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Messages - FD

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1751
Adobe Stock / Re: 2010 Fotolia Tax coming !!
« on: January 01, 2010, 19:11 »
Does that mean both buyers were Americans?
Not. You'll have to trust them.  ;D ;D

1752
Adobe Stock / Re: 2010 Fotolia Tax coming !!
« on: January 01, 2010, 17:51 »
Fotolia clearly has a serious cash flow problem. Contributors waiting to ask payout and the undue 30% tax for 0% treaty countries contributors will help.

Asking a TIN nr requires a snail mail letter from FT and the entire procedure takes 3 months, yet they announced it shortly before the holidays. Nuf said.


1753
New Sites - General / Re: Year in Review 2009 - Gone
« on: January 01, 2010, 15:53 »
We don't know if StockXpert is going out, but it has been sold.

I don't know if somebody else is in the loop here, or if it's supposed to be a secret, but the creators of StockXpert apparently didn't sign any non-competition clause with Getty, and there might be some surprises in the pipeline from Hungary.  ;)

1754
What are your shooting conditions?  I would always rather put a good lens on a cheap camera.  However, the amount the camera quality influences output is strongly affected by the shooting conditions.  If you're shooting in a studio at ISO 100 you won't notice the difference as much as ISO 800 handheld at a sporting event or a wedding chapel.  Or being able to use high speed fill flash which the Rebel doesn't do.

Events are totally different than outdoor shoots and studio. I think for events and high ISO, a Nikon D700 is ideal, with its large sensor at just 12MP. I only do outdoors and studio, 100 ISO. My lightboxes allow F13 then. I tried 500 ISO in a mall with the D5-II, and the noise is great, but not up to stock standards, IMHO.

1755
Adobe Stock / Re: 2010 Fotolia Tax coming !!
« on: January 01, 2010, 15:22 »
I just had a look and my last sale yesterday Dec 31 was 0.31$ XS Standard. Today's (Jan 1, 2010) the first XS Standard sale was 0.196$. That's simply too low.

1756
The other comment is that image quality - even with a great camera and great lens - can be significantly affected by the skill (or lack thereof) of the photographer. I've seen a lot of 5D2 owners in IS's critique forum who can't see why they can't just point their lovely camera and lens at anything and get a wonderful image as a result. This has always been true, but some of the spectacular advances in sensor and DSLR capture technology have encouraged people to become over optimistic about the role of great equipment.

This is all too true. A top lens and a top cam make your job as a photographer even more critical. When I first used my 5D-II + 24-70/2.8 (a top lens) I was exited about the focusing and the exposure. After some pixel-peeping, I had to revert to my old method of all-manual, select 1 focus point, and use the monopod.
I prefer to chose my focus point myself, and also to slightly over-expose since the D5-II has a lot of headroom in the raw and all noise is gone in black hair this way.
The monopod is essential, except outdoors in bright tropical light > 1/500. The 24-70 is a very heave lens, heaver than the cam, and difficult to use handheld at lower exposures. Every little motion blur you will see on a 21MP cam and with a top lens. My carbon Manfrotto monopod is actually my best accessory.

1757
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia site returning blank?!
« on: January 01, 2010, 09:17 »
hm.. still down for me, guess i'll just be patient.
Perhaps you reset your DNS with the MSG trouble. Perhaps you use IE, so try to switch browser. All works fine here (DNS of local ISP, FF)

1758
Off Topic / Re: Happy New Year
« on: December 31, 2009, 22:27 »

  • Lighting problem(s)
  • Focus not where we feel it would work best
  • Trademarks visible (yourimage.jpg) - "O" in EOS copyrighted by iStockphoto
  • Category "body parts missing" seems not entirely relevant to the image
  • Property release required for the stretcher
  • Released Model does not seem compleet
  • Not newsworty and/or Dateline missing. Please refer to ShutterStock editorial submission guidelines: only Obama headshots are News
  • Laceration too rough or too feathered
  • Canon artifact visible at full size. Please use Nikon or Samsung cellphone
  • Cropping and/or framing limits usability: feet missing
  • Image invites slanderous use: photographers are not always obsessed
  • These keywords seem not to be entirely relevant to the image: sexy, beautiful, woman, boops, lingerie, bra, landscape, business, outdoors, nudity, success, waterfall.

When you can correct these problems, please feel free to resubmit this image for adding to our dollarcent bin. Thank you for using iSuckphotos.  ;D
Happy Newyear.

1759
Off Topic / Re: Thanks & Happy 2010 From The3dStudio.com!
« on: December 31, 2009, 21:10 »
And I actually got sales:P

1760
Off Topic / Re: Happy New Year
« on: December 31, 2009, 21:05 »
may all your wishes come true!
Be careful what you wish for... because it might come true.  :P

1761
iStockPhoto.com / Re: How much do you like Istockphoto?
« on: December 31, 2009, 14:42 »
My RPD is also around 1.50$ at Istock, if not more. I tend to sell big sizes quite often.

Perhaps because you have mainly illustrations. I just re-checked and at IS my RPD over 2009 is 1.12$ and over December alone 1.02$. Compare with 1.22$/.28$ at DT. Not that the sizes there are larger, but I sell disproportionally more level 3 and up (those are more xpensive).

1762
Cutcaster / Re: anyone out there selling?
« on: December 31, 2009, 09:16 »
I think midstock is very viable if properly executed. Istock's Vetta is an example.

Yes but it's embedded in a traditional micro site. DT has "midstock" too, with their level 3+ images. What I mean is a midstock site with higher prices all across the board.

1763
Cutcaster / Re: anyone out there selling?
« on: December 31, 2009, 09:10 »
$65 total sales.  All editorial (motocross) images.

You found a great niche there for your Editorial then. One of the reasons I quit CC is that CC denied my editorial since there were now and then children in it. If I'm doing lifestyle, travel and ethnic shots in the Philippines, it's impossible to avoid children when 1/2 of the population is below 20.

BigStock and SS refuse my Editorial now, since it's not "newsworthy" (they only seem to accept Obama headshots) but ethnic and cultural. I had no views on my Edorial at YAY. DT is the only place that still accepts it, if I'm lucky. I came to the conclusion that microstock and Editorial don't mix, although there must be a huge market for it in the media (less in the commercial word).

I'm still looking for a place to park Editorial, and I'm not so sure about Alamy, after what I read here.

1764
General Stock Discussion / Re: Insurance?
« on: December 31, 2009, 07:39 »
Thanks, I just sent him a mail - I'll keep you informed!
I think we should handle this in private, so I sent you a PM.

1765
Cutcaster / Re: anyone out there selling?
« on: December 31, 2009, 07:26 »
The future for "midstock" looks very ominous. There has been Featurepics, Zymmetrical, LuckyOliver, Mostphotos and Cutcaster.

Featurepics had to change strategy drastically, added a volume plan, and is still critical; Zymm and LO had to stop; Mostphotos is a great backup; and Cutcaster is all that's left for now.

The midstock concept just didn't work, and all new sites that are popping up now play the low pricing game.

1766
Photoshelter might be an option or we could form an alliance with one of the sites we like and pledge to give them a decent amount of exclusive content to try and attract more buyers.  I think that is going to be the best way to get buyers interested now.

I had the same idea a few months ago about Clustershot, that is much cheaper than the huge fees that PS ask. I thought that PS would give extra exposure, but PaulieWalnuts said they don't. We could pressure Clustershot - as a group - to add some simple but needed changes, for instance adding different license types.

They also should add the option to link ports there together, so that the search can be limited to the members of the group, and "similars" shown are also limited to the group. In that case, it would be a virtual agency if the group agrees on a common price scheme. Now, you can have images there for 1$ and 300$. As the Featurepics experience showed, buyers get confused by divergent prices.

They should also add the option for at least 2 sizes: websize and full size, with different price points. Clustershot thinks along different lines (see their forum), but as a group, they could be pressurized to add a few vital features. The integration though, is still a big issue. Adeptris has been talking about that in other threads.

And finally, technicalities are one point, but marketing is the main. Since all contributors on Clustershot are paid individually, there should be an organizational framework to do proper marketing, beyond simple SEO. What you'll get then is another stock site.

1767
General Stock Discussion / Re: Insurance?
« on: December 30, 2009, 19:14 »
Thanks for the tip.  I'll contact that agency.  If I tell them I got their website as a tip by FD-amateur, will they know who you are?  (if not, could you send me your real name?).
The boss is Leon and I'm Hugo. ;-) He knows me quite well.

1768
General - Top Sites / Re: rpi year 2009
« on: December 30, 2009, 19:11 »
Either way you're doing very well and I hope I can keep up with you ;)

You will! All these guys with 1000$ per day and smirky smiles just made me decide to go flip hamburgers.

1769
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia and Witholding Taxes!
« on: December 30, 2009, 18:59 »
its the word bans thats worrying !!
Don't worry. I got it too and I never posted there. It's a simple programming error.

1770
General Stock Discussion / Re: Insurance?
« on: December 30, 2009, 15:36 »
I'm not worried about these accidents :  I only work with Belgian models - they don't sue so fast as in the US.

For my current 2 months in Belgium, I just refused shoots they asked me for, since I can't afford a 200 euro insurance for some 0.35$ downloads. If my Filipino models die, they would cost me just 750$, the reason why nobody has serious car insurance. About injuries: hospital costs can be more expensive, that's why you get the advice to kill the people you injured. And this is NOT a sick joke.
Copyright infringement is another thing, and I haven't found a solution yet.

You could ask the guy than runs marquisemodels.eu. He's a friend and he told me they were insured for that. But he's not in the least interested in microstock when he saw what it pays. They're doing assignments exclusively and their models are 2-300 euro/day.

1771
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock in the New Year
« on: December 30, 2009, 15:08 »
Actually Yuri's girlfriend, who started later than him, went straigth to exclusivity.
Ah yes, and is she using by any coincidence the same cam and the same models?  :P
Great idea. I thought about camera-sharing too.

1772
Zymmetrical.com / Re: Zymmetrical is now closed
« on: December 30, 2009, 14:16 »
At least the editor should have a good coscience to credit the ARTIST and not the agency... sheees!

iStock for instance does it. And I can't be 100% sure since I didn't see the book myself. But prices are getting too low in general, considering the work it takes to make a shot presentable, and all "new" sites we see emerging now are playing on the price-competition field. The good sites like Zymm go down, and some other ones will follow. Honestly, I had more fun at DeviantArt 5 years ago, even if it was free. I kept a few good friends from that period.

1773
Crestock.com / Re: Crestock.com is down?
« on: December 30, 2009, 14:06 »
Other than having very high standards, and putting current payment problems aside I don't really see what crestock has done wrong?

Paying just 0.25$ for "prime" photos and ignoring requests to close down portfolio perhaps?
(and I had an approval ratio of 70%, so it's not vengeance)

After several business-sounding but ignored requests to close my port down, I had to scorn them on their forum and here to make it finally happen. Sorry, but thanks.

1774
Zymmetrical.com / Re: Zymmetrical is now closed
« on: December 30, 2009, 13:53 »
Isn't it troubling that micro has become a 4-site show and there is very little room for a new player to elbow into the game?

Photos are sold too cheap. I got an IM yesterday from a friend in Manila telling me he saw a photo-travel book on the shelves about the Philippines (he forgot the name) with at least 10 landmark/landscape shots of me in it. The credit was for "ShutterStock".
He thought I was rich by now and we could have a nice diner the next time I was there. I didn't have the guts to tell him I probably made 3.3-3.6$ on those shots. Maybe enough for 2 coffees in a cheap joint.

With about 200 usable CR2s on my disk, I just closed photoshop and I'm going to watch some movies instead. The Zymm and the Featurepics concept didn't make it. The future belongs to the 0.20$ or 15p sites. That's great, but not with me.

1775
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia and Witholding Taxes!
« on: December 30, 2009, 13:19 »
looks like we can now get letters posted to us i know this means that we still have to get the ITIN number but at least with the proper paperwork we souldnt get it all sent back fronm the IRS !!
Frankly, I couldn't care less. I'm not going thru all this red tape just for Fotolia, a site that still pays me 3.20$ (soon 2$) for an EL (several in December), when I am bronze since years. When all the dust settled down and they're not going to address this properly, like Shutterstock or Bigstock, I'm done with them.

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