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Author Topic: iStock expanding  (Read 19869 times)

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« Reply #50 on: May 06, 2011, 09:26 »
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Kelly's answer:

Please concentrate on which of all your files will work as PNGs. That's exciting news, and we'll be the first agency to have them. And hopefully enjoy the bump in sales these articles (usually) give us.[/i]

Ah.  OK.  If they're keen to be the 'first agency to have them', I won't let them have them.  I'll wait until Jon Oringer wants them thanks.

Good idea. In Jon we trust (in Kelly we distrust).


« Reply #51 on: May 06, 2011, 09:26 »
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Kelly's answer:

Please concentrate on which of all your files will work as PNGs. That's exciting news, and we'll be the first agency to have them. And hopefully enjoy the bump in sales these articles (usually) give us.[/i]

Ah.  OK.  If they're keen to be the 'first agency to have them', I won't let them have them.  I'll wait until Jon Oringer wants them thanks.

I don't know where this sudden thing for .png files came from.  If they were desired, they would already be on other sites.

« Reply #52 on: May 06, 2011, 09:29 »
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I don't know where this sudden thing for .png files came from.  If they were desired, they would already be on other sites.

Presumably Istock thinks they can then justify yet another massive price hike for customers probably whilst paying contributors even less. The pattern is set, that's all they care about nowadays.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #53 on: May 06, 2011, 11:56 »
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The fraction of a percent was definitely about the total change in royalties paid out, not the number of people it affected.
"Oooops!". Then why the h*ll doesn't he call the reporter and tell him to set the facts straight? He just tries to squirm out of anything.
Don't worry, the cnet comments below the article have undone any good he worked his donkey off to do.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2011, 10:06 by ShadySue »

jbarber873

« Reply #54 on: May 06, 2011, 12:05 »
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   Maybe the 0.1% just refers to contributors who actually spontaneously exploded while sitting their computers. ( see the movie Spinal Tap for more info on this phenomenon). It would fit into the category of "dramatic" ;D

« Reply #55 on: May 06, 2011, 12:10 »
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Yeah, I don't get how the PNG thing is in any way exciting. TIFFs or RAW files, maybe. But really. Who gives a fig about PNG files?

« Reply #56 on: May 06, 2011, 12:14 »
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PNG files are good for PowerPoint presentations  ;)

« Reply #57 on: May 06, 2011, 12:19 »
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PNG is a clearly superior format for many things, esp. web, video and PPT applications (due to alpha availabliliy) - it can save a lot of time.

« Reply #58 on: May 06, 2011, 12:47 »
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How much should you give designers? Aren't they just making their own PNGs, clipping paths, crops, designs, etc.? It's stock. It is supposed to be adjusted for your needs.

« Reply #59 on: May 06, 2011, 12:54 »
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Don't worry, the cnet comments on his article have undone any good he worked his donkey off to do.

They seem to be preoccupied with donkeys at Istock. First we had JJRD who kept putting his donkey on the line (just for us!) and now we have Kelly doing things with his donkey in a London hotel room.

« Reply #60 on: May 06, 2011, 12:56 »
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How much should you give designers? Aren't they just making their own PNGs, clipping paths, crops, designs, etc.? It's stock. It is supposed to be adjusted for your needs.

If I thought there was a market for it, I'd give designers almost anything they were willing to pay the right price for (no RAW files). I've read some designers on how they'd rather do their own clipping paths so they know they're right and others who say they'd love to save time.

I've heard iStock's spiel on no finished designs but SS sells a ton of those sorts of files, so someone wants them.

If the market for PNGs with alpha channels is just corporate PowerPoints, I'd like to get some idea of what percentage of our sales go into that market before deciding if it's worth it. I was not aware that made up a large portion of our sales, but as we don't really have any data on sales - iStock does if they've categorized those who buy credits from them, which I hope for their sake they have - I could be wrong.

As management at IS has yet to do anything in the way of an announcement on this to contributors, we're left with KKT whining that we aren't focusing on the positives in his interview.

« Reply #61 on: May 06, 2011, 13:23 »
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If I thought there was a market for it, I'd give designers almost anything they were willing to pay the right price for (no RAW files). I've read some designers on how they'd rather do their own clipping paths so they know they're right and others who say they'd love to save time.

I've heard iStock's spiel on no finished designs but Shutterstock sells a ton of those sorts of files, so someone wants them.

If the market for PNGs with alpha channels is just corporate PowerPoints, I'd like to get some idea of what percentage of our sales go into that market before deciding if it's worth it. I was not aware that made up a large portion of our sales, but as we don't really have any data on sales - iStock does if they've categorized those who buy credits from them, which I hope for their sake they have - I could be wrong.

As management at IS has yet to do anything in the way of an announcement on this to contributors, we're left with KKT whining that we aren't focusing on the positives in his interview.

I wasn't necessarily criticizing giving buyers what they want. Just posing the question. Like you said, is it worth it? The clipping paths is a good example. Why put them in if you aren't going to get paid extra for them? There just seems to be this level of expected freebies as competition goes up. I guess I should wait for the details. It doesn't sound like it is going to affect vectors anyway, although I'm still not entirely convinced of that.

« Reply #62 on: May 07, 2011, 06:07 »
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I guess the IS's idea is/was to create some kind of 'visual supermarket'. The thing is - you don't go to the butcher to find sofas...
This intensive and loud PR is nothing more than just loud noise publicity, in my opinion. On the way we could forget about principles (%s, so many fails, escaping clients, trust, etc.) which is good for them at some point.
Build trust again? No chance, won't recommend them, I sent my wife's projects to SS.

lthn

    This user is banned.
« Reply #63 on: May 07, 2011, 06:24 »
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It took them a decade to discover PNG : ))) ridiculous... will it cost more btw?

« Reply #64 on: May 07, 2011, 07:36 »
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Kelly's answer:

Please concentrate on which of all your files will work as PNGs. That's exciting news, and we'll be the first agency to have them. And hopefully enjoy the bump in sales these articles (usually) give us.[/i]

Ah.  OK.  If they're keen to be the 'first agency to have them', I won't let them have them.  I'll wait until Jon Oringer wants them thanks.

Good idea. In Jon we trust (in Kelly we distrust).

^ I was going to post something about trust but this pretty much sums it up for me.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #65 on: May 07, 2011, 10:08 »
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...BTW, Kelly, it's 'arse'. An 'ass' is a donkey.
I know KKT is Canadian, but in the US 'ass' does double duty as both - so convenient :)
Is 'top shelf photo' an Americanism too?
As in "To that end, iStock began offering top-shelf photos when it launched its Vetta collection in 2009"
I'd infer that that meant 'soft porn', like "top shelf magazines".
« Last Edit: May 07, 2011, 10:37 by ShadySue »

« Reply #66 on: May 07, 2011, 10:18 »
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Is 'top shelf photo' an Americanism too?
As in "To that end, iStock began offering top-shelf photos when it launched its Vetta collection in 2009"
I'd infer that that meant 'soft porn' like, "top shelf magazines".

Top shelf refers to bars, where the top shelf carries the premium brands of whiskies and other spirits.  They're distinguished from well brands, which may be okay for mixed drinks but not the stuff a sophisticate would order.  So they mean it to represent the good stuff, the stuff worth paying more for.

« Reply #67 on: May 07, 2011, 10:19 »
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I think 'top shelf' is from supermarkets where more expensive, better items are placed at eye level or on the top shelf.  

« Reply #68 on: May 07, 2011, 10:34 »
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I think 'top shelf' is from supermarkets where more expensive, better items are placed at eye level or on the top shelf.  
 

Eye level yes, but not the top shelf for supermarkets - that's above most people's easy reach so it's not prime real estate.  Let's hope their not using a supermarket model because if that's the case they will start charging "slotting fees" for premium location and space in the best match just like the supermarkets charge for shelf location.

lisafx

« Reply #69 on: May 07, 2011, 13:27 »
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Disorderly is right about the meaning of "top shelf".  Misspent youth working in bars (pubs for you Brits) taught me that :)

It is honestly a revelation to me that ass only refers to a donkey in Britain.  Although I have heard arse used, I had no idea ass was not interchangeable.

On the PNG issue, what exactly is expected of us?  Are they expecting us to convert our images to PNG format in Photoshop and then upload a separate PNG file for each image?  Why can't they come up with an automated process to do that, like Dreamstime does with TIFFs?  

I might consider uploading PNGs if there was a monetary incentive.  Something like .25 per image uploaded, like  Fotolia, Veer, Depositphotos, etc. offered when they wanted images.  

I devoted probably over 100 hours to disambiguating thousands of files back in the day.  It was pure torture.  And that was when Istock really seemed like a partner, and sales were good enough to (barely) justify the time investment.  Today is a completely different story.  Istock's behavior and sales have deteriorated to the point where I can't see myself spending any time making and uploading PNG versions of my images.    

It seems like Istock thinks they are going to be "cutting edge" being the first site to offer PNGs.  Kind of like they were the first site to convert to CV.  And that worked out so well. 
« Last Edit: May 07, 2011, 13:29 by lisafx »

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #70 on: May 07, 2011, 13:40 »
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On the PNG issue, what exactly is expected of us?  Are they expecting us to convert our images to PNG format in Photoshop and then upload a separate PNG file for each image?  Why can't they come up with an automated process to do that, like Dreamstime does with TIFFs?  

I might consider uploading PNGs if there was a monetary incentive.

They want transparent PNGs with alpha channel, so no automatic conversion possible. But it's a lot of work and I agree there should be an incentive.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #71 on: May 07, 2011, 14:04 »
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It is honestly a revelation to me that ass only refers to a donkey in Britain.  Although I have heard arse used, I had no idea ass was not interchangeable.
To be honest, I do know 'ass' as an Americanism.
I didn't know 'top shelf' in this context, so that's my 'something learned' for today. :-)

rubyroo

« Reply #72 on: May 07, 2011, 14:06 »
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I thought 'top shelf' meant porn too  :D

lisafx

« Reply #73 on: May 07, 2011, 14:29 »
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They want transparent PNGs with alpha channel, so no automatic conversion possible. But it's a lot of work and I agree there should be an incentive.

Thanks for explaining. 

That's just not going to happen - at least in my case.  I can't imagine there's enough demand to justify the extra work. 

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #74 on: May 07, 2011, 15:15 »
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They want transparent PNGs with alpha channel, so no automatic conversion possible. But it's a lot of work and I agree there should be an incentive.

Thanks for explaining. 

That's just not going to happen - at least in my case.  I can't imagine there's enough demand to justify the extra work. 

Me, neither. Should it become a common format on other major sites as well, maybe - but still a lot of work for possibly little return.


 

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