So why exactly is there a picture of a bathroom posted here? Well this is our most downloaded image. This picture has been bought many thousands (yes thats thousands!!) of times. Two members of our family buy old run down houses, do a complete make-over on them and then sell them again. We do the photographs after the conversion for them in return for being able to sell the images on various websites. The majority of these sales are from Microstock sites.
To a certain extent its a bit depressing to have this as our most popular picture. Its also always been surprising that its been so successful, since we have never regarded it as particularly good.
It has the advantage of showing a pristine brand new room but the cramped conditions have caused distortion from the downward view. There is not enough space to "correct" the verticals. Your guess is as good as ours as to who buys this and why.
Somewhat more encouragingly this is No. 2 on the list of most downloaded. A shot of the lavender fields of Provence in France.
No. 3 is a shot taken a few hundred yards from our front door. It sells very well in the winter but also throughout the year. Used for everything from a christmas card to a road safety website.
No. 4 is another property shot.
As is No. 5
As is No. 6
As is No.7 Are you beginning to spot a pattern here???
No. 8 Conservatories are very popular.
No. 9
No. 10. The owner of this conservatory was watching a BBC TV property programme when this turned up on the screen.
No. 11. At last another landscape! Again a remarkably high selling image, but one that is also a bit baffling in terms of its success. A fairly unremarkable cotswolds landscape. Whilst watching a detective programme (Lewis) on TV, this turned up in a picture frame in an office.
No. 12. The stepping stones across the River Dove in the Peak District. We know this well, one of us having fallen in the water!
No.13. The old town in Nice on the French Riviera. Looks picturesque doesn't it? Actually the photographer was in fear for their life as the atmosphere on the streets was like something from Jean Genet.
No. 14. Back to property again. This is actually Soundimageplus central and the source of all these ramblings. Looking strangely tidy! Shot as a "Home Office" "Working from Home" image.
No. 15. Sky photoshopped to remove clouds which were left in the office building. Shot in the City of London.
No. 16. A wine cellar from the Bordeaux region in France. An exposure of several minutes with the photographer walking up and down the line of barrels with a torch, as they were pitch black.
No.17. A springtime Peak District landscape.
No. 18. A foggy winter evening in Leamington Spa.
No. 19. Shot on the same day as No.3
N0. 20. Planting seeds in Devon.
So there it is. These images have been downloaded many thousands of times between them. Certainly not our 20 favourite images and none of them would figure in a list of what we regard as our best images. Predicting what will be a successful stock image is difficult and the success of many of these is surprising. In almost all cases, we have what we consider a better image from that particular set, but these are the images that sell again and again. All sell several times a day and while we don't pretend to understand the appeal of many of them, we are grateful that people find them useful.
Images - D & A
