Author Topic: Anyone have assistant? (Read 36647 times)

.shock · « **on:** April 11, 2008, 02:43 »

Hi,

has anyone have assistant to help about lighting on shooting, postprocessing images, keywording, uploading etc...

I need to find someone to help me because last 3-4 photo-shootings it was taken me around month for postprocessing and only 2-3hours for taking images.
Allways have around 4-5 image series waiting for editing (800-1400 images) and in this business working least what I need to do most and everyday.

Daily working 1-5h for stock (editing images, keywording, uploading...) and mostly is late in night when I'm tired and concentration is on minimum. Because all that submitting only on Fotolia and there have near 6300 images in portfolio.

Planing to start submitting to other major sites and hire someone who will help me about all this. But all this is risk game because If I don't supervise well maybe someone take wrong steps in editing images, keyqording... Wish to say that I need someone who I can trust and who know meaning of stock...

OK, this is my story. Can anyone share his experience with this and how do you pay assistants or people who helping you around organising your stock business.

Regards,
.shock

Seren · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2008, 03:43 »

I'll pimp myself a little bit here...

I do some of my friends wedding post processing, I get a fee per image, or I do X amount for X amount, if that makes sense. No special effects, just tidying up the images.

He's good at photography, but doesn't have a powerful enough computer to batch process, or the inclination to learn all the ins and outs.

It's a distance thing too, he either drops me a DVD or sometimes a smallish hard disk to my by courier, and then I send the same back to him. We're looking into doing it by FTP to make it even easier.

Anyway, send me a PM if you're interested, it's a service I'm definatly looking into offering more. I seem to have free time on my hands these days.

Plus I'd like to go full time into photography.

Added benefit that I know the uploading procedures certainly for the "big six" and could do all that for you if you were so inclined.

graficallyminded · « **Reply #2 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:45 »

I wish I had one - i tried to teach my wife but she's not into it.

vonkara · « **Reply #3 on:** April 11, 2008, 13:13 »

I'm looking more for a Honda robot that you let go outside and at the end of the day return you whit a minimum of 50 pictures whit signed model and property release. Then you recharge the battery and there it goes. It would be call Asimoautostockmaker or something like that.

.shock · « **Reply #4 on:** April 11, 2008, 13:39 »

Quote from: Vonkara on April 11, 2008, 13:13

I'm looking more for a Honda robot that you let go outside and at the end of the day return you whit a minimum of 50 pictures whit signed model and property release. Then you recharge the battery and there it goes. It would be call Asimoautostockmaker or something like that.

hahha....good joke. can this honda robot keyword images???

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2008, 15:32 »

my wife, who also is a shooter.

=tom

michaeldb · « **Reply #6 on:** April 11, 2008, 15:45 »

I have long thought about how I could make more money by hiring someone to do some of my stocking work. But as long as outsourcing to Hondabots is not viable for the present, I have yet to come up with any ideas.

Presumably, anyone who knows enough about stocking to submit images and write keywords can make more money from stocking than from from submitting images and writing keywords for other people.

Maybe this is a good indicator of how much money is to made in stocking, and is a good thing.

phildate · « **Reply #7 on:** April 11, 2008, 22:05 »

I have a producer who is a co-owner of our stock photography company, EastWest Imaging. She finds the models, locations etc.. and also does make-up. We have an assistant who is also a budding photographer and he assists on the shoots as well as shooting himself (for us) sometimes.

We share the uploading process between us - think it would be the most boring job in the world to just upload and process all the sites.

In the future, I would like to streamline this to having a team of part-time assistants who post-process and keyword all the pictures but I still find that the post-processing is a personal part of the image-making process and I am reluctant to delegate this to someone else. But guess I will just have to find the right person.

RGebbiePhoto · « **Reply #8 on:** April 11, 2008, 23:15 »

Husband/Wife team here, Husband shoots and processes images, Wife keywords and submits.

Ehh it works

lisafx · « **Reply #9 on:** April 12, 2008, 14:35 »

My husband helps with carrying gear and setting up lighting on shoots, but I like to process and upload all the photos myself. Bit of a control freak

I did offer to pay my daughter to help with disambiguating my istock portfolio a year or more ago, but she refused. Can't say I blame her, LOL.

Elenathewise · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2008, 21:11 »

Quote from: phildate on April 11, 2008, 22:05

... but I still find that the post-processing is a personal part of the image-making process and I am reluctant to delegate this to someone else. ...

yeah same here... can't give up control:) but really sometimes I do to images something a hired person would never do. You can give directions to hired person, but what if you not sure what to do with the image yourself?... many of my bestsellers actually happened from playing around with the image and seeing what works and what doesn't.
However I do have help with submitting - my BF handles that for me, and some other business related stuff. But processing and keywording - all me.

3pod · « **Reply #11 on:** April 13, 2008, 02:26 »

I'm probably going to get someone to do all my uploading and submitting starting June... The best offer I got
is uploading and submiting to 10-15 sites at 0.8€/image.

Anyka · « **Reply #12 on:** April 13, 2008, 02:55 »

I only have an assistant when I do a photoshoot with animals. He's 13 years old and handles them very efficiently and friendly. He never lets any mouse escape and cleans up everything that needs cleaning up within seconds. And I pay him 10 euros per hour. He simple LOVES the job.

andresr · « **Reply #13 on:** April 13, 2008, 18:51 »

Quote from: lisafx on April 12, 2008, 14:35

My husband helps with carrying gear and setting up lighting on shoots, but I like to process and upload all the photos myself. Bit of a control freak

I did offer to pay my daughter to help with disambiguating my istock portfolio a year or more ago, but she refused. Can't say I blame her, LOL.

I have a full time assistant who deals with categorizing and uploading releases to all sites but shutterstock, I do that one myself, it is so simple that it doesn't matter

he also does bits and pieces I need and finds locations, models etc etc ...... of course during shoots he helps me carrying stuff and holding reflectors.

Haha about istock I don't think ANYONE wants to do that site, my assistant absolutely hates the process. In fact if he didn't do that site I would probably not upload there at all.

Phil · « **Reply #14 on:** April 13, 2008, 19:34 »

Hi,

my kids carry stuff

my 10 year old son is pretty keen on reflectors, tell any kids that age 'here's something shiny, use it to reflect the sun onto a person, object, frog etc and they're happy'

have to keep on eye on them though too often it is more entertaining to make the 'spot' dance around the walls, trees etc.

I convinced my wife to do some keywording, she did for a few hours and then got a job the next day so there went that...

someone to keyword and submit would be the first person I employ...

Phil

iofoto · « **Reply #15 on:** April 13, 2008, 20:46 »

We have Sara, an awesome full-time editor who also produces the shoots for iofoto. We used to do all the retouching and keywording in-house, but now outsource the work. Sara handles some of the uploading, but we also outsource or hire freelancers for the uploading as well. We've found that even though we might save some money by trying to do everything ourselves, that we have more time to think about creating good selling images when we're not distracted by the process.

We have an extra work station in the studio set-up for free-lancers to use for the uploading. The retouching is usually done at their location.

sam100 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2008, 23:29 »

Quote from: andresr on April 13, 2008, 18:51

Quote from: lisafx on April 12, 2008, 14:35
My husband helps with carrying gear and setting up lighting on shoots, but I like to process and upload all the photos myself. Bit of a control freak

I did offer to pay my daughter to help with disambiguating my istock portfolio a year or more ago, but she refused. Can't say I blame her, LOL.

I have a full time assistant who deals with categorizing and uploading releases to all sites but shutterstock, I do that one myself, it is so simple that it doesn't matter he also does bits and pieces I need and finds locations, models etc etc ...... of course during shoots he helps me carrying stuff and holding reflectors.

Haha about istock I don't think ANYONE wants to do that site, my assistant absolutely hates the process. In fact if he didn't do that site I would probably not upload there at all.

Agree.. same postion here.. lol..
Assistant really hates istock... but then, been neglecting them for more then two years, so a lot of catching up to do.

Patrick.

.shock · « **Reply #17 on:** April 14, 2008, 03:40 »

Thank you all, probably will hire someone during next month on half-time job for keywording and editing images.

How about payment? Per image, per hour or per month?

Regards,
BA

chumley · « **Reply #18 on:** July 16, 2008, 02:07 »

nicemonkey · « **Reply #19 on:** July 16, 2008, 02:46 »

Not sure if it counts but I switch into zombie mode for submitting images...only music and the voices in my head get me through!

nativelight · « **Reply #20 on:** July 16, 2008, 10:08 »

Quote from: clearviewstock on April 13, 2008, 19:34

I convinced my wife to do some keywording, she did for a few hours and then got a job the next day so there went that...

Phil

Hmmmmmm...I think I should try this with my youngest Son. I'll put him to work with keywording and uploading. He'll be so bored it will motivate him to get a "real" job and move out!!

I don't have any help other than my Husband carrying equipment for me. Of course, that's why I have thousands of images sitting on my hard drives waiting for keywording and post-processing.

I listened to a local professional photographer last night at the local photo club meeting. She mentioned she has a Photoshop person that she hires when needed at $50 per hour. I think I should change professions!

chumley · « **Reply #21 on:** July 20, 2008, 11:14 »

Beckyabell · « **Reply #22 on:** July 23, 2008, 15:54 »

At the studio we got smart

instead of assistants we have interns....
.... We got lucky and found some great girls, they get to learn more about photography + earn college credits. We get free help. It could help some of you out to check with your local college & high school photography programs, & after you teach them enough you can sign them up under you on the stock sites!

.shock · « **Reply #23 on:** July 23, 2008, 16:30 »

hmmm very smart, great idea... thanks!

MikLav · « **Reply #24 on:** July 23, 2008, 17:02 »

I am suffering too from not having enough time to process the pictures I shot. I tried to teach my teenager son, but he isn't into it. He is simply not interested. Finally, I found a candidate for this job and I am trying him now - hopefully he will be able to do what I need.

My problem is that I am doing photography part time and I can't hire full-time personnel, neither interims (my volume isn't sufficient for that). So I need somebody having fast unlimited internet and willing to work un-scheduled/variable part time. Luckily I have a candidate like that, and hopefully he will be able to match my requirements.

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Author Topic: Anyone have assistant? (Read 36647 times)

.shock

Seren

graficallyminded

vonkara

.shock

a.k.a.-tom

michaeldb

phildate

RGebbiePhoto

lisafx

Elenathewise

3pod

Anyka

andresr

Phil

iofoto

sam100

.shock

chumley

nicemonkey

nativelight

chumley

Beckyabell

.shock

MikLav

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