This is not to print. It was an experiment for stock only. I have a "normal" version for other purposes.

This still continues to be downloaded several times every day.

By the way, the monitor I work on is also a Sony. It looks oversaturated to me also but that was on purpose.

I think I'll continue saturating more than I have been but make sure to also keep a "normal" version in case I want it for other purposes.

The reason I tried this is because I am trying to increase my revenue per image. I seem to be quite low in revenue per image per month. I usually earn around .75 per image per month combining sales from all sites I submit to. I hear of others earning $1 or more per image on single sites only.

Yes, good guess/observation. This was mostly from playing with curves in the A and B channels of LAB and then a touch of Paint With Light technique. I masked the blue during some of the changes b/c I was losing detail like you said.

Thanks for your comments!!!

My better selling images seem to be the most colorful and saturated ones. So I tried an experiment and took an image to what I think is the extreme, going past what I would normally do. A link to the photo is pasted below and is getting a pretty good amount of downloads.

Do you think this is oversatured or should I be doing this with more of my photos?

Note: I say Saturation but do not actually use the PS Saturation tool.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2934008-a-blue-peacock-with-colorful-open-feathers-filling-the-entire-frame.html

SS - 35%
LO - 23% (with help of an EL)
IS - 11%
DT - 10%
BS - 8%
FT - 5%
SX - 5%

Others - 3%

It has been down for me too. This is about the third day that I just timeout. I am also from New Jersey.

This may be a strange question/comment. I find that sometimes I get photos that are rarely downloaded or in some cases never downloaded suddenly purchased on more than 1 site on the same day. Sometimes 2 sites, sometimes 3 sites. I guess my question is: Can downloading the same photo from multiple sites actually act as a type of extended license? They would be additive, right?

Well, that is why I am asking. I wasn't complaining about iStock. I guess I need to be careful about using existing photos on the site for keyword references.

I just had an istock rejection for keywords not relevant. This is the first time I have had this. Please tell me if you think the keyword stated as being inappropriate really are inappropriate in your opinion.

The photo is a poker chip isolated on a white background. Keywords they said were no good are below.

cards, casino, casinos, gambler, leisure, money, strategy, vegas, winner, winning, win

I cannot get this to work with IS. It says that the files have been uploaded but then the bar keeps moving like it is still in progress and I never get the confirmation that the uploads completed. I tried several times with the same results. It worked ok for other sites. Has anyone else had a problem uploading to IS?

Does everyone put thier most important keywords first on Fotolia? I have not been doing this and have just been leaving them as they are which ends up being in alphabetical order. I do not do as well on Fotolia as others seem to do. I am wondering if putting the important keywords first would make a difference.

I also had trouble installing. I re-downloaded and then had no problems.

Thank you hymowitzer .

I only have about 10 prints completed. I find it takes me quite a lot of time to prepare for print. Just the right sharpness, etc. I end up printing the photo about 5 times before I get the way I want it. I have these 10 matted and framed to use as examples. I need to work on preparing more and then I am going to try the same thing.

I have been thinking about this and would like to give it a try. I have been spending some time preparing some prints.

Can I ask how you went about this? Did you just start bringing your work to galleries and showing what you have?

I'll definitely be getting more storage.

This is a vacation but I do want to get good stock shots. A backup body would be nice but I am not sure I can justify that right now since the vacation is pretty expensive itself. I have a Nikon 5700 that I can bring along so at least I have some type of backup even if not an SLR.

I am going to Ireland in July (I live in the USA). I want to be prepared for getting lots of stock images and do not want to screw this up. What additional equipment or supplies should I bring?

I currently have

Canon Rebel XT
Canon 70-300 IS USM
Canon 100mm macro
Canon 50mm 1.8
Sigma 24-70
Tripod
Three 2GB flash cards

I plan on purchasing the Canon 10-22 before I go. I will also buy additional flash cards or else some time of portable storage unit.

Is there anything I am missing that I should bring?

Here is what I did.

Bought:
A few clamp lights at the hardware store
A few ECT 500W bulbs from B&H
A few sheets of Rosco Rolux from B&H
Some large sheets of white foam core board from Staples

I then built a few light stands out of wood. Just something to hold a piece of wood upright, nothing fancy. This is just to clamp the clamp lights with the ECT bulbs too. I then made wood frames and stapled the Rolux to them. The Rolux goes in front of the bulbs to diffuse the light.

Then I built a box using the white foam board. That's it.

This works pretty good for me. I want to get some sheets of white acrylic and try lighting that from the back next. I will still use the homeade lights.

Here is what I look like. I do not submit to the bottom two any longer (BigWhiteBox and Gala). I am pretty much consistent with the numbers of dbvirago.

SS: 29.36
DT: 18.21
IS: 18.11
BigStock: 10.54
FT 8.46
123: 5.07
StockXpert: 3.51
LO: 2.26
CS: 1.81
FP: .91
WB: .91
Gala: .86

Hello everyone. I have been reading this forum for a while but this is my first post. I keep stats of #sales and total revenue by month. I just check these stats on the last day of each month and record in a spreadsheet. Dividing the total yearly $ by the # sales at each site I submit to gives me:

iStock: .41
DT: .70
SS: .25
BigStock: .77
FOT: .57
CS: .58
SX: .73
123: .36
LO: .79
FP: .70 (but only a few sales here and I have each photo set at $1)

The only extended sale I had was at BigStock and is included in the above.