There’s an old cliché about a picture being able to speak a thousand words, so you’d imagine that having shot a great image, you wouldn’t need to say any more. You could just edit it, make it available for sale and let the eloquence of its colors and composition do the talking.
If only. Images made available for sale online also need a long list of keywords; they help buyers track down the photos they need. While keywording sounds like a chore, in practice, it’s not as hard as it sounds. Andres Rodriguez, a top microstock photographer, describes his process as: typing the first keywords that come to mind; checking his own previous images on similar themes to make sure nothing was forgotten; cross-checking with three or four images from other photographers; then saving his list as a template for the future.
