Author Topic: Game is on - agencies want high quality content. I am falling behind (Read 21429 times)

Semmick Photo · « **on:** May 05, 2015, 02:22 »

Creative Market, Stocksy rejected me because my content is not good enough. Photodune rejects 90% of my stuff And now Canva will disable the majority of my portfolio. I guess if I want any chance of making some money I need to step up to the plate. I really need to get into this new filtered look business, because it seems that is hot right now. The times of shooting what I like is over. I dont have time to be a pro stock shooter. I shoot on my travels, editorial and landscapes, but that kind of stuff is present over-abundant. It was a nice run, 3 years, but I think I need to accept the fact that I wont get into the high end agencies such as Getty, Stocksy, OFFset, Creative Market, Canva, etc, etc.

Problem is that my pride and love for money gets in the way of things. LOL

dpimborough · « **Reply #1 on:** May 05, 2015, 02:26 »

But they still want that high end content for pennies???

They must think we are mad

What a crowd of daft buggers we are to pander to these agencies

Semmick Photo · « **Reply #2 on:** May 05, 2015, 02:31 »

Stocksy, Getty and OFFset dont pay pennies. The other agencies do.

But yes, its a bit weird that crap on OFFset sells for $500 and a perfectly good image pays $0.35c on Canva where they dont want the image because its not good enough.

ShadySue · « **Reply #3 on:** May 05, 2015, 02:52 »

Images can sell at Getty for pennies. But not every Getty sale is cheap.

dpimborough · « **Reply #4 on:** May 05, 2015, 02:54 »

Have to disagree on Getty with a 20% royalty rate and a fellow photographer (in Getty) had $1.5 sales and she said on the Getty forum some had complained they got as low as 5 cents per image

Semmick Photo · « **Reply #5 on:** May 05, 2015, 02:59 »

Fair enough, but still people make good money on Getty and they are traditionally not seen as a penny for stock agency.

hjalmeida · « **Reply #6 on:** May 05, 2015, 03:09 »

In the next years all the big agencies will want only the best stuff and will pay less and less.

Photography is a commodity product.

It was fun and profit some years ago ...

hjalmeida · « **Reply #7 on:** May 05, 2015, 03:12 »

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 05, 2015, 02:59

Fair enough, but still people make good money on Getty and they are traditionally not seen as a penny for stock agency.

The problem with Getty is that they don't have volume sales, for the few sales they make they have to lower theire prices close to micro. Sometimes they do a better sale, at normal price, and that saves the month.

dpimborough · « **Reply #8 on:** May 05, 2015, 03:25 »

Trouble is Semmick is that if we wanted to get into the likes of Stocksy it would need a complete overhaul in style and technique.

What works for micro is definitely not what Stocksy want.

As to Getty well judging by some of the rubbish they've been taking recently it's a wonder they set such high criteria.

Semmick Photo · « **Reply #9 on:** May 05, 2015, 03:29 »

I think I am ready to change, I just have been stubborn about it as I think my images are good but I need to realise they are mediocre mostly. LOL. But there is potential in me.

I am ready to step it up, it might take a while to get there, but hey, slow and quality is better then fast and no quality. I might just shoot for micro and high end separately and slowly build a high quality port.

If I want to make some money I have to get better with my photography. Simple as.

Artist · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2015, 03:40 »

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 05, 2015, 02:22

Creative Market, Stocksy rejected me because my content is not good enough. Photodune rejects 90% of my stuff And now Canva will disable the majority of my portfolio. I guess if I want any chance of making some money I need to step up to the plate. I really need to get into this new filtered look business, because it seems that is hot right now. The times of shooting what I like is over. I dont have time to be a pro stock shooter. I shoot on my travels, editorial and landscapes, but that kind of stuff is present over-abundant. It was a nice run, 3 years, but I think I need to accept the fact that I wont get into the high end agencies such as Getty, Stocksy, OFFset, Creative Market, Canva, etc, etc.

Problem is that my pride and love for money gets in the way of things. LOL

Its same case everywhere, agencies are now very choosy with the images and vectors both.

Look as this perspective. I am looking for say "football" photos, I searched for it in shutterstock and I find 316,085 images.
Now, the scene is I will want only 1 or say 2, or on most 20 photos and for which I will search only on the popular ones. Why will go for newest first where most of images are inspired with one another.?

Sale for new creative content have become very less due to this.

Now think, Shutterstock website is only a business for John Oringer..... He started as a photo selling website then goes selling vectors then goes selling footage then goes selling music and things goes on and on.

A business model which bought too many choices giving these company a lot of money. Now we as a contributor are floating with some pennies with no raise in our royalty.

Its 2015, and we are seeing approx 400,000 photos per week giving buyer lot and lot and lot of choices.. guess whats going to happen in 2020. See the future and take the right step.

dpimborough · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2015, 04:11 »

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 05, 2015, 03:29

I think I am ready to change, I just have been stubborn about it as I think my images are good but I need to realise they are mediocre mostly. LOL. But there is potential in me.

I am ready to step it up, it might take a while to get there, but hey, slow and quality is better then fast and no quality. I might just shoot for micro and high end separately and slowly build a high quality port.

If I want to make some money I have to get better with my photography. Simple as.

Good for you

I wish you well and judging by your portfolio I think you'll make the change in style very easily.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2015, 04:42 »

Think it is not so much about quality of the photography technically/artistically but rather meeting what the market, or what the agencies think the market, needs.

So far my sales are meeting my modest expectations and still on an upward trend - how long this will last who knows?

ultimagina · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2015, 14:01 »

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 05, 2015, 02:59

Fair enough, but still people make good money on Getty and they are traditionally not seen as a penny for stock agency.

The problem is that you have to accept to have your photos exclusively sold through Getty. I am not sure that you can more more this way, even if the RPD is higher

PixelBytes · « **Reply #14 on:** May 05, 2015, 14:05 »

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 05, 2015, 03:29

I think I am ready to change, I just have been stubborn about it as I think my images are good but I need to realise they are mediocre mostly. LOL. But there is potential in me.

I am ready to step it up, it might take a while to get there, but hey, slow and quality is better then fast and no quality. I might just shoot for micro and high end separately and slowly build a high quality port.

If I want to make some money I have to get better with my photography. Simple as.

I don't know that getting better at photography will help much. I have over 95% acceptance rate at all sites and shoot high demand subjects and still income going down at a troubling rate. I read the same from lots of others.

If you want to improve your skills for personal satisfaction, great. If your doing it for stock income, don't bother.

Semmick Photo · « **Reply #15 on:** May 06, 2015, 03:35 »

Quote from: PixelBytes on May 05, 2015, 14:05

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 05, 2015, 03:29
I think I am ready to change, I just have been stubborn about it as I think my images are good but I need to realise they are mediocre mostly. LOL. But there is potential in me.

I am ready to step it up, it might take a while to get there, but hey, slow and quality is better then fast and no quality. I might just shoot for micro and high end separately and slowly build a high quality port.

If I want to make some money I have to get better with my photography. Simple as.

I don't know that getting better at photography will help much. I have over 95% acceptance rate at all sites and shoot high demand subjects and still income going down at a troubling rate. I read the same from lots of others.

If you want to improve your skills for personal satisfaction, great. If your doing it for stock income, don't bother.

But if I get onto Stocksy and Creative Market my earnings will increase, thats the whole point. Problem is both agencies want filtered highly commercial images with copy space. I dont shoot like that, yet.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #16 on:** May 06, 2015, 07:54 »

"I don't know that getting better at photography will help much. I have over 95% acceptance rate at all sites and shoot high demand subjects and still income going down at a troubling rate. I read the same from lots of others.

If you want to improve your skills for personal satisfaction, great. If your doing it for stock income, don't bother."
[/quote]

Presumably not high demand relative to supply? or not so much in demand now?

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #17 on:** May 06, 2015, 08:17 »

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 05, 2015, 02:22

I guess if I want any chance of making some money I need to step up to the plate. I really need to get into this new filtered look business, because it seems that is hot right now.
...
The times of shooting what I like is over. I dont have time to be a pro stock shooter. I shoot on my travels, editorial and landscapes, but that kind of stuff is present over-abundant.

Here's a hint: Filter all you want, average images in oversupplied sectors will not be accepted to any of the premium agencies. Then again, really interesting images will be accepted without any fancy filters applied.

Just sharing my own experiences I've made over the last two years when - while having been accepted at most places - I still struggle to come up with enough volume for them. Trying to perfection the way I take images however works much better for me than trying to perfection using Lightroom Presets.

stock-will-eat-itself · « **Reply #18 on:** May 06, 2015, 08:27 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on May 06, 2015, 07:54

I have over 95% acceptance rate at all sites and shoot high demand subjects and still income going down at a troubling rate. I read the same from lots of others.

I'm seeing the same, income decreasing faster than the I can produce the work. I supply Micro and Macro, it's becoming apparent in the last couple of years that deflation is everywhere now.

Micro's have undercut their prices too far, when RPI per month was around $4 it was completely sustainable,
RPI per month needs to be at least $2 not to below $1 where it's heading now.

SS are heading the way of Getty now with gradually eroding royalties.

Stocksy could potentially save the day if they opened their doors a little wider to bring in illustrators to make the collection a bit more useful for buyers.

jefftakespics2 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 06, 2015, 09:14 »

I think there is a mis-conception about Stocksy and filtration. The emphasis is on good photography, not on filtered images.

Semmick Photo · « **Reply #20 on:** May 06, 2015, 10:06 »

I know but the majority on stocksy is filtered. I am sure I can create unfiltered images for stocksy I just need to get on with it.

stock-will-eat-itself · « **Reply #21 on:** May 06, 2015, 10:47 »

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 06, 2015, 10:06

I know but the majority on stocksy is filtered. I am sure I can create unfiltered images for stocksy I just need to get on with it.

Macro is more about narrative than filters. Micro is about hammering in loud metaphors and dumping every image from a set, macro is about images that evoke a subtle backstory and tight editing.

aluxum · « **Reply #22 on:** May 06, 2015, 10:56 »

Quote from: stock-will-eat-itself on May 06, 2015, 10:47

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 06, 2015, 10:06
I know but the majority on stocksy is filtered. I am sure I can create unfiltered images for stocksy I just need to get on with it.

Macro is more about narrative than filters. Micro is about hammering in loud metaphors and dumping every image from a set, macro is about images that evoke a subtle backstory and tight editing.

You hit the nail with this definition

PixelBytes · « **Reply #23 on:** May 06, 2015, 12:19 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on May 06, 2015, 07:54

Presumably not high demand relative to supply? or not so much in demand now?

Yes, oversupply of high demand subjects is half the issue. Agency issues like cheapening images, lowering royalties, and search engine volatilities are the other half. Sales numbers are not crashing, but earnings are.

Stocksy may be the saviour some say, but when I talked with them a year or so ago, they only want one or two images per shoot, those are exclusive, and you can't sell any others from shoot elsewhere. Even if that one does well on Stocksy, I don't see how it could pay for a HCV shoot involving models. Maybe someone who does well on Stocksy can correct my misperception if I'm wrong.

Semmick Photo · « **Reply #24 on:** May 06, 2015, 12:27 »

Quote from: stock-will-eat-itself on May 06, 2015, 10:47

Quote from: Semmick Photo on May 06, 2015, 10:06
I know but the majority on stocksy is filtered. I am sure I can create unfiltered images for stocksy I just need to get on with it.

Macro is more about narrative than filters. Micro is about hammering in loud metaphors and dumping every image from a set, macro is about images that evoke a subtle backstory and tight editing.

great but stocksy is neither micro nor macro and neither is creative markets

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Author Topic: Game is on - agencies want high quality content. I am falling behind (Read 21429 times)

Semmick Photo

dpimborough

Semmick Photo

ShadySue

dpimborough

Semmick Photo

hjalmeida

hjalmeida

dpimborough

Semmick Photo

Artist

dpimborough

Pauws99

ultimagina

PixelBytes

Semmick Photo

Pauws99

MichaelJayFoto

stock-will-eat-itself

jefftakespics2

Semmick Photo

stock-will-eat-itself

aluxum

PixelBytes

Semmick Photo

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