Hermitlog, you will enjoy photography more and more, with practice, time spend studying the technical aspects of it, and then learning what to do in order to get the results you want.  At that point, you become like a skilled chef, able to whip a few simple ingredients into a delicious dish at any moment with the given tools.  Depth of field is a lot of fun!  When to use shallow, when not to... that's where your creativity comes into play.  Also realizing that you can sometimes only do the best with the given conditions, or the limits of your gear.

Sales are worse than ever at Fotolia

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Takes one day to be able to finish uploading my images now !

Try using stocksubmitter software, Julie - it will take the pain out of submitting entirely.  If only I had it 10 years ago!  I probably would have at least 25%-50% more images online.

I did actually say that would be the advice I'd give MYSELF.  I did offer an example of what a portfolio of 300 newly uploaded food images was returning, for my friend.  I can't personally live on $400/month; but that might pay for my groceries, my prepaid cell phone, and a tank of gas.  I wish I lived in a country where money went further.  If I weren't tied down, and wanted to live a little bit more adventurously, I'd do so. 

There is no such thing as a standard R.P.I. Semmick.  If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.  You can't assume that Hermitlog is already at the same skill level you are; or that he will be able to hit the right subjects that you hit, when you submitted your first 1200 images.  Artist A can submit 100 images and earn $50/month from them, while Artist B uploads 100 and only earns just $5/month.   

Quote from: ArenaCreative on April 22, 2015, 14:20

Personally, if I had to talk to myself... and I were in a new position to go full time with microstock, RIGHT now.... today... I would say, dude - honestly?  Don't waste your time.  This business is nowhere nearly as lucrative as it was 10 years ago.  If all I wanted to do was pull in some side money for a rainy day, then that would be a different story.

He made $400 in a good month in his day job. Stock photography could still be lucrative to him. Consider different cultures than yours when giving advice.

Okay, so $400/month - big deal... how does that change the advice?  With images like the OP posted, he would need a lot of them to pull in $400/month.  I'd estimate 15,000-25,000 at least... and factoring in that at least 50% would be rejected by the image inspectors.  Add in some developed skill, some creative and technical improvement, and things will begin to change.  You go ahead and try to get even 5000 quality images approved on Shutterstock, over the next 12 months.  Have fun finding time to eat, sleep, and spend time with your family.  The OP is looking for fast money, something he can jump right into and start making a decent living, with growth potential. 

I'm not here to argue, or to discourage anyone from trying their hand at microstock.  I wish this guy the best, just like anyone else who wants to put in the hard work.  It takes a lot of hard work, but sometimes even that isn't enough. 


 

My 100% honest truth critique, no bull. 

You have some nice shots you might share on instagram or facebook here, but the majority of what I'm seeing isn't stock.  The quality is sub-par, and you will need to work on these images a ton in post processing to pass inspection just on a technical standpoint.  Work on getting more proper exposure within the limits of your camera's settings, and shoot ISO 100 or nothing else.  If you don't have enough light, too bad.  Higher ISO's on pro-sumer cameras (if that is what you are using) are mostly worthless, as the grain produced outweighs the amount of time you'll need to spend in post-processing to remove it.  Churches, insects, sunsets... are all a photo reviewer's worst nightmare.   Even if it gets through, it's not going to make you "fast money".  Work on better subject matter, and push the limits of your equipment so you can make a few dollars before investing more into better quality glass/camera body.

I commend you on your endeavors, but stock isn't as easy to make a living at, as it seems.  Even if you're an advanced amateur, or professional right out of the gate.  I recently referred my friend's wife as a shutterstock contributor (I sold my old DSLR camera body to her, and gave her some instruction) and she is shooting amazing food images.  She earns 5-10 subscription downloads per day, on a good day.   What is that, about $25-30 per month (before taxes)  This isn't "fast money".  She has about 300 images approved already, in the past 3 months.  And I have to say, her food images are outstanding, for a noob.  Borderline cooking-magazine-worthy.  Stock imagery is much more competitive today.  Now, monthly earnings per image is 1/4th to 1/5th of what it used to be.  It is a struggle, and if you live week-to-week with your finances, you will fail miserably in this business even before you've started. 

Keep shooting, and best wishes.  Practice makes perfect.  You won't learn what really sells and what will get approved, until you start uploading.  Work on recognizing commercial value, even before you put the camera to your face.

Vacations?  Or "location scouting" trips?  hahaha don't go crazy with your deductions if you can't legitimately explain/prove them.  Too many people go overboard with this stuff. 

Here is a solution I found online, which I might have to try once I can make heads or tails out of it. 
http://taxmama.com/tax-quips/getting-double-1099s/

Quote from: pixel8 on March 30, 2015, 12:49

I have never received a 1099-k from Paypal yet all my earnings are sent to my Paypal account. So you are saying that your 1099 from the various stock agencies are not enough to show the IRS where your income is coming from? How is a 1099-k different from a regular 1099? Isn't Paypal Considered a Banking Institution?

You don't make more than $20k or have more than 200 transactions through Paypal, so you don't have to worry about it.

I guess you can have over 200 transactions with paypal without the 1099-K being issued; as long as you're not receiving over $20k at the same time. 
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/helpcenter/helphub/article/?solutionId=FAQ729 
So if you sell a lot of used household items on ebay, or receive small payments from your own website... it shouldn't matter as long as you're not taking in over $20k.   If you were to receive over $20k in less than 200 payments, somehow I don't really believe that they would still avoid issuing a 1099-K. 

Can anyone confirm?  Also, what about Skrill?  Their website says they will issue a 1099-K but I haven't heard that anyone has ever received one.

This Paypal 1099-K stuff is a huge hassle for USA microstock contributors.  Ah, the joys of self-employment.  Please do yourself a favor a read my long-winded story below, if you've earned enough via Paypal to receive a 1099-K. 

For 2012 I got a CP2000 from the IRS (basically feels like an audit / discrepancy) because I left the 1099-K off.  I report my income honestly, to the penny... and as the 1099-ed income and misc income that I report comes to the same exact amount as my 1099-K from Paypal, I haven't been reporting the 1099-K on my return.  That's probably my mistake.  I filed 2012 this way, and 2013.  If I just add it into my tax return along with all of my other 1099-MISC forms, it basically double reports my income.  I don't know about you, but self employement taxes are bad enough!!  Nobody should have to pay double taxes.  It's a little un-nerving opening a "bill" from the IRS, showing that you owe them 5 figs of extra income INCLUDING thousands of dollars extra in fees and penalties, for a specific tax year (when you know you've paid every red cent, on time quarterly). 

I have settled the 2012 "misunderstanding" by sending in many hours worth of proof, showing the IRS that the income I have reported on my 1099-MISC forms is the same as on the 1099-K paypal report.  I probably spent a week working on all my documents, making copies, extra money on copies and shipping with tracking.  They sent me a new statement going from me owing them a huge 5 figure amount, down to $0.00. Boom.  Success.  I also included in my explanation a simple statement, please don't send me a CP2000 notice for 2013's return, as I have filed it the same way.  Well, let's just say I have to now go through this entire hassle again for 2013's return.  Partly my fault, I guess, but there's no way my tax software allows me to "ignore" double reported income from 1099's.  So, I have just been leaving it out, ever since the 1099-K paypal thing began (back in 2010 or 2011).

This overlapping stuff is a nightmare.  Has anyone else had to deal with this, or found any solutions?  I'm about to button up my 2014 return soon, and I guess I will be including a huge attachment somehow with my return to explain why I'm not including the 1099-K.  Either that, or I'll be talking to a local accountant soon to see how to include it.  If you just enter everything into your tax forms, you will end up double-paying your taxes. 

All of this would be a piece of cake, if the IRS would just included a box on the 1099-MISC form for people to check off, so that if they are ALSO sending the payment via Paypal.  That way, the amount would be deducted from the total 1099-K amount on the tax forms.  Very simple solution, but it's also a rare circumstance to have 1099ed income being reported to the IRS twice.  I've even suggested a new solution in my letter, but have not received a reply other than the "zero balance due" letter.  For 2015 and onward, I think I'm done dealing with paypal.  I can't afford to spend all this extra time proving to the IRS that I'm not hiding imaginary income from them.  If we can split up our income between multiple payment methods, the 1099-K form should not interfere with our normal 1099-MISC forms.

I may try one more time to call them up and see if I can get any further advice.  The last time I did, it seemed like I was talking to India.  I think even the IRS is outsourcing their call centers now.  She was helpful, but very short with me.  She said "Just send us the proof and this will all go away."  So, I did... but I don't want to have to keep going through this. 

Has anyone else not been reporting their 1099-K due to overlap If so, get ready for some "fun" with a potential CP2000 notice.  I've googled this issue, and it's such a rare thing that I'm having a rough time finding a rock-solid solution to filing it. 

Feed the beast mode is over, bruh.  Many reasons; but it's a shame we won't see the type of results like we did in 2005-2008.  New stuff isn't going to sell like hotcakes anymore.  In 12-24 months from image approval, you can seem to gauge a more accurate RPI on those new images. 

Still, I have certain images found in action very quickly.  I made .38 cents on this image which was found in the local mall within a few months from upload.  Can you sense my excitement?!  I miss the old days, when practically anything you uploaded would sell 1-5 times the following day that it was approved.  Now you're doing good if you can get 1 or 2 sales from a new upload that entire next MONTH.

Okay thank you Niakris, I will. 

Is it resolved for eps/jpeg counterparts?  All of the sudden, on certain vector jpegs, I will get this attached error.  The only way around it is to resave the jpeg in photoshop, then restart the program. 

Upon opening the jpeg in photoshop, I get this other error message.