MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Microstock News => Topic started by: MicrostockExp on November 11, 2008, 10:07
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What do you think about that, worth upoading to ?
http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=12292&Title=Moodboard%27s_industry_first
Moodboard.com, the UK based innovative online stock image provider, has launched a new photographer upload section. An industry first, the online function encourages more hobbiest and professional content for consideration by its team of editors by allowing photographers to upload images directly via the site my.moodboard.com
This will result in even better choice for the creative industries looking for competitively priced, highly original stock images.
Moodboard has also introduced customised online sales reports, which allow photographers to track sales of their work quickly and easily.
As the only stock image supplier to offer the complete price range of stock pictures on one website, from quality microstock right up to premium rights ready shots, moodboard provides photographers with the greatest opportunity to climb the financial ladder faster.
CEO of moodboard.com, Mike Watson said: “Our new photographer upload facility is another stage in moodboard’s continual evolution. We constantly strive to be at the forefront of the stock image industry, pushing technologies to enable photographers to make money easier and faster.
“moodboard 2.0 will open up more earning potential for hobbiest content than rivals such as i-stock; and in these times of economic uncertainty, it is important we support photographers in every way we can and deliver new and more effective ways for them to sell their work. We will also be driving sales with an exciting marketing campaign to raise awareness of moodboard’s benefits to customers.
“The latest enhancements we’ve made to our site not only make it easier than ever for photographers to get work considered and track their sales progress, so they can spend more time taking new photos, it also means our customer’s have the ability to purchase professionally edited images at price points that suit their needs.
“At moodboard we don’t make photographers jump through hoops to see higher earnings. If pictures are strong enough from the outset, and photographers are happy to give us image exclusivity, we’ll team them with the moodboard collection that enhances their best features.”
Mike added: “We led change in the stock photo industry in the past, and we’re at the forefront of innovation again today.
“Whether photographers are interested in becoming a member of moodboard’s professional squad, are looking for an up and coming stock image agency that will help them shoot more commercial content or simply want to discuss ways to extend their earnings, we’d be delighted to hear from them.”
The new photographer upload function, and other enhancements to the site, can be viewed at http://my.moodboard.com
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The site looks good - almost like another Lucky Oliver. Anyone selling anything there?
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anyone registered there even?
I think it did once just to see what the back end looks like. managed to 'get lost password' but then couldn't log in :(
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Moodboard are not new in the business, they just open now to microstock in addition to their macro collection. To sign up u have to pass a short quiz, upload 3 jpeg (2 MB each) and upload an ID as well.
I did all that, waiting for them to process that...
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Ok I am in:) it was fast !
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The site looks good - almost like another Lucky Oliver. Anyone selling anything there?
“At moodboard we don’t make photographers jump through hoops to see higher earnings. If pictures are strong enough from the outset, and photographers are happy to give us image exclusivity, we’ll team them with the moodboard collection that enhances their best features.”
Another micro dead end site added to the list and a weak watermark.
(http://moodboard.com/_client/images/sku/1618/detail/16181245.jpg)
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I wouldn;t mind flipping them some exclusives because I have some things that might fly there, but when I looked at things a few weeks ago, it was the watermark that kept me away. This coupled with the fact that you can DL some pretty good size comps and it's just a crop or clone away from using.
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I really wonder how much difference a watermark makes though, or how important it is.
Once a buyer buys the image - they use it on their own website, often in a decent size, without a watermark. - so after one buyer it is now available in a good resolution without a watermark It isn't hard to find images without watermarks on the net. If someone wants a free image they will find it. If someone is first at the stock site to buy an image they are going to spend the $2.00 it costs and have a good conscience. If someone doesn't care about watermarks they will use it with a watermark anyhow..
http://www.saga.vn/dictview.aspx?id=2421
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i'm in too. Let's see what happens when my portfolio will be online. I'll keep you update.
diego
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Indeed, once you sell an image and it is used in a website, it can be stolen. The difference however, to me, is that people searching for images will likely find them in a stock photo site, either by going directly to one he knows or by doing a web search, so I think they are more "fragile", so to speak.
Regards,
Adelaide
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anyone figure out how to upload via ftp?
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Nope unfortunately, the upload on the site sucks ......
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i have asked it 2 days ago to Moodboard, their reply: "The FTP will be ready next week"
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well i uploaded 10 pics and it was too many clicks and fiddling and too many bugs to do any more.
it took about 30 seconds per file once they were online. I suppose not so bad, but it seems like a lot of time when other sites take 2 seconds/image and I know I will be compensated for my time in regards to earnings.
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I'm on there too, only took a few days to be accepted about a week ago,
BUT, at the moment I can't upload anything. The java upload 'thingy', for some reason, doesn't function on my computer (it just hangs firefox). Waiting for FTP (which they advertise as available)...
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Watermarks were a big complaint for the last year on other sites. LO for exampl http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=2472.0 now it's not important. :-\
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I have decided to give them a try. Uploaded 13 images as a test. The java interface is very fancy but extremly slow... took about an hours to set up everything for those 13 images. I saw no chance that I'll upload 1000s of images there.
Today I got the first emails from their reviewer team. They liked my images and want me to reupload them but they can use them becuse they are not set to 300dpi. What???? It is just a measure! The images are still there and they are bigger then 5000x3000 pixels. No way I'll upload them again. The site is off of my list.
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Not trying to make you change your mind, but there are macro sites that also require 300dpi. I never understood why, but they require that.
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My images have been reviewed today.
I uploaded them on 12 nov, so it took almost 2 weeks. It was a test of 8 images, just to see how tough uploading is and how long it takes to have them inspected....no rejections this time.... ::)
I'll give them a try with 200 pics more and see how they perform over the next 6 months before uploading the entire portfolio.
The strange thing is that some images have been put within the "budget" cathegory (i.e. at microstock prices) while others falled into the "value" one, where prices start from £19 to £365!!
what do you think on it?
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My images have been reviewed today.
I uploaded them on 12 nov, so it took almost 2 weeks. It was a test of 8 images, just to see how tough uploading is and how long it takes to have them inspected....no rejections this time.... ::)
I'll give them a try with 200 pics more and see how they perform over the next 6 months before uploading the entire portfolio.
The strange thing is that some images have been put within the "budget" cathegory (i.e. at microstock prices) while others falled into the "value" one, where prices start from £19 to £365!!
what do you think on it?
this is the hard one when people discuss putting the same images on micro rf and macro rf. this is 3 agencies (StockXpert / photos.com + canstock / fotosearch) that are doing so, this agency would be well aware that they are also available elsewhere at micro prices. not a judgement, just an observation that it is becoming more and more clouded.
Phil
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The real test is if you actually sell anything methinks. I have been looking hard at getting into the bigger priced sites like Alamy and Moodboard, but what is the point if you do not sell anything?
I guess I have 300 or so images on DT and SS which I believe are lesser quality than what I produce now. SS used to bring me $140 a month, but lately it is $75.
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Did they change?
Last time i checked they have been exclusive and paid 15% commission considering most of their sales are through partnersites so the actual photographershare will be even far less then the ridiculous 15% !
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Did they change?
Last time i checked they have been exclusive and paid 15% commission considering most of their sales are through partnersites so the actual photographershare will be even far less then the ridiculous 15% !
yes, they changed recently and now accept images for non-exclusive representation as well.
Acceptance criteria were extremely high last year....If I remember right, it was stated on their website that they used to accept only 10% of photos they received. Probably they realized that their portfolio was not growing enough and they changed their mind....
But Litifeta is right! we have to see if they produce consistent sales.
Best,
diego
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the percentage is moot. we've seen how already other sites promising you the world with 70% your take, and even if you gave me 95% , the bottom line is
"but do you sell?"
95% of zero is zero.
so really, if they can sell, even 10% is better than 50 % elsewhere without sales
or even without views.
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the percentage is moot. we've seen how already other sites promising you the world with 70% your take, and even if you gave me 95% , the bottom line is
"but do you sell?"
95% of zero is zero.
so really, if they can sell, even 10% is better than 50 % elsewhere without sales
or even without views.
It's all about the right balance 40% for the photographer leaves the agency enough for really good marketing etc. There is certainly no need for a 5% to 95% split except pure greed on the agencies side.
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I just joined and tried to upload my id and 3 initial samples, it timed out after 20 minutes.
Any suggestions? Never had problems like that before, even with large images at Alamy.
Is there a glitch?
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I just joined and tried to upload my id and 3 initial samples, it timed out after 20 minutes.
Any suggestions? Never had problems like that before, even with large images at Alamy.
Is there a glitch?
I experienced the same problem, even if the test files were smaller than 2MB each. I tried with both firefox and safari that time.
Then, I reduced their size further so that these files all together were less than 2MB and it worked.
Hope it works for you as well.
Best,
Diego
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I just finished application. Files were 1.9MB on disk and no problem with upload.
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i will try again.
it's odd though, when you read that they say they want images with 300 dpi for A2 printing, so no 6MP camera need apply.
yet for sample of your work they only ask for max of 2MB, which is more or less a 4MP image like fotolia or crestock requirement, not 49MB tiff like Alamy.
and if they time out at such small image size, i don't know how successful or quick their UL will be when you submit the bigger size.
did i misunderstand something here?
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So I passed the test and started uploading pics and the 1st one was rejected :
I though DPI were not important ???
"Hi, I really like this, but we would need it in 300dpi. We will be taking smaller files later on, but not quite yet. Be great to see it in a larger size!"
Thank you,
The moodboard team
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I just got my 10 images rejected for not having the DPI set at 300 :( watch out for that!
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So I passed the test and started uploading pics and the 1st one was rejected :
I though DPI were not important ???
"Hi, I really like this, but we would need it in 300dpi. We will be taking smaller files later on, but not quite yet. Be great to see it in a larger size!"
Thank you,
The moodboard team
WOW... they seems not to understand what dpi are and that dpi is not related to the file size :o
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So I passed the test and started uploading pics and the 1st one was rejected :
I though DPI were not important ???
"Hi, I really like this, but we would need it in 300dpi. We will be taking smaller files later on, but not quite yet. Be great to see it in a larger size!"
Thank you,
The moodboard team
WOW... they seems not to understand what dpi are and that dpi is not related to the file size :o
Incredible stupid i'm in the businesses for several years and i always heard this 300dpi-nonsense. 300dpi means nothing without additional information (size in inch). As agency they could automatically set the file to 300dpi in the moment customers are downloading as it just a tag in the meta-deta which can easily changed without do any processing at the file at all.
The response really is showing that they have no idea and are totally clueless - really really stupid!
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I just got my 10 images rejected for not having the DPI set at 300 :( watch out for that!
This site development and who invented this is far away from what is dpi. Dpi is nothing just a number. It seems that they read dpi from exif to calculate the photo size, they think as big is the dpi as better is the quality.
Please write to them a mail and explain how stupid they are. You may include also some tutorial links.
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Same 300dpi nonsense here, plus their contributor site design is woefully inadequate. They claim to have some 70,000 images online, but if you look at their contributor front page images you will see that 40,000 images come from Corbis. So who does that leave as contributors? I think I will pass on this one until they bring their ranching up to date.
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Hi all,
as promised, here is a quick update after more than 1 month on moodboard.
Images online: 160
% rejection: 15
sales: 2 (within budget collection)
earnings: 2,41€
I'm gonna upload some more images than stop to see what happens in the next few months....
Best regards,
Diego
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ok, keep us updated....so far all the new sites have not been too successful, Just look at Lucky Oliver, and there was anotherone that gave money and everyone said had potential???
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Just took a quick look at the site, and apart from a few system errors, I noticed this:
---QUOTE----
Your Royalties build on a per image basis with your sales as shown below
Sales Percentage Exclusive Non-Exclusive
Base Level (0-24 Sales) 20% 20% 20%
Exclusivity Bonus 5% 25% -
25 - 99 sales 1% increase 26% 21%
100 - 149 sales 1% increase 27% 22%
150 - 249 sales 1% increase 28% 23%
250 - 349 sales 1% increase 29% 24%
350 - 549 sales 1% increase 30% 25%
550 - 699 sales 1% increase 31% 26%
700 - 899 sales 1% increase 32% 27%
900 - 1999 sales 1% increase 33% 28%
2000 - 2499 sales 2% increase 35% 30%
2500 - 4999 sales 2% increase 37% 32%
5000+ sales 3% increase 40% 35%
At moodboard we won't make you jump through hoops to see higher earnings.
If your pictures are strong enough from the outset, and we agree image exclusivity, we will team them with the collection that enhances their best features.
Our experienced editors don't just tick boxes but will help you think commercially about pictures.
Your sales reports can be customised so you can view them in the way that makes sense for you and we've made our upload function as easy as possible, so you can spend the rest of your time taking pictures that matter.
---END QUOTE---
This seems to be rather low royaltees for US, perhaps not making it worth the effort of uploading to yeat another site with close to NO downloads? - Or?.....
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The DPI has some significance for the end user: when the end user opens the file in layout program (for example Adobe Indesign) the size of the image on the page is calculated from the dpi and pixels of the image. 72dpi files tend to open up at annoyingly big sizes and have to be scaled down.
Using 300dpi also reduces the chance for errors; of course every professional layout person will check every images real dpi before printing, but still...
Why isn't every piece of cameras and software set by default 300dpi? Who needs 72dpi or such anyway, the web doesn't use the dpi info to anything!
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About DPI, Zymmetrical has that requirement too, although it doesn't change anything to image quality/size. I downloaded the new (free!) Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com) yesterday and I noticed that there is a lossless plugin to change the DPI. That means your image isn't touched, just the number in the EXIF and in the JPG headers. Make sure to download all the plugins.
Menu: Options | JPG Lossless Rotation... (Plugin) > Window opens:
None (can be used for optimizing and clearing)
Set DPI X: 300 Y: 300 (JPG header + EXIF)
Keep all APP markers (default)
Press Start.
(http://cjoint.com/data/bsuNqPmWih_Untitled-2.jpg)
As usual, you can do this in batch mode for all files in a folder.
Press T and the Thumbnail window opens. CTRL-click all thumbs you want to change, then follow these instructions:
Menu | File | JPG Lossless Operations | Lossless rotation with selected files... > same window opens; set as before; press Start.
(http://cjoint.com/data/bsuOq28pw3_Untitled-1.jpg)
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Is anyone still uploading here? I’ve tried but can’t add categories using a Mac and the login page will not work on my PC. I’ve sent several emails to support but no one appears to know the answer. I’d be interested to know if the site is working for other members.
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Is anyone still uploading here? I’ve tried but can’t add categories using a Mac and the login page will not work on my PC. I’ve sent several emails to support but no one appears to know the answer. I’d be interested to know if the site is working for other members.
well i actually succeeded uploading my 3 images a couple of days ago, got approved and uploaded my first 10 shots last night. before that, i had trouble uploading the 2MB application shots and ID.
i wrote them and got a quick response from Kate.
the only problem i encountered last night was i cannot log in via moodboard.com. i found out that you have to go in via my.moodboard.com
also i was lost about how to submit my keyworded images from My Dashboard. but diego from here was good enough to email me to show me how.
i wrote Kate about that too last night and she told me they will check into the first problem. all in all, very good experience of open and friendly communication with them, in spite of the technical startup problems i had.
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latest report. first 10 images submitted , culled from a port that were approved by all the sites submitted. results : 1 approved. although i must give them the credit that it took them a day to review, and the image they took was one that sold in 3 of 5 site.
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latest report. first 10 images submitted , culled from a port that were approved by all the sites submitted. results : 1 approved.
Too many sites, too little time.
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latest report. first 10 images submitted , culled from a port that were approved by all the sites submitted. results : 1 approved.
Too many sites, too little time.
flemish, you are right. perharps the 1/10 approval is a good omen ( new moon tonight, hehheh)
. instead of just trying for like you say "too many sites too little time", maybe better to concentrate on a couple or the three that are actually selling . i know my port is small, but it could be larger if i stopped having to uploading to "too many sites". spend more time on making new images for 3 chosen sites rather than spending most of the time uploading to all , most of which are not even being seen or sold.
a good lesson for me .