Leo Kowal » Stock

iStock in Action

Leo Kowal — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:07:07 +0000

It’s impossible to know how ALL of my images have been used. After all, as of January 2010, I’ve sold almost 17,000 images on iStock. It may sound impressive and I’m quite happy about the accomplishment, but its nothing compared to the top 10 iStock contributors who have sold over 200,000+ images, and that may be a low estimate. I have had a few health concerns that have prevented me from being 100%, but I still managed to build my portfolio significantly over the last year. Come to think of it, I’ve actually shot more great stock since my health issues started. I have promised myself that I will continue to grow my portfolio and make my images stand out more. Recently, I thought about getting into iStock Video and did a bunch of research and got a Canon HV40 and after a few days, I realized that I need to get back into photography and focus on making that better before I leap into the world of motion pictures. I’m tired of being the “Jack of all trades, master of none”.

Anyways, I wanted to create this post to showcase some of my stock “in action”. The images below are snapshots or screenshots of my images used on various print and websites! This gallery will be constantly updated as I am starting to see more and more of my work used all around the world!

Dockside Shoot for iStock

Leo Kowal — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:10:46 +0000

The idea for this shoot was more of a reason to get out of the house then an actual planned shoot, but I was still happy with the result! Obviously hair and makeup are VERY important no matter where you shoot (studio or outside), you might as well get that right so that you don’t spend too much time editing the photos afterward. You can only edit a photo so much before it is no longer acceptable as a stock image. As I like to say, “You can’t polish a turd”.

For this shoot, I brought my 70-200 f/2.8, a medium reflector, a reflector stand/arm and my Whibal. The first shot shows the subject with semi filtered sunlight on her face, while the remainder of the shots have the sun to her back. In the latter shots, I had the reflector bouncing the sunlight onto the subject. I had to adjust the distance from the reflector to the subject a few times, until I felt it was just right. It was also very windy on the dock, so a small dumbell helped keep the reflector stand in place. (A person holding the reflector would be ideal, but not always possible.)

The makeup, white balance and exposures were pretty much perfect, so there was very little to do in post editing. Just a few touch ups to make some of the mid tones pop, a little more contrast and a slight vignette and that’s it!

You’ll also notice alot of blank space in my photography, especially when I shoot for iStock. For those that don’t know, that is called “CopySpace” and is great for designers! A nice out of focus (bokah) space for copy (words, ads, text, whatever you want to call it). I don’t always shoot this way, but I find that it helps sell the image. I always like to mix it up, some shots with copy space, some shots with no copy space. Cover all corners for maximum ROI.

Winter Shopping Shoot for iStock

Leo Kowal — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:19:57 +0000

The last two years we did shopping related shoots for iStock as Christmas seems to be one of the most popular times for stock photography. I always approach my shoots from a customer’s and designer’s perspective. Its safe to say that designers love photos on white backgrounds just as much as photos on single colored or themed backgrounds. It just depends on what that designer is looking for at any given moment. A good designer can take a subject on a pure white background and place it on anything, hence the argument that white background images are better sellers. I would recommend shooting on all sorts of backgrounds and see which ones sell better.

As far as this shoot goes, I wanted to give a Christmas / Winter feeling, so we worked with the classic colors of the season, red, white and green. Mary (the model) and I wrapped a bunch of presents to use as props, and in some of the shots we stuffed a shopping bag with money to use as a prop. The winter cap and the scarf are great additions to these images as they really make the images pop. We tried without the hat and scarf and it just didn’t look the same. Accessories can be a huge!

As far as the shoot went, I used a standard lighting setup for the white background shots. Two Alien Bee 800′s on the left and right to blow out the background and a medium softbox for the key light. For the images of the red background, I simply used a medium softbox. It was more then enough to illuminate the red seamless paper. It also create a natural vignette look. All images were manually whitebalanced using a WhiBal at first and then setting the actual temperture on the camera.