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Messages - Brasilnut
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 [7] 8 9 10 11 12 ... 65
151
« on: June 08, 2023, 10:23 »
I got 2 clips nominated for free earning me $16. Two clips that have barely sold I'm happy.
152
« on: June 04, 2023, 07:54 »
You said you like sharpening with Topaz AI.
I must say that I am also impressed with the SuperSharp AI "extra" from Luminar AI.
It is inventing blurry details with surprising precision, without destroying the image with those ugly contour artifacts specific to the old-school sharpening methods from LR or PS.
Topaz is amazing, should have invested on it long ago. Speaking of long ago, I've been looking at some of pics from 10 years ago that I can "fix" with Topaz to upload for book covers. It's like digging to find hidden treasure  Here's an example...
154
« on: May 16, 2023, 06:00 »
155
« on: May 01, 2023, 07:00 »
Oh I don't intend to hijack the thread with my book cover stuff  @stroker I've been rejected twice at Trevillion and have never had an opportunity to ask an existing contributor there about their experience. So can't really compare. They are much much smaller than AC and seem to do more "finished product" type work, whereas AC works more with designers on a more generic book cover. Trevillion contributors also appear to work more with models. No idea about difference in license prices. @SuperPhoto I don't have a property release for the pool and house. The house is barely noticeable.
157
« on: April 27, 2023, 09:24 »
^^ I was accepted back in 2016 but didn't upload much until around 2021. Back then it was different (submitted a batch of 40 images, similar to Stocksy), nowadays need to include a link to a portfolio. I published an interview with Nash Mascaro, Sales Director for my blog and he gives a lot of tips on getting accepted -> sales. He insists that successful applicants possess already a style and upload images that include "quality, saleability, and relevance" https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2023/04/23/interview-with-ignacio-mascaro-sales-director-at-arcangel-images/
158
« on: April 27, 2023, 06:34 »
- Book cover: $1000
What is a book cover? How did you know it was a Book cover? This photo or video from a drone was bought from you, and where?
Was for this cover taken from my drone, licensed via Arcangel.
Do you only shoot photos with a drone? Are you filming a video?
This site is Arcangel, do you upload only exclusive photos?
I also shoot footage that goes everywhere. AC are Rights-Managed exclusive.
159
« on: April 27, 2023, 06:11 »
- Book cover: $1000
What is a book cover? How did you know it was a Book cover? This photo or video from a drone was bought from you, and where?
Was for this cover taken from my drone, licensed via Arcangel.
160
« on: April 26, 2023, 11:52 »
Invested in a drone. Letting the machine do the legwork for me!
What do you think your return on investiment on the drone is? $/ hour spent with it? (not so much the learning to fly, but actual set up, flight, processing time). You got some good stuff - but I don't know if the return is there anymore.
That's a good question and would make for a good blog post. Since I started I've had 65 hours of actual flight time. Then supposing that for every hour flying I have another 3 hours of post-processing, so that's around 200 hours. Then let's add the time of studying for the courses, which let's say was about 20 and another 15 watching videos/reading/research. Comes to around 300 hours. How much I've earned in the past year with only drone stuff (roughly)? - Commissioned jobs: $300 - Book cover: $1000 - Stock photos: $110 - Stock videos: $155 Total: $1,565 Divided by 300 hours = $5.21/hour. Is it worth it? I still think so.
161
« on: April 26, 2023, 06:48 »
Invested in a drone. Letting the machine do the legwork for me!
162
« on: April 25, 2023, 12:29 »
Locally, better agents and higher agencies will pay for photographers. The just starting and clueless (IMHO) take their own photos with cell phones. Somehow they want to sell a $500,000 house, which is a common value now, with a gloomy or poorly composed snapshot.
This is the standard penny wise, pound foolish approach as they are not marketing or promoting to their best ability.
One client that I did two jobs for after the last payment told me that their estate agency's policy is only to pay photographers on a contingency basis upon the sale of the property on subsequent jobs.
How does that work? Is that meaning, if they personally sell the house, but others are also selling the same property. You only get paid if they, their agency, makes the sale? Odd as someone with better pictures is more likely to attract a better buyer.
Or are they the listing agency, in which case, there should be sales eventually.
Not sure exactly. I suppose this agency had exclusivity with all buyers. It's another gimmick for them to try to save money. Even if the sale does eventually happen it can take months/years and the photographer will long be forgotten. Reminds me of that wedding client who asked the photographer for a refund after the couple divorced a few years later. https://petapixel.com/2023/04/12/divorced-woman-demands-refund-from-wedding-photographer-4-years-later/ps: I charged very little when I first started as I was still learning and that was a mistake. Clients will be equally demanding whether you charge very little or normal.
163
« on: April 25, 2023, 11:56 »
Hi RDU,
I can relate. I've been shooting real estate photography on and off in Portugal for about 3 years. By no means top of the game when it comes to real estate stuff but pretty OK and clients are happy.
It's more standard in the business to charge per square metre but not a big deal if you want to charge per room. My prices start at 60 euros (plus VAT) for under 50 square metres (studio) all the way up to 160 Euros (plus VAT) for anything above 200 square metres (villas). I also offer video walkthroughs and drone services as an extra. So my prices are lower but it's Portugal and has a weaker economy than the south of France. I think in fact you're undercharging for your region which indeed has a lot of expensive properties particularly in Cote d'Azur. Plus, taxes there are super high.
Lately I've been having the same issue. Clients contact me and ask for my portfolio and prices and don't contact again. They don't say I'm too expensive but I'm sure they found someone cheaper and that's fine! Real estate, when done properly, needs to be charged accordingly and good clients will appreciate good work.
One client that I did two jobs for after the last payment told me that their estate agency's policy is only to pay photographers on a contingency basis upon the sale of the property on subsequent jobs. I nearly told that client to fk off but politely replied that I don't work on this basis and if I did I would charge five times more to offset the risk. No surprise that I wasn't called back which is OK for me!
Lots of real estate agents are self-employed and the media cost come out of their pocket (even before a sale), so they really want to save on this cost. I've seen multi-million Euro homes being advertised with old smartphone pics...it's disappointing.
Anyway, if and when I do get back on this business I will contact super high-end businesses only to offer my services. The cheap ones just aren't worth the trouble.
164
« on: April 24, 2023, 06:26 »
Overall, super disappointing if they're not shutting down whole accounts. One theft/infringement should be enough to constitute a material breach of the contributor agreement. I'll try to reach out to AS on Twitter about this...can't on SS as they blocked me on there.
Yeah, probably all images are stolen. I was too lazy to search for all images, just found bicycle on Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/vectors/bike-bicycle-motorcycle-cycling-7342379/
and butterfly: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/moth-butterfly-insect-wings-7725211/
Indeed, all stolen. So, small update is that both AS and SS have removed the stolen images from four different accounts, but have unfortunately/frustratingly left the accounts intact with the remaining images (all stolen presumably). Some of these accounts have 200+ images. I've requested for the fraudulent accounts to be shut down on the DCMA email thread but have not received a reply. Also radio-silence on my tweet to AS. Dead end it seems and wasting my time. @Mat Hayward: If you're reading this, could you please clarify what is AS's official policy on finding an account with stolen images, in particular whether a full account can be closed upon discovery of at least one stolen image via a DCMA complaint of a copyright holder.
165
« on: April 21, 2023, 05:57 »
DCMA updates Adobe Stock: Spotted two thieves at AS who were trying to re-sell the red lighthouse. Their legal team acted quickly and took down the images but left their accounts intact. Here's one of them: https://stock.adobe.com/ca/contributor/211377677/abdul?load_type=author&prev_url=detailSS: No update. Very slow to act and they will also most likely just remove the lighthouse images and keep the thieving account active. ---- Overall, super disappointing if they're not shutting down whole accounts. One theft/infringement should be enough to constitute a material breach of the contributor agreement. I'll try to reach out to AS on Twitter about this...can't on SS as they blocked me on there.
166
« on: April 19, 2023, 08:07 »
So far no donations and will keep uploading a few more images here and there and also hopefully catching these thieves. Will report any further news as usual in the monthly earnings report.
Alex
Are you sure you want to continue Alex?
Because it looks like you are creating a honey pot for image thieves instead of something that actually makes you money (via donations).
22.000 downloads an no donations -> enough said I would say.
Unless your goal is to fish for image thieves, which is a noble thing to to, but still doesn't make you any money
That's a good question. If nobody will even donate $1 after 22,000+ downloads what hope is there? Images that don't get featured get few downloads. So this sort of proves the first hypothesis that people who download free stuff are some of the most selfish types out there (that's why they're downloading for free, duh ) No excuse that they're students or academic or not-for-profit entities...what's $1 these days? Secondly, the thieves taking images and re-selling is predictable. This could be an interesting avenue to reel in thieves but not really worth my time. If SS paid me for this would be cool but that will never happen and I won't work for free especially for them. I'll continue the experiment since I want to have at least 100 images spread and wait at least one year before jumping to conclusions. I've begun very very reluctantly uploading more quality images (downsizing the resolutions) so let's see if this will make a difference. To be continued... @stoker People who upload to these sites aren't looking to make money from donations but get their work exposed which may lead to opportunities down the line. The PR of these agencies have sold them a false dream.
168
« on: April 14, 2023, 07:53 »
Working hard for less than a cent...
170
« on: April 09, 2023, 05:03 »
My earnings reports dating back to February 2019 can be found here: https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/category/earnings-reports/In summary, 2019 was my best year and now I'm earning about half of what I did then, on average, despite having many more images/clips on sale. It's been tough going but always the optimistic that at least my investments in drone aerials and book cover will start paying off.
171
« on: April 07, 2023, 11:40 »
They're also censuring their social media feeds
172
« on: April 07, 2023, 10:02 »
You guys also getting this? Turds won't let me delete my Partner images or whole account.
175
« on: March 22, 2023, 05:52 »
My largest one-off sale on Alamy was $113 net
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