Here in Melbourne, Australia we are 3 weeks into a 6 week, level 4 restriction phase due to coronavirus. Under these restrictions we are only allowed to go out for 4 reasons – to do essential shopping, to exercise for 1 hour per day, for medical needs, and for education needs. As you can imagine that makes work as a photographer very difficult. With the absence of client contact and sports, I have been finding it difficult. I haven’t been very productive, and have only shot a limited amount of stock content. If you are looking for some inspiration, here are some ideas for coronavirus themed stock photos.

Lifestyle Themed Images

Ok, first up in our ideas for coronavirus themed stock photos is lifestyle images. Where I live we have restrictions largely keeping us at home, so I have not shot any of these recently. However, if you have greater freedom than we currently do (!) consider stock images of people going about daily life. Grab a face mask and have your model go about daily life – travelling on public transport, going to work, taking the dog for a walk etc.

An example of lifestyle images is in this previous post on Beyond Here, Shooting Stock Images During the Coronavirus Shutdown.

Medical Themed Images

I have seen some very well executed images of drive through virus testing facilities. There is high demand for this type of stock image so consider drive through and testing based in a medical facility.

Business or Economic Themed Images

This is where I have focused most of the (few!) stock shoots I have done in the last few weeks. There is already a significant impact on the global economy which is likely to worsen in coming months. Some economic commentators are predicting a recession which will be the biggest economic downtown since the great depression of the late 1920’s and 1930’s. Wow! I expect there will be strong demand for images which capture the economic impact of unemployment, financial difficulty, recession, depression, property crisis, and difficult economic conditions.

Things That are New

We are starting to see unique things appearing as a result of coronavirus. While out walking the dog I have been noticing how many parked cars have face masks hanging from the rear view mirror. Have you been noticing things like that? Can you turn those ideas into stock images?

Thanks for reading these ideas for coronavirus themed stock photos. I hope that it has been helpful, and prompted ideas for how you might create popular content during this difficult time. Keep well. Happy shooting.