Jani’s still out this week, so I asked stock legend, Lise Gagne, to look through your photos in the Bring Home the Bacon Breakfast Stock Challenge. Are your photos stock… or not? See what Lise thinks, below… Though some photos in the Challenge would be rejected in stock agencies, keep in mind what iStocker Andrea Gingerich said in her interview last week: “I find that the mistakes and rejections are what helped me learn the most. Becoming very precise and picky with my own photos has really helped me to produce better quality images overall since becoming a photographer.” Scroll below for Lise’s thoughts and even if your photo gets rejected, remember that you’re at least one step closer today than you were before you took your camera out. Have a great weekend! — Bonnie Bonnie Caton Great Escape Publishing Breakfast Stock Club Breakfast Stock, or Just Breakfast? By iStock photographer, Lise Gagne 
This photo has nice composition and light. I’d say that this is stock. Well done. Improvement: It would be more useful and more powerful with a lighter background. 
This is an interesting concept, with the face. I like it. Unfortunately, it’s underexposed, and the angle of the composition makes it hard to see the subject. Try it again with more light or a longer exposure and a different angle. 
Nice light, even if the background is not pure white. I just want to grab a strawberry and eat it. Nicely done on the light and composition. Stock. 
This is a nice image but the white balance is off — it’s a bit too pink. Not quite stock. 
Very stocky! It has a pure white background and a nice composition. However, for stock, remove the fake frame (stroke) around the image. It would be rejected because designers (buyers) don’t need this added stroke to work with this image. 
This one is unfortunately not stock because the shadow is too harsh. 
Not stock — the white balance is too yellow, which you can fix in Lightroom, but there’s also a harsh shadow. This must have been taken with a direct flash. You never want to use a direct flash for stock, or your image will be rejected for sure. 
This is quite an interesting and stocky image… however the white balance is looking a little bit too blue. Adjust that and try it as stock. 
This is a really nice square composition, however it looks underexposed and the white balance is a bit too yellow. 
This could be stock with that nice pure white background and the motion concept. Unfortunately, the shadow is a bit too harsh. To everyone who submitted — well done. Remember that food is not easy to shoot. It must be very appealing and eye-catching, without anything distracting in the shot. And the light must be perfect. We have to look at an image and want to eat it because it looks inviting and delicious. — Lise Your Weekly Breakfast Dish The latest from your Breakfast StockClub Facebook Page Congratulations to Breakfast Stock Clubbers Mindy Cambiar and Kevin Lohka! Kevin tells us he’s “doing the happy dance” this week after getting his first Enhanced Download sale on Shutterstock. At Shutterstock, you can make $28 per download when someone buys an “enhanced license” to your photo. Way to go, Kevin! And Mindy Cambiar is up to more than 50 images accepted to iStock, Bigstock, and Dreamstime. We’ll hear how Mindy got there next week. Both Mindy and Kevin got started in stock with images they took at the Ultimate Stock Photo Workshop last October in Santa Fe… and they’ve been keeping at it ever since. [Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel. Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]
