Author Topic: Microstock? (Read 15582 times)

crazychristina · « **on:** March 22, 2010, 15:30 »

Most people are probably aware of istocks new star Elena Viverskaya aka Olena Chernenko. 0 to exclusive in about a month, and all of her port bar one now in Vetta. Helped by Image of the Week last week and an istock HotShot as well.

Her work is composited from photographs and hand-drawn elements, very artistic but I don't imagine she'll be producing at a very great rate. There's not much of this sort of work on microstock so it will be interesting to see how viable it is. Almost certainly not in the regular collection, but with Vetta, who knows.

ETA There are a few artists in the Steel Cage who could produce this style of work but the rarely do for istock, tending to produce mostly simple illustrations icons, etc.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #1 on:** March 22, 2010, 15:36 »

0 to exclusive in about a week! Definitely not high volume. I think once she burns through her collection, it will be far between ULs. Nice looking stuff, although on close examination, some look a little rough in the comp.

eta: I wouldn't put that stuff on micro.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2010, 15:50 »

Really nice work.

Yea, I'd find a boutique RM/Macro place for that stuff. Even at Vetta prices the production and/or just editing costs must be pretty high.

madelaide · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2010, 16:54 »

A very creative and well done work, but indeed I wonder what people may use most of those images for. I am very dumb.

Not about the micro vs macro, but also IS: the recent image of the week.
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=12299760
There are many others in this series, and I find this one of the weakest.

These examples explain I have no talent whatsoever to understand the market.

PS: Aren't those by the author if the IOTW very oversaturated?

Fotonaut · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2010, 17:41 »

Whatever her reasons for submitting this as microstock is, seeing such talented work is always inspiring.

Phil · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2010, 17:44 »

nice and thanks for posting. Like others I really wonder why it is on micro.

dbvirago · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2010, 18:15 »

Yeah, I was very intrigued by the image, but I had two thoughts. One, how much time did it take to produce, and two, how would a micro buyer use the image.

red · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2010, 18:34 »

Very cool. But I wouldn't want to purchase any of the images for a major campaign if they had many downloads because they are so recognizable.

Digital66 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 22, 2010, 18:36 »

Quote from: sjlocke on March 22, 2010, 15:36

... I wouldn't put that stuff on micro.

At least that's much better than displaying her images on Model Mayhem or Photodom where people can steal her rather large samples.
I wonder why she has not removed her images from those sites yet...

She creates beautiful work.

click_click · « **Reply #9 on:** March 22, 2010, 19:09 »

Must agree with Sean regarding the detail - awesome concepts though.

At this level I think she'd rather open a creative agency teaching a couple kids (as her employees) her skills and lean back raking in the cash.

I wouldn't submit this to Micro either.

RT · « **Reply #10 on:** March 22, 2010, 19:22 »

Nice stuff, a lot of people have said they wouldn't have put this sort of stuff on micro, the OP said " There's not much of this sort of work on microstock so it will be interesting to see how viable it is." has nobody thought that might be the reason why she's put it on iS!

I'm guessing she's not new in the stock industry.

click_click · « **Reply #11 on:** March 22, 2010, 19:26 »

Quote from: RT on March 22, 2010, 19:22

Nice stuff, a lot of people have said they wouldn't have put this sort of stuff on micro, the OP said " There's not much of this sort of work on microstock so it will be interesting to see how viable it is." has nobody thought that might be the reason why she's put it on iS!

I'm guessing she's not new in the stock industry.

I'm not saying that she is not smart to upload this to iStock but I wonder how many people need half naked models with splashing clothes to advertise their products and services...

It's her creativity and skills that make these images so special.

Mr. Stock · « **Reply #12 on:** March 22, 2010, 22:02 »

To me her work is outstanding, with the exception of a few dogs in her portfolio, most are just excellent. I'd be surprised she doesn't end up doing some major advertising work very soon, her lighting, and especially her post work is outstanding, and oh yea, her ideas are great. Yea, what the heck is she doing with istock?

sharply_done · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2010, 00:40 »

.nevermind.

hqimages · « **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2010, 06:14 »

You guys are funny

'Her work is lovely but...'

This is your competition.. wow.. you can't compete with that.. not many people could compete with that..

As a downloader.. couldn't use them for anything, they're too harsh.. I don't know if harsh is the right word but, shiny happy people sell stuff.. not so much red 'blood' on a wall..

Can't see her getting a lot of downloads, but then at 40 quid a pop for the high size, at how much return to her? Under 50% anyway.. I guess if she gets 5 downloads on each one she might think it's worth it? Who knows, I'd love to hear from her though, and why she uploaded them to micro being such a niche market.. you'd have to be in some kind of fashion/alternative business to buy from her, and even then I don't know..

hqimages · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2010, 06:18 »

Wow tho, over 100 downloads on this one: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-12237592-big-wash.php

I wonder what designers are using that image for??!!

sharpshot · « **Reply #16 on:** March 23, 2010, 06:45 »

There must be at least 100 buyers with a dog washing website

I presume that one was istock image of the week? I like some of her photos, they look like they should be album covers. Would be interesting to see how they are being used.

hqimages · « **Reply #17 on:** March 23, 2010, 07:11 »

lol!! I did think Dog Grooming, and then I thought, what customer wants the image of their dog being hung up to dry with a clothes peg while the groomer smokes into the bath

It must be put into some kind of concept advertising.. but over 100, wow... I would love to know too, hopefully some of the designers upload their design to show how it was used..

I think it would make an awesome postcard or cd cover too, but postcard would require el I think.. cd cover yeah, it would be cool, but would you want the next band to have the same image on their cd? The thing with an image like that, is that the designer has nowhere to go, it's ready to use, there's not much you can add or take-away to make it look different, if someone else does choose to use it.. so I dunno!!!

loop · « **Reply #18 on:** March 23, 2010, 07:16 »

I can imagine many uses for this photo. For instance, the kind of ads: "Begin your own little business". The image grabs the attention, and has humor in it; that's valued in publicity.

tdoes · « **Reply #19 on:** March 23, 2010, 08:00 »

Some folks are probably just downloading it for the art and printing it to hang istead of paying fine art prices.

Microbius · « **Reply #20 on:** March 23, 2010, 09:02 »

I seriously love her work. There's some fantastic concepts there.

Thinking about it most of those images would work well to illustrate articles in magazines etc. Not all microstock content gets used for ads. A lot of vector illustrations illustrate concepts in a similar way and sell well.

malcam · « **Reply #21 on:** March 23, 2010, 09:08 »

You most remember that last week her images were way cheaper, her first 250 downloads were at bargain prices. I bought a licence of her image of the week E.S for a credit now it would be 20 credits. Massive difference.

stockastic · « **Reply #22 on:** March 23, 2010, 10:23 »

Interesting diuscussion . As others have said, while I respect the technique, originality and effort, this isn't the sort of photo art I'd buy to hang, and I have a hard time imagining its application as stock. I'm probably wrong on both counts. Sure "dog grooming" and "small business" would apply, but what success would she have getting that through IS's CV, and would she get enough search exposure to ever recover the cost of producting these images?

I have a feeling that when the trendy espresso-sipping 20-somethings at a microstock see something like this it gets fast-tracked. I wouldn't even blame them, I guess.

Digital66 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 23, 2010, 10:43 »

Quote from: loop on March 23, 2010, 07:16

I can imagine many uses for this photo. For instance, the kind of ads: "Begin your own little business". The image grabs the attention, and has humor in it; that's valued in publicity.

That's a good idea. Yes, there are many uses for this photo.

Quote from: Microbius on March 23, 2010, 09:02

... Not all microstock content gets used for ads.

I completely agree. This image would look great on a wall.

LostOne · « **Reply #24 on:** March 24, 2010, 11:20 »

Great stuff there. Love the ideas and the post work.

Quote from: sjlocke on March 22, 2010, 15:36

Nice looking stuff, although on close examination, some look a little rough in the comp.

On close examination you can find noise, banding, artifacting on some of them. Looks like inspectors made an exception due do the great ideas presented.

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Author Topic: Microstock? (Read 15582 times)

crazychristina

Sean Locke Photography

PaulieWalnuts

madelaide

Fotonaut

Phil

dbvirago

red

Digital66

click_click

RT

click_click

Mr. Stock

sharply_done

hqimages

hqimages

sharpshot

hqimages

loop

tdoes

Microbius

malcam

stockastic

Digital66

LostOne

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