Leslie Garland Picture Library

Photographer Guidelines (cont.)
Quality Earning money from selling stock photography is the same as earning money from selling anything else - professional standard money is only paid for a professional standard product. Consequently, would-be contributors must understand that we are only interested in seeing top quality, professional standard material.
Pictures need to be technically perfect; that is a given. They also need to be visually exciting. These days picture researchers using the Internet have to wade through hundreds of mediocre images to find the one good one that suits their purpose. You want that one picture to be yours. So make it jump out at them! Quality lighting, mood and drama are all required, as is well structured composition and bold use of well saturated colour.
Don’t forget that these days most professional sales are made via the Internet. This has both advantages and disadvantages. “The best images” have the potential to sell to several clients, possibly all in different countries, all at the same time. However, precisely because everyone is buying “the best images”, the second best will not get a look in. So the need for high standards and quality in work cannot be over stated.
Film format and type We are only interested in colour transparencies and prefer these on less than 100 ISO film stock. The library’s preferred format is 6 x 4.5 cm, though other medium and large formats are of course suitable and, depending on subject matter, 35 mm on less than 100 ISO can also be acceptable. Stick to main brands such as Fuji, Kodak, etc.
Do keep in mind the likely market and end-use of the image and choose an appropriate format - no professional would use a 5” x 4” camera to shoot a sporting event, nor would they use a 35 mm camera to shoot a landscape (though one might get away with this format in more remote travel locations). It is worth noting that 35 mm tends to be limited to editorial use only, which is why the larger formats, particularly medium, are preferred and sell so much better, as the potential market for them is so much greater. Don’t be deluded into thinking that “scanning” and “digitising” changes all this, as most certainly it doesn’t. The differences between a scan from a medium format trannie and a 35mm one are as noticeable as those between the two original trannies; one can’t change this.
Digital submissions At present we are not interested in digital submissions. This is in part due to file size requirements which are not currently achievable on what might be termed “normally” priced cameras, and in part due to the library having control over sales rights. This situation may well change in the future, but this is the case now.
Copyright, model releases The copyright for any picture submitted must be held by the photographer. Model releases are required when people feature in the picture, as opposed to just being in it, and the picture is required for advertising purposes; this of course includes commercial and travel brochure use. So it is wise to obtain a release if your picture is intended for these markets. For normal magazine and book use model releases are not usually required.
Submission of pictures With new photographers I like to select about 25-50 images from a first submission, which means that this usually needs to contain between 100-200 pictures, and then, if I feel that the photographer’s work can be usefully added to the library, take things on from there. Return postage must be provided with any submission of pictures.
Pictures should be submitted in transparent easy to view filing sheets with each image having a reference number on any sleeving or mount. Do not send transparencies mounted in glass!

Leslie Garland Picture Library
High Pasture, Yarrow,, Falstone, Hexham,, Northumberland, NE48 1BG
Tel: 01434-240324, Fax: 01434-240324
pictures@lesliegarland.co.uk
Webmaster: Leslie Garland