Please follow these guidelines for the types of images we are looking for:

General

People buy stock photos because they want to use them for something. They do not want to buy the kind of snaps people take when they’re on holiday. Advertisers, marketers, publishers will be looking for images that have some kind of “wow” factor and that arouse emotions. They will also usually want there to be some space to add text to advertise their products or services, so keep that in mind when you’re looking at your images. Ask yourself…could this sell something? Would this be a great image for advertising something? Could I fit text anywhere in this image? Is this different to a lot of other images out there?

Overall, it’s all about quality. All images go through an approval process after being uploaded and before being released to the site. Any images that we don’t think will sell or appeal to customers/designers in the west, we will reject. We want high quality images in every category. For an example of the kind of quality we’re after, we want the kind of images that make it into the top photos at photos.nphoto.net

Lifestyle is a popular area for stock photography. Images of people in any kind of activity sell well. China is getting more and more attention from the west and more and more business are setting up in China every year. Buyers want images of people. People working, in the office, in a meeting, talking on the telephone, people eating, people playing with their children, family life, people with their pets, people playing sports, people socializing. Fashion and beauty is huge. Images of young, beautiful Chinese men and women sell well. Not just young people either. The older generation too. Farmers, people who have had hard lives where just looking at their face tells a story. (*Remember a model release is needed for people pictures*)

A lot of times, designers want a plain white background in the images so that they can superimpose the subject onto their own chosen background or to make a composite. Not all the time of course, it depends on what a designer has in mind when they are looking for images. Maybe a magazine wants to do a feature on Chinese food and they want pictures of traditional Chinese dishes. These are usually photographed against a white background so that the dishes stand out. Be careful with your lighting though. No harsh shadows from the onboard flash.

Places in China

We have categories for the most popular destinations that foreigners are familiar with and we have a section called “Off the Beaten Track” which will highlight cities, towns and regions that foreigners will be less familiar with. We want to show them the real China! As well as all the famous sights, we also want the parts of China that most foreigners will probably never even have the opportunity of visiting.