Author Topic: What's your weekly ranking and how many images? (Read 78881 times)

cobalt · « **Reply #1050 on:** October 30, 2024, 07:10 »

Quote from: synthetick on October 30, 2024, 06:21

I doubt that they have made specific changes to the algo. My observations have been that their algo includes a degree of randomisation.

Well the results for my test searches changed very abruptly, roughly 70% of the images had been replaced with others. This will affect producers if they have bestselling files that suddenly get knocked back.

Usually these changes are more subtle and ongoing.

If people are dropping abruptly how could that be the result of competition?

That does not affect sales abruptly, but it is a slow gradual progress.

Algo changes are normal. The only protection is to have a huge port with very diversified content and good quality.

Bauman · « **Reply #1051 on:** October 30, 2024, 08:47 »

Quote from: DanielVisuals on October 30, 2024, 06:42

The decline in sales is likely a result of a substantial increase in competition.

If the number of buyers remains relatively stable while the number of sellers increases significantly, the available market share must be distributed among more producers. This leads to lower income for each seller.

In the short term, one way to maintain the same income is to increase production compared to previous levels.

I agree.

And AI has made the situation much worse because the AI image production capacity is superior to that of a photographer or an illustrator.

I have always tried to make high quality photography with a lot of retouching.

Today, thanks to AI tools (not generative ones, but post-production ones) I make 100 photographs per month, a few years ago 50 per month.

But an AI contributor makes 500/1000 images per month.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #1052 on:** October 30, 2024, 09:24 »

Quote from: Bauman on October 30, 2024, 08:47

Quote from: DanielVisuals on October 30, 2024, 06:42
The decline in sales is likely a result of a substantial increase in competition.

If the number of buyers remains relatively stable while the number of sellers increases significantly, the available market share must be distributed among more producers. This leads to lower income for each seller.

In the short term, one way to maintain the same income is to increase production compared to previous levels.

I agree.

And AI has made the situation much worse because the AI image production capacity is superior to that of a photographer or an illustrator.

I have always tried to make high quality photography with a lot of retouching.

Today, thanks to AI tools (not generative ones, but post-production ones) I make 100 photographs per month, a few years ago 50 per month.

But an AI contributor makes 500/1000 images per month.

The "ai" is not 'superior'. You still have a lot of artifacts, as well as a lot of watermarks from the stolen images it was based on...

It does however make it easier to get a massive, massive number of (primarily) east indian/southeast asian spammers...

Like... the attitude for many of them is "no work", "just click a button 1,000 times per day like a monkey", and then make $$$?
There's lot of east indian videos on "how to get rich/live the easy life/spam the crap out of sites" type of "make money online courses"...

Of course - "everyone" wants to "make $$$" - but the difference is - they (in general) don't care about ripping ppl off (even completely stealing complete portfolios on 'unlimited download sites' and simply re-uploading and trying to pass off as their own - because that is the ULTIMATE in laziness and "get-rich-quick" schemes, spamming 50,000 "apples" and different positions of "chairs", etc)...

So you are 'competing' with a lot of that...

Aside from that though, without having seen your portfolio:
a) There are market trends. Some is seasonal, some is 1-time stuff.
b) There are buyer patterns.
c) And a lot of other stuff...

Bauman · « **Reply #1053 on:** October 30, 2024, 09:39 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on October 30, 2024, 09:24

The "ai" is not 'superior'. You still have a lot of artifacts, as well as a lot of watermarks from the stolen images it was based on...

It does however make it easier to get a massive, massive number of (primarily) east indian/southeast asian spammers...

Like... the attitude for many of them is "no work", "just click a button 1,000 times per day like a monkey", and then make $$$?
There's lot of east indian videos on "how to get rich/live the easy life/spam the crap out of sites" type of "make money online courses"...

Of course - "everyone" wants to "make $$$" - but the difference is - they (in general) don't care about ripping ppl off (even completely stealing complete portfolios on 'unlimited download sites' and simply re-uploading and trying to pass off as their own - because that is the ULTIMATE in laziness and "get-rich-quick" schemes, spamming 50,000 "apples" and different positions of "chairs", etc)...

So you are 'competing' with a lot of that...

Aside from that though, without having seen your portfolio:
a) There are market trends. Some is seasonal, some is 1-time stuff.
b) There are buyer patterns.
c) And a lot of other stuff...

I agree with you, maybe I didn't explain myself well..

AI is superior in its ability to create a greater number of images, not in quality. The trees in landscape photographs are ridiculous ...

I have NEVER created an image with generative AI and I don't think that sending AI images will be my job of the future.

I am a classic photographer who works with travel, landscape, and architecture photographs. I only use AI tools to remove dust spots, signs, and people.

However, I see that these (bad) low-quality AI images are competing with mine, and many buyers (unfortunately) buy them and prefer them to mine that I made with difficulty by getting up early, traveling many miles, and challenging the climate.

Unfortunately, agencies (and Adobe in particular) don't care about all this.

Bauman · « **Reply #1054 on:** October 30, 2024, 10:25 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on October 30, 2024, 09:24

just click a button 1,000 times per day like a monkey

No, you are wrong! You should call them AI artists!

cobalt · « **Reply #1055 on:** October 30, 2024, 11:34 »

The ai images do have one advantage they have much better lighting, colors and image composition than the amateur mobile phone snapshots that were being mass uploaded before.

While there are artifacts, too many fingers etc.. an amateur who is willing to learn and clear that up will be able to create a much better looking port than if they were doing it with „traditional“ photography.

If you sort any search by newest the images look a lot better than if you do the same search in shutterstock and search by newest because they are bei g mass filled with the usual crappy snapshots.

However, what is missing in the ai creator world is research. All they do is copy each others prompts and each others styles.

So you keep getting even more duplicates of duplicates. But nicer looking than the amateur duplicates on Shutterstock lr istock.

If your port is dropping on Adobe, please don‘t automatically blame everything on ai competition.

Especially if your sales are also dropping on istock and Shutterstock where there are no ai uploads, then the fault is probably in your port.

Unless your bestsellers have been directly cloned, which you can easily see by looking at the similar images.

ai is a threat, yes. But it is not everything.

And plenty of people still have growth with normal phtos and videos.

But they will usually not be public about it, because with ai there is jndeed a risk if your bestsellers are copied and they make you most of the money, then yes, you have a problem.

Personally I have also decided to do a lot more ditorial, especially editorial video, because that genre cannot be touched by ai.

Bauman · « **Reply #1056 on:** October 30, 2024, 12:25 »

Quote from: cobalt on October 30, 2024, 11:34

If your port is dropping on Adobe, please don‘t automatically blame everything on ai competition.

Especially if your sales are also dropping on istock and Shutterstock where there are no ai uploads, then the fault is probably in your port.

I am not an amateur, but I am a professional.

So I have never had any problem with being copied, because my images have always been among the best (in my niches) and I have easily always put them at the top of searches.

Amateur images have not given me problems.

My earnings on Shutterstock are good (with SS I earn about x3 what I earn on Adobe Stock) and my images at the top of searches.

The same with Istock.

The problem is that SS and IS have lost many buyers and so instead of increasing my earnings, these remain the same.

And the buyers have all gone to Adobe Stock, where however I find competition from AI. My travel and landscape images have to fight against similar, but non-existent landscapes.

Low quality images (if viewed at full resolution), but which have extraordinary and unlikely colors and lights, which capture the eye of the buyers.

And so on AS I can't recover the earnings that SS and IS lose, but not because of my portfolio, but because companies are losing customers (see Shutterstock Q3 report with paid downloads sharply decreasing in the last year).

Bauman · « **Reply #1057 on:** October 30, 2024, 12:41 »

Quote from: cobalt on October 30, 2024, 11:34

And plenty of people still have growth with normal photos and videos.

In this October, with the images uploaded in 2024 on SS I had 425 downloads, on Adobe Stock 38 downloads. (from Stock Performer)

The images are almost the same (about 800 images), I have almost 100% acceptance rate.

On Adobe 160 images are missing because they are still to be reviewed.

Why this difference? My only explanation is the competition from AI images on AS.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #1058 on:** October 30, 2024, 13:00 »

Quote from: Bauman on October 30, 2024, 12:41

Quote from: cobalt on October 30, 2024, 11:34

And plenty of people still have growth with normal photos and videos.

In this October, with the images uploaded in 2024 on SS I had 425 downloads, on Adobe Stock 38 downloads. (from Stock Performer)

The images are almost the same (about 800 images), I have almost 100% acceptance rate.

On Adobe 160 images are missing because they are still to be reviewed.

Why this difference? My only explanation is the competition from AI images on AS.

Not an argument so much, but how much did the 425 DLs on SS earn vs the 38 on Adobe. You don't have to divulge $ numbers, Just round percentages, or average RPD.

Bauman · « **Reply #1059 on:** October 30, 2024, 13:15 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 30, 2024, 13:00

Not an argument so much, but how much did the 425 DLs on SS earn vs the 38 on Adobe. You don't have to divulge $ numbers, Just round percentages, or average RPD.

I checked on Stock Performer, this month the sales of SS - 2024 files - had a 15% better RPD than Adobe.

On Adobe Stock I sell almost exclusively old bestsellers and very rarely earn above $1.

stoker2014 · « **Reply #1060 on:** October 30, 2024, 13:20 »

Quote from: cobalt on October 30, 2024, 11:34

Personally I have also decided to do a lot more ditorial, especially editorial video, because that genre cannot be touched by ai.

Who needs this editorial? Even if someone buys something from you today, tomorrow no one will need your editorial.
And getting permission to upload editorials to stock sites is not so easy, few event organizers give it. You also need to have accreditation.

cobalt · « **Reply #1061 on:** October 30, 2024, 17:27 »

There is plenty of stuff like the public carnival parades, political protest for general causes that are repeated every year like peace marches, women's rights, gay pride, public wine festival, general daily life crowd scenes, flower and spring markets, winter markets, illustrative editorial of well known brands etc...

I am no editorial expert but the stuff keeps selling and I always regret that I don't do a lot more.

Also general tourist attraction like churches, popular promenades, shopping streets.

Just look at the pond5 sales thread how much editorial people keep posting.

For my city alone there are so many popular tourist attractions where there is zero content on stock sites. Even if there are probably millions of images and videos on instagram.

For one location, there are only 25 clips on SS. Half of them are not even from my city, they are just keyworded with my location which is wrong. Their building are in different countries. Of the 13 remaining clips, 9 are mine, done with an iphone, just some walk around shots on a nice day.

They don't sell daily, but a few times a year and nobody keeps adding more. Although thousands of people walk by those buildings every single day. And it is a well known landmark.

And once you dig in systematically there are huge gaping holes everywhere. There are less than 60 million clips over all agencies combined, including commercial.

So it is basically open season.

Not just for editorial, for anything actually. There is no real saturation in video, the way there is with photos.

stoker2014 · « **Reply #1062 on:** October 30, 2024, 17:52 »

cobalt, I think that loading editorial is cluttering up the portfolio. Of course, someone may need it sometimes, but it is unlikely to make good money on it. Editorial is not a commercial license.

cobalt · « **Reply #1063 on:** October 30, 2024, 18:19 »

Quote from: stoker2014 on October 30, 2024, 17:52

cobalt, I think that loading editorial is cluttering up the portfolio. Of course, someone may need it sometimes, but it is unlikely to make good money on it. Editorial is not a commercial license.

Well, my limited experience is very, very positive. So I want to do more. As for cluttering up the port and the visual effect I agree.

But most of my editorial goes to blackboxglobal. I am very pleased with their results, so they will probably get 80% of my editorial.

eta

pos 1780

I have around 2600 winter season files that wake up around this time of the year, keep selling until around Jan 10, then go dormant again very abruptly. It is always a bittersweet experience.

I am trying very hard to upload content for other seasons or content independent of seasons, but it will take. few years to have a truly balanced portfolio.

I admire the people who are capable of uploading 100 a day. My average is 20, often less. If I do have a day with 35 uploads, then the next day I will upload 5 because I have no energy left.

Also trying to shift towards normal videos and normal photos to have more content from all agencies.

Winter shows me what is possible, not just on Adobe. I hope in 3-4 seasons I will understand halloween a lot better and maybe that can be a good genre for autumn. Also looking for other large seasonal festivals, maybe in asia, even if I am not yet familiar with the traditions. But I can learn that.

DiscreetDuck · « **Reply #1064 on:** October 31, 2024, 04:52 »

Quote from: Bauman on October 30, 2024, 12:25

Quote from: cobalt on October 30, 2024, 11:34
If your port is dropping on Adobe, please don‘t automatically blame everything on ai competition.

I am not an amateur, but I am a professional.

So I have never had any problem with being copied, because my images have always been among the best (in my niches) and I have easily always put them at the top of searches.

Amateur images have not given me problems.

My earnings on Shutterstock are good (with SS I earn about x3 what I earn on Adobe Stock) and my images at the top of searches.

The same with Istock.

The problem is that SS and IS have lost many buyers and so instead of increasing my earnings, these remain the same.

And the buyers have all gone to Adobe Stock, where however I find competition from AI. My travel and landscape images have to fight against similar, but non-existent landscapes.

Low quality images (if viewed at full resolution), but which have extraordinary and unlikely colors and lights, which capture the eye of the buyers.

And so on AS I can't recover the earnings that SS and IS lose, but not because of my portfolio, but because companies are losing customers (see Shutterstock Q3 report with paid downloads sharply decreasing in the last year).

Hello Bauman, thank you for your interesting posts. You bring opinions with which I agree. Most people here are Pro-AI.

To the person you quoted (whose posts I ignore on this forum and I feel happy to be usually unable to read): AI images already represent one tier of total images at Adobe. OF COURSE it's unfair competition for non amateur contributors.

But amateur/snapshot contributors already had negative impact by diluting quality photos in the collection by submitting en masse.
I think Adobe's algorithm is may be reviewing the priority display of best sellers.
The problem at Adobe is that the new photos, even if they are exceptional, are not very visible and do rarely sell. This is not the case at SS and IS.

Yes, the artificial rendering of AI has the effect of attracting the eye with a programmed visual impact, without having the primary intention of reporting a true reality in a true moment. The photographer wants to extract stunning from the ordinary by his skill, AI transforms the stunning into ordinary, automatically. Maybe the eyes connected to an organic brain will get tired of it.

DiscreetDuck · « **Reply #1065 on:** October 31, 2024, 05:16 »

Quote from: Bauman on October 30, 2024, 10:25

Quote from: SuperPhoto on October 30, 2024, 09:24

just click a button 1,000 times per day like a monkey

No, you are wrong! You should call them AI artists!

The dunces must be considered as much as the competent ones, this is our new era.

DanielVisuals · « **Reply #1066 on:** October 31, 2024, 05:40 »

New members, make sure to click "ignore" on Discreet*uck's posts. His comments are unhelpful and do not contribute to discussions.

mike123 · « **Reply #1067 on:** October 31, 2024, 13:11 »

My portfolio seems to be doing ok

cobalt · « **Reply #1068 on:** October 31, 2024, 13:34 »

Excellent! Congrats!

mike123 · « **Reply #1069 on:** October 31, 2024, 14:11 »

Quote from: cobalt on October 31, 2024, 13:34

Excellent! Congrats!

Thank you!

cobalt · « **Reply #1070 on:** November 02, 2024, 01:03 »

moving up again. this time of year is the fun part.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #1071 on:** November 03, 2024, 14:50 »

Quote from: Bauman on October 30, 2024, 13:15

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 30, 2024, 13:00
Not an argument so much, but how much did the 425 DLs on SS earn vs the 38 on Adobe. You don't have to divulge $ numbers, Just round percentages, or average RPD.

I checked on Stock Performer, this month the sales of SS - 2024 files - had a 15% better RPD than Adobe.

On Adobe Stock I sell almost exclusively old bestsellers and very rarely earn above $1.

Nice! Yes, I rarely get more than a dollar on AS. And like I posted, AS is almost double SS for me. I guess we have different experiences. Someone said don't write off SS. I haven't. I still upload to them and take what I can get. I don't make video, if that matters?

Looking at the poll results, AS is double SS and SS is double IS. IS is ten times DT! I'm not going past that.

I will say, Pond5 seems to be going up, whether that's all video or what's going on.

cobalt · « **Reply #1072 on:** November 07, 2024, 04:37 »

Getting close to 1000

JustAnImage · « **Reply #1073 on:** November 07, 2024, 14:04 »

Quote from: cobalt on November 07, 2024, 04:37

Getting close to 1000

Very nice to see that things are looking up for you - I'm sure you'll reach the 1,000 mark in the coming week :-) Fingers crossed!

cobalt · « **Reply #1074 on:** November 08, 2024, 04:49 »

thank you! at the moment it is dropping again. I have swings of 30 files + or - every day. had a day with 70 downloads, now back to around 40-50. Today is extremely slow, only 8 downloads so far.

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Author Topic: What's your weekly ranking and how many images? (Read 78881 times)

cobalt

Bauman

SuperPhoto

Bauman

Bauman

cobalt

Bauman

Bauman

Uncle Pete

Bauman

stoker2014

cobalt

stoker2014

cobalt

DiscreetDuck

DiscreetDuck

DanielVisuals

mike123

cobalt

mike123

cobalt

Uncle Pete

cobalt

JustAnImage

cobalt

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