I was asked to photograph metal furniture for a company. I'll meet them later this week to see how much that is.

My question is, how do you photographers price such jobs? By the hour? Maybe it wouldn't be fair because I'd need a little more time, I have never been lighting reflective surfaces like this. What is it that I can ask for, and in which way do you usually charge?

Concerning the lighting I thought of isolating those metal furniture pieces (it's for a catalogue) with white backdrop blown out. The reflection may be handled with large softbox and white cardboard left and right to get some white into the metal maybe. What do you think?

Thanks,
Simone

yeah.......i am an old cropper.......... maybe i am more a photographer than a stocker.......

hairlight: yeah i wish, but i only have one flash right now. but i tried with my desk lamp, it looked nice.


ok... what about these (of course without the black frame):

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p396965225/h30ad22ec#h30ad22ec
http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p396965225/h30ad22ec#h13c2de2a
http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p633725109/h374579c5#h374579c5

ok.... other ideas:

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p982718308/h1e870022#ha6c73ae

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p982718308/h1e870022#hd541627

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p982718308/h1e870022#h1ff5d79a

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p982718308/h1e870022#h2ea93071

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p982718308/h13ac96a5#h13ac96a5

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p982718308/h1e870022#h63a43aa

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p396965225/h10b1110f#h10b1110f

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p396965225/h1908bd02#h1908bd02

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p840491105/h353136c8#h353136c8

http://eyecatchlight.zenfolio.com/p633725109/h210ff150#h210ff150

(the last one, of course, is for fun)

Quote from: WarrenPrice on August 04, 2010, 14:01
Hi,
Did you read the rejection email?  Were All the images rejected?  Did it say why?

I got my rejection email yesterday too.  2 out of 3 were accepted.  The one rejection was my best seller at SS; artifacts!   

no there is no comment on the pictures, just rejection, and that i am welcome to repost in a few days. it would help though.
meaning i probably better upload 3 fresh ones....
i'll come up with some suggestions for you guys to comment on.

Quote from: Stu49 on August 04, 2010, 13:40

Hi Simone !!  nice to see u back

hey you!!  missed you, what a nice welcome!

Quote from: Stu49 on August 04, 2010, 13:40

Are they stock material ??  What do they say ? 

They don't work for me, how would someone use them in an add ??

right....... well i'd say the headphones one would be ok for talking about happiness and music in an ad. but maybe the cropping is bad.
the indian one because they're crazy about cultural diversity. i can't find many pics of native americans on stock sites. ok then for the commercial use you are kinda right.
temple: antique objects?

hm maybe you are right, although for the headphones one i think it'd be quite alright.

Hey guys!

I am back after a break for finishing my PhD.....

so guess what I applied for iStock.
guess what, i got rejected!  (who'd have ever thought that.....)
i can try again in a few days.

so I just wanted to ask what you think about the subject matters I sent.
i include my flickr links here (of course i submitted without the black frames and the watermark). i am more interested in the subject matter than the technical regards.
thanks!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simsale/4817829193/#

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simsale/4785158797/#

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simsale/4057640970/#in/set-72157622568573751/

In the case you have a separate photography business - do you use its name in your stock profile or do you use your name?

I am wondering what is best...

Simone

hey,

so many musicians. i am one too, play the guitar, sing, compose.
my band: www.myspace.com/middledge.

i am not doing so much for microstock at the moment, more for conventional photography. events, portraiture and the like.

Hello,

anyone else can't log on to dreamstime? I let them send my password and it's correct...doesn't work... 

Thanks,
Simone

i also have one, very few photos there though (around 20)

hey don't fight 

both selling and showing are important and interesting. coppermine also offers a shopping cart now... it's just kinda unprofessional i find...

Quote from: FD-amateur on April 14, 2010, 15:51
La donna è mobile. 

hahaha, vero, molto mobile......[/quote]
Sometimes I like to tease. You catched the ball well. 
[/quote]

hehe, never mind, it'd be way of a bad sign if i weren't teased anymore. do you speak italian?

Quote from: FD-amateur on April 14, 2010, 07:12

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on April 14, 2010, 04:48I thought you wanted to use something with your own web hosting.

La donna è mobile. 

hahaha, vero, molto mobile.......

yeah, but i couldn't find anything. and lightzone is definitely out of my budget for the moment. fotoplayer was too unprofessional. anyway i am still using the trial version, so i can still change if i find something else.

simone

i finally went with zenfolio. it is the cheapest....and it seems to offer what i want. it is a bit uncustomizable though...
here is an example
www.eyecatchlight.com (but still under construction)

hm i found it, it is called self-fulfilled products, photoshelter and zenfolio have it.
how does it work, do they keep money from all this?
is it worth to pay the crazy fees of photoshelter??? zenfolio is a thousand times cheaper. actually i like smugmug best, but it has no self-fulfilment option.

hm....so i have looked through this for a while now......
i miss an important thing: what i want to do (among other things) is having my photos exposed in cafés and the like, and customers go to my website and order a framed print for example. this means that i print the picture and frame it by myself. but in smugmug and those others you can only use their labs as print services! And I don't know if you can add customized products?

What do you think of that?

HM.... i set up trials at both SmugMug and PhotoShelter.
Which one do you use, what do you find better?
It seems a bit unflexible to me, can I integrate it into my website or can I only use the interface they have?

Thanks!
Simone

http://eyecatchlightphotography.smugmug.com/
http://www.photoshelter.com/c/eyecatchlight

Quote from: Tom on April 07, 2010, 20:52
If you have enough time, you might want to consider a fully fledged CMS like drupal.org.
There many modules and extensions for drupal, like galleries and shopping cart.
Pros: + highly customizable
         + if properly set up, very search engine friendly
         + free
         + large community behind it
Cons: - it takes a lot of time to learn it, and to set up the first (decent) website

hmm that sounds good, i have time, and i am also good at webdesign things, so it won't be that hard.
i may start with fotoplayer and move to drupal? which gallery extensions and shopping carts are there, anyone has experience with that here?

thanks!
simone

Quote from: cascoly on April 07, 2010, 19:38

i've since switched to smugmug pro - you can integrate it wityh your own domain eg http://pix-now.com, add google advertising, and links to your site.  it's quick to set up, easy to use, good support.

not sure any of these sites garner many sales unless you build the traffic yhourself.

so if i use smugmug or the like i'll have more traffic?

Quote from: ap on April 07, 2010, 07:46
that's a really good idea, simsi. i've often seen hanging photographic prints without much info, only sales price. did you approach only one cafe, or will you contact more in the future?

no...i'll approach several cafés.

no, it is not portraiture. it is more of a landscape and that sort of stuff sale. for example now i hang pictures in a café with prices written and direct them to my website, where they can order them for example framed. i also want to put other pictures there and make them available for download sale.

Quote from: FD-amateur on April 07, 2010, 04:00

Quote from: eppic on April 07, 2010, 03:52Coppermine is tricky to set up.

Yes definitely. It's not for the faint at heart. I find myself fiddling in the php code all the time to be able to do what I want. Most of their skins hurt the eyes. But the OP wanted to have an install on her own site, not a hoster. Apart from Zenfolio, there is also good old Smugmug that probably has higher exposure.

hmmmm i actually do have coppermine for my private photo gallery. i have no problem with php and mysql and webdesign and so on. i have never tried the shopping cart option of coppermine - does it make sense?
most skins are terrible......i found "thirteen" is nice. i use it together with a lightbox plugin so that pictures pop up. http://www.canada.simsisworld.at/ (the content is extremely old though....and thus mostly not photographical........)

maybe i should stay with fotoplayer. (www.canada.simsisworld.at/flash) it has also a shopping cart, which in this particular webpage is not activated though. you can see a demo with shopping cart here: http://www.fotoplayer.com/v4/index.html What do you think, is that enough for professionally selling pictures on your own website? it is my first time, that is why i ask.

Simone

Thanks Don!

But then again, this is a paid service that HOSTS your pictures. I have my own host... I was more thinking of a gallery in flash/php/whatever that i could put on my own webspace. Do you guys know something like that?

Thanks!
Simone

Hello,

I'd like to ask your opinion about photo galleries to use on your web pages....
I want to sell my photography on my webpage and I'm trying to find something meaningful.
I am currently trying FotoPlayer (http://www.fotoplayer.com/), it seems to be good, you can add a shopping cart... but somehow it is not too professional.
What do you use?
I know of services like photoshelter, but I have my own webhosting...i don't really need to pay for a service like that i guess.

Thanks!
Simone

Quote from: RT on February 09, 2010, 18:49

Quote from: simsi on February 09, 2010, 15:42
actually i dont think it is published yet...i hope

I thought you said earlier that it was already on the cover of a published book, or was that their mock up, either way I hope it works out for you and you get a decent sum for the usage, I meant to say earlier whatever deal you do decide on make sure it includes them sending you a copy of the book.

yeah well sorry I probably didn't express myself well. i think it is a book that is already "written", but they want to publish that same content with another book cover. that was my impression of this work.... sorry I said that.
No I don't think they have my image, they cannot download it... only Flickr size, and that's not enough for a book cover.

yeah i am currently struggling what to do, accept 25$ or ask for more... the copy of the book is a must, for sure.
it is the first time i am doing this, and i really don't know.

thanks for all your help!