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Messages - Brasilnut
Pages: 1 ... 50 51 52 53 54 [55] 56 57 58 59 60 ... 65
1351
« on: July 07, 2017, 01:56 »
I guess your blog is your diversification. Neat.
I'm doing my best to find alternatives too. Yes, it is my way to diversification, plus I enjoy writing  I recommend submitting quality footage NOW (especially drone footage) before it goes down the drain of photography in terms of earnings due to an oversupply. Hit the iron while it's hot. I'm learning footage these days but still have a long ways to go to improve quality but at least I have started...with 12 videos now on SS. Good luck
1352
« on: July 06, 2017, 15:36 »
on how to make money on microstock and just feels depressed? We're already heading to more contributors than buyers.....
I know this makes me a grumpy old thing, and I should feel happy happy for all these eager newbies and would-be newbies.
But I'm not and that's the truth! I agree that it's a tough mountain to climb for newbies. Even for veterans, earning more or even maintaining the same level of income is challenging (despite larger portfolios). I write a lot about this in my blog so please check it out
1353
« on: July 06, 2017, 13:29 »
over a year for me, the Alamy lottery is a lot more fun. (although the monthly total from SS usually beats it) To me Alamy is like winning a lottery and waiting months to get paid... 
1354
« on: July 05, 2017, 16:26 »
grainy grain
1355
« on: July 05, 2017, 06:35 »
No, because I see the total earnings right away. With my account it sometimes takes a while to factor in
1356
« on: July 05, 2017, 06:19 »
Hey all, Do you also get a feeling of excitement in anticipation of seeing your "single & other" download in your earnings summary tab. Usually it's only a few nickels above a standard sub but I'm always hoping it's a $80+ download...it feels kinda like playing a scratch card lottery 
1357
« on: July 05, 2017, 04:16 »
Can somebody offen an RM agency that is for creative people? Like the midstock stocksy site. Not Arcangel, they are creative, but there is mostly photoshopped photos for book covers. I like the Stocksy style, so if somebody can suggest a macro agency for creative people photos I appreciate that. I put together this list a few months ago. A more up to date list is on my blog.
1358
« on: July 04, 2017, 01:31 »
Hello to all, this is my first message here. I finished reading the book a few days ago, and I must to say that is very helpful to newbies. I had a lack of knowledge about this business that the book has covered.
I think that the point is not if you like more or less the job of Alex but If he has a good knowledge of this world and he know how to transmit it to others. And he has made a great job with this book. Thanks Enhiro for your kind words and welcome to the forum where you'll find a wealth of information from experienced contributors. Would be cool to know how you're getting on in this tough game, let's keep in touch! Alex
1359
« on: July 03, 2017, 05:09 »
Same to you! Happy fourth of July! Enjoy the fireworks and bbqs. My country's independence day is on the 7th of September (Brazil)!
1360
« on: July 03, 2017, 04:31 »
Are they giving away the books for free? I thought they were for sale. Seems to me they are shamelessly using this forum to do exactly that.  Wishing you a nice week, Cathy
1361
« on: July 03, 2017, 04:27 »
Didn't think it was possible for images to be unzoomed! Happened to anyone else? Mine still there but I wouldn't take zooms too seriously as an indicator of sales
1362
« on: July 02, 2017, 04:36 »
I've considered Robert Harding in the past, since the large bulk of my work is travel and nature, but at the time felt it didn't make sense for me if they are distributing through Alamy where I now get 50%, when RH would only provide 30% of their share.. One reason to go with someplace like RH is their improved placement with several agencies. Many of my images get good placement on Alamy already as part of their "creative" collection, but are returns from other agencies high enough that, after everyone takes their cut, returns would justify letting RH put them Alamy, not to mention tying up images and sister images for 5 years? (They show Corbis which I thought was gone and Alamy as their distributors in their "Why shoot for us" pdf) You make a good point that RH distributes via Alamy and Getty so why not just go direct to the source. Agreed about improved placement, also they do their key-wording in-house so that may get better placement than If I were to do it. What attracted me more to RH was that since it's a smaller agency some clients prefer to work directly with them for more bespoke service, apparently. I also like their marketing style and curated sections, I think contributors get more exposure this way. Since this thread started quite a long time ago, I'd be interested to know if those who started with RH earlier this year (or before that) think the sales are worthwhile? Can't comment since I haven't got any sales, although only been submitting regularly about for 7 months (150 images only) and they reject like 80% of my images. Also, do the editors really work with you and help you focus in on what to shoot, etc.? Yes, the account manager replies personally and gives good feedback. Lately my rejections have been personal to the image instead of the generic "lacks commercial appeal". I appreciate that. They also have a useful contributor's portal with tips, in addition you can see new work that has come through by the individual contributor so it's always nice to see the "competition". By the way, I'm not earning to promote them. In fact i should be quite annoyed I haven't got any sales and my premium images are tied up there but I'll take the long road and just keep submitting. Archangel? They release almost daily photo requests from clients which are helpful. Yes, direct line with the director. Is Offset worthwhile?
Is Adobe Premium still invite only? Can't comment on these, except that I'm submitting to REX FEATURES which is party of the Shutterstock group for my editorial (breaking news) images.
1363
« on: July 01, 2017, 16:45 »
1. Worse month ever
2. Best month ever
3. About the same or OK 4. Started great but ended badly / started badly but ended great
1364
« on: July 01, 2017, 04:04 »
Last night I put together a small blog post on my experiences with Arcangel Images. I really like them but growing increasingly frustrated that there's been no downloads (474 portfolio), but need to remain optimistic and keep uploading. It's cool that the managing director of the agency replies directly to my questions and he reassures me that I just need to keep plugging away. My goal is to have 1000 quality images there by the end of the year... https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2017/06/30/part-2-opportunities-outside-of-microstock-fine-art-images/Anybody having any luck with them, or any other similar agencies? Perhaps Trevillion? Alex
1365
« on: July 01, 2017, 03:57 »
Best month ever on SS with 6 single sales $14+, 2 of which were $84 and $94 respectively. Alamy is dead to me as well as other Midstock agencies... 
1366
« on: June 30, 2017, 09:24 »
I would suggest turkstockfotograf to create a new thread on DT's forum (under "suggestions and policies"), which may put some public pressure on them to pay up the $96 or reinstate his portfolio. https://www.dreamstime.com/forum_3
1367
« on: June 30, 2017, 03:58 »
If I took images at an event but wanted to use them commercial is it legal to blacken faces, use the backs of people,stuff like that to where us no identifiable person anymore? That's a difficult question to answer since it all depends on the event and how you describe it in the caption. Even some words in the caption or key words that describe the event may not be permitted under a commercial license. Generally, if you blacken faces or shoot the backs of people it will be OK but it's up to the reviewer. Need to be careful to clone out any trademarks on peoples' clothes and look into the background for any billboards that also need cloning. I was shooting the other day at a wake boarding track and managed to get a whole batch approved by blackening bodies and cloning out logos. No harm in (re) submitting. Here's an example, attached.
1368
« on: June 29, 2017, 14:40 »
Exciting news! Veteran stock photographer, Steve Heap and I have teamed up. We are offering both my Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography and Steve's Getting Started in Stock (4th edition) for a bundle price of $10.99, a discount of almost $5 from purchasing them separately. Our respective books complement each other nicely as I took a broader view, discussing the various agencies out there, photographic technical elements and opportunities outside of microstock using the skills gained from being a stock contributor. Steves approach was to focus less on the market and the photographic skills needed and put much more detail around the OK, so how do I do it? question, with chapters about how to work with each agency, a workflow for handling all the images, sections on keywords and keywording tips and so on. You can purchase this bundle either on my site at: https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2017/06/04/new-guide-for-beginners-brutally-honest-guide-to-microstock-photography/Or at Steve's site: http://www.backyardsilver.com/stock_photography_ebook/It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed - Napoleon Hill Good luck Alex & Steve
1369
« on: June 28, 2017, 10:39 »
Dreamstime is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee and Bucharest, Romania but we're pretty much international and employ people globally. Our staff are located in US, Romania, Italy, Portugal, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Australia, Holland, UK, Belgium and we're looking forward to add another location to this map. https://www.dreamstime.com/careers/
1370
« on: June 28, 2017, 08:47 »
I closed my dreamstime account. I had $ 94 on my account. They said they could not pay because it was not 100$. This is an robbery. Can't you just ask them to re-instate the images and you wait for $6 more to withdraw? I'm sure they would carry out this simple commercial gesture.
1371
« on: June 28, 2017, 08:37 »
Thanks @Brasilnuts, I am a new one also in photography ... I mean that before, my pictures are taken with a compact ... now I have a mirroless camera and I start classes soon
Thank you for your comments, I will go take a look at your blog... Bonne chance!
1372
« on: June 28, 2017, 08:28 »
FAA is not very good for me. I might get one sale a year. I have 3,500 or so images there.
1373
« on: June 28, 2017, 03:34 »
I noticed that the sites that are the most severe in the analysis of the photos are the ones that pay the most ... in my case, Shutterstock and Adobe. Did you notice that? I welcome this tougher standard, since you can learn from technical mistakes, but I do think that standards have fallen in the past 2-3 years with some images that would have been rejected now being accepted. I'm open to criticism! I still have a lot of photos from different countries to put online Ok, how tough do you want me to be from 0-10?  I'll be 7.5 harsh but just because you've just started! The vast majority of your travel images, to me, are snapshots. They carry little consideration about technicals, in particular: 1) Composition: such as crooked horizons, such as 'Indian Landscape', lack of copy space and cutting parts of the image off, and 2) Lighting: harsh lighting (such as 'Machu Picchu, Inca trail, Peru). As another travel photographer, I know that sometimes you're only there for that day and that time so you have to make do with that light. What tip would be to shoot indoor images when there's too harsh of light outside or if you have time wait until 'golden hour'. On a side note, it appears that these images weren't post-processed which would help, if done to a high standard Just as importantly, the images appear to lack commercial value. That's fine, you're still getting a used to this game, but better you make some adjustments now than a few months/years down the line to save you time. I've written a blog post about which types of images are 'trending': https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2017/06/23/which-types-of-stock-images-are-trending/I think you're making the same mistake I did when I first started in that I was so focused on capturing commercial images and avoiding any editorials. It's really tough to go to a busy place like India and only take commercial images (it's just too busy), so I would suggest to not worry about it and take lots of street photography and just submit as editorials. Well-executed busy market images do well, as well as those guys with super long mustaches. Just shoot anything that's interesting and exotic! My portfolio consists of about 1/2 editorials and they're some of my best sellers. Check out my blog at www.brutallyhonestmicrostock.com for some tips. I can't comment on the still lifes as they're not my expertise but i'm sure many here with more knowledge of this would agree that your lighting needs major improvements, and some of the white balance looks nuclear, with purple fringe + noise (fresh orange)...surprised that one was accepted. One exercise I do whenever I visit a new place is to look at the most popular images on Shutterstock for example, for that destination to benchmark my work. Then your goal is to try to get your images close to that standard. See here the most popular images from Machu Pichu. No point trying to copy those images, make them unique with your own style but executed technically excellent as these: https://www.shutterstock.com/search?search_source=base_search_form&language=en&searchterm=machu+pichu&image_type=allGood luck and keep shooting! Alex
1374
« on: June 27, 2017, 15:05 »
Would you mind if you posted a link to your portfolio at shutterstock, for example? I'm also a travel photographer.
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