hi all, I've been doing stock for 4 years now and have made some decent money from it. i really enjoy creating my illustrations, but over the past year i have found myself wondering off into footage land mainly animation really. all i want to know is what makes more cash? footage or images? i really enjoy doing both so its not a case of going were the money is - but I'm obviously going to choose the one with the bigger rewards. who wouldn't? thanks for any input.....

   I hate to be the one to say it, but I think moving images are the best future oppourtunity. Here's why. Footage is where still images was 5 years ago. There is a far smaller collection to compete against , and a growing need for motion, now that the penetration of broadband is so huge. The technical skills needed to create in video or motion animation keep out a lot of competitors. Motion and moving images require a different way of communicating an idea- just shooting a still shot with a video camera won't sell. To a certain extent, story telling is more important. Just shooting an Icon won't cut it. lastly, everything is harder to do- it's almost like the analog days in stills, where you couldn't fix things in photoshop. You had to have the shot right in the camera, not in the computer. The reason i hate to be the one to say it is that i know there will be a tipping point, where suddenly everyone will be shooting video. The approvals will take longer, there will be pages and pages of results in a search, not just 15 clips to choose from. I'm only saying this here because i like all the people here, and if anyone should get a head start, it should be the microstock group crowd. And also, nobody really listens to what i say anyway, which is probably a good thing. So if you have the energy and the skills, go for it....

I started footage a year ago in addition to still, in my best month footage took 20% of total earnings not so bad, $ per download of course much higher with an average of $20 per clip.
Uploading is a challenge especially now as Isyndica is closing down.....
You can read more stats on my blog: http://microstockexperiment.blogspot.com/

as well as this article:http://microstockexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-still-to-motion.html

L

In theory footage should be the future but in reality it never will be IMHO.

The future has a way of sneaking up on you. In 1996 i bought a leaf camera to start shooting digital ( still) images. Almost all of my clients resisted shooting digitally. They said film will always be better quality, how do I show the printer what it should look like, etc. BY 1998, i was down to shooting film once or twice a week, and I haven't shot a piece of film in this century. I do 200 -300 photoshoots a year, and if it weren't for shooting digitally, it would take twice the time it takes now.
I really get the same vibes from video that i got from digital imaging all those years ago. But, that's just for me with my workflow and client base, and may not be the answer for everyone. As i said before, if it interests you, I think it will pay off well in the long run, but i could be wrong, and often am.

what about animations? can anyone comment about how well there animations do?