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During a conversation with my friend Justin, he told me about a recent shoot he did, and it struck me as a great example of the amount of dedication needed, if you want to make it as a commercial photographer today. Justin shoots primarily stock, so in spite of his preparations, there are no guarantees that any of his photos will sell.

The concept for his shoot was simple enough: Pretty blond chick in a field. He already had a model in mind, but he wanted to get the most out of his day with her. So off he went, to scout for good locations ahead of time. Justin took two days to do this, staying overnight at a hotel in the area.

Noting the distance between the preferred locations, he took time of day and the sun's position into account, when he sat down to plan the final route, he and his model would take during this all-day shoot. But his preparation was not finished with that. Before any shooting got done, he made sure to get permission from the owners of the land he was shooting on, thereby avoiding arousing unnecessary suspicion and even if a nosy neighbor would call the police, he would be able to refer to the owners and all would be good.

So, finally, he went to the field where the photoshoot was supposed to begin. Using his GPS unit, he noted down the exact longititude and latitude, which he then plotted into Google Maps and mailed off to his model, who would then meet him there in the middle of nowhere.

With this investment of time and money (several hundred dollars), Justin was able to optimize his time with the model and shoot photos in areas that fit his style, while taking maximum advantage of the time of day. I must admit, that this is more preparation than I usually do before a shoot, but perhaps that's why Justin sells many more photos than I. If you really want to make money off of stock photography, you have to work for it.

Rasmus Rasmussen is on loan from iStockphoto, where he is part of the image inspection team.