I have a question...  I buy images from DT and SS all the time for use on my blog and blogs of my clients.  I never claim copyright on the images because they aren't mine, but anyone can get them off my web site by right-click save or just doing a screen capture (since I buy XS web size).  I haven't been making a habit of adding an attribute to each image used, but I do put links on my "about" page to all of the artists portfolio whose images I've purchased (with my affiliate code, of course .

Other than implementing some sort of "right-click" protection, anything else I should be doing?

Quote from: dnavarrojr on July 30, 2010, 00:47

Quote from: qwerty on July 29, 2010, 04:59

80 hours per week ?

More during the summer.  I'm on a 5 hour sleep schedule right now and sometimes I get so involved I forget to sleep (I was working on some new animations and illustrations and totally lost track of time, ended up sitting at my computer for 26 hours straight, except for bathroom trips).  My daughter's schedule is less hectic this summer and I'm spending a lot of time with her teaching her about photography and story telling.  It lets me spend time with her and get work done at the same time. 

So your spending time on other than microstock, I assumed that you were spending 80 hours on microstock alone, I just looked at you Istock port and there was 9 photos or something. Not trying to be rude or anything but it seemed you didn't have very much online for 80 hour weeks.

Look at my Pond5 (video) portfolio and you'll see what I've been working on.  Since the beginning of summer I have worked an "average" of 14 hour days, 7 days a week on my MicroStock (mostly video) portfolio.  And I am including travel time as I travel all over in order to get new footage and photos.  My ShutterStock still portfolio has gone from 3 images in late April to 53 images as of yesterday.  And I've increased my Dreamstime still portfolio by 60 new stills.  But mostly I've added over 250 new video clips since April with another 300 waiting for a rainy day to be processed for upload (my submissions slow down as I spend more time outside shooting video and taking photos).  Once school starts back up and both my daughter and wife go back to school at the end of august and I stay home more, I expect to triple my still portfolios (at minimum) and crack 2000 videos online by the end of September (I have 1100 online right now, with 100+ sitting in queue to be reviewed).

So... yes, I've had a busy summer.   Once band practice, girl scouts, 4H, and other activities start back up, I'll be back to working a 50 hour week (normal for me) and spending much more time doing parental things.

80 hours per week ?

More during the summer.  I'm on a 5 hour sleep schedule right now and sometimes I get so involved I forget to sleep (I was working on some new animations and illustrations and totally lost track of time, ended up sitting at my computer for 26 hours straight, except for bathroom trips).  My daughter's schedule is less hectic this summer and I'm spending a lot of time with her teaching her about photography and story telling.  It lets me spend time with her and get work done at the same time. 

Contests have become a source of pirate-able images. Some even ask a "entry fee". So you can actually pay to have your work stolen. If you've never heard of the outfit asking for "entries" and you are contacted through email do the following: Find a mirror. Twist your head around. Read the "rekcus" sign on your back.

Hehe...  The contests I was thinking about entering are from Minolta, Dominoes Pizza, and Kansas Nature magazine.  I have zero intention of entering anything that requires an entry fee.  And for the Minolta and Dominoes contests I was going to shoot something specific for those contests.

Is anyone entering photo contests as an additional revenue source?  It never really occurred to me, but my fiance made my enter some photos at our local county fair and I won $90 cash.  There was no entry fee and it cost me $16 in prints and foam board for mounting.

I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to enter other contests.  A quick search on Google and I found about 10 or so with digital submission and no fee for entering.

Hmm...  My editorial images seem to be selling well on ShutterStock.  That kind of surprises me, I didn't expect such popularity.  Still not selling better than my illustrations, but darned close.  All my editorial stuff is "news" type images (train wreck, police stand-off, troops coming home, etc..).  I see a lot of buildings, general shots with logos, etc.. submitted as editorial but I haven't tried any of that.  Just news type stuff I catch while out and about.

Anyone else doing well with editorial?  I'm going to start submitting some sports stuff (college and pro sports) and see what happens.

Did you have an opinion of the image quality and functionality of the 7D vs. the 5D?  

I didn't shoot very many stills with the 7D and 5D, but the image quality was pretty close.  The 5D has less moire when shooting bricks, fences, etc.. because of the full size sensor.  As for Video, they were nearly dead on identical in footage when using the same settings.  In fact, I was able to use the exact same keying settings when keying footage between the two.

A good friend of mine has a 7D as his backup and he personally prefers it for stills, although I didn't ask why... but I will ask him.  But 90% of the stills he submits to SS, IS and FL are from his 7D.

Also, I just got back from this morning's photo judging at our county fair (open division) and of the 8 images I submitted, four won ribbons and I got Best in Show for the Journalism category.  All 8 were shot with my T2i. I got 3 first place and 1 second place ribbon.   Plus $90 in prize money.  And all four are eligible for entry into the state fair where the winner of each category is $1000.  I decided to enter last minute and had all of my prints done at Walmart.   For the state fair I'll re-print them at a better facility.

BTW, too much sarcasm and egoistic behavior here... It sucks!

Yes, you do present that type of attitude and it does suck...

And no, you can't always compensate for the lack of using "NATIVE" ISOs with aperature, exposure or even filters.  If you knew anything about Canon cameras, you'd know that.  Using a native ISO gives you perfect exposure without having to mess with any other settings and is ideal.  Yes, you can get close with other tricks, but still not perfect and "perfection" is something we should all aspire too.

As I said in my previous post, I love my 550D.  It is by far the best "video" camera I have owned to date (and since it does stills, I have significantly increased my still portfolio on microstock sites with images that sell better than the illustrations I did previously).  But I have rented a 7D and borrowed a 5D for a few projects and using them side-by-side with the 550D they consistently recorded a better image.  Although, the difference was marginal.  Still, better is better and for the price difference I would totally expect it.

For anyone on a tight budget, I would highly recommend the 550D/T2i.  But if they can possibly afford a 7D, I would definitely go with that over the 550D for reasons stated previously.  As soon as the summer slump is over and sales pick back up, I'm going to get a 7D and give my 550D to my daughter who has spent the summer letting me teach her photography and videography.

Quote from: RaFaLe on July 21, 2010, 04:13

Quote from: Albert Martin on July 21, 2010, 03:56

Nah... They rock enough with 5DMkII and 550D... They will not need any new model until Nikon catches up...

You think? But Canon currently has no decent offering at around the $1100 mark.
It's the Rebels around $800, then the 7D around $1700.
Surely they need to introduce an upgrade to the dismal 50D?

I don't feel that... I had choice to buy 5DMkII or 550D and gone for 550D. Not so much difference for the price especially in video ;-)

Interesting...  Video is darn close between all 3 models (5DM2, 7D and 550D).  But there are differences.  The 550D does not support all of the ISO modes that the 75/5D do and that has been a problem.  Even with stills. The 5D outclasses both the 7D and 5D in stills in my opinion.  Even though the mega-pixel size is smaller, that full size sensor makes a huge difference.  And the number 1 reason to pick a 7D or 5D over the 550D is weather proofing.  You cannot take the 550D out in the rain, heavy fog or even severely humid conditions.

I love my 550D and I'd highly recommend it to anyone on a budget, but if I had the money I'd have gotten the 7D.

I just got my $99 F1.8 a few days ago and I'm having no issue with it.

BTW, the student wrote me back and said that she contacted someone else who was happy to let her use their images for free. 

So all is right with the world. 

Sadly, that's what usually happens.  I get people contacting asking for free footage all the time (I'm a poor indie film maker).  They tend to carpet bomb most sites with their request and eventually they find a sucker.  I don't even bother responding any more, even to tell them no.

How are their prints?

My wife just talked her work into using me to re-do their portraits and publicity photos (radio station talent, sales team, and executives).  The stuff I get from Flickr is okay for my personal use, but I need to find some place high quality for doing 8x10s.  Also I need a recommendation on what type to get... Matte?  Glossy?  Metallic?