MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: descent on September 10, 2012, 15:12
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Hi,
I was just thinking how many photos are you producing per week? I'm considering to try exclusive on IS and with silver level I could upload over 90 images per week.
Do you think it's possible for one person? I'm shooting people?
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Easily if you are full time but of course it depends how much work you want to/can put in.
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Easily if you are full time.
I think I have to change something with my time management
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Without seeing your portfolio it's hard to say what is possible some people spend a lot of time retouching, scouting locations, etc.. while others shoot 100 images of the same person with different facial expressions. You should be able to judge for yourself what is possible for you to do though.
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As above, easy if you shoot one person with tiny changes, but that might backfire if they do a cull for 'similars' (I've heard of it happening a couple of times).
Othewise, it depends how many people you can call upon to pass in front of your camera, how much change you need to make to sets if you're not shooting on white, what props you need, how much you need to change the lighting round.
Like the others said, you'll know yourself from what you are doing already.
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As an independent contributor I have an upload limit at IS of 38 files per week. Only rarely and for short periods have I ever got ahead of that limit (the extras get uploaded as soon as I slow down).
Don't forget that quality trumps quantity every time __ and by a long way too. I have seen lots of people uploading like crazy but with painfully few sales. Pointless. They are just being busy fools.
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As an independent contributor I have an upload limit at IS of 38 files per week. Only rarely and for short periods have I ever got ahead of that limit (the extras get uploaded as soon as I slow down).
Don't forget that quality trumps quantity every time __ and by a long way too. I have seen lots of people uploading like crazy but with painfully few sales. Pointless. They are just being busy fools.
+1. Although Im think quanity has to be a consideration too, just not being a such important criteria as Quality.
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Hi,
I was just thinking how many photos are you producing per week? I'm considering to try exclusive on IS and with silver level I could upload over 90 images per week.
Do you think it's possible for one person? I'm shooting people?
I'm sure you could not produce 90 saleable images a week, consistently.
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as a part timer being and an indie I am averaging 51 accepted pics on Shutter per month this year so far and I consider myself a major rookie. Thus an intermediate to advance photographer should be able to trump me four fold or more thus 90 pics submitted per week is doable..
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Doesn't work exactly like that. You have to keep thinking of new subjects, finding new models (if that's what you do), new sets etc etc.
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Yeah, with models there are more things to consider for sure compared to table top shooting...
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Don't forget that quality trumps quantity every time __ and by a long way too. I have seen lots of people uploading like crazy but with painfully few sales. Pointless. They are just being busy fools.
True, true, true...
Quantity without variety, high quality, and innovation will take you nowhere at iStock.
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Hi,
thank you all for reply.
Here is my portfolio: http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?gallery_id=345733 (http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?gallery_id=345733)
The bigest problem for me is to find models for every week session.
Right now I'm uploading about 24 images per week. I have few months for consideration about IS exclusive because of DT. If I woudl have to produce 90photos/week I will have to make it full time job.
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I can produce one photo a week at the most.
If the photo should sell, it would take a couple of months to produce it.
And thats as long as it takes to rear a butterfly species from egg to adult and take 1500 stacked macros of it all.
But yes I can go to a museeum and photograph rockets and cannons and, then it is much easier and I can upload baches of 20 shots from one day.
I can also photograph my son while he is out hunting, and get a decent portion.
Point is, it does not pay to just shoot and upload, you just deteriorate your portefolio. Every new picture you upload must be better or on par to what you already have.
There are so many pictures I do not upload, and even more I do not take.
Istocks limit has never been a problem for me, it does not pay anyway.
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How many photos can I produce in a week? Well, last week in addition to my full time job I shot 12 bands during a festival on Saturday. Three days later I shot the bands Refused and Sleigh Bells. I did a senior portrait session, a portrait session with a rock band and I shot nearly 50 other bands during 3 non-stop days of Bumbershoot. All said and done I produced around 20,000 images last week.
If you mean to ask how many salable stock images can I produce in a week on a consistent basis...90 would be a tough goal. The tricky part would be to create a unique shot list week to week to create enough diversity in your portfolio.
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How many photos in a week? Well, my maths isn't great, but at 7fps for 7 days..... ;D
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How many photos in a week? Well, my maths isn't great, but at 7fps for 7 days..... ;D
Get a 1DX. 7fps is so 2009 :P
Just think about how much extra money you'll be making ;D
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The real question here is: "How many photos can you take that has not already been taken, and done better by someone else?"
Anybody can put a model in the studio and take 50 pictures of her in different poses. Headset and laptop and all.
Or take a red rose from upside and down.
Wont work, has been done to death.
But how many concepts can you make, and can you make that special image, that becomes the icon of the concept?
Not to mention to find a new concept?
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How many photos in a week? Well, my maths isn't great, but at 7fps for 7 days..... ;D
Get a 1DX. 7fps is so 2009 :P
Just think about how much extra money you'll be making ;D
Haha, so true. My D2X is showing it's age. the D800 is looking good though. :)
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I find that quality of the camera is quite irellevant in microstock photography.
The quality of your postprocessing means more, and first and foremost, your subjects and compositions.
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The real question here is: "How many photos can you take that has not already been taken, and done better by someone else?"
Exactly. Very well said.
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Anybody can put a model in the studio and take 50 pictures of her in different poses. Headset and laptop and all.
Or take a red rose from upside and down.
Wont work, has been done to death.
Last 200 Yuri's images are woman with laptop on white bg ;)
I think people on white are not the worst topic.
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Yes, thats what everybody think.
And yes, people on white are in demand.
But everybody takes them, so there is an oversupply.
And if you want to venture into that market and be competitive, its not about 50 pictures of a model in different poses with laptop or not.
Its about 500 models, and 30.000 high quality pictures with a unique style.
it is all about style, and that might come both from the camera, the subject and from postprocessing.
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it is all about style, and that might come both from the camera, the subject and from postprocessing.
Even then, creating a 'timeless' style is even more difficult, else you've got a shot-living 'in vogue' set of pictures. Which might not matter if you sell hundreds while the style is popular.
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I agree on that, Sue.
Style is very important and very difficult.
Im not there, yet, my style is too random.
Funny thing is, a style can be developed in little steps over the years and cemented in a photoshop action.
I have a couple of actions I run on my pictures, sometimes it works.
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Anybody can put a model in the studio and take 50 pictures of her in different poses. Headset and laptop and all.
Or take a red rose from upside and down.
Wont work, has been done to death.
Last 200 Yuri's images are woman with laptop on white bg ;)
I think people on white are not the worst topic.
Yeah, but you're competing against image factories who can afford to pay the most saleable-looking models really well and who churn out images on a conveyor belt.
Plus if you become exclusive on iStock, their images are cheaper than yours.
(BTW, his last 200 images on iStock aren't a womaon with laptop against white. Maybe they're still to be uploaded there because of the low indie upload policy.)
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Plus if you become exclusive on iStock, their images are cheaper than yours.
I'm not really sure if price is the main factor. I have made a test last months. I have put my best selling picture (isolated on white) to Photo+ collection after few months I have removed it to regullar collection. Number of sales are still very similar even it's cheapper now.
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Plus if you become exclusive on iStock, their images are cheaper than yours.
I'm not really sure if price is the main factor. I have made a test last months. I have put my best selling picture (isolated on white) to Photo+ collection after few months I have removed it to regullar collection. Number of sales are still very similar even it's cheapper now.
It's certainly true that an uncommon and in-demand subject will sell at almost any price.
If you can porduce 90 of these each week, you'll be in clover.
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Of course uncommon tends not to be also in demand or everyone would be doing it and then it wouldn't be uncommon anymore :D. Still, uncommon stuff sells just as well at p+ as at standard.