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Messages - leaf
Pages: 1 ... 58 59 60 61 62 [63] 64 65 66 67 68 ... 390
1551
« on: November 16, 2012, 05:42 »
I think your first post deserves a heart or 100 or so  Just went back and hearted it.
1552
« on: November 16, 2012, 05:40 »
I think it's really sad that we've gotten co cynical as a community that we 1.) Don't believe someone who claims success, and 2.) Don't encourage someone who has proven growth to continue pursuing this as a full-timer.
Microstock is volatile. It's risky. No one would dispute that. But so is everything else. My last full-time job was volatile. I came to work on a Monday morning ready to go for another week in a job I did well and enjoyed, and walked right back out the door 20 minutes later with my things in a box, not by choice of course. Is microstock more risky than that? I can't lose my microstock income in an instant.
And who cares if it's volatile? What's a little volatility if, in the slow months, you're still doing better than you would be in a regular job? SIFD makes triple in microstock what he makes in his day job.
So who should be a full-timer? I can't think of very many better candidates. SIFD earns 6-figures from microstock, on a part-time basis. He has no mortgage, no car loans, doubled his microstock portfolio and earnings in 2 years.
If that's not the definition of someone who should be doing this full-time, what is?
Agreed %100
No no! Agreed %1000
Felt like something I would post
here ye here ye!
1553
« on: November 15, 2012, 04:27 »
I missed that as well. Thanks for the heads up. All the best to Rahul and his team, it was a great effort.
1554
« on: November 15, 2012, 04:25 »
When you buy a flyer on envato, is all the source material made available? Or does it come complete as a flattened file in photoshop?
1555
« on: November 12, 2012, 04:53 »
..I submit about 20 pics per week which I have told it way too low to make some coin in this business.
That's nonsense. There's lots of smaller portfolios with high quality images that outsell those that have only concentrated on volume. I sometimes did 100 a week when I started but there was probably only one or two decent images amongst them. It was a big waste of time. 20 a week is all you need, as long as you know what you're doing.
Very true. I still like a quote I got from Kelly Cline once. "more images doesn't make me more money. More of my best images is what makes me more money"
1556
« on: November 12, 2012, 04:49 »
CMSaccount has a little nicer UI for the buyer.
When adding something to your cart to buy this is how it plays out
CMSaccount
- You click 'add to cart' and you get a java pop up that the image was added to your card.
(1 click, 0 page loads)
Ktools
- You click 'download image'
- you get a java pop up with another button to 'add to cart'
- once clicked it takes you to your cart with the image in your cart
- you press the 'back button to get back to the image you were looking at.
(3 clicks and 2 page loads)
There are nice features with both options.. I might recommend CMSaccount though if you aren't going to try and modify it much and if price is a factor. I had problems modifying the template for CMSaccount which was the big deal breaker for me and also it is a lot of work to change the water mark once it is set.
1557
« on: November 12, 2012, 04:33 »
I am amazed that so many people advise a 33 year old to stick with a job he hates. What, for the rest of his life? At least give him the advice to find another job ... Yes, I know wife/kids is important, but does that mean you have to be unhappy during every working hour for the next 30 years?
You say it's easy for me to tell him to quit his job, well I say it's easy for people with nice(r) jobs to tell him to stay with a terrible job. What about the wife/kids when he comes home every evening depressed after another rotten day at work?
If you think about fulltime stock photography, you have several choices :
- nice job? ask for part-time
- rotten job? find another job / ask for part-time
- rotten job? try stock fulltime (+ diversify!!)
- rotten job? stay unhappy - - - is this really your best solution?
I agree with you in full Anyka. If he has a job he hates and can survive on his microstock income now, he should quite. Of course there are lots of factors we can't see and only he knows (like how hard would it be to find another job if he had to)... but at the very least try going part time, like Anyka suggested.
1558
« on: November 12, 2012, 04:24 »
For me, assembly line working means to do things in batches. Do a shoot, pick the 50 or so shots then keyword all shots at 'once', then spend a day editing everything - instead of picking one image then keywording and editing that one image and THEN moving onto the next one.
The other option is to outsource which I do a lot. You can get people to edit your images or keywordword them or both.. if you are comfortable letting go of some part of the process it is an easy way to up your production.
1559
« on: November 11, 2012, 08:54 »
SIFD, one year ago, I was in your position (though not with $ 8000/month). I had the worst boss I ever had, and because of him I hated every day at work. I had already gone from fulltime to 4/5 and microstock income had grown to a bit more than my 4/5 job.
In January this year, I quit and since then I am a fulltime photographer. But not just fulltime microstocker. Because I am cautious like you (and also pessimist and always expect microstock to go downhill), I started offering commissioned portrait work. Today, in my 10th month, portraiture takes up about 20% of my income, the rest is microstock. And I have not used 1 penny of my savings (yet).
Right now, what you spend is probably much more than what you really need, simply because your income is very high. Make a list, calculate how much income you really need per year, and then calculate how much microstock (or any other photography income) can go down without getting into trouble. Then realise how much you hate your job ...
Good advice. Yes, your microstock income can go down but as you are independent (I believe you said that) it isn't going to drop to 0 over night like getting fired or having your regular job go bankrupt. If there are other types of photography you are interested in, it could be smart to diversity into those a little as well, just to get your feet wet in case your microstock income starts to drop. $8000/month is a very good income but if you are shooting full time you will also have more expenses setting up shoots and other photography expenses. I guess only you can say how much you need to live and how much you spend per shoot. Good luck and let us know what you decide.
1560
« on: November 10, 2012, 17:02 »
Microstock income is unstable, but then again so is any job. a business can go bankrupt or you can loose your job tomorrow. I suppose it really depends on what personality type you are. Some people really love the reliability of knowing how much they'll make each month so for them, a regular 9-5 job is really what they want, even if they despise the job. After being totally self employed for the last 5 years, I couldn't bring myself to work for someone else again. I like choosing my jobs, my day plan and getting the benefits (income) myself. I like to know that if I work really hard and do a good job I'll get rewarded for it with higher income (hopefully). Working 2x harder for a business might get noticed but you aren't going to affect your income the same way. You are going to make the company more money.
Working for yourself does have drawbacks of course. If you have a hard time managing finances, managing your time, staying on task etc. you'll find it quite hard - but if you've got a large portfolio online already you should have already proven to yourself that you are pretty determined.
If you are nervous about making the jump, I'd save up 1 year of income in a 'nest egg' .. then jump out and enjoy.
1561
« on: November 08, 2012, 08:50 »
link to the istock forum post?
1562
« on: November 06, 2012, 04:06 »
i've split this into a new topic
i haven't received my payment yet. it usually comes between the 7th and 15th sometime. congrats on reaching payout.
1563
« on: November 05, 2012, 07:18 »
I'll look into it. If it's not too much work I should be able to implement it. I'm using a different plug in than before that doesn't off the fav posts lists.. I'll have to code it myself (if possible) Also, what is with red and green arrows in Poll Results?
Do you mean where they went? or are you wonder what some arrows somewhere are?
1564
« on: November 05, 2012, 05:54 »
the model i saw on the portfolio is always with yuri, so i will think maybe it is just another brand or name for yuri..
I won't not surprise to see other model, but i will think for those top contributors, they may prefer to source out some models themselve..base on the location, and working relationship.
So maybe the top contributors are spread their portfolio with different brands also?
Yuri shoots a lot in South Africa, as do a number of other big name stock photographers. They use lots of the same models.
1566
« on: November 05, 2012, 05:20 »
Models are free to work with whoever they wish. In cities with a lot of microstock photographers, models are going to get used in multiple ports. I can't be bothered to find the image again (I posted it in a thread here once though) but I once found one of the models I used, used by another photographer shooting for getty.
1567
« on: November 03, 2012, 17:35 »
Go to the profile menu and select Forum Profile. Put your DT and SS user info into the fields provided then check the "Hide Portfolio Links" if you don't want them displayed.
for some reason i cant get my SS port to show up - i enter my name but it gets reset to '0' when i save it
you need to enter your Shutterstock ID#, not your user name.
1568
« on: November 01, 2012, 17:49 »
On a side note, did your SS earnings not clear out at the end of the month? Don't they usually start at zero to begin a new month?
On a side note, did your SS earnings not clear out at the end of the month? Don't they usually start at zero to begin a new month?
I noticed the same thing.
I saw that too, maybe something to do with Sandy?
yep, check out this post http://www.microstockgroup.com/17278/17278/msg277828/#msg277828
1569
« on: November 01, 2012, 06:57 »
Did you try stockSubmitter? I use that and am a big fan
Can you use this on a MAC?
Melissa
I'm not sure but you could ask in the MicrostockSubmitter forum area, Niakris is pretty quick to answer usually http://www.microstockgroup.com/microstocksubmitter/
1570
« on: November 01, 2012, 05:42 »
I am actually trying to find a program for that now, but no luck so far.
Prostockmaster dows not start on my machine, with some error message saying .NET 3.5 is not up to date. I'm running NET 4.0, not going to downgrade for one program. (Not sure if it could be done anyway)
Lightburner looked promising, however, after uploading and finishing the files and mapping them to the intended outlets, nothing happened for 2 days. No distribution, no error messages, just waiting. I deleted my account then.
Stockphotoexpress does not list some of the agencies I want to submit to, so I did not test it.
Octopus looked good, too, but when I try to get a batch ready, after all information is added, I still get a red triangle with an error message - something to do with the keywords. Probably something I am doing wrong, but I couldn't figure it out from the docs, and a message to support was not answered.
So, no luck in optimizing my workflow. I still hope there will be a working solution some day.
Did you try stockSubmitter? I use that and am a big fan
1571
« on: November 01, 2012, 05:35 »
BME for Oct 2012, but also pretty standard growth, which I certainly won't complain about.
I think when we claim X% growth is would also be usefull to know how many images one added. if you have 200% port growth and 100% income growth then your income hasn't really grown a whole lot... in fact it would be more appropriate to say it has been reduced.
So my details are 22% income growth over 2011 and 23% port growth over 2011. So the income growth was a little smaller than the port growth. I have high hopes for Nov to be another BME.. but who knows. In the past it's gone both ways.
1573
« on: October 31, 2012, 07:41 »
I just saw this on the SS forum and though I'd post it here as well for those who are uploading right now. Dear Contributors,
Over the past few days, Hurricane Sandy has caused significant power outages and damage in the northeast of the United States. Thankfully our customer and contributor websites are functioning normally. However, as our team recovers from the storm, you may experience temporary delays with the review and approval process.
We appreciate your patience and thank you for your understanding.
Kind Regards,
Your Shutterstock Team http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/abt125634.html
1574
« on: October 31, 2012, 07:35 »
flashes/strobes/speedlights are able to provide more light without making things super hot. Continuous lights get pretty hot and heat up a little studio in a hurry. Strobes are also better at stopping motion if that's an issue. If the scene is 100% lit by strobes you'll stop motion at around 1/10,000 of a second. Using hotlights you'll stop motion at whatever speed your shutter is set at.
1575
« on: October 30, 2012, 08:14 »
I've added a poll to this topic - I think you'll probably get more responses if people can answer anonymously.
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