i konw DP is a bad agency ( a still upload there because the allow me download all my images )

but the have a really bad contributor relation policy, i just ask a simple question via chat "Please can you tell me the list of all your partners"

the tell me "I will need to check this. Can I get back to you via email within 48 hours?"   

today finally i received my email

"Unfortunately, I cannot give you the list of the partner sites that we work with though, if you wish, your images can be excluded from all the partner sales."


why all this secret ? why i can't know where my photos was ? ( of course i opt-out the partner program )

Where do you opt out at I can't find where that is on my account?

I've been keeping track of the agency numbers about once a month since March. I looked at the numbers today and here are those, plus the ones from Nov 14th. First number is global/second US (or other highest country and I've noted which)

Nov 14 2014

IS 524 / 528
SS  224 / 272
Thinkstock 5,395  / 1,731
Getty 2,533  / 1,039
Fotolia  671 / (DE) 144 (FR) 327 (US) 2,760
dreamstime 768 / 1,052
123rf 729 / 1,216
DepositPhotos 1,211 / 1,999
PhotoDune  3,208 / 4,506
Canstock  4,306 / 4,299
Alamy  12,643 / (GB) 2,910 (US) 16,936
DollarPhotoClub  2,429 / 1,966
Canva  2,151  /  933


Dec 4 2014

IS 600 /602
SS  238 /320
Thinkstock 5,736  / 2,155
Getty 2,712  / 1,128
Fotolia  794 / (DE) 160 (FR) 344 (US) 2,7923
dreamstime 811 / 1,119
123rf 810 / 1,368
DepositPhotos 1,346 / 2,044
PhotoDune  3,814 / 4,506
Canstock  4,306 / 4,758
Alamy  14,047 / (GB) 3,165 (US) 19,953
DollarPhotoClub  2,697 / 2,071
Canva  2,082  /  909

As a percentage, iStock's drop is about twice that of SS. The only site whose ranking has improved is Canva - everyone else has lost ground with some (like Alamy) seeing big drops. Even the toxic Dollar Photo Club, which had seen improving stats for a few months has been dropping off too.

I don't know what any of this really means, but I think whatever errors there are probably affect all the sites roughly similarly.

Just wondering about ThinkStock as it seems to have high Traffic according to your numbers but does not seem to pay well as its not even listed in the Low Earners, why do you think that is?

Quote from: pixel8 on March 30, 2015, 11:41

Quote from: Digital66 on March 27, 2015, 08:33

Quote from: leaf on March 26, 2015, 14:22

Quote from: Digital66 on March 26, 2015, 14:20

Lighting 101 !!!  Seriously!

Sorry, but I'm really tired of people who know nothing about photography and yet they get accepted by stock "agencies". 

Everyone has to start somewhere.
If you search long enough you'll find a forum post from Yuri asking how to embed metadata into a photo.

That was many years ago, when amateurs and people who knew nothing about photography had a chance to succeed in this business. 

I understand you need new members for MSG (many of the old ones have gone), but honestly, are you happy with all these wannabe photographers flooding good work with their crappy and copycat images?

You don't know my portfolio!

You mean this portfolio http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-1451831p1.html ? Or this one http://www.dreamstime.com/pixelrobot_info ?   
Mostly copycat photos!

Sounds to me that you are a disgruntle person who does not like any competition, someone else takes a photo of an ordinary everyday object and you feel you should be the only one to photograph it! Let me guess you were the first person to photograph a pencil from the top view or maybe it was the angle view and since there are only so many ways to photograph a simple object your feathers are all ruffled because many other photographers realize the same thing and take a picture of a pencil from similar angles.

Please post your portfolio and lets compare!

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.

Hmm but I will this year so I am worried about it! And I did make more than 20K so I never got a 1099K from PayPal.

Quote from: leaf on March 26, 2015, 14:22

Quote from: Digital66 on March 26, 2015, 14:20

Lighting 101 !!!  Seriously!

Sorry, but I'm really tired of people who know nothing about photography and yet they get accepted by stock "agencies". 

Everyone has to start somewhere.
If you search long enough you'll find a forum post from Yuri asking how to embed metadata into a photo.

That was many years ago, when amateurs and people who knew nothing about photography had a chance to succeed in this business. 

I understand you need new members for MSG (many of the old ones have gone), but honestly, are you happy with all these wannabe photographers flooding good work with their crappy and copycat images?

You don't know my portfolio!

Forget the histogram, just look at the photo. Do you have blown out whites or not, if not, then you are good to go, regardless of what the histogram tells you. And if you shoot RAW the white parts are often not blown out at all and still contain enough detail.

Yeah I always shoot raw, the reason I am concerned with the Histogram is that I want solid pure white when doing an isolation so if the camera is saying yes I am blown out but then Lightroom is not then I am not sure which one is right.

Lighting 101 !!!  Seriously!

Sorry, but I'm really tired of people who know nothing about photography and yet they get accepted by stock "agencies".

Im self taught and we all have to start somewhere, so why so harsh I'm sure you knew nothing too in the beginning!

Flag?

Yep, I have tried flagging so for instance, I have my object on the table with my white paper backdrop  but the object is only maybe 2 feet or less from the backdrop. and so if I use a flag the light hits the white backdrop and then bounces toward the object and camera.

Is there a certain way to light the backdrop in terms of light angle with inclusion of a flag? Maybe my angle of the lighting needs to be more from the side?

You really should look at what you need and then go from there.  Buying more equipment, renting a studio, and moving to a new location might make sense or you might just be spending a whole lot of money for no reason.  The best thing to do is evaluate your needs and then decide what makes sense.  So far you haven't really said what you want or why you want it.  Where do you live now that doesn't have people, locations, garages or studios?  Why are you trying to figure out what size studio you should get without figuring out what shots you want first?  Why do you think you need to move in the first place, what do you expect to get out of being in Seattle, Charlotte, or Atlanta that you don't already have?  You can spend a ton of money on these things first and then figure out how to use it later but I think you'll end up losing a lot of money.

SoCal was to expensive so we have temporally moved to Spokane Wa to live with Family as we seek out a mayor city to live around that we can afford. I feel that a bigger city has more to offer in terms of models, backdrops, other professionals in the industry as well as access to more stuff needed to photograph.

So far I have only done objects in studio however I want to start taking pictures of people in various settings including in a staged studio setting so I need a larger studio then just a room in a house.

Quote from: pixel8 on March 26, 2015, 02:35

Quote from: ComfortEagle2095 on March 25, 2015, 23:26

I have a fairly large studio and I use Alien Bees lighting.  I shoot pure white backdrops frequently using two B800 units set very close to the white vinyl backdrop.  Often I will use a B1600 for a key light (and a large octobox) and another B800 for fill (usually a medium softbox).  I usually meter for around f11 on the subject.  If the backdrop lights are turned up all the way that will usually blow the background out to pure white without it spilling back on the subject (at f16+).  You need some space, though because the subject can't be too close to the backdrop. 

More artistic lighting scenarios require anywhere from one to five lights for me.  I don't generally use the 6th light even though I have one.

My studio was too small at first (I'd say 13 feet by 17 feet) but I was able to knock down a wall to more than double the work space.  Now I have enough to do two lighting setups simultaneously which is a great time savings when you are paying a model by the hour.

I am fortunate to have been able to buy my own commercial building (it's an investment).  I did a lot of the remodeling work myself and it's really nice inside now.  Unfortunately to be able to afford to buy I had to purchase in an outlying area so it's a 35 minute drive from my house.

If you like, you can see my studio here: http://www.chriscurtisphotography.com/?page_id=304

Very Nice! So you mentioned having two Lighting set ups, how do you plan that out, speaking form no experience I just imagined that I would have some ideas in mind and have the models try the ideas and also just do things on the fly which would mean also figuring out lighting on the fly. Are you saying that you already have the lighting all set up exactly how you want it before the model shows up?

So are you making your living from photography? It looks like from your website that you do mostly Portraiture for people who walk in? Or are you making your living from Stock Photography or Both?

Yes, when I hire a model, it's for a specific concept.  I plan what I'm going to shoot and how I'm going to light it in advance.  Then I go to the studio the day before and set up the lighting  and the set.  Then when the model shows up, there are just tweaks to make.

Model time is expensive and I want to get the most shots possible so I do a lot of prep.

I don't make my living from photography currently.  Doing stock part time pays for all my equipment.  It also pays the costs to hire models or travel around to do art projects just for myself that isn't intended for stock.  But I'm not going to  be quitting the day job any time soon.

Well I think you will be full time in the future for sure looks like you are on your way.

I have a fairly large studio and I use Alien Bees lighting.  I shoot pure white backdrops frequently using two B800 units set very close to the white vinyl backdrop.  Often I will use a B1600 for a key light (and a large octobox) and another B800 for fill (usually a medium softbox).  I usually meter for around f11 on the subject.  If the backdrop lights are turned up all the way that will usually blow the background out to pure white without it spilling back on the subject (at f16+).  You need some space, though because the subject can't be too close to the backdrop. 

More artistic lighting scenarios require anywhere from one to five lights for me.  I don't generally use the 6th light even though I have one.

My studio was too small at first (I'd say 13 feet by 17 feet) but I was able to knock down a wall to more than double the work space.  Now I have enough to do two lighting setups simultaneously which is a great time savings when you are paying a model by the hour.

I am fortunate to have been able to buy my own commercial building (it's an investment).  I did a lot of the remodeling work myself and it's really nice inside now.  Unfortunately to be able to afford to buy I had to purchase in an outlying area so it's a 35 minute drive from my house.

If you like, you can see my studio here: http://www.chriscurtisphotography.com/?page_id=304

Very Nice! So you mentioned having two Lighting set ups, how do you plan that out, speaking form no experience I just imagined that I would have some ideas in mind and have the models try the ideas and also just do things on the fly which would mean also figuring out lighting on the fly. Are you saying that you already have the lighting all set up exactly how you want it before the model shows up?

So are you making your living from photography? It looks like from your website that you do mostly Portraiture for people who walk in? Or are you making your living from Stock Photography or Both?

Find a large commercial space that will rent by the day - community halls, office buildings, libraries with meeting, presentation rooms etc, preferably a place with at least one large white wall.  Bear in mind that you might require much more powerful studio lighting - those that work well for objects at home may not have enough power in a full length setting.  To get the best result you are going to have to spend some money.

Currently I have three Einstein� E640 Flash Units, do you think these are powerful enough and if not do you have any suggestions?
 
I have one 60" Octabox a 37 In Octabox and two small rectangle soft boxes. Any suggestions on anything else I might need starting out.

Maybe give some more info.  Budget, what you plan to use the space for, how much will you use it, where are you located, what kind of equipment do you want to use, etc...  There are lots of solutions depending what problems you want solved.  If you just want waist up portraits a spare room will work, full body a garage would probably be better, multiple people on a set you need something larger, real looking locations you would probably want to rent that space.

Do office buildings rent spaces on a short term basis?

I am wanting to transition from taking pictures of objects to taking pictures of one or more people interacting with various stuff. I have watched videos on other photographers demonstrating what they do and they all seem to have pretty large studio spaces so I am trying to figure out something that will be large enough and affordable starting out. Also what is a reasonable distance for a model to travel. I guess I am trying to find out if there is a industry standard on how most photographers operate in terms of location to a big city and if it is considered unprofessional to work out of your garage when working with models and if anyone has any pointers from their own journey and experience in this process as everyone has to start somewhere?

It would seem like a bad idea to go rent some large space for several hundred dollars a month just starting out until you have gained experience and got good at taking photos with people in settings.