What elements are there that make a picture sell? First and foremost is its uniqueness. A truly unique (unlike anything before it) photograph can be guaranteed high sales, simply because there is nothing else like it.  Unfortunately, there are very few totally unique photos. Most material today that sells is not completely unique in and of itself, but instead has one unique characteristic about it.

The subject itself can be unique. A photo of an open field with a light cover of snow and a copse of trees nearby probably would not merit publication unless it was submitted by Eliot Porter. But if you had taken the picture, and the open field was broken by the hoofs of a bull elk plunging in desperation, at the mercy of three timber wolves, you would have no trouble finding a market for it at top dollar. Not all saleable photos need be that earthshaking, but if the setting is ordinary and the subject is unique expression or action, something that will set it apart from the common. To compete in today’s stampede it must be different in some way.