MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Bad Company on August 27, 2017, 12:14
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If you're like me I am sure you've had a few moments of not being so bright in this business. A few of my dumbest moments are:
1. Not charging a fee to shoot people thinking I would recoup my costs via sells. I sent numerous hours shooting and processing people images (not to mention folks bitching they don't look pretty enough and wanted me to photoshop them more) only to make a few dollars from my MS sales. I've made more money on just a single still life object that I shot in my home studio than all those people shots combine :-\
2. Carrying all my equipment (Several lens and lighting equipment) on trips only to use just one lens and no extra lighting equipment. Now my back is killing me!
3. Thinking about quitting my day job- so glad I didn't. I must have been on drugs to even consider that as an option.
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One time my camera setting switched to the "small" size setting instead of "large" so I couldn't use anything I shot that session (an abandoned house). I always check that setting now ... Not sure how it happened to begin with.
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One time my camera setting switched to the "small" size setting instead of "large" so I couldn't use anything I shot that session (an abandoned house). I always check that setting now ... Not sure how it happened to begin with.
Happened to me also, luckily I alway shoot jpeg + raw so I still had raw file.
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One time my camera setting switched to the "small" size setting instead of "large" so I couldn't use anything I shot that session (an abandoned house). I always check that setting now ... Not sure how it happened to begin with.
I had a similar mishap. Had my iso at 1600 during and outdoor hike! Forgot to change to 100 after shooting at night the day before :(
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Uploading to iStock
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Joining this forum...
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Joining this forum...
You would've never met us great folks if you hadn't joined :)
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I don't know about my dumbest moment, but my smartest was when I decided to close all my accounts and stop letting these parasites make money from my photos.
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My dumbest moment was when I decided not to bother converting some of my earnings into Bitcoin. I'm sure the millions would of ruined me :)
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1. Quitting too early in 2009 when there were a lot less images, only to have another go in 2012 and sticking with it since.
2. Licensing images which have won or been shortlisted in major photography competitions in micros, thus reducing their value significantly.
3. Taking too long to upgrade away from the (door stop) kit lens to a more decent lens, which was a 50mm f1.8 prime, an excellent lens.
4. Istockphoto
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1. Quitting too early in 2009 when there were a lot less images, only to have another go in 2012 and sticking with it since.
I regret not getting into stock back then. Really sounds like the golden days of microstock.
2. Licensing images which have won or been shortlisted in major photography competitions in micros, thus reducing their value significantly.
I'm guilty of this. Ive had photos that have won competitions (and one of these images won a prize in an exhibition) and I put them in micro afterwards. I'm thinking of removing them and putting them up in Alamy though I'm not sure how hard it's going to be to try and convince iStockphoto to delete them.
3. Taking too long to upgrade away from the (door stop) kit lens to a more decent lens, which was a 50mm f1.8 prime, an excellent lens.
My first lens was a 50mm f1.8. Though I started with a manual 35mm SLR so they were usually coupled with 50mm lenses as a standard package.
4. Istockphoto
Same.
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Wasting time uploading to small agencies who talk a good game but deliver next to no sales......Panthermedia being the worst tortuous uploading/inspection process talk big deliver almost nothing.
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- Not really a mistake, but I regret not having heard earlier of microstock. I would have loved to join iStock in 2005-2006 instead of late 2009.
- Joining Shutterstock and other agencies even later (late 2010)
- I should have started doing video a lot sooner as well
- Spending too much time uploading and submitting to low-tier agencies without sales to make up for it
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Many many years ago a friend of a fiend asked me too shoot some covers for him. He had no money and it would have taken over a week actually. This was back in the film days.
However he said that I could have like a 25% partneship in some stupid computer game he was sort of going to sell for BIG money. Yeah right I thought sur! I didnt actually have time and I was going broad.
Only the computer game was called "Packman" !! I'm sure some of the older ones here remember it!...Today this guy is worth over 500 million bucks. Sigh!
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Many many years ago a friend of a fiend asked me too shoot some covers for him. He had no money and it would have taken over a week actually. This was back in the film days.
However he said that I could have like a 25% partneship in some stupid computer game he was sort of going to sell for BIG money. Yeah right I thought sur! I didnt actually have time and I was going broad.
Only the computer game was called "Packman" !! I'm sure some of the older ones here remember it!...Today this guy is worth over 500 million bucks. Sigh!
With that kind of money you could have own Shutter! 8)
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Wasting time, years ago, by posting my photos on Flickr, hopping to have them hand picked and sold exclusively by Getty.
It took me a while to realise that my exclusivity was producing significantly less than what I could get by spreading the port on multiple agencies.
It also took me a while to realise that my photos were stolen and illegally used by all kind of websites for commercial purposes (especially Russian, including their FB equivalent VK whose admins bluntly refused to take them down, claiming that "posted on the internet means public property")
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What about Symbiostock?
I passed up on the adventure myself. Maybe some folks made money on the new concept...
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One time my camera setting switched to the "small" size setting instead of "large" so I couldn't use anything I shot that session (an abandoned house). I always check that setting now ... Not sure how it happened to begin with.
I had a similar mishap. Had my iso at 1600 during and outdoor hike! Forgot to change to 100 after shooting at night the day before :(
Done that multiple times. Pulled the camera out, started taking photos wondering why the camera thinks it's way brighter than my brain does. Sometimes I realize it in time to actually get the photos I'm after, other times ... nope :/
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What about Symbiostock?
I passed up on the adventure myself. Maybe some folks made money on the new concept...
I lost money on that one. It did make me realise that I don't want the hassle of running my own site, so it was still worth doing.
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Dumbest mistake ~ Thinking that microstock was run by honest, clever and decent people :D
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Dumbest mistake ~ Thinking that microstock was run by honest, clever and decent people :D
As businesses go I think maybe it WAS.......seeing too many stupid decisions recently making me think collectively they've lost the plot.........maybe time for something genuinely innovative. If only I knew what it was!!!
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Not necessarily in Microstock, although some of the images have been used on here, when doing an interior shoot for an apartment, I only took one fully charged set of battery thinking it would be more than enough. The shoot took longer than expected with the client requesting extra shots, and since these shots were long exposures it quickly consumed almost all the battery.
In the end, I only had one bar left and managed to get all the shots but was really stressed towards the end. Lesson learned, always take extra batteries and SD cards.
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Not necessarily in Microstock, although some of the images have been used on here, when doing an interior shoot for an apartment, I only took one fully charged set of battery thinking it would be more than enough. The shoot took longer than expected with the client requesting extra shots, and since these shots were long exposures it quickly consumed almost all the battery.
In the end, I only had one bar left and managed to get all the shots but was really stressed towards the end. Lesson learned, always take extra batteries and SD cards.
Forgot about that one. Happen to me while on a boat taking images of Seattle- ran out of battery and of course I didn't have a spare at the time. Now I carry two spares batteries. 8)
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One time my camera setting switched to the "small" size setting instead of "large" so I couldn't use anything I shot that session (an abandoned house). I always check that setting now ... Not sure how it happened to begin with.
On the other hand, those downsized photos must have had very little noise :D
So you can even combine two mistakes: forgetting ISO on 1600 and forgetting RAW size to small, to obtain clean 5.5Mpix photos accepted by most agencies. ;)
This might even be an acceptable solution for natural low light, handheld shots in an abandoned house. :P
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I don't know about my dumbest moment, but my smartest was when I decided to close all my accounts and stop letting these parasites make money from my photos.
Which raises the question: why are you still posting on this forum unless you are some kind troll?
Sent from my 2014817 using Tapatalk
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Which raises the question: why are you still posting on this forum unless you are some kind troll?
Reminds me of the broke poker players who used to hang out near the tables to catch some of the action :D
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I don't know about my dumbest moment, but my smartest was when I decided to close all my accounts and stop letting these parasites make money from my photos.
Which raises the question: why are you still posting on this forum unless you are some kind troll?
Sent from my 2014817 using Tapatalk
That's a rude trolly comment to make.
Everyone is free to post here
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I don't know about my dumbest moment, but my smartest was when I decided to close all my accounts and stop letting these parasites make money from my photos.
Which raises the question: why are you still posting on this forum unless you are some kind troll?
Sent from my 2014817 using Tapatalk
That's a rude trolly comment to make.
Everyone is free to post here
Rude? Perhaps. If so I am sorry. But still a fair question.
Sent from my 2014817 using Tapatalk
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I don't know about my dumbest moment, but my smartest was when I decided to close all my accounts and stop letting these parasites make money from my photos.
Which raises the question: why are you still posting on this forum unless you are some kind troll?
Sent from my 2014817 using Tapatalk
That's a rude trolly comment to make.
Everyone is free to post here
Not really: for example spammers are not encouraged.
Still, stockastic expressed a valid opinion about MS and namussi expressed a valid opinion about that post.
As you did about theirs.
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I don't know about my dumbest moment, but my smartest was when I decided to close all my accounts and stop letting these parasites make money from my photos.
Which raises the question: why are you still posting on this forum unless you are some kind troll?
Sent from my 2014817 using Tapatalk
8)
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I don't know about my dumbest moment, but my smartest was when I decided to close all my accounts and stop letting these parasites make money from my photos.
I'm curious to know what you did with your pictures that you pulled out. Did you upload them all onto Alamy or elsewhere?
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My dumbest moment was letting myself get riled up by Rinder and Lagereek on the Shutterstock forum and got a lifetime ban for that. ;D
But in a way its okay, because the SS forum is just bile these days. However I do miss talking to a few nice peeps on there.
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My dumbest moment was letting myself get riled up by Rinder and Lagereek on the Shutterstock forum and got a lifetime ban for that. ;D
But in a way its okay, because the SS forum is just bile these days. However I do miss talking to a few nice peeps on there.
Funny how down the road we learn what we thought was important isn't so important anymore. You've moved on to bigger and better things in life 8)
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Actually I didn't close all my accounts. I closed at IS and SS, and I'd left Fototolia, Envato, 500px and some others long before. I left my stock photos at Alamy, which still pays a few dollars, and at GL, which is currently dormant but might come back.
Any photography I do these days is either for the enjoyment of my friends, or to sell on FAA. I have no marketing, but I sell a couple big prints - sometimes more - every month through FAA.
I'm still interested in what's going on with microstock, but I see no chance of selling through those channels in the future. The market is broken, the perceived value of that kind of work has been destroyed.
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Actually I didn't close all my accounts. I closed at IS and SS, and I'd left Fototolia, Envato, 500px and some others long before. I left my stock photos at Alamy, which still pays a few dollars, and at GL, which is currently dormant but might come back.
Any photography I do these days is either for the enjoyment of my friends, or to sell on FAA. I have no marketing, but I sell a couple big prints - sometimes more - every month through FAA.
I'm still interested in what's going on with microstock, but I see no chance of selling through those channels in the future. The market is broken, the perceived value of that kind of work has been destroyed.
I don't think you put much work into microstock. If you did, you wouldn't be quite so negative. There's a huge difference between what does well with stock and what sells on FAA, I don't think many people can be successful at both. Some of the greedy sites deserve all the negativity but there's still a few places to sell that don't abuse us and it's still better than any other job I've tried.
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Definitely the dumbest moment so far: going on a full-day trip/excursion, prepared my (then almost brand new 4k camera), fully charging battery, bringing the spare battery, all checked! Off we go! ... 2 hours later, still in the bus, I figure I've left the SD card in the reader back at home... Stuck with the "dead weight" for the rest of the day :D
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Definitely the dumbest moment so far: going on a full-day trip/excursion, prepared my (then almost brand new 4k camera), fully charging battery, bringing the spare battery, all checked! Off we go! ... 2 hours later, still in the bus, I figure I've left the SD card in the reader back at home... Stuck with the "dead weight" for the rest of the day :D
Wish I could give you a plus 10 :)
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Forgetting to take the lens cap off the lower lens of a TLR (twin lens reflex) when taking a photo.
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Definitely the dumbest moment so far: going on a full-day trip/excursion, prepared my (then almost brand new 4k camera), fully charging battery, bringing the spare battery, all checked! Off we go! ... 2 hours later, still in the bus, I figure I've left the SD card in the reader back at home... Stuck with the "dead weight" for the rest of the day :D
Same here. But my destination was a large city so I was able to buy a new card and do my job.
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I once went a little far for an editorial photoshoot and failed to take memory cards. The place was remote so I was not able to buy one. Knowing what i know today, I would have made about .25 c on that photoshoot anyway, so I did not lose money buy being forgetful.
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I had also forgotten to load my memory card only to realize it when carnival queen reached the start of the carnival parade in Greece. I asked my wife to go back and bring me one, watching her murmuring some … rated words! Until she returned, I ended up using my mobile phone for raw dng (in vain) and up uploading the video material to You Tube (which also got me less views than previous years!) . From then on, I carry with me - at a credit card size holder - seven cards, just in case!
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I had also forgotten to load my memory card only to realize it when carnival queen reached the start of the carnival parade in Greece. I asked my wife to go back and bring me one, watching her murmuring some … rated words! Until she returned, I ended up using my mobile phone for raw dng (in vain) and up uploading the video material to You Tube (which also got me less views than previous years!) . From then on, I carry with me - at a credit card size holder - seven cards, just in case!
Very nice holder for extra memory!
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Where do people keep their spare cards? Just wondering, because if you forget to bring your spares, you have the same problem as forgetting your primary card. I keep spares in places which are fail safe, like my car. I go to a shoot with my car, so if I forget my card, camera bag, whatever, I WILL have a card in my car.
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Where do people keep their spare cards? Just wondering, because if you forget to bring your spares, you have the same problem as forgetting your primary card. I keep spares in places which are fail safe, like my car. I go to a shoot with my car, so if I forget my card, camera bag, whatever, I WILL have a card in my car.
Very idea on keeping a card in the card! Besides the car I also like to keep a few in my camera bag as well. Ever wonder why the cameras don't have built into memory card in them say?
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Spending time on Shutterpoint. Although, I didn't know any better at the time...
https://web.archive.org/web/20041212060057/http://www.shutterpoint.com:80/Photos-BrowseUser.cfm?user_id=SJLOCKE (https://web.archive.org/web/20041212060057/http://www.shutterpoint.com:80/Photos-BrowseUser.cfm?user_id=SJLOCKE)
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Where do people keep their spare cards? Just wondering, because if you forget to bring your spares, you have the same problem as forgetting your primary card. I keep spares in places which are fail safe, like my car. I go to a shoot with my car, so if I forget my card, camera bag, whatever, I WILL have a card in my car.
Very idea on keeping a card in the card! I also like to keep a few in my camera bag as well. I wonder why the cameras don't have built into memory card them say a 4GB drive?
Haha, actually, that might have been my dumbest moment. I started out with a Canon 450D with the option to shoot without memory card. I figured that was an option to use internal memory. So I went out to shoot the sunrise at an abandoned building but left the SD card at home, I used the 'shoot without card' option. When I came home I connected my camera to my PC but could not find the photos :o
The option is only to mimic taking photos, there is no internal memory ;D
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Where do people keep their spare cards? Just wondering, because if you forget to bring your spares, you have the same problem as forgetting your primary card. I keep spares in places which are fail safe, like my car. I go to a shoot with my car, so if I forget my card, camera bag, whatever, I WILL have a card in my car.
Very idea on keeping a card in the card! I also like to keep a few in my camera bag as well. I wonder why the cameras don't have built into memory card them say a 4GB drive?
plus from me :)
Haha, actually, that might have been my dumbest moment. I started out with a Canon 450D with the option to shoot without memory card. I figured that was an option to use internal memory. So I went out to shoot the sunrise at an abandoned building but left the SD card at home, I used the 'shoot without card' option. When I came home I connected my camera to my PC but could not find the photos :o
The option is only to mimic taking photos, there is no internal memory ;D
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You might want to fix that quote ;)
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As a newbie submitting to too many sites without fully understanding the T&Cs. Albumo comes to mind. I do still miss Lucky Oliver though.
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My dumbest moments are actually loads of little things to do with workflow that if I had pinned down when I started I would have made a fortune by now. That and not uploading more in my earlier years. I listened to all those people who said that microstock was dead, they've been saying it for almost 10 years now, instead of trusting in my talent and realising that they just couldn't make it work for them. I ended up wasting a lot of time trying other avenues that haven't paid back my time anywhere near as well.
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Listening to gurus instead of thinking for myself in the early days.
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Many many years ago a friend of a fiend asked me too shoot some covers for him. He had no money and it would have taken over a week actually. This was back in the film days.
However he said that I could have like a 25% partneship in some stupid computer game he was sort of going to sell for BIG money. Yeah right I thought sur! I didnt actually have time and I was going broad.
Only the computer game was called "Packman" !! I'm sure some of the older ones here remember it!...Today this guy is worth over 500 million bucks. Sigh!
With that kind of money you could have own Shutter! 8)
Only if you believe a word of that? Pacman was created by Japanese video game designer Toru Iwatani not some guy in Sweden, Denmark or the UK.
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In hindsight, I should have sold my soul to the devil... or at least, that's what it felt like. ;D
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Dumb thing was to go exclusive with FT from 2008 to 2012. Even dumber was not to join SS until 2012 because I thought my stuff wasn't good enough. Dumbest was not to buy Bitcoin with my miserable earnings from FT, otherwise I'd now be a multi-millionaire ($60 bought 1,000 Bitcoin in 2011 now worth nearly $5 million). ;D
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Dumb thing was to go exclusive with FT from 2008 to 2012. Even dumber was not to join SS until 2012 because I thought my stuff wasn't good enough. Dumbest was not to buy Bitcoin with my miserable earnings from FT, otherwise I'd now be a multi-millionaire ($60 bought 1,000 Bitcoin in 2011 now worth nearly $5 million). ;D
Come back when the unsupported bitcoin crashes and is worth nothing. At least our work has a fairly stable, even if low value and continues to produce some earnings.
Try these and see? But I say, when the crash hits, and there's blood in the street, no crying. http://www.investopedia.com/tech/6-most-important-cryptocurrencies-other-bitcoin/ (http://www.investopedia.com/tech/6-most-important-cryptocurrencies-other-bitcoin/)
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Dumb thing was to go exclusive with FT from 2008 to 2012. Even dumber was not to join SS until 2012 because I thought my stuff wasn't good enough. Dumbest was not to buy Bitcoin with my miserable earnings from FT, otherwise I'd now be a multi-millionaire ($60 bought 1,000 Bitcoin in 2011 now worth nearly $5 million). ;D
Come back when the unsupported bitcoin crashes and is worth nothing. At least our work has a fairly stable, even if low value and continues to produce some earnings.
Try these and see? But I say, when the crash hits, and there's blood in the street, no crying. [url]http://www.investopedia.com/tech/6-most-important-cryptocurrencies-other-bitcoin/[/url] ([url]http://www.investopedia.com/tech/6-most-important-cryptocurrencies-other-bitcoin/[/url])
Its all about timing though...sooner or later its going crash those that get out in time are going to do very well. Not for me I don't invest in things I don't understand.
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That day I proposed to form a union.