[prncfarquad]

I know your kids may or may not appreciate the images you take of them right now, but some day they will be so happy to have all of the wonderful images you capture. This is a special gift you are giving them!

[SevenAndMe]

Very nice, both the subject and the shot.

Do you think it would add anything if her writing hand were also in focus?

[texxter]

Patrick, Dennis, thanks for taking the time to comment! Yes, I hope they'll enjoy these images sometime in the future. I should print more of them!

Dennis, I think it would work also if the depth of focus was not so shallow. Thanks for the suggestion!

[dmcantrell]

Paco, well done here.

What stock agency do you use? Do you ever have trouble with the image approval process?

[texxter]

David, I am with iStockphoto and Getty. Most of my images are accepted these days, but over my history with iStock my acceptance rate is 75%. Sometimes they get dinged over little things, only visible at 100% magnification, which are resolved with a quick edit - name on a button, for example. Getty is excruciatingly slow when it comes to approval time and also keywording. I really really need to beef up my Getty portfolio but it's months from submittal to availability, so that's a bummer. iStock recently introduced a new program that allows me to select Exclusive+ images for a higher commission - that should boost my monthly revenue nicely. Looking forward to May sales!

[KobraCarry]

Originally Posted by ChristopherCoy

Do you paint every wall in your house to look like a background? LOL

That's what I was about to say! You must have studio lights in every room! Some days my kids see the camera come out and they just run and hide!