Quote from: cdwheatley on May 03, 2009, 20:17

The driver in the first image has the right look.

 the driver in photo 1 ?  the dude extreme right in photo 4...  !  I 've seen mean dudes but  I think that one takes the cake. The ones who hides their eyes , that's the one you watch! 

nah!! he's probably just stoned 

The driver in the first image has the right look.

For 3 cents, why bother. I'm not understanding that at all. They should at least have a base commission of something like 25 cents and go up from there. I've only had a few ppd sales on jupiter and photos.com and agree its a non factor. Those two sites should not be marketed as PPD sites, they are subsciption sites as far as I'm concerned. Maybe someone else here has had a different experience?? I'm sure some Istock exclusives would like to know what the deal is.

Combining two images looks probably more realistic but its a lot of work. I've never tried to shoot in a studio and then combine with an outdoor scene, I would think it would be tuff to get the lighting/shadows right as mentioned. I do a lot of image combining, here is a couple that I did in photoshop recently that I thought came out alright.

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-9023912-woman-lounging-at-beach-in-paradise.php

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=9041578

with the new model, exclusive no longer means exclusive to iStock. and often no sellers are in series with great sellers. as a buyer, why pay IS prices for a file, when its almost identical sibling is for sale for next to nothing on photos.com?

I think they are counting on a whole lot of buyer love at IS right now. buyers aren't loyal, they're frugal.

but if I am the devil's advocate, this is just a fancied up dollar bin and new opportunity for sales. so, I will probably opt in and give it a spin. but it is from a very guarded perspective that I am opting in some files.

If that were the case all of us non-exclusives would have very few sales on Istock. The problem is, who has the time to burn looking for that exact similar image on photos.com? There are similar on every site, why not just go to Fotolia, 123, bigstock, SS, Dreamstime, etc... If I were exclusive I would have no problem with them taking out my garbage and selling it elsewhere at a cheaper price as long as its not the "bread winners". I will also add, your going to need a pretty substantial size port of non-sellers to amount to anything more than 10-20 subs a day over at jup/photos.com. 

Quote from: lisafx on May 01, 2009, 17:08

Well, for me it doesn't really make any difference.  My images are already on JUI and Photos.com.  But as so many istock exclusives seem to be against subscriptions I can't imagine many of them are going to be happy about this.

And as pointed out above, this really does dilute the value of istock having an exclusive collection.  Add to that the fact that exclusives will only make 2.5% more than non-exclusives on these sales, regardless of cannister level, and it looks pretty discouraging.

One has to wonder if this is Getty's way of signaling that they are phasing out istock exclusivity altogether....

this is what I think also, but I don't always trust my gut when it comes to iStock. I am too emotional about it sometimes. for those of us on the fence about exclusivity, this certainly seems like a push to go non-exclusive. I have been hanging onto exclusivity believing that it would one day be required at iStock. now I think perhaps the opposite might be true.

this feels like a very big fish decision. from the top. I think the sale to Getty was the beginning of a prolonged end to iStock. it will eventually be absorbed IMHO. whether or not to be on the inside or the outside when/if that happens, that is the question.

I think they are just looking for other ways to market Istock images, Just like the Getty collections. Exclusivity is the one thing they have that no else does, why would they give that up? Why the search upgrade, why collections, why audio? Doesn't look like a shop that wants to close its doors. I could also see the collections as easy cross platform for some of the struggling RF macro guys who might like to get into micro but not at low pricing. Look what just happened with pump audio. Just a thought 

It actually looks like istock will pay more for subs "We�re projecting the average royalty payout to be 30� � 55�".  That might make it worthwhile opting out with StockXpert but I have around 2,000 more images with StockXpert, so I will might be better off staying opted in there.

Doesn't Getty own Stockxpert also? how long do you think it will be before exclusive istock material will be available on Stockxpert, perhaps a certain collection if they go that route(sounds like Getty). This might sweeten the deal for exclusivity, at least that's how I see it. I'm not sure there is anything stopping Getty from gobbling up a few more of top 7 micros either.

Maybe there is someone around here that can sell you photoshop. Oh wait! that would interfere with "happy hour", nevermind.  

I can see a little fringing around the left foot on the bottom edge also along the edge of the black part of the jacket. Its there but in your defense its pretty minor 

Definitely something you don't see every day. Must be something in the water. 

Whitechild,
What is the story on this image? Were you just taking a walk with your camera and stubled upon this unique situation?

Agree that's a good idea. "Spam forum" keep it all in one place.  With most of us in the same line of work a used equipment forum would be great. It would be nice to buy/sell/trade with credible folks than taking chances with craigslist/ebay. Anyone interested in a large format printer?? 

Don't throw stones its merely a test.

What's kinda weird for me is that my search placement for most of my files are either a little better or way better but my sales are pretty sluggish so far today.

Similar experience here. Sales are about normal but I'm hoping with better search placement things will improve starting next week (wishful thinking). 

Thanks Stephen. I've never understood all the griping about commissions at Istock. 20 % there equals 100+% commission at most other micros.