Let, for example, say that you made series of your highest quality photos that you believe most or all RM (or even RF if you really want) agencies would accept and sell.

I understand few people want to tell their secrets and make him/herself more competitors but maybe there is someone out there.

Also, let say that those are makeup, beauty studio portraits (not usual isolated on white with microstockish screaming all over them).

I submit images to microstock agencies so I can't be exclusive anywhere, only image based exclusivity is an option.

I was thinking Alamy image exclusivity, or to send them to Corbis or Getty. Can I even sell there if I am not exclusive? Am i newbie or are those three best sales/earning wise?

Are there any specialized RM agencies for those kind of shoots?

Thank you for your time and excuse my English

That doesn't sound particularly RM.  there are tons like that on Stocksy, for example.

Aren't there mostly retro/film filtered photos?

Also, why do you think makeup/cosmetics/beauty portraits are not for RM? There are plenty of them in corbis and getty. Do you think they doesn't sell?

if you think you can ask for higher prices go somewhere that licenses your work for higher prices.

and that's why I opened this topic. That "somewhere" is my real question

What are my options?

You edited your post later, isn't offset artist exclusive?

Also, let say that those are makeup, beauty studio portraits (not usual isolated on white with microstockish screaming all over them).

Those will do a lot better in Microstock.

> generic subject + high quality + high possible demand + low speciality + lots of existing competition = Microstock
> special subject + high quality + possibly low OR high demand + highly special subject + less existing competition = Macrostock

Without seeing any examples it is hard to say, but Beauty/glamour is usally a typical domain of microstock, simply because lots of models and photographers enjoy creating them. It is not a rare subject.

Like others have said, macro is for images that cannot be sold thousands of times because they are too niche or too specialized. The higher price is there to justify producing them at all.

If a file can be usable for many designers it will probably make a lot more money on the micros.

Also keep in mind that these days the macros also sell their content for micro prices and on places like getty you will have many sales for less than one dollar. The prices on their websites are just "list prices" what the (corprorate) customer usually pays, is much,much less.

You could try placing them on 500pix premiere. It is open to everyone, pays 70% and has macro pricing.

ETA: just because a file is RM, doesn�t mean it will be sold for a high price. RM sales can be much lower than microstock returns. There is no minimum price fixed.

But macro does not automatically give you higher returns for your files.

Especially if you look at how sales develop over several years, the returns from the micros with all their extended licenses etc.. plus the fact that they usually accept the full series, instead of 2 from 10 , means you will make a lot more money.

also on the micros you can spread the upload over a longer time and process your series with different styles, or the latest visual trend. On macro you have to present the full series in one go, so the chosen files all get the same time stamp and quickly disappear into oblivion, because the macros also get a huge number of files.

So the earning opportunities on the micros are usually better if it is a series that can be useful for many projects..

Quote from: tickstock on June 22, 2015, 15:46

I thought Stocksy was macro just with microstock prices.  Really that's the only difference between the two, if you think you can ask for higher prices go somewhere that licenses your work for higher prices.  You could always contact Offset, Corbis, and Getty and see what they say and choose the one you feel best about.

They didn't ask about prices.  They asked about RM.  Stocksy is RF.

RF can be macro as well.  I thought the question was more about higher prices rather than RM or RF.
"Let, for example, say that you made series of your highest quality photos that you believe most or all RM (or even RF if you really want) agencies would accept and sell."

Are you saying your macro sales average less than your micro sales?  Mine don't, macro has a much higher RPD.  Sure you might have some low sales mixed in but the average is much higher.

The overall return for a whole series over several years will always be higher on micro instead of macro...
The individual higher download doesn�t mean anything if the series only sells 3 times a year instead of 200 times.

It depends what your average sale price is, say Getty is $50 and micro is 70 cents then you'll do $150 on macro $140 on micro.  There are images that do well on macro, much better than they would do on micro and images that will do much better on micro.  A blanket statement that the overall return "will always be higher on micro" is false.

Quote from: tickstock on June 22, 2015, 17:17

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on June 22, 2015, 17:15

Quote from: tickstock on June 22, 2015, 15:46

I thought Stocksy was macro just with microstock prices.  Really that's the only difference between the two, if you think you can ask for higher prices go somewhere that licenses your work for higher prices.  You could always contact Offset, Corbis, and Getty and see what they say and choose the one you feel best about.

They didn't ask about prices.  They asked about RM.  Stocksy is RF.

RF can be macro as well.  I thought the question was more about higher prices rather than RM or RF.
"Let, for example, say that you made series of your highest quality photos that you believe most or all RM (or even RF if you really want) agencies would accept and sell."

They also didn't ask about micro or macro.  In fact they could have been a lot clearer with the query.

That's true, I was assuming they wanted somewhere more expensive.

But obviously, people can do what they want. If some people believe that putting everything RM on macro is best for them, let them do it.

I am only interested in total returns.

The OP is asking about a set of images they believe are better than their other work, it doesn't have to be all or nothing.  Some work is better suited for licensing at higher amounts and some work is better suited for selling at micro amounts.  Total returns are better for some images at one price and some images at another.

Are there any specialized RM agencies for those kind of shoots?

Blend Images, for instance, they're with Getty.

But .. if you seriously feel that those photos are top notch quality you could try selling them as Fine Art to art galleries or art exhibitions, or to fashion magazines that could be interested in that specific style/niche.

if the material is big enough you could also make a Fine Art book out of it.

Quote from: Tror on June 22, 2015, 15:58

Those will do a lot better in Microstock.

> generic subject + high quality + high possible demand + low speciality + lots of existing competition = Microstock
> special subject + high quality + possibly low OR high demand + highly special subject + less existing competition = Macrostock

thank you, but do you believe it is possible to have special subject in beauty portraits?

Nope.