MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => General - Top Sites => Topic started by: Mantis on February 04, 2014, 10:00
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I am not really wanting to place my latest underwater work on micro. It is just to expensive to produce and the output, I believe, is worthy of more money that ms. Here are a few examples of my work from my Fiji assignment.vacation. Any advice on how to circumvent micro? Alamy is only a smidgen of opportunity for rm, but they are one outlet anyhow, and FAA.
Photo might be screwed up, I will fix in a while
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Maybe it's the compression or something, but all the coral looks out of focus.
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"maybe it's the compression or something, but all the coral looks out of focus."
Either it is my eyes or over saturated but I am having trouble as well. Time for my first cup of coffee...
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ok I uploaded new images in my original post. I used some stupid Ipad resizing app on a plane and it didnt do so well. The colors are vibrant but that's what soft corals are and why we go photograph them.
Here are a few more. They are all sharp at 100%, so musta been a crummy downsize from that app.
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Have you taken a look of what is already on the micros?
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Since this is a niche where you are an expert, I would be tempted to sell directly and set up a site specializing in underwater images. You must have a pretty good collection, take an SEO course or read about SEO. Divide the collection into categories, locations, etc. Describe the photos in detail, write some blog articles about your adventures and the stuff that you have photographed etc. If you do it the right way, as a specialist you might get decent Google traffic.
In the long run, only the biggest sites and specialists will be successful.
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Since this is a niche where you are an expert, I would be tempted to sell directly and set up a site specializing in underwater images. You must have a pretty good collection, take an SEO course or read about SEO. Divide the collection into categories, locations, etc. Describe the photos in detail, write some blog articles about your adventures and the stuff that you have photographed etc. If you do it the right way, as a specialist you might get decent Google traffic.
In the long run, only the biggest sites and specialists will be successful.
Thanks. that's where I would want to be, but I would need to get help on setting up my own site....etc. But that is an idea I have been tossing around with my wife, paying someone to do the initial work then "teach me" the stuff I'd need to know in order to work the site, get good placement, etc...as you describe. There may be a thread soon about me asking if anyone wants to book a development job ;)
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How's Symbiostock doing nowadays? That might be worth considering.
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How's Symbiostock doing nowadays? That might be worth considering.
It seems only illustrators do well.
I can only say, I dont do well. And I did better than other photographers, at least from what I know. I guess that means, its not really a success, for me.
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How's Symbiostock doing nowadays? That might be worth considering.
It seems only illustrators do well.
I can only say, I dont do well. And I did better than other photographers, at least from what I know. I guess that means, its not really a success, for me.
I gave you a heart for sharing, but hope you don't think it's a heart for not doing so well there as you'd hoped. Pity - there was a lot of goodwill there.
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Ron, you seem to be a generalist and as such you compete with all microstock sites.
A specialist site with good articles about the subject might have better chances.
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Thanks. that's where I would want to be, but I would need to get help on setting up my own site....etc. But that is an idea I have been tossing around with my wife, paying someone to do the initial work then "teach me" the stuff I'd need to know in order to work the site, get good placement, etc...as you describe. There may be a thread soon about me asking if anyone wants to book a development job ;)
Mantis, I'm afraid you should do it yourself :)
To have a succesful website you should understand well how it works. It's not difficult.
Have a look at video courses at lynda.com, they will guide you through Wordpress installation and setup. Piece of cake, really. I have a lynda.com subscription myself, there are lots of interesting courses.
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Ron, you seem to be a generalist and as such you compete with all microstock sites.
A specialist site with good articles about the subject might have better chances.
Maybe. Illustrators do well, and thats a niche, so I guess you are right.
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Thanks. that's where I would want to be, but I would need to get help on setting up my own site....etc. But that is an idea I have been tossing around with my wife, paying someone to do the initial work then "teach me" the stuff I'd need to know in order to work the site, get good placement, etc...as you describe. There may be a thread soon about me asking if anyone wants to book a development job ;)
Mantis, I'm afraid you should do it yourself :)
To have a succesful website you should understand well how it works. It's not difficult.
Have a look at video courses at lynda.com, they will guide you through Wordpress installation and setup. Piece of cake, really. I have a lynda.com subscription myself, there are lots of interesting courses.
I also have a Lynda.com account for PS and final cut pro X. it's an awesome site.
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Have a look at video courses at lynda.com, they will guide you through Wordpress installation and setup. Piece of cake, really. I have a lynda.com subscription myself, there are lots of interesting courses.
I also have a Lynda.com account for PS and final cut pro X. it's an awesome site.
Oh - I didn't know you could have accounts just for certain programs. I thought it was all or nothing. I must look into that when its time to renew. Tx.
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My underwater stuff sells best on the micros, but not really anywhere else including symbiostock:
(http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/629476/629476,1287298091,1/stock-photo-sea-turtle-swimming-over-the-coral-reef-63199918.jpg)
(http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/629476/629476,1287294852,1/stock-photo-green-sea-turtle-swimming-over-scuba-diver-with-sun-from-above-on-blue-water-background-in-the-ocean-63199924.jpg)
(http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/629476/123659761/stock-photo-koh-tao-thailand-may-a-whale-shark-swimming-with-unindentified-scuba-divers-in-the-ocean-123659761.jpg)
(http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/629476/123732145/stock-photo-similan-islands-thailand-november-unidentified-scuba-diver-swimming-over-a-coral-reef-in-123732145.jpg)
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I would submit the images to a specialist agency...I've not submitted to these agents but a quick Google search produces the following website =>
http://www.stockphotographysites.info/nature-landscape-wildlife.html (http://www.stockphotographysites.info/nature-landscape-wildlife.html)
I've specifically heard of Animals Animals Earth Scenes, and Peter Arnold (which I believe stopped accepting new contributors when they were acquired by Getty but I'm not 100% sure as I'm not a wildlife/nature photographer).
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How's Symbiostock doing nowadays? That might be worth considering.
Pretty good. With the exception of January, we've had monthly sales on our Symbio site for the last few months. Not a huge volume but it's a start. In fact, yesterday we had an xlarge image sale and because of it I was able to have a nice email discussion with the buyer which may lead to additional sales in the future.