Quote from: lisafx on January 01, 2010, 17:01

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 16:45


As far as I can tell we get an increase in royalty from 35% to 40% going from Diamond to Black Diamond. Plus we get a massive boost in the upload limit. So loosing out on 5% of the revenue on 200.000 sales is what I call a bummer

Don't know  where you are getting that from.  Gold is 35%, Diamond is 40%, and Black Diamond is still 40%.

Sean would be one of the few who knows what BD means firsthand

I just realized my mistake about the royalty program. Somehow I mixed up Diamond for being Gold. Sorry Sean and Lisa. I was too fast there. In a way it feels like I just got a 5% raise. Thanks for the correction

All in all that just leaves us with the difference in upload limit of 25 images pr. week. I guess I can live with that, although I'd prefer not to.

Lets see what happens.

Quote from: sjlocke on January 01, 2010, 15:10

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 14:45If I don't make it to Diamond by the 24th the next step to BD will be increased by 200K. That is sure a lot of clicks honeybunny

Not to worry.  Black diamond doesn't mean anything.

As far as I can tell we get an increase in royalty from 35% to 40% going from Diamond to Black Diamond. Plus we get a massive boost in the upload limit. So loosing out on 5% of the revenue on 200.000 sales is what I call a bummer

I made a poll:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/how-much-better-is-january-sales-compared-to-december-sales/

Trying to gather information for my crystal bowl ...

Yours truly,
Laflor

Quote from: leaf on January 01, 2010, 13:30
January can be a bit of a wild card.  2 years I had lower earnings in Jan vs Dec, 2 years I had more earnings.

Ok. Thanks. I hope for 2010 to wild then

Quote from: gostwyck on January 01, 2010, 13:55
The last couple of years on IS were as follows for me;

Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 = 34% increase in DL's

Dec 2007 - Jan 2008 = 52%

I tend to upload very few new images in the last couple of months each year and then start again in January so with you uploading constantly your results may be better. February is usually 15-20% higher than January too.

Having said that it will be interesting to see how buyers react to the sharp increase in prices for exclusive images.

The increase numbers are encouraging. Especially if you tend to lower your uploads around the end of the year. And the further increase into February keeps my hopes up. If I don't make it to Diamond by the 24th the next step to BD will be increased by 200K. That is sure a lot of clicks honeybunny

Thanks for the info gostwyck!

Quote from: MikLav on January 01, 2010, 13:06
for me both this year and a year ago the number of istock sales in Jan was almost the same as December.

Thanks for the input MikLav.
I am hoping for a general report of 60-80% increases. That is what I wish for. Lets see if Santa is hanging out on microstockgroup.com

All the best,
Laflor

Hey peeps,

I hope you are all well and in a jolly mood reading this post

Since I have no experience with sales in January compared to sales in December, I was wondering if some of you would please share your experiences. A graph or just some numbers would be fantastic. For instance something like this:

December 2007: 250 sales
January 2008: 400 sales
Increase: 60%

December 2008: 500 sales
January 2009: 900 sales
Increase: 80%

iStock stats are preferred, but any will do!

I am racing for Diamond on iStock before February 24th and I'm wondering if my December sales could give me a hint on whether or not I'll make it

Kind regards,
Laflor

Quote from: sjlocke on December 22, 2009, 12:25
"make enough money to equal out my present investments into microstock"

I would concentrate on that.  If you're running in the red, something is going wrong.

Fortunately that is not the case. I have a substantial amount of money invested in camera and lighting gear, models fees, location fees, styling, assistants, transportation, studio etc. That needs to be taken care of while I'm making a living at the same time. As mentioned I have more than 4.000 images waiting to go online, so that is where my money sits right now.

If my overall investment is returned within 2 years of startup then that is best case scenario (that would be ultimo 2010). Any qualified business school professor will clap his hands with this scenario. As things look right now this goal can be achieved, meaning I will have about 8000 images on iStock and close to zero "dept" ultimo 2010. You may be there already Sean, but again you also started in 2004 where everything you uploaded caught on like wildfire. That is not a "normal" business structure, its like Walt's EPCOT. Point being that it takes more patience and higher quality (meaning good styling, models, locations etc.) to make it big in microstock now. The only reason why Yuri is still growing is because he has madly improved the before mentioned factors. He can only upload I think it is 35 images a week on iStock, but still he is the second best selling artist. Why is that? Well because his quality is significantly higher than everyone below him who can upload 100+ images every week. Isn't it Sean? Please don't take offense. I think you produce great art, but Yuri really excels. You, Lise and the other rulers of iStock can only maintain your positions if you keep on uploading the high standard art you are presently uploading. It simply takes more to achieve the same result anno '09.

Concerning the utopia of 2004+ it seems that now with the new deal for exclusives on iStock the RPI will increase with at least 40-50 percent next year. That sort of pulls us back a few years in time. Don't you think Sean? You must benefit greatly

Kind regards,
laflor

laflor

Thanks for the question. Made me take a pause from Capture One/Photoshop and think ahead. Proactivity is indeed key to succes

Of the top of my head my goals for 2010 are:

In terms of quality:

- produce more authentic looking images
- be innovative in terms of angles and composition - experiment more
- improve my eye for styling - more research beforehand and awareness on set
- create highly conceptual great stuff for the Übercool VETTA-collection
- seek more advise and inspiration from senior micro shooters
- be helpful and kind to junior shooters (don't worry I will also be kind to you seniors out there
- become experienced in new ways of lighting plus refine my present techniques
- unlock even more of the potential of Capture One Pro and Photoshop
- optimize administration and communication between myself and my employees
- be even more appreciative for this great niche of photography on an everyday basis - its a great way to make a living ... makes me feel free as a bird (maybe like a peacock or a green parrot)

In terms of quantity:

- achieve Diamond by the 23rd of February 2010. Go buyers, go, go, go!!!
- max my upload limit on iStock all year. That means I should produce 700 images until 23rd of Feb (7 x 100 per week). And thereafter 5.625 to max out for the rest of the year (43 weeks @125 images per week). Presently I'm good until about June/July.
- attend 3 seminars on lighting. 1 planned 2 to go
- get into stock video
- get into macro photography (making small things appear big ... not traditional stock
- get a bit into food photography (mainly because I'm writing a cookbook about Ekadasi, an ancient Indian vegetarian tradition)
- make enough money to equal out my present investments into microstock

I love reading others´ goals as that makes me reflect further. One of my teachers always says that one should know a little about everything and a lot about a few things. I want to know a lot about stock photography and this forum does a great job in doing just that; creating a space for learning.
Thanks!

Yours,
laflor

- "No one ever became poor by giving", Anne Frank

Hi Jonathan
Thanks for the video clip. Inspiring stuff!
This makes me want to give it a "shot" at the next shoot
Kind regards,
laflor

Quote from: gostwyck on August 28, 2009, 13:26

Quote from: pixdeluxe on August 28, 2009, 13:21
I am a good friend of yuri's ...

I'm very glad I haven't got 'friends' like you.

Well actually you do have. Josh is very friendly to everyone he meets, so I'm sure he's also your wellwisher and friend 

Quote from: sjlocke on August 28, 2009, 11:55

Quote from: laflor on August 28, 2009, 11:44
Concerning competition and the fear of loosing out by sharing, I have shot several times with photographer friends on the same location, at the same time, shooting the same themes, but getting entirely different type of images. We all have different:

- composition
- balance between exposure on the talent and the background
- aperture preferences
- styling preferences
- prop preferences
- model instruction styles
- shootplanning
- models 
etc. etc.

In my opinion we will undoubtedly end up appealing to different buyers

I don't buy that, really.  We know you interned or whatever with Yuri, and we've already discussed in another thread how your work looks a lot like Yuri's even when you aren't at the same shoot with him.  Which is fine.  You're able to produce in a useful style.   However, you're directly competing with him, and all his other trainees, whether there's a pen in this shot, or a pencil in that shot or he shot at 1.2 and you at 2.8 . 

Having been on his team, you know all about basic themes like medical and youth culture and all that, or at least you should be able to research trends a bit to see where things are going or coming.  You're battling against all his other people that have learned the same techniques.  What sets you apart is your research and creativity.  So, to say that "sharing" doesn't invite competition, well, I'd have to disagree with that statement.

Surely sharing invites competition. But in addition I think there is also room for all of us. You are very successful Sean, and you have developed your unique style of shooting over the years. And obviously also expanding on that. I would say that if you had someone working for you, whom you personally trained, naturally you would spot big degrees of similarity, and as you point out that would be sort of direct competition. In a way that IS the case with me and Yuri, but I don't think that is what happens if we share a few thoughts in this forum.

Personally I have been trained to produce images the way Yuri likes them, and so now, as an independent contributor, I have that foundation to build upon. Since my employment with Yuri I have been seriously producing and editing like a mad man for roughly 6 months and right now all together I have more than 4.000 edited images to go online on iStock, and as time passes you will see how my personal style has been and hopefully is evolving. My point being that even though I have a certain background you will see me going in very different directions with my specific conceptual concepts, style, lighting, photoshopping etc. Just look at Yuris latest images. He is evolving like anything. To me he is in the process of refining his shooting to produce uberclass traditional "Getty style" images but in an updated and "volumized" micro-style version.

Speaking of evolving I spent the last two days observing and learning from friends, and fashion photographers, Alberto Serejo and Martin Gleit. I can highly recommend that approach - to get totally different inspiration. I think that it is always important to try and learn new ways of understanding light, instructing models, raw-conversion and photoshopping. As you surely know the learning curve is unlimited and there is always room for improvement. I find that by sharing and always having an open mind I tend to grow more both professionally and personally.

By lighting the path of others you brighten your own path too  

Kind regards,
laflor

Hi dear advisors 

I'm gonna note the following:

- The concrete themes Pixdeluxe brought up. Especially the part about youth culture. Gotta do more research on that. And also the part with business at home - adapting to status quo.
- Backup, the paranoid way!
- Extensive location scouting including going online plus taking advice from the locals for "location extraordinaire"
- shoooooooot!
- remember to enjoy the "staycation"
- perhaps spend some time at Londolozi ... whereever that is 
- and of course Goldfish, lots of them

The good thing about sharing like this is that everyone benefits. I think there is plenty of room (and money) for all of us; the micro-business is on the rise and there are billions of dollars out there waiting to be spent on all of our images.

Concerning competition and the fear of loosing out by sharing, I have shot several times with photographer friends on the same location, at the same time, shooting the same themes, but getting entirely different type of images. We all have different:

- composition
- balance between exposure on the talent and the background
- aperture preferences
- styling preferences
- prop preferences
- model instruction styles
- shootplanning
- models 
etc. etc.

In my opinion we will undoubtedly end up appealing to different buyers

Another thing is also the subtle fact that we take inspiration differently. What I mean to say is that when reading the same advice we will go away with different interpretations. Take Pixdeluxe's example of the need for updated youth culture images. That statement points me in a direction, gives me inspiration, but we can all agree that we will all come up with entirely different images even though we got inspiration from the same source. The same goes for "business at home" and "medicals.

Thank you very much for sharing. Keep it coming.

Kind regards,
laflor

Hi dear fellow photogs

I am about to embark on an exciting journey for a month or so to Cape Town to produce a lot of images (hopefully:).

I want to ask what you would shoot if you had 4-5 weeks of shooting with a couple of friends, a stylist and a bunch of lamps, scrims and 4 terabytes of storage I really could need some inspiration, so don't hesitate if you have some valuable insight on what would sell and perhaps is missing right now on iStock.com.

Kind regards,
laflor

 Recognition score
( if you saw it )

Your score: 75%
Average score: 92%

Temporal memory score
( when you saw it )

Your score: 72%
Average score: 68%

In the section above you made 0 "false positive(s)". That is, thinking you remembered seeing the photo when you hadn't seen it before. Average false positive score is 1-3.

That was fun. I didn't claim to have seen faces that I hadn't, however I did deny having seen quite a few faces that I actually had seen 

I must admit my cake is a bit boring, but in the spirit of sharing here you go:




laflor

No, no, no! That was just the sleeping pills I slipped him during lunch  Anything for a good shot right?

Quote from: grp_photo on August 07, 2009, 10:55
It's a nice write-up but I personally don't see it in your pictures! Your pictures are perfectly executed but they look like the typical stuff from Yuri,Lisa etc ; certainly they will sell well but they are extremely boring to look at. I really don't understand how you can talk about inner feelings and emotions etc. come on reality-check it's just a yuri-rip-off are you Yuri inside or what?

Please forgive me if my presence annoys you grp_photo. I am only trying to be helpful.

I was personally trained by Yuri, and he is still my mentor. So yes, if my pictures reflect Yuris understanding of what good stock imagery is, I guess that would be perfectly natural.

I've only been in the stock photography business since august last year, so frankly I'm still a newbie. I'm the first to admit that. I commit mistakes constantly and there is tons of stuff I don't know. Every week gives new insight, and every time I wish I'd know those things earlier.

On the other hand having executed more than 50 shoots myself with stylists, production managers, assistants and more than 200 models I guess some experience is there to be shared. It's just like in school. The kids in 2nd grad help the 1st grade student. And the kids in 10th grade helps all others. I may be in 1st grade in some peoples eyes, perhaps by you grp_photo, and that is fine with me. But perhaps there is someone in here who is a bit younger than me in experience. I would however like to thank you for indirectly reminding me to always grow in my style and become even better in my attempt to master the art of good model instruction. Life is a playground and I'm right here with my bucket in the sandbox trying to have fun, and hey grp_photo, you're invited

And Jonathan, I think you show a good example by continuously showing appreciation in here. Even though you are a stock heavyweight and know more that most people in here, you still appreciate and encourage everyone else. That shows humility and a big heart; the real prerequisite for success in life. There is a lot we can learn from you 

By the way thanks pixdeluxe for standing up for me. I appreciate that

Kind regards,
laflor

Quote from: Jonathan Ross on August 06, 2009, 16:21
I take it a step further and pre write all my shot lists and pre visualize every shot before the shoots even take place.
From the lighting down to the lens and camera angle and a clear written description on paper of the emotion and the concept, each shot. Everyone has a copy the models and crew all get one but before the shot I step in and really act out the scene to make it clear what I am looking for.

I really like the idea of giving everybody on the set a copy of the shootplan. Somehow I always end up with only shootplanning with the stylist. I will take this as a hint to get on it. It really makes sense I remember how Scott Gordon, the former creative director at Veer Images, always would hand out the shootplan to everybody, even to runners. He used to emphasize that this will create the required team spirit and enable everybody to fully comprehend what is happening. Again, that is a cool workflow. Next time Jonathan ... I promise

Quote from: Jonathan Ross on August 06, 2009, 16:21
I step in and really act out the scene to make it clear what I am looking for. This can also really lighten up the mood by putting yourself in play with the talent and having fun with it.

That is a great approach. In this way the communication becomes very clear.

By the way my before mentioned method is only part of my approach The shootplan, which is made in detail beforehand, is really my dear friend and companion on the set. I know exactly what I am going for ... in detail. However I addition to the plan I use my meditative exercise to amplify the understanding of the mood, and even more importantly to explore the particular theme/setup by "working the scene" mentally. Get my point? I find it to be a unique gateway to innovation and exploration; new stuff comes up that wasn't in the shootplan already. And I feel there is an extra creative dimension when standing in front of the models with all the props: you see stuff you couldn't have pre-visualized. At least that is my experience.

Quote from: Jonathan Ross on August 06, 2009, 16:21
When people are having fun their brains work so much better and they relax, the result is a realistic interaction.

Which is why I want to share the following words:

How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? Well ... 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that!"

If you saw a man about to slip in a banana peel and you could either warn him or photograph the event ... would you use M or P?

Kind regards,
laflor

True. Complacency makes one weak and the threat of loosing ones edge becomes imminent.

We constantly need to grow as photographers and challenge ourselves. Every day is different; location, model, stylist, weather etc. so I we try to apply the same old routine to all situations we're in trouble.
Just like a carpenter has many different tools for different situations, similarly we need different approaches for different situations. If you only have a hammer at treat everything like a nail ... good luck building a ceiling eh!

Another useful approach to great images is letting someone around you who is inspired (and also qualified of course) to direct the shoot for few minutes or whatever. For instance I sometimes let my stylist "go with her flow" when she is inspired. Sometimes she gets a vision of a cool picture and I trust her enough to give it a try. I've also worked with Scott Gordon, an expert art director, on a series of shoots (as I know you have too Pixdeluxe). And having a person on the set totally dedicated to envisioning the images is soooo wonderful. Expensive, but wonderful. Then you can entirely focus on the individual shots, because someone else is maintaining the overview of the situation and is also on top of the next shot in the shootplan. Otherwise you have to do everything yourself which is quite demanding and not really optimal.

I simply love to shoot, it's so much fun

laflor

Quote from: nosaya on August 06, 2009, 06:43
If I want to obtain a certain expression from a model, I sometimes ask them to close their eyes and visualize something... say an ice cream sundae for instance. When I see that they have got it, I ask them keep thinking about the ice cream and open their eyes. Seems to work

Excellent idea. If a model is comfortable with that why not It is similar to my method just reversed towards the model instead.

Thanks for the comments

I can fully understand and appreciate that we are all different and that my method is not suited for all.
I'd love to hear how you approach instructing models. I'm eager to acquire new insight into the subject

laflor

Hi everybody

There is a certain science to doing great stock images, and I want to share a few thoughts on something I have realized. Coming from a background of meditation and the journey of self discovery I am used to concentrating my attention internally. And trying to apply this to all situations in life naturally I also use it in relation to my stock photography. What I am about to touch upon is the art of being completely situated in your own consciousness in a time of external turbulence.

When I am on the set with my stylist, productions manager, assistants, friends and a handful of models it comes in very handy being able to shut out the world of externals and concentrate on my own internal creative process. Actually I believe this to be a prerequisite for good model instruction. If you cannot "get into the mood" yourself how on earth will you convey the emotions of the image at hand to your talent? Superficial instruction can often result in superficial images. Of course sometimes you work with extraordinary models who are indeed first class actors and who just know what you are looking for when reading your brief. However more often than not you need to be on top of the situation. You need to clearly define your vision. If we don't know what we want our output is going to be random. Ocassionally that can be good, and indeed we need an element of that, but that is only a small part of the big picture. Relying on randomness is like playing the lottery ... and out goes the science. Get where I'm going?

A method I often use is taking a moment (standing in front of the models and everyone else) where I close my eyes and sort of have a mental conversation with myself. Could go something like: "Ok, so if you are on a romantic vacation and you take a walk on the beach alone, how would you stand?, how would you interact?, how would your jolly, free and enlivened personality live out the situation?, what emotions do you go through? etc." Answering these question you get into the mood of the "scene" and then you explain your thoughts and conclusions to your models. Of course you have a shootplan, but this is about "hitting the refresh button". This method will make your models at ease and enable them to forget all the other people, the flashes, reflectors etc. And in this way I believe you get as close to reality as possible; you create an environment where the models get emotionally involved, which is the basis for natural expressions.



I know that I'm only touching upon a vast subject, so comments, own realization and questions are very welcome 

Regards,
laflor

Yes, too much sugar creates havoc
Although I might try paying in chocolate coins myself ...