MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: arapix on January 17, 2016, 14:51
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Hello All,
For the previous months , I am uploading my photos to many microstock agencies such as : SS , IS , DT , FT , etc.
and I am doing good .
My question is , is it good to upload same photos to 500px ?
I just uploaded 1 photo , but I noticed that the watermark is really small and on the corner.
What is the pros and cons of upload to 500px ?
Thanks in advance
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Giant previews with a useless corner water mark is why I do not upload to 500px.
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I decided to give them a try in November - in spite of the useless watermark as they were asking here for people to do a survey/interview with them about watermarking as an issue (which I took as a sign they were seriously looking at the issues).
I have uploaded a small portion of my portfolio (235 images) including some that I haven't uploaded to the micros that I thought might sell better at 500px. I was looking for a new agency to try and had some hope that 500px might work for some shots that don't do as well at the microstock agencies.
I haven't had any sales yet, but I stopped uploading the day they announced that KK Thompson (http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/kelly-thompson-to-500px/) (ex of iStock) had joined as head of the Marketplace (the sales arm of 500px). I considered that really terrible news, but it's possible he'll do better for 500px after learning some lessons from his time at iStock. There hasn't been a peep out of him since then - or from 500px - so I will revisit the issue of uploading there once Thompson has made some indication of what he's planning to do with marketplace.
For me, marketplace was the interest. Many of the photos on 500px are spectacular, but I have little time for the online ratings part of the site. At the beginning, I did spend some time with that to try and learn a bit about things there. Fortunately they did away with the two flavors of "love" and now just have a heart button. Having followed a few more involved members, my flow (a stream of new stuff that the people you follow have liked) is filled with gorgeous shots.
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They have a different history from other stock sites and operate more or less similarly to MostPhotos. In the beginning they were a place for photographers to network and showcase their work, but that has shifted as of late towards becoming more like a stock agency. Bulk upload is discouraged and only three photos go to "fresh", where members vote and make comments. Pictures that get many votes get more exposure. Pictures become available upon upload and they are eventually reviewed, sometimes months later, and become incorporated into their collection. I have fun there and have been contributing since September, 2015 but no sales so far. Hope that helps.
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I've had a few sales there (two). They are nice size when you get them.
I haven't uploaded my "stock" portfolio there. I use the site primarily for putting up some of my better / "arty" stuff.
Mostly I just browse to be wowed.
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It really took off in June, 2015, for me. Since then, I had several sales each month, with commissions varying between $24.5 and $175, which made 500px my 4th earner of the year, with better performance than Alamy, 123RF, DT, DP, P5 or FAA.
I have 2 sales in 2016, so far.
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It really took off in June, 2015, for me. Since then, I had several sales each month, with commissions varying between $24.5 and $175, which made 500px my 4th earner of the year, with better performance than Alamy, 123RF, DT, DP, P5 or FAA.
I have 2 sales in 2016, so far.
How large is your port?
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Thank you very much for your useful replies.
As I understand for now , the 2 main disadvantage of uploading my portfolio on 500px is :
1. The large preview with little watermark.
2. Very few sales
Am I right ?
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Thank you very much for your useful replies.
As I understand for now , the 2 main disadvantage of uploading my portfolio on 500px is :
1. The large preview with little watermark.
2. Very few sales
Am I right ?
No, youīre wrong.
BUT
If you just want to upload microstock(y) images, there is no point of even trying.
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No, youīre wrong.
BUT
If you just want to upload microstock(y) images, there is no point of even trying.
Please tell me why I am wrong ?
I really need to know the right
Thanks
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It really took off in June, 2015, for me. Since then, I had several sales each month, with commissions varying between $24.5 and $175, which made 500px my 4th earner of the year, with better performance than Alamy, 123RF, DT, DP, P5 or FAA.
I have 2 sales in 2016, so far.
How large is your port?
I have a selection of about 280 photos.
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No, youīre wrong.
BUT
If you just want to upload microstock(y) images, there is no point of even trying.
Please tell me why I am wrong ?
I really need to know the right
Thanks
It isn't a "typical" stock site so if you are going to submit "typical" stock images there you won't do very well. If someone is thinking they need an image of a young woman on a phone or businessmen shaking hands they won't be going to 500px (likely).
As with most sites, if you do a good job of figuring out what sort of images sell well there and can actually make those images you can probably get a significant income out of the place.
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It really took off in June, 2015, for me. Since then, I had several sales each month, with commissions varying between $24.5 and $175, which made 500px my 4th earner of the year, with better performance than Alamy, 123RF, DT, DP, P5 or FAA.
I have 2 sales in 2016, so far.
How large is your port?
I have a selection of about 280 photos.
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Are all those 280 approved in the "store"?
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It really took off in June, 2015, for me. Since then, I had several sales each month, with commissions varying between $24.5 and $175, which made 500px my 4th earner of the year, with better performance than Alamy, 123RF, DT, DP, P5 or FAA.
I have 2 sales in 2016, so far.
How large is your port?
I have a selection of about 280 photos.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Are all those 280 approved in the "store"?
Yes, all are available for sale.
51 which are part of the Prime (more expensive) collection have been definitely reviewed, since Prime is a curated collection.
The rest, for sale on the Core collection, are not all reviewed. But when a customer is interested in purchasing one of those, an immediate review takes place.
Edit:
I have 31 photos pending review. These photos are presented on the marketplace with a red message saying "Secure this photo. Be the first to license it. "
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Thank you for explaining, how do you know which photos are in Prime, which are in Core and reviewed and which are in Core and not reviewed? When I go the Profile page and click statistics, I can see a number under the Store tab, that's all.
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Thank you for explaining, how do you know which photos are in Prime, which are in Core and reviewed and which are in Core and not reviewed? When I go the Profile page and click statistics, I can see a number under the Store tab, that's all.
Go to Manage Photos, under your name (top right).
Then select Marketplace (just below, All Photos and Public) from the left side menu.
Order your photos based on "Collection" (you can also do it based on views, upload date, likes, comments or pulse)
If you have photos selected in the "Prime collection", you will see them on top of the page. Scroll down to see your "Core Collection".
Identifying your reviewed photos is a little more complicated:
Go to your profile, and click on Marketplace, next to Statistics.
Then click on the first photo and check if that red message "Secure this photo. Be the first to license it" is written on the upper right side.
If yes, then the photo has not been reviewed yet.
If not, the photo is fully accepted
Click next, and check the next photo until you browsed your entire port.
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Thank you, ZT, that's very helpful!
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ZT, very interesting, thanks :) I have several photos there that are still not reviewed for a month, so looks like they are not very fast...
Could you maybe share the links to your photos that are sold, to see what goes there?
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ZT, very interesting, thanks :) I have several photos there that are still not reviewed for a month, so looks like they are not very fast...
Could you maybe share the links to your photos that are sold, to see what goes there?
I'm sorry, I can't do that without losing my anonymity. I hope you'll understand.
Back in November '15, I posted a screenshot of my 1st sales page. Look for reply #74 on this thread: http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/500-px-now-has-distributors-to-sell-images/msg437234/#msg437234
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10 bestsellers on 500px
http://petapixel.com/2016/01/22/the-10-bestselling-photos-on-500px-and-why-theyre-so-popular/ (http://petapixel.com/2016/01/22/the-10-bestselling-photos-on-500px-and-why-theyre-so-popular/)
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Giant previews with a useless corner water mark is why I do not upload to 500px.
Me too! I wonder how some photographers can sleep at night knowing their images are just screen captured and stolen so easily. It blows my mind.
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Giant previews with a useless corner water mark is why I do not upload to 500px.
Me too! I wonder how some photographers can sleep at night knowing their images are just screen captured and stolen so easily. It blows my mind.
It blows my mind how certain stock photographers canīt get their head around the fact that 500px is - first and foremost - a photo SHARING community. ::)
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Yes, you can share your photos and get comments and favs but there is also a marketplace which SELLS the files ...
You don't need a HUGE preview image if you are just looking to share some photos...
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Yes, you can share your photos and get comments and favs but there is also a marketplace which SELLS the files ...
You don't need a HUGE preview image if you are just looking to share some photos...
While a better preview management would be something nice to have, it is far from being a deal breaker, when you get 70%, up to $175 comission!
500px is on the rise and they deserve encouragements since they drive the market in the right direction.
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Yes, you can share your photos and get comments and favs but there is also a marketplace which SELLS the files ...
You don't need a HUGE preview image if you are just looking to share some photos...
They are NOT previews! They are the images users upload to the community!
The marketplace is just an add on because 500px realized the sales potential of the community images. There is no way to upload to the marketplace directly/only.
So if the community is not for you, 500px is not for you. Simple as that.
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Concerning selling photos on 500px:
- You can upload small resolution photo with your watermark there, so I'm uploading 960px photo with my watermark. If somebody want to take that and bother with removing watermark...
- In marketplace you upload full version, they downsize the photo to 900px and add small watermark.
I recently found out that there are online services where you can report the illegal download of your photo and then they have lawyers that go further. I learned that some photographers earn more from what they get from those agencies then from selling their photos :)
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Hi,
Can you tell me please about that online services ?
Thx
:)
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Hi Sebastian, here is the one, I've heard a nice stories about them:
https://www.imagerights.com/ (https://www.imagerights.com/)
I've just subscribed there, but still did not check who stole my photos. I still don't dare to do it :)
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Thank you samards :)
I will look later and see if I will find some of my files over the Internet.
8)
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I really would love to try 500pix, but I am waiting for the professional watermark. Has anybody heard anything, when they will implement it?
Any other upcoming improvements?
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I really would love to try 500pix, but I am waiting for the professional watermark. Has anybody heard anything, when they will implement it?
Any other upcoming improvements?
I only know that their sales have improved.
Even if I had a very good start with SS this month, 500px is, surprisingly, my leading agency for February. At least for the time being. It only took 3 massive sales, to claim the first spot. 3 massive sales against ~400 micro-sales on SS.
These guys deserve a lot of encouragements. They are driving the market in the opposite direction!
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I really, really want to try them. I just donīt understand what is so difficult about applying a professional watermark. Without that option, it is simply not artist friendly. The people that donīt want one can upload without, those that do, please give us a professional solution.
The only thing I could do is give them content I donīt really like, but that would somehow defeat the purpose.
The whole stock industry is looking for a fair trade place they can rally behind. I know many people who are waiting for them to sort out their watermark problem.
Great to hear about the sales.
Eta: when my files where available on Microsoft without a watermark they were taken more than 1.3 million times, I just donīt want to go through something like that again.
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The watermark issue is what is stopping me from uploading about 30k files there. Waiting for a change that could of been made in a few minutes if they would be really interested in us.
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Even if I had a very good start with SS this month, 500px is, surprisingly, my leading agency for February. At least for the time being. It only took 3 massive sales, to claim the first spot. 3 massive sales against ~400 micro-sales on SS.
Very good !
I have only 60 images and zero sales after 5 months.
How many followers have you ?
And how many point (pulse) reach your pictures (mine 85-98 ..., all my shots are popular ...) ?
Thanks, Bauman.
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I donīt have 30k for them, just some files that I havenīt placed anywhere yet, not even my own website, because I want to keep them together as a series and I really donīt know where to go?
I would also love to have a place where I am in full control of my portfolio, without people suggesting I should shoot a specific style. But keeping the full series together is my main concern. They donīt have to take them all for the higher price point, as long as the customer can find my series together in my portfolio. As long as my content is respected they can mix and match whatever they want for any of their edited collections.
Somewhere where I can slowly build something and focus on what really interests me.
A place that wants to be a longterm home for artists.
But I donīt know if 500pix has what I am looking for or if this is their vision at all. Basically I am looking for a personal portfolio site with good community vibe. I could open my own webshop, but I love working with a large community. I really miss that.
The unprofessional watermark is really strange. I have seen the way my work gets stolen, even from my own website, as soon as I put files out without sufficient protection.
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Even if I had a very good start with SS this month, 500px is, surprisingly, my leading agency for February. At least for the time being. It only took 3 massive sales, to claim the first spot. 3 massive sales against ~400 micro-sales on SS.
Very good !
I have only 60 images and zero sales after 5 months.
How many followers have you ?
And how many point (pulse) reach your pictures (mine 85-98 ..., all my shots are popular ...) ?
Thanks, Bauman.
I have 370 followers, but this is not reason I uploaded there. The marketplace is. I only have a fraction of my port there ~300 photos.
The 3 photos I sold on February have reached 91.1, 91.6, 97.8 pulse.
But I also sold "unpopular" photos (eg pulse 61, 74, etc).
If you seek popularity, you must upload your photos one by one, maybe one per day.
I uploaded in bulk, directly into sets (now galleries) and only a small amount of photos is visible on my profile. However, all uploaded photos are visible on marketplace. Some "unpopular" photos are even curated into their more expensive "prime" collection.
500px stated that popularity is only a minor factor in their search algorithm and sales are not really driven by it.
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Thank you so much Z.T. for complete answer :)
And congrats for sales !
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Thank you so much Z.T. for complete answer :)
And congrats for sales !
You're welcome and thanks.
Just for the record, SS seized back the top position today. But 500px remains a solid runner-up.
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Now please beat that SS :)
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Your sales are very tempting, but I have some sensitive people shots with a disabled child. Iīll have to wait until they sort out their watermark problem :(
Still, itīs good to hear they have sales. Iīd love to see them grow because they are an open plattform.
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Now please beat that SS :)
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$175 is it your commission or is it what the customer paid? Sorry for asking ;)
And one more thing - what kind of image it was? Just curious, coz they don't really sell that mainstream stock content, right?
PS and congrats on your success, of course ;D
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I lost interest in 500px when they hired the guy from IS as their new top dog. I figured its just a matter of time before the start the 'exciting announcements' and didn't want to waste my time uploading hundreds of photos with so much doubt about the future.
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Now please beat that SS :)
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$175 is it your commission or is it what the customer paid? Sorry for asking ;)
And one more thing - what kind of image it was? Just curious, coz they don't really sell that mainstream stock content, right?
PS and congrats on your success, of course ;D
Thanks for your nice words, but please excuse me if I can't disclose what kind of image it is.
$175 is my 70% share, so the customer paid $250 for it (see the attachment)
One more thing. It's not my intention to brag about these sales. I only want to encourage 500px to continue like this and grow further. I'm sure they read this stuff. ;)
I lost interest in 500px when they hired the guy from IS as their new top dog. I figured its just a matter of time before the start the 'exciting announcements' and didn't want to waste my time uploading hundreds of photos with so much doubt about the future.
Until then, there is nothing wrong in enjoying the ride!
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Now please beat that SS :)
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
$175 is it your commission or is it what the customer paid? Sorry for asking ;)
And one more thing - what kind of image it was? Just curious, coz they don't really sell that mainstream stock content, right?
PS and congrats on your success, of course ;D
Thanks for your nice words, but please excuse me if I can't disclose what kind of image it is.
$175 is my 70% share, so the customer paid $250 for it (see the attachment)
One more thing. It's not my intention to brag about these sales. I only want to encourage 500px to continue like this and grow further. I'm sure they read this stuff. ;)
Ok, got it. I appreciate you sharing all this, encouraging enough for me to give them a try too ;D
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I lost interest in 500px when they hired the guy from IS as their new top dog. I figured its just a matter of time before the start the 'exciting announcements' and didn't want to waste my time uploading hundreds of photos with so much doubt about the future.
Until then, there is nothing wrong in enjoying the ride!
So true! It's always a gamble with these companies. I guess it's become hard for us to believe that there's a new one with a business model other than "get to the bottom even faster". So, I should probably upload a hundred or so. Now if I could just remember how 500px works - it's changed a couple of times already - something about getting an upload approved, or "curated" into a "core collection".... or was that somebody else? Too late. I figured it out once, now I've forgotten. Oh well.
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Some more info needed, please!
So, I'm ready to start an affair with 500px :D
What I was wondering is:
1) I understand I can upload there just about anything, but am I allowed to license the photos that I have already available for sale elsewhere, or only exclusive content can be licensed?
2) Am I allowed to license editorial content at 500px? I mean is there an option of editorial at all?
Thank you!
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1) yes (there is a checkbox for exclusive photos)
2) yes (checkbox for commercial or editorial license)
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1) yes (there is a checkbox for exclusive photos)
2) yes (checkbox for commercial or editorial license)
Great it's that easy and thank you!
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I would like to sell at 500px but the watermark is again bugging me. It's not improved ? It doesn't matter to you that their watermark is so small and don't protect our images well ?
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Those who are willing to pay for image will pay for it. Those who want to steal it will do it anyway.
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But they steal a lot less if there is a full frame professionell watermark. Try it on your own website, place images with no watermark, a tiny watermark or a full frame watermark and then do image searches 3 months later.
Many people have images with models, children and families or medical images, sensitive use content that you donīt want to put somewhere without professional protection.
If it is just sunsets, beer and pizza, it doesnīt matter so much, but if you are investing in your production, I really cannot imagine to upload without care.
But maybe I should try it with some simple content, just to understand their system, if it will take them anther year to resolve the problem. Perhaps there is something I can create where I donīt care how it gets used.
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it dosent matter if you put a lot of time in your work or not....its your work it needs protection period. until the watermark issue is fixed they will see no photo of mine
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The watermark issue is the only thing preventing me from joining.
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I'm on the fence on the issue.
As much as I hate to see my photos stollen by all those Russian and Chinese sites, I can imagine that a lot of customers, ready to pay big bucks, are attracted by the possibility to browse through a wonderful collection, full screen, and experience pre-purchase wow moments.
Watermarks are intrusive and often distract the viewer from a full emotional engagement with a picture.
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This gets argued endlessly on the FAA forum.
You can sell stock with a big watermark; but I think it kills 'art' sales and many agree. Which is 500px?
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Ok, Iīve added some files. Lovely app, very easy upload, but the watermark is basically invisible.
Iīll see if I can develop a line of files where I am comfortable without the watermark.
No agency is perfect. If "no watermark" is their main selling point, then Iīll just have to upload content with people elsewhere.
Although even with still life...I really love my files...to see them like this is very hard.
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If I remember right, their previews are extremely large, and that's one reason I didn't go ahead with them.
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I've just been to my first date with 500px - created an account, uploaded 2 photos.. You're all right, that watermark.. it took me ages of staring into my photo before I saw it, so tiny! Why even bother with watermark if it's hardly visible? :-[
And previews are gigantic indeed. I will continue to upload though, but I will be very selective with the content
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Probably just a legal formality. Whatever the lawyers need so they can claim it was "protected".
I feel so uncomfortable seeing my work like this. I wish they would give us the option of an artist friendly watermark. I could upload my own, but if everybody does their own thing it just looks bad. It should be a standard option for those that want it.
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Adding a "optional" center water mark should be quite simple to do. I don't know why they don't want to give us the option.
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Are they connected to stockperformer?
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(...) people steal a lot less when there is professional watermark protection(...)
spot on, @Cobalt.
If it is just sunsets, beer and pizza, it doesnīt matter so much (...)
well put, I kind-of like this line :) , you pretty much nailed it (even though I must confess to be a sunset-beer-and-pizza guy*) myself, but who were we to be if we cannot laugh about ourselves every now and then)...
Good one.
*) EDIT: I meant photography-wise -- but wait a sec, actually also in real life ;)
Perhaps there is something I can create where I donīt care how it gets used.
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I am still trying to figure out 500px... I upload mostly stuff that I do for fine art prints, since from community point of view this what people like and expect from this site. I have a following of more than 4,500 and get a lot of likes on some images. However, I've been told that from the sales point of view they need people and business images (like any stock agency), but then what interest those would be to the community? I have those in my portfolio too but it somehow feels wrong to upload them to 500px. I wish they had an option to submit images to 500prime only, why would I showcase images of people having a business meeting. Who wants to see that? :)
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I am still trying to figure out 500px... I upload mostly stuff that I do for fine art prints, since from community point of view this what people like and expect from this site. I have a following of more than 4,500 and get a lot of likes on some images. However, I've been told that from the sales point of view they need people and business images (like any stock agency), but then what interest those would be to the community? I have those in my portfolio too but it somehow feels wrong to upload them to 500px. I wish they had an option to submit images to 500prime only, why would I showcase images of people having a business meeting. Who wants to see that? :)
I don't get it either. I think they've changed course a couple of times and now they don't have a clear identity or direction. Originally, they sold prints, which made sense for 'art' photos. But they dropped prints. So why would I upload my best work if I can't even sell a print? And like you say - who's interested in 'stock' photos?
It's a lot of work to upload hundreds of photos - especially if, like me, you only have 6mbs upstream. Before I do that I need a pretty good idea of what the site is about and what my chances might be. Thanks for refreshing my memory - I now remember going through this with 500px before and deciding it wasn't quite making sense. I hope it actually does, though, and someone can explain why.
A lot of excitement in this thread in the last few days - because 1 guy said he made some big sales. Unfortunately he won't tell us what kind of photos they were...
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... because 1 guy said he made some big sales. Unfortunately he won't tell us what kind of photos they were...
I didn't just say it, I showed examples.
But hey, feel free to feel miserable.
And after all, why would I encourage competition?
As I said, the only reason I shared my experience with this comunity was to show an example of an agency who does things differently, in a positive way. An agency who deserves encouragements.
Who is smart enough to listen, listens.
But if you only prefer doom and gloom stories, I sincerely apologize.
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I am a little confused about their direction as well. I did a lot of test searches and when you get past the first pages you see it is really more photo community than agency.
From a stock perspective loads of interesting stuff that brings in money is missing, especially good quality people stock, business and industrial useful files not just portraits of pretty people. Lots of beautiful nature and animals. Makes great prints, but wonīt sell a bank loan, an insurance etc..
All the other macro agencies have plenty of beautiful nature and portraits as well. High quality people stock, science, industry, localized lifestyle content, that is what is needed. People with technology, modern environments. The kind of pictures that are hard work and expensive to produce and no fun to shoot. And many useful images that bring in great money are ugly,especially in technology.
I think the lack of a professional watermark is a problem there. People who invest a lot of money into their productions, I really canīt see them uploading without one, especially with exclusive content.
Maybe there could be a way that those who are more interested in the agency part could upload directly to the marketplace.
A lot of people are interested in backing a crowd sourced, high quality macro agency. They could develop it to be the first place stock artists send content to.
But they have to make it clear they really want to be an agency. The best, the biggest, the strongest.
You donīt become Number One in the market by accident.
And we canīt decide it for them. If they would rather be a smaller niche player, mostly community, then we canīt change that.
So, Iīll keep uploading, I am glad there is another opportunity to explore and we will see where they want to go.
ETA: I looked at the exclusive content on their marketplace. The store looks pretty empty on many searches (marketplace, exclusive images with people, commercial usage , "business" : 145 files)
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Lots of beautiful nature and animals. Makes great prints, but wonīt sell a bank loan, an insurance etc.
You never know.
Investec has been using zebras in their advertising, particularly the huge banners in airports, for several years (and even have 'follow the zebra' as their strapline), e.g.:
https://www.investec.co.uk/about-investec/careers.html (https://www.investec.co.uk/about-investec/careers.html)
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... because 1 guy said he made some big sales. Unfortunately he won't tell us what kind of photos they were...
I didn't just say it, I showed examples.
But hey, feel free to feel miserable.
And after all, why would I encourage competition?
As I said, the only reason I shared my experience with this comunity was to show an example of an agency who does things differently, in a positive way. An agency who deserves encouragements.
Who is smart enough to listen, listens.
But if you only prefer doom and gloom stories, I sincerely apologize.
I must have missed something. All I remember seeing was your post saying "I'm sorry, I can't do that without losing my anonymity. I hope you'll understand."
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... because 1 guy said he made some big sales. Unfortunately he won't tell us what kind of photos they were...
I didn't just say it, I showed examples.
But hey, feel free to feel miserable.
And after all, why would I encourage competition?
As I said, the only reason I shared my experience with this comunity was to show an example of an agency who does things differently, in a positive way. An agency who deserves encouragements.
Who is smart enough to listen, listens.
But if you only prefer doom and gloom stories, I sincerely apologize.
I must have missed something. All I remember seeing was your post saying "I'm sorry, I can't do that without losing my anonymity. I hope you'll understand."
You missed the screen shot of the sale announcement email, indeed. I'm not just "saying". These large sales are real.
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... because 1 guy said he made some big sales. Unfortunately he won't tell us what kind of photos they were...
I didn't just say it, I showed examples.
But hey, feel free to feel miserable.
And after all, why would I encourage competition?
As I said, the only reason I shared my experience with this comunity was to show an example of an agency who does things differently, in a positive way. An agency who deserves encouragements.
Who is smart enough to listen, listens.
But if you only prefer doom and gloom stories, I sincerely apologize.
I must have missed something. All I remember seeing was your post saying "I'm sorry, I can't do that without losing my anonymity. I hope you'll understand."
You missed the screen shot of the sale announcement email, indeed. I'm not just "saying". These large sales are real.
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All I saw was the announcement that you'd made $175 on a sale. Nothing about the actual photo.
I don't doubt that the sale occurred, I'm trying to figure out if 500px is selling 'stock' or 'art'.
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And at the same time stocksy is selling like crazy and they have an artist friendly watermark.
Doesn't seem to stop the buyers.
We will see how 500pix develops, but at the moment their direction is not clear for me.
It would be great to have crowd based macrostock site. I like their public gallery system very much. It is a good step towards crowd curation.
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And at the same time stocksy is selling like crazy and they have an artist friendly watermark.
Doesn't seem to stop the buyers.
We will see how 500pix develops, but at the moment their direction is not clear for me.
It would be great to have crowd based macrostock site. I like their public gallery system very much. It is a good step towards crowd curation.
I don't think it works, in reality. Everybody wants to sell, nobody really wants to spend time looking at other people's work. To get them to do that you have to tie search rank to popularity, and that leads to intensive 'gaming' of the system. I see that on FAA and Crated.
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Just a question to ZeroTalent. Are your photos on 500px exclusive? ::)
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Just a question to ZeroTalent. Are your photos on 500px exclusive? ::)
No, they are not.
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I don't think it works, in reality. Everybody wants to sell, nobody really wants to spend time looking at other people's work.
Actually people do look at other people's work. A lot. And they "like" it. But mainly to get "likes" in return. Some are even leaving comments beging for "likes". Typical social media behaviour.
This is why it is good that popularity is not a decisif factor for search ranks.
Being liked in a "photographer's club" might be totally different than being liked by real world buyers.
The other reason to check other people's work is obviously to "get inspired"
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Something I don't quite understand:
Here's an agency selling our images for 3-digit $ amounts. And they pay 70% of that to the artist. No subscriptions, no penny sales. No insane, uncomprehensible rejections. No closed club for only the chosen few.
And most of what I read here is doubts, complaints, discussion on watermarks...
And the majority keeps uploading to Istock for 15% - 20%, receiving pennies for sale. Or to shutterstock for (at most) 30% and RPD between $0,25 and maybe $1. Or dreamstime where all you still get is $0,35 subs. Or to 123RF who pays as little as $0,21 per sub sale. Or...
The list goes on and on.
Why not give it a try, upload all your new work on 500px and wait a few months before uploading elsewhere? Give them an advantage.
You can still upload to all the micros later. I read a lot that new images don't sell on all the micros as they used to (and I experience the same with my uploads), so it does not seem to be a big loss.
If enough people would do like that, maybe something would change in this industry...
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e.
It would be great to have crowd based macrostock site. I like their public gallery system very much. It is a good step towards crowd curation.
I don't think it works, in reality. Everybody wants to sell, nobody really wants to spend time looking at other people's work. To get them to do that you have to tie search rank to popularity, and that leads to intensive 'gaming' of the system. I see that on FAA and Crated.
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I disagree, I had a lot of curated galleries on istock, I loved collecting files on subjects that interested me, similar to pininterest today. There are loads of people who are "collectors"
What is needed though is for the customer to be able to subscribe to a gallery, so they can create their own personalised feed to look at. To simply subscribe to an artist is not that useful. If you only want to see food pictures, you donīt need the new landscapes in your personalized flow.
And on istock if my files were taken into a popular gallery, their sales could go through the roof. So we have an established history that crowd curation works really well and increases sales.
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It would be great to have crowd based macrostock site. I like their public gallery system very much. It is a good step towards crowd curation.
How does it work?
I was finding that almost all I was selling from FAA was US content, so I thought I'd try a UK-based setup from which some people I know have sold some prints. I put one file up, and suddenly my email inbox was inundated with people telling me how good it was - but only using about four phrases, which must be some sort of ticky box system. It seems that you have to get so many likes to get a good position, but I'm sure that I am supposed to go back and 'like' something of theirs or the mutual admiration society will soon end. I'm really not interested in playing this sort of game, so I've left it at one file.
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It would be great to have crowd based macrostock site. I like their public gallery system very much. It is a good step towards crowd curation.
How does it work?
I was finding that almost all I was selling from FAA was US content, so I thought I'd try a UK-based setup from which some people I know have sold some prints. I put one file up, and suddenly my email inbox was inundated with people telling me how good it was - but only using about four phrases, which must be some sort of ticky box system. It seems that you have to get so many likes to get a good position, but I'm sure that I am supposed to go back and 'like' something of theirs or the mutual admiration society will soon end. I'm really not interested in playing this sort of game, so I've left it at one file.
As I said before, you don't have to play these "like mine and I'll like yours" games to sell on 500px. I know I don't.
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Something I don't quite understand:
Here's an agency selling our images for 3-digit $ amounts. And they pay 70% of that to the artist. No subscriptions, no penny sales. No insane, uncomprehensible rejections. No closed club for only the chosen few.
And most of what I read here is doubts, complaints, discussion on watermarks...
And the majority keeps uploading to Istock for 15% - 20%, receiving pennies for sale. Or to shutterstock for (at most) 30% and RPD between $0,25 and maybe $1. Or dreamstime where all you still get is $0,35 subs. Or to 123RF who pays as little as $0,21 per sub sale. Or...
The list goes on and on.
Why not give it a try, upload all your new work on 500px and wait a few months before uploading elsewhere? Give them an advantage.
You can still upload to all the micros later. I read a lot that new images don't sell on all the micros as they used to (and I experience the same with my uploads), so it does not seem to be a big loss.
If enough people would do like that, maybe something would change in this industry...
All good points. Thinking about it. I'd just like to know whether they're selling 'stock', or 'art', or both. It makes a difference, for example in keywording and descriptions, and it would be nice to have a strategy if we're going to spend the time uploading.
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Photos are licenced there for advertisements or editorial. So they sell for sure for stock. Mirco
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Photos are licenced there for advertisements or editorial. So they sell for sure for stock. Mirco
And they don't sell prints anymore - right? So it's purely a stock site at this point.
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All good points. Thinking about it. I'd just like to know whether they're selling 'stock', or 'art', or both. It makes a difference, for example in keywording and descriptions, and it would be nice to have a strategy if we're going to spend the time uploading.
I don't really know. I just uploaded my stuff as it was, no special keywording or description. But I don't do classic stock images anyway, more travel and wildlife (some would say vacation snaps).
And I did not get many sales yet, but one of them was my highest $ amount for one image that I ever received. $262,50 my share.
For those who ask: this (https://500px.com/photo/76121209/drinking-giraffe-by-dirk-r)is the shot.
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All good points. Thinking about it. I'd just like to know whether they're selling 'stock', or 'art', or both. It makes a difference, for example in keywording and descriptions, and it would be nice to have a strategy if we're going to spend the time uploading.
I don't really know. I just uploaded my stuff as it was, no special keywording or description. But I don't do classic stock images anyway, more travel and wildlife (some would say vacation snaps).
And I did not get many sales yet, but one of them was my highest $ amount for one image that I ever received. $262,50 my share.
For those who ask: this (https://500px.com/photo/76121209/drinking-giraffe-by-dirk-r)is the shot.
Cool! How long did it take you before you got your first sale in there?
Just started uploading, I only do travel stuff
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Cool! How long did it take you before you got your first sale in there?
Just started uploading, I only do travel stuff
Around 1,5 years. But I think they started the whole prime thing in between, so probably shorter. They certainly cannot compete (yet) with the classic stock sites in terms of volume, but I hope that may improve.
It's a lot more satisfying seeing one sale with such amounts than hundreds of subs...
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dirk, do you have many model released people shots? did you invest a lot per shoot? many people do, so if you are working with children, families patients, you become sensitive to abuse issues.
I will try them with files where the risk is only on me. Food or landscapes or stills.
I think if they offer an artist friedly protection for those who want it, they will be swamped with files. So many people keep telling they are waiting for them to solve that problem.
Just a simple option for those who want it. It is not forcing anyone to use it. How hard can it be?
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dirk, do you have many model released people shots? did you invest a lot per shoot? many people do, so if you are working with children, families patients, you become sensitive to abuse issues.
I will try them with files where the risk is only on me. Food or landscapes or stills.
I think if they offer an artist friedly protection for those who want it, they will be swamped with files. So many people keep telling they are waiting for them to solve that problem.
Just a simple option for those who want it. It is not forcing anyone to use it. How hard can it be?
No, I don't shoot anything with models in it. And I don't specifically invest in stock shoots, but rather try to sell the shots I take anyway.
I understand your concerns though, maybe some more people need to tell them directly about those concerns so that they provide a better watermark.
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I don't think popularity has much to do with sales. People will buy images they need, not images that they like. And they will search for them through keywords.
I had a sale of a file that had pulse only "25".
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I had a sale of a grid fence close up for 220 dollars. A shot that everyone could take. 0 cents costs. Took the shot while having a walk.
Mirco
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Thatīs great news mirco, thank you for sharing :).
Maybe more people can try them with non sensitive content if they are worried and maybe in a few months we will get the option so many people are asking for.
But perhaps model released or sensitive content is something they donīt even want.
If they give us the guidance they want mostly landscapes, flowers, editorial travel...why not? Just let us know what direction they want to go.
We can always upload preview images with our own full frame logos. I just think it looks bad if everyone does their own thing, but many people are already doing it that way. So it is not like it is forbidden. They just donīt want to offer their own option.
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Cool! How long did it take you before you got your first sale in there?
Just started uploading, I only do travel stuff
Around 1,5 years.
LOL.
Sorry, that made me laugh. It just shows how slim the pickings can be in photography today, and how endless patience is required. I'm actually coming around to the idea that I should put stuff on 500px, just trying to decide what to upload.
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Cool! How long did it take you before you got your first sale in there?
Just started uploading, I only do travel stuff
Around 1,5 years.
LOL.
Sorry, that made me laugh. It just shows how slim the pickings can be in photography today, and how endless patience is required. I'm actually coming around to the idea that I should put stuff on 500px, just trying to decide what to upload.
Patience, so true :) and a lot of long term planning which can be hard for people as badly organized as I am (live for today and stuff), but I'll give it a try anyway, this thread did inspire me a lot ;D
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I guess I'm a bit negative because I've been burned in the past; spent the time uploading hundreds of photos and never made significant sales. At GL for example, I got some nice sales early on, but then word gets out, everybody comes in, pretty soon the number of contributors is way out of proportion to the number of buyers, and no one makes anything anymore. I've put a couple hundred on Crated too, and nothing is happening; but hey it's only been a few months, obviously I need to let some years go by before expecting anything :-)
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I'm wondering how that "pulse" system works - my fresh uploads got around 50 pulse just within minutes online. Does this number change over the time?
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It seems to keep going up the more views, likes or comments it gets. No idea if it affects sales.
I love that files go on sale immediatly and I donīt have to wait three weeks for the inspection. Self driven webshop, there is a lot to like.
Doesnīt hurt to be careful. So many fair trade places have opened in the last few years, people get excited, nothing ever happens.
Community life doesnīt tell you anything about sales potential. I am on several places with fantastic community vibe, but hardly any sales. Which doesnīt surprise me because all the things the buyers need or I would need as an artist to make it easier for the customer to find my files is missing.
Many places take their "anti stock attitude" so far that they are no longer really useful for the customer.
But 500pix has a great system, the only missing piece is the artist friendly watermark as an additional option.
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I'm wondering how that "pulse" system works - my fresh uploads got around 50 pulse just within minutes online. Does this number change over the time?
The pulse goes up based on the number of likes, but only for the first 24 hours.
Each like adds lower and lower increments, as the pulse goes up.
Once you reach 97-98 (or so) it takes about 10 likes to gain 0.1
But again, it doesn't really matter so much, if you are there only for sales.
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I'm wondering how that "pulse" system works - my fresh uploads got around 50 pulse just within minutes online. Does this number change over the time?
The pulse goes up based on the number of likes, but only for the first 24 hours.
Each like adds lower and lower increments, as the pulse goes up.
Once you reach 97-98 (or so) it takes about 10 likes to gain 0.1
But again, it doesn't really matter so much, if you are there only for sales.
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I see, thank you.
After 1 day in there - 500px is very very contagious ;)
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Cool! How long did it take you before you got your first sale in there?
Just started uploading, I only do travel stuff
Around 1,5 years.
LOL.
Sorry, that made me laugh. It just shows how slim the pickings can be in photography today, and how endless patience is required. I'm actually coming around to the idea that I should put stuff on 500px, just trying to decide what to upload.
Yes, it's not exactly the same sales volume as Shutterstock :)
But it feels a bit like I am trading the short-lasting instant satisfaction of fast sales against the longer lasting - but requiring a lot more patience - satisfaction of higher $ amounts per sale.
And, more important, while the overall mood in this forum seems to be doom and gloom, people are repeatedly talking about falling revenues, the race to the bottom, looking for alternatives to monetize their photography.... seeing there is a place that does not try to undercut the competition but charges higher prices, pays out 70% and actually does sell images looks a lot like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And maybe that light is not the headlights of an oncoming train like all the times before... 8)
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One concern I have re 500px is the extremely slow review process, it takes them weeks to approve a few of my images for their marketplace.
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One concern I have re 500px is the extremely slow review process, it takes them weeks to approve a few of my images for their marketplace.
Is there a review process at all? I thought once I tick "marketplace" and choose the commercial or editorial it is available for sale straight away...
When I went just now to their marketplace page and searched for one of my photos by keywords - it was there with prices ready to be purchased (I just added that one today)
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One concern I have re 500px is the extremely slow review process, it takes them weeks to approve a few of my images for their marketplace.
Is there a review process at all? I thought once I tick "marketplace" and choose the commercial or editorial it is available for sale straight away...
When I went just now to their marketplace page and searched for one of my photos by keywords - it was there with prices ready to be purchased (I just added that one today)
The review process is rather long, unless someone wants to buy one of your photos.
If that's the case, your image is reviewed immediately. You might even get an email from the reviwer asking for specific changes (eg i've been asked to add extra copy space on top of one of my photos).
Go to post #16 for more details.
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Not meaning to hijack the thread, and I know that in the past I have solved this problem BUT.....
having sent a low res pic with my watermark for community, where do I go to add a high res one for sale? My low res one has gone there.....!
500px have just sent me to their info page which seems to be out of date - or not resemble mine, anyway.
Help appreciated.....
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Not meaning to hijack the thread, and I know that in the past I have solved this problem BUT.....
having sent a low res pic with my watermark for community, where do I go to add a high res one for sale? My low res one has gone there.....!
500px have just sent me to their info page which seems to be out of date - or not resemble mine, anyway.
Help appreciated.....
Go to https://500px.com/settings/store and click on photos, there will be column "original photo" and one "high resolution photo", in the "high" column click on "choose file" and upload the hi-rez image.
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Thankyou Shiyali! I will bookmark it! Have a nice day!
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One concern I have re 500px is the extremely slow review process, it takes them weeks to approve a few of my images for their marketplace.
Is there a review process at all? I thought once I tick "marketplace" and choose the commercial or editorial it is available for sale straight away...
When I went just now to their marketplace page and searched for one of my photos by keywords - it was there with prices ready to be purchased (I just added that one today)
The review process is rather long, unless someone wants to buy one of your photos.
If that's the case, your image is reviewed immediately. You might even get an email from the reviwer asking for specific changes (eg i've been asked to add extra copy space on top of one of my photos).
Go to post #16 for more details.
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Now I understand ;D thanks for clarifying all these things!
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How long does it take between requesting the money and actually getting the money on you paypal acc.?
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How long does it take between requesting the money and actually getting the money on you paypal acc.?
40 days after the sale, before being able to request payments.
And a few days max after payment request to see the money on Paypal, so no different than other websites using explicit payment requests (e.g. DT, FT)
The payment request I made on Feb 9th appeared on Paypal the same day (see attached).
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Yeah, I know that you have to wait 40 days before transaction is completed. Long time to wait, I first thought that the sale didn't go through, but then I read FAQ and saw you have to wait 45 days for transaction to be completed.
Anyway, my first payout request, I hope there are more to come.
Thanks for the info.
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Yeah, I know that you have to wait 40 days before transaction is completed. Long time to wait, I first thought that the sale didn't go through, but then I read FAQ and saw you have to wait 45 days for transaction to be completed.
Anyway, my first payout request, I hope there are more to come.
Thanks for the info.
Right, it is 45 days not 40. Long time indeed, but not longer than the average waiting time for Alamy or iStock PP sales.
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I don't understand how 500px work ...
What's the deal with marketplace check box ?
How we upload model release ?
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If you check the marketplace box you get links to upload model and property release.
Nice to see so many people giving them a try. Maybe if enough of us upload good content they will take us more seriously with our concerns.
Finding a place that can work as my personal shop, is my goal for this year. If I canīt find a suitable agency, then I will give up and start to work with Photoshelter.
I understand that most money will probably come from the small, niche agencies but I also need a home base where I am the sole ruler of my domain :)
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I don't understand how 500px work ...
What's the deal with marketplace check box ?
How we upload model release ?
I'm confused too. And these same questions keep coming up, over and over. WHY in the heck can't a company like 500px have someone spend an hour writing up a clear, one page "here's how it works" and post it on the site?
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Finding a place that can work as my personal shop, is my goal for this year. If I canīt find a suitable agency, then I will give up and start to work with Photoshelter.
I'm disappointed that 500px gave up on prints. That leaves the art print market to FAA, a company that leaves a lot to be desired. Crated appears to be a dead site walking.
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I don't understand how 500px work ...
What's the deal with marketplace check box ?
How we upload model release ?
I'm confused too. And these same questions keep coming up, over and over. WHY in the heck can't a company like 500px have someone spend an hour writing up a clear, one page "here's how it works" and post it on the site?
"here's how it works":
https://support.500px.com/hc/en-us/sections/200579307-Information-for-Contributors
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I don't understand how 500px work ...
What's the deal with marketplace check box ?
How we upload model release ?
I'm confused too. And these same questions keep coming up, over and over. WHY in the heck can't a company like 500px have someone spend an hour writing up a clear, one page "here's how it works" and post it on the site?
"here's how it works":
https://support.500px.com/hc/en-us/sections/200579307-Information-for-Contributors
I've seen the FAQ. It doesn't say much.
Looking at that FAQ again I see that if we want lower res watermarked versions for display, we have to upload them separately ourselves. Good grief. Like others have said, how hard can that be to implement on the server side?
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I don't understand how 500px work ...
What's the deal with marketplace check box ?
How we upload model release ?
I'm confused too. And these same questions keep coming up, over and over. WHY in the heck can't a company like 500px have someone spend an hour writing up a clear, one page "here's how it works" and post it on the site?
"here's how it works":
https://support.500px.com/hc/en-us/sections/200579307-Information-for-Contributors
I've seen the FAQ. It doesn't say much.
Looking at that FAQ again I see that if we want lower res watermarked versions for display, we have to upload them separately ourselves. Good grief. Like others have said, how hard can that be to implement on the server side?
It says everything I needed to know, in order to start selling! Just spend 5 minutes reading and clicking all links!
"Good grief"! So much negativity! How much spoon feeding you need?
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I just uploaded a couple of photos and after looking around, remembered why I decided against 500px long ago. By default, they display your image as large as your display will permit. I was able to easily screen-grab a copy more than 2K pixels across; you could go bigger if you wanted to stitch. That's plenty big enough to attract thieves, so your best images will soon be on T-shirts and mousepads all over the web - and that washed-out watermark in the corner isn't going to be much protection.
The only way to avoid this is to prepare and upload your own reduced size copies for display - apparently, 500px isn't interested in writing the small amount of server-side code it takes to do this automatically, like every other photo sales site.
I'm not spending my time doing this for hundreds of photos. So, 500px is off my list until they get their act together. I already have enough stolen copies of my work in circulation, I don't need this insanity. Just my own opinion, flame if you will, but there it is.
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And if you sign up for a year to see how things go, what statistics you get for your money etc, they set up a Recurring payment - automatically - which you then need to stop.
Grrrr.....
There must be better options for more arty pics.....!
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There must be better options for more arty pics.....!
500px needs to get the basics in place. I get the impression their original plan didn't work, they cut way back (dropped prints) and probably reduced staff, and development of the site stalled. There's no sensible reason why they couldn't generate smaller previews, other than total lack of developer resources. Recently they brought in Kelly Thompson, of iStock infamy, which is probably a bad sign but might also indicate some new investment.
I had hopes for Crated.com but that site seems to be dormant. Every once in a great while someone posts here about a sale, but there's just zero buzz. It doesn't help that they have no forum and no hit counters. I think they started off on the wrong foot, trying to create an artsy, elite image and being too exclusive in who they 'curated'. Now they've gone to the other extreme and are letting in all sorts of junk. No clear direction.
I'd really like to see Sean Broihier cash out and sell FAA to someone who would invest in modernizing and updating it. That might happen.
Zazzle, RedBubble, CafePress, are all a complete waste of time IMHO.
There has to be a significant opportunity here for someone to put the pieces together and just do it right.
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There must be better options for more arty pics.....!
500px needs to get the basics in place. I get the impression their original plan didn't work, they cut way back (dropped prints)
Their original plan didn't work, indeed.
However, their current plan works much, much better, despite some naysayers attempts to find flaws in it.
It even works much better than most of other plans available on the market.
Btw, did you ever sell a print on 500px, since you hang on so much on prints?
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There must be better options for more arty pics.....!
500px needs to get the basics in place. I get the impression their original plan didn't work, they cut way back (dropped prints)
Their original plan didn't work, indeed.
However, their current plan works much, much better, despite some naysayers attempts to find flaws in it.
It even works much better than most of other plans available on the market.
Btw, did you ever sell a print on 500px, since you hang on so much on prints?
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personally i don't believe when people say they sell a lot in 500px....it seems something a bit cooked for unknown interest.....u told us u have few images but you are selling so much...ithout have a look at your portfolio in 500 px i'm sorry i don't believe a single words.
in addiction what genre are you selling?
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I donīt know his portfolio, but I am ready to believe him. There are only 3.7 million images in the marketplace right now and a lot of the content comes from people interested in art, not stock photography. So the few people that do real, professional macrostock stand out and will get more sales than the rest.
Exclusive images seem to be less than 200k. So right now, this is a tiny collection with lots of holes from a stock perspective.
But apparently millions of files havenīt been inspected for the marketplace, once they do and volume goes up, it will probably be much harder again, unless their buyer base grows significantly.
In the end it is all about visibility to customer base ratio. Small collection size, higher visibility.
As soon as they have 60 million files, it will be just as difficult as everywhere else. Unless they really do something with their public galleries, at least they are doing something with that.
Now if they would allow me to subscribe to a gallery, instead of just the artist...I would have real hope...because that is the one single thing that all the customers need, but no agency is offering them...the personalized feed from interesting lightboxes...only food for the food designer, only landscapes for the outdoor magazine...
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There must be better options for more arty pics.....!
500px needs to get the basics in place. I get the impression their original plan didn't work, they cut way back (dropped prints)
Their original plan didn't work, indeed.
However, their current plan works much, much better, despite some naysayers attempts to find flaws in it.
It even works much better than most of other plans available on the market.
Btw, did you ever sell a print on 500px, since you hang on so much on prints?
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personally i don't believe when people say they sell a lot in 500px....it seems something a bit cooked for unknown interest.....u told us u have few images but you are selling so much...ithout have a look at your portfolio in 500 px i'm sorry i don't believe a single words.
in addiction what genre are you selling?
Well... I'm not here to convince you. I can only assure you that I have no other special interest in this agency, except for selling my work through. You are free not to believe a "single word" of what I said, neither none of the screenshots I posted.
It is funny that, on one hand you don't believe what I said, but, on the other hand, you are interested to know what kind of images I sell :D So, please do your own research. ;)
As I already said it before, who is smart enough to listen, listens.
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personally i don't believe when people say they sell a lot in 500px....it seems something a bit cooked for unknown interest.....u told us u have few images but you are selling so much...ithout have a look at your portfolio in 500 px i'm sorry i don't believe a single words.
in addiction what genre are you selling?
"I don't believe you are selling, but what genre are you selling?" ;D ;D
There are quite a few people here reporting sales, why doubting?
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(wrong thread, sorry)
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Congratulations for the sale! Was it an exclusive 500px photo? I'm wondering if I create an exclusive portfolio or if I mix with some microstock stuff I have.
Cheers!
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Congratulations for the sale! Was it an exclusive 500px photo? I'm wondering if I create an exclusive portfolio or if I mix with some microstock stuff I have.
Cheers!
Thanks and no: I don't have exclusive photos there.
And btw, SS is back on top again :D
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Congratulations for the sale! Was it an exclusive 500px photo? I'm wondering if I create an exclusive portfolio or if I mix with some microstock stuff I have.
Cheers!
Thanks and no: I don't have exclusive photos there.
And btw, SS is back on top again :D
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
I'm starting a portifolio there. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Over on their marketplace the images are shown in a normal size on the image preview page. If you take the preview, it contains all iptc data with copyrightname, keywords and contact info for 500px.
The watermark is still tiny, but the whole thing looks more professional.
Maybe it could be possible to either upload certain files only to the marketplace or maybe the artist could be given the option to have their image shown only in marketplace size.
If you are trying to sell prints, I can understand the "total immersion" appeal of these xxxl files. But for stock sales, buyers are used to normal sizes.
Anyway, it is up to them. I still donīt know which direction they plan to go and how important making money with stock photography is for them.
Wasnīt there also a project where they were selling community response data to customers? Or offered a service involving visual social impact?
Or was that somewhere else?
ETA: since I am now a paying customer at 500px, I would be ready to pay more for the option of a professional full frame watermark. Simply as a service for me as an artist. I think the option should be available to everyone for free, but if necessary, Iīd be ready to pay if development costs for the change are so expensive.
There is also no watermark option for the Portfolio website. This is a standard offer from all the other places I know. Photodeck gives me many customization options for my watermark (full frame, center, lower, higher,size,style...)
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Are you experiencing long review times at 500px for curated collection ?
Months for me ...
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Havenīt had a review yet, but I have only been there for a few days.
Is the review time influenced by what type of account one has? Or is it faster for exclusive files?
Does anybody know?
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Hello,
I submitted there 10k of photos. Also exclusives. This was two months ago. Still not reviewed.
However photos are showing up on the Marketplace under the Core collection.
Mirco
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Thank you for the info. But at least in theory files can be licensed now if the customers want them.
Are you paying for your account? I paid for awesome, does that help?
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I also paid. For Plus. Amount is very small i have to say.
I think in the sense of Marketplace it helps only that you can submit an unlimited amount of photos.
Mirco
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One shouldnīt pay money to an agency, but they pay out 70% so this is a different situation, and the prices are very modest. Just one sale a year will cover all your costs.
And many people will want to use it as a personal portfolio or website. There however, is much more they could offer to make it more attractive. Also I miss the connection to stockperformer, perhaps now that they want to do stock, they will consider this as an option for us.
Is it possible to download our own files and use 500px as a backup? I havenīt found it yet.
10k files is very impressive. Hope you get lots of sales.
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Yes, you can download your own files.
Settings/Store/View licensing form
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Thank you!! :)
On that page I can also add how many people are in the image, if it is indoor or outdoor etc...looks like an additional "disambiguation" kind of step. So do I always have to go to that page after upload? Why is this not on the upload page?
Looked at the FAQs, but the core collection is not mentioned, they calculate everything based on the old prices. Seems they havenīt updated their FAQs.
I hope with 10k files you will get a few sales. Otherwise I donīt see much hope for my little portfolio.
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Oops! Too soon! 500px is not giving up! Another massive $175 sale. 4th sale for this month. It only has 74 pulse, so not a "popular" photo ;)
Congratulations for the sale! Was it an exclusive 500px photo? I'm wondering if I create an exclusive portfolio or if I mix with some microstock stuff I have.
Cheers!
Yes, agree. Nice job Zero Talent. Great to hear.
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Thank you for the info. But at least in theory files can be licensed now if the customers want them.
Are you paying for your account? I paid for awesome, does that help?
I'm "awesome" on trial, thinking whether to go with Plus or Awesome afterwards..
Shame it takes months for files to be reviewed:(
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.
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Thank you for the info. But at least in theory files can be licensed now if the customers want them.
Are you paying for your account? I paid for awesome, does that help?
I'm "awesome" on trial, thinking whether to go with Plus or Awesome afterwards..
Shame it takes months for files to be reviewed:(
Well, since the customer can license them immediatly on request it is not as bad as other places. But you lose out on the option on having your file in prime for the first sale. Also customers will lightbox your file under the core price point and might be really upset if months later they discover the file is now a lot more expensive.
I had a trial account as well and extended the awesome account. But forgot to check out the portfolio options first. Unfortunately they donīt offer any watermarking options for the personal website. Photodeck has huge customization options for that. They are more expensive of course, but seem a lot more specialized on photographers who want to sell their work online. However, they donīt have an agency connected, so I thought maybe Iīll move my website. But without professional watermark options, it is just not really artist friendly.
Maybe for people who only use their website to attract assignment work. But not if you want to sell direct or make most of your living from selling content. We have different needs, our website is not just a "teaser" showcase.
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Well, since the customer can license them immediatly on request it is not as bad as other places. But you lose out on the option on having your file in prime for the first sale. Also customers will lightbox your file under the core price point and might be really upset if months later they discover the file is now a lot more expensive.
I believe that a file still pending review, but requested by a customer, has better chances to land on the more expensive, curated, Prime Collection, than through regular review. After all, the reviewer has the certainty that the photo can be interesting for potential buyers.
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So the customer sees it at the core price point, requests to license it and then they tell him/her - sure you can have it, but at the prime pricing?
How would that work?
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So the customer sees it at the core price point, requests to license it and then they tell him/her - sure you can have it, but at the prime pricing?
How would that work?
It wouldn't. I think what he meant was, that the file would be moved to prime AFTER customer license it. The customer would still get file with core price.
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So the customer sees it at the core price point, requests to license it and then they tell him/her - sure you can have it, but at the prime pricing?
How would that work?
It doesn't. I think what he meant was, that the file would be moved to prime AFTER customer license it. The customer would still get file with core price.
Correct.
However on a few occasions, the sale didn't go through. I received email notifications telling me that a customer was interested in licensing a photo and I should make it available on marketplace. But nothing happened, except for the photo being reviewed and promoted to Prime.
This is a little weird, since all those photos were already marked as available on marketplace.
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Oh ok, so the first customer to license it gets the price visible. But even just showing interest by a client might get your file promoted to prime.
Interesting system.
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What is mystery to me is, why are customers willing to pay 200$ for a photo that can be bought for a few bucks on a microstock site.
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Oh many, many people pay much more than 200 dollars for a simple royalty free file - wood background, a free parking lot etc...many reasons for them.
Usually it is one of many files for a project and they canīt be bothered to go elsewhere, saves time to buy everything in one place. or their company doesnīt have a contract elsewhere. For others it can be that expensive files will not be so overused on the internet. It is not real exclusive licensing, just a lot more unlikely somebody else is using it at the same time.
And macrostock often has beautifully curated collections for any genre or style. So they are paying more money for the curation expertise, maybe even a personal researcher who helps to put things together for them....etc...
Image costs are peanuts in advertising, everything else - tradeshows, print ads, custom show reel, mass mailings, cold call team are 1000 times more expensive.
For companies, not the occasional blogger or small time business owner.
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So, I was waiting for my payout and received this message from 500px, regarding tax form: "Please provide a handwritten date and signature at the bottom"
So.. should I print tax form, signed it and scanned it again? Because on other microstock sites, "digital signature" is enough. You don't need hand written signature.
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And also, aren't agencies witholding taxes only if they're US based, because 500px is Canada based if I'm correct. Or is this the same as if they were in USA?
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Hi, I'm quite new here but I've been reading this thread for the past few days... I just noticed something in the Store Settings on my 500px account and thought to share it here because I don't know how many of you are aware. I attached an image of the following place: Settings->Store->Settings... it's kind of confusing. Any way, in my case that check box in the image wasn't checked by default, and if I understand correctly this detail can affect the images visibility in the marketplace search...
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What is the conceptual difference between 'portfolio' and 'my profile' in 500px?
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- You can upload small resolution photo with your watermark there, so I'm uploading 960px photo with my watermark. If somebody want to take that and bother with removing watermark...
However, from marketplace, anyone can download a comp image (900px) only with that tiny watermark (user watermarks will not be there).
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Yes, you can share your photos and get comments and favs but there is also a marketplace which SELLS the files ...
You don't need a HUGE preview image if you are just looking to share some photos...
They are NOT previews! They are the images users upload to the community!
The marketplace is just an add on because 500px realized the sales potential of the community images. There is no way to upload to the marketplace directly/only.
So if the community is not for you, 500px is not for you. Simple as that.
Very helpful post. I'm not interested in the community /photo sharing part. Guess I will not bother with them.
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Is there a dedicated forum or facebook group for sellers somewhere? i have tried to follow their groups, but it is extremly hard to read and there donīt seem to be longer discussions. Just very simple questions and hardly anyone answering. Most people just asking for feedback on individual images or portfolios.
Or should we write to their support for questions? Does their support respond?
I also made the exclusive files non exclusive. I asked several times if there is a genuine difference in sales or promotion in the search or inspections, but got no answer.
Overall from what I gather from the groups is that sales are extremly rare, it really doesnīt seem to be the main focus of the site.
No point in giving them exclusive images if they donīt do anything with them.
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Is there a dedicated forum or facebook group for sellers somewhere? i have tried to follow their groups, but it is extremly hard to read and there donīt seem to be longer discussions. Just very simple questions and hardly anyone answering.
That was my impression too. I guess it's just a social site for photographers to check out each other's work. You can license images, but how often would that ever happen?
Puzzling because they recently got a lot of investment money and hired a former top guy from IS. Maybe someone thinks it can become a reboot of IS.
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Since they announced Kelly Thompson as VP of Marketplace, I've been wondering what changes there might be. As it's been a few months and there's been radio silence, I've been doing google searches every week or so to see if something turns up. This afternoon it did:
https://iso.500px.com/meet-the-man-at-the-helm-of-the-500px-marketplace/
I don't see anything much here about what they're actually going to do to build the image licensing business. There's talk about having great tools for people to be able to find images, and the move away from "stocky" images, but it seems to me an "if you build it, they will come" approach. How will they compete with the existing agencies for customers?
I'm off to shoot local toilets (read to the end to see why) :)
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Since they announced Kelly Thompson as VP of Marketplace, I've been wondering what changes there might be. As it's been a few months and there's been radio silence, I've been doing google searches every week or so to see if something turns up. This afternoon it did:
https://iso.500px.com/meet-the-man-at-the-helm-of-the-500px-marketplace/
I don't see anything much here about what they're actually going to do to build the image licensing business. There's talk about having great tools for people to be able to find images, and the move away from "stocky" images, but it seems to me an "if you build it, they will come" approach. How will they compete with the existing agencies for customers?
I'm off to shoot local toilets (read to the end to see why) :)
Well that interview sure didn't tell us much. What it comes down to is, are they going to sell 'stock' or 'art'? Selling 'art' means selling prints - and they quit doing that. Nobody licenses 'art' except to offer it on other PODs in competition with the original artist. So they're going to transition into stock, it's that simple. Yes I read the part about how they don't want 'stocky' images. Every new agency starts out with that claim, it means nothing.
Reading between the lines, I think they just want to go back in time and reboot IStock. Speaking for myself, I don't want another 'stock' site, I want a new 'art' site that does it right, and gives clunky old FAA some serious competition. Something like Crated - but with actual sales. Guess I'm not getting it.
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I knew it when I took this one that there was going to be a use for it in the future.
:D
I'm off to shoot local toilets (read to the end to see why) :)
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I knew it when I took this one that there was going to be a use for it in the future.
:D
I'm off to shoot local toilets (read to the end to see why) :)
I have a feeling that door handles of the toilet doors will do even better! Can you go back to that place and do some macro work? ;D
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Well he does say that they want localized lifestyle content, preferable with "authentic" mobile phone look. Which is what all agencies are asking for these days.
That is a world away from pretty nature and landscape shots, which is what their community has been uploading in the last two years. For what they need, theyīll have to add a healthy dose of real stock artists, preferable those that enjoy working with models and invest in localized production.
A strong focus on tools for the customers is a good idea, especially good tools for organizing and managing lightboxes.
What is missing is the encouragement of the entrepreneurial spirit for the artists, getting connected to stockperformer, professional watermark etc...
Also what about the queue???
If it takes months to inspect files and move them into prime or core etc...this will deeply frustrate a lot of people.
The needs of a photo enthusiast community and professional agency are often at the opposite ends of each other.
Where will their main money come from - renting portfolio pages like photoshelter - or stock?
Also "real" mobile stock stuff that actually sells is visually pretty ugly, at least this is my experience from eyeem, how will their community react when true life shots enter their flow?
I do wish them all the best and Kelly certainly knows the stock industry very well.
Will keep an eye out for some localized Cologne toilets, so they can meet all international needs. 😀
Eta: I found a German toilet sign and it already has four likes...
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Eta: I found a German toilet sign and it already has four likes...
There are 110k toilet photos on SS already :o
I doubt 500px will make money out of selling toilet photos :)
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Remember, they want the Authentic Cell Phone Look on those toilet photos. But please, no selfies.
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Eta: I found a German toilet sign and it already has four likes...
There are 110k toilet photos on SS already :o
I doubt 500px will make money out of selling toilet photos :)
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But my sign is on a black WOOD background. So it is real art ;) and deserves a high price...
What 500px really have going for them is their public gallery system.
If they can improve on that for customers, contributors and the fans and collectors, they can create a vibrancy that other large libraries don't have.
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I have been a contributor there for over a year. Or almost one year. Can't remember. IT was my first "stock" agency. People there act more like someone who wants exposure for their work and approval (likes) from other photographers. Likes will get your work on the top pages of their "popular" pages and, they say, give you more exposure.
The bulk of photographers there aren't stock photographers and a few months ago the community got really upset when changes were introduced that facilite entrance of people who produce stock type photography. Toilet pictures there will not get any likes or exposure, it is really a more "artsy" place, or it used to be, and now I am not sure which direction they are going.
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The toilet thing is just a little joke, donīt worry about it. We have developed quite a cynical kind of humour over the years and Kelly has an uncanny talent of tapping right into it. (My toilet sign now has seven likes...)
Stock images can be stunningly beautiful, it is a misconception that we all spend our days taking 100 images of the same tomato from different angles.
But overall commercial photography is supposed to be useful. A stock agency needs all kinds of technical and industrial images, it needs very detailed medical shots etc...
Completly different needs from a photo community looking to share beautiful pictures that might look great on your wall.
So I can understand why people are upset.
And the stock artists, who invest a lot of time and money in their productions also want to be respected. I see many new places talking with a disdain about stock artists and commercial photography until they realize that normal photo communities donīt produce what they need.
And then there is the real world out there, where the whole globe has developed their own visual language and suddenly the agencies are realising they donīt have any content that looks natural enough to blend into social media feeds and social advertising.
But the images that actually sell in that genre, are the kind of stuff all agencies have rejected for years. Nobody wanted the real world.
Even now I cringe when I see newsletters asking for "authentic" content that are illustrated with hypertrendy images that are anything but.
I think many editors spend too much time in their visually trained circles and have no idea what normal people do.
We will see which direction 500px takes, but maybe they should have just stayed a beautiful photo community.
But they do have very interesting tools that can be reworked into a good stock agency.
A lot of people are ready to support a fair trade site that has a longtermvision.
But the atmosphere has to be positive and welcoming to stock entrepreneurs, not consider us the ugly stepchild but unfortunately needed part of the business, like a necessary evil with all our horrible and demanding expectations like professional watermarks and a fast inspection queue.
The most important though is a clear commitment to making money with stock. For that you need a team that truly loves stock photography, which is a very distinct genre of its own.
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For me 500px is a club rather then agency.
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For me 500px is a club rather then agency.
Also never made a sale there
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How much of you make there regular sales? Just curious
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I am consistently amazed at the vast amounts of Mind Blowing talent on 500 compared to Micro. whatever there doing we need it to be inspired. But no one who shoots like some of these folks is gonna sell that on Micro for 25 cents. I am amazingly shocked at the talent I see there.
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I am consistently amazed at the vast amounts of Mind Blowing talent on 500 compared to Micro. whatever there doing we need it to be inspired. But no one who shoots like some of these folks is gonna sell that on Micro for 25 cents. I am amazingly shocked at the talent I see there.
And that's the reson buyers, in search for special photos, are ready to spend hundreds there, instead of wasting time searching for hidden gems, in a pile of garbage and similars, furiously uploaded on microstock sites.
Quality rules!
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But if they transition into a stock site, what's going to prevent that "pile of garbage and similars" from showing up on their loading dock, as it has everywhere else? How are they going to be different?
My question is rhetorical, of course because 500px isn't talking. Whatever they're planning, we'll find out via the traditional Exciting Announcement.
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That is true. Came across this fellows work the other day. simply stunning.
https://500px.com/photo/143509577/little-hunter-by-jakkree-thampitakkul
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But if they transition into a stock site, what's going to prevent that "pile of garbage and similars" from showing up on their loading dock, as it has everywhere else? How are they going to be different?
My question is rhetorical, of course because 500px isn't talking. Whatever they're planning, we'll find out via the traditional Exciting Announcement.
Their curated section, Prime, will definitely not include a "pile of garbage and similars".
Photos like the ones Rinderart is impressed by are already curated into Prime:
https://marketplace.500px.com/mingmuang
Checked the ones priced at $250 RF and $750 for extended uses. These are Prime photos. This guy has about ~85 Prime photos, out of ~185 available for sale. That's a very good ratio!
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That is true. Came across this fellows work the other day. simply stunning.
https://500px.com/photo/143509577/little-hunter-by-jakkree-thampitakkul
Nice, although heavily processed.
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That is true. Came across this fellows work the other day. simply stunning.
https://500px.com/photo/143509577/little-hunter-by-jakkree-thampitakkul
Nice, although heavily processed.
??? Sour grapes? ;)
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Peter Lik sells his prints for $4000 and up
I see much nicer work on 500 px, from virtual unknowns
Some of the photos there are simply stunning
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That is true. Came across this fellows work the other day. simply stunning.
https://500px.com/photo/143509577/little-hunter-by-jakkree-thampitakkul
AMAZING work! Love how he uses the sun with his subjects. There are some great photographers on 500px that certainly deserve a higher "rank" or "section". I sure hope the site doesn't get bombarded with "tomato isolated on white" photos."
When will they fix the little bitty watermark!
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Why do so many people believe that artists that supply generic stock images are not capable of producing beautiful artwork?
Donīt bring yourselves down people, there are so many successful artists that do both.
You simply donīt send stuff like that to the micros, the sales donīt justify it.
But there is no rule that says you can only create either beautiful art or generic stock
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That is true. Came across this fellows work the other day. simply stunning.
https://500px.com/photo/143509577/little-hunter-by-jakkree-thampitakkul
AMAZING work! Love how he uses the sun with his subjects. There are some great photographers on 500px that certainly deserve a higher "rank" or "section". I sure hope the site doesn't get bombarded with "tomato isolated on white" photos."
When will they fix the little bitty watermark!
This is not a "lucky" shot. Check the light. He has two light sources, not just the sun.
I belive the photographer put a more complex setup in place, and then asked the children to play their fishing game.
Freezing those water drops in the air required 1/800, difficult to achieve, without strobes, in a forest, even at 500 iso, f/2.8
I bet he had to be patient for quite some time before capuring this decisif moment.
PS. Some morons (eg poisonflynpe) cannot refrain themselves from leaving racist comments, even on such epic images.
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Beautiful image without doubt.
Same boys, same fish presumably, different photographer name
https://500px.com/photo/143956409/boys-fisherman-by-santi-foto
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Beautiful image without doubt.
Same boys, same fish presumably, different photographer name
https://500px.com/photo/143956409/boys-fisherman-by-santi-foto
It is most likely a different photographer.
When you own a 70-200mm f/2.8 (used for the first photo), you probably don't need a 70-200mm f/4 (used for the second photo). Probably, both photographers were part of an organised photo-trip with model releases, proper light setup pre-arranged, etc.
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That is true. Came across this fellows work the other day. simply stunning.
https://500px.com/photo/143509577/little-hunter-by-jakkree-thampitakkul
This is so cheesy lol
Edit: I mean the processing. Why? because of the obvious vignette, cyan/orange complementaries, exposure differnce between the two boys etc. It's easily digestible, like pop music, so everyone can see how "pretty" it is. It's simple and not stunning at all. But that's just my opinion, man.
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Some time ago I put 5 photos on 500px; later on I decided not to continue. I just looked at those photos and 3 of them are in the "Marketplace" under the heading of "Core Collection". I never did figure 500px out so I don't know what this means - if anything. Did these 3 actually get chosen for something?