Thanks for the comments Dook and Paulie.

I do not want to have to repurchase lights in the future when I want to photograph larger subjects (people) so I do want the 1600's. Or the Einstein's. But I have no idea how long it will be before the Einstein's are not on backorder any longer.

I want to by some lighting equipment. I have decided on going with Alien Bees. This will be for my home basement. To start, I will mostly be learning to do still life, isolation, food, etc. shots. But I want to be able to also use whatever I purchase for eventually learning to shoot people.

I currently have two light stands and two umbrellas at home. Below is what I am thinking of getting. Is there anything missing that I should also get right from the start.

1) Either Three B1600's or Three of the new Einstein's
2) One 13 foot Air Cushioned Stand
3) One Giant Softbox
4) One Cyber Commander
5) Three Cybersync Receivers

Is there anything I am missing that I should get now? Should I get a second softbox (and stand)?

I would appreciate any suggestions or comments so I get the right equipment from the start.

Thanks.

Was still getting paid through last week. Have about 7 or 8 sales with about 390 photos online.

Thanks Herman.  Good points.

I joined Alamy a while ago and put about 12 images out there. All are also available on microstock sites so they are royalty free. Shortly after I had a sale for $45. I think that was the purchase price, not my commision. But on April 7 a refund was given to the buyer.

There was a second purchase of the same photo on April 2. Then a refund to the buyer of this one on July 22.

There is nothing wrong technically with the photo. The only thing I can really assume is that the buyers in both cases found it cheaper on a microstock site and bought it there requesting a refund from Alamy. In the second case, 3 and a half months seems like a long time to still be able to get a refund.

Anyone have any ideas on why else the refunds would have occurred?

This is the photo:
http://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?imageid=%7BC2A2B0B7-E5D9-434C-ACA7-A2702E74D5B7%7D&orgin=sr&pv=1&n=16&pn=1&s=2&p=67847&orientation=0&searchtype=0&stamp=2&srch=qt%3Dold%2Bbarney%2Blighthouse%2B%26lic%3D7%26ipn%3D1%26apn%3D1%26cpn%3D1%26cdpn%3D1%26mr%3D0%26pr%3D0%26ot%3D0%26nu%3D%26archive%3D1%26size%3D0xFF%26creative%3D%26hc%3D%26imgt%3D0%26dtfr%3D%26dtto%3D%26selectdate%3D1%26remember%3D0%26CreativeOn%3D1%26tab%3D%26cdsrt%3D0%26pn%3D1%26st%3D0%26a%3D%2D1%26cid%3D%26s1%3D0%26s3%3D0%26s5%3D0%26s7%3D0%26cn%3D%26cdid%3D%26cdn%3D

I do not sharpen for stock. I only sharpen before I print and only for the version being printed.

But on many images for stock I do some local contrast adjustments which is sort of a form of sharpening.

Because of this thread I registered at Cutcaster and uploaded two photos. Once those 2 get through, I will start uploading my entire portfolio. I have 2 questions:

1) My first two photos have been Pending for 6 days now. Are reviews that slow? If not, maybe I did something wrong.

2) How do you specify that you will accept enhanced options? This automatically comes up No for me and I see no way to change it.

Thanks

Thanks Everyone.

If I buy studio lights I want them to be powerful enough not to have to upgrade at a later time.

STOKFOTO/ARAMINTA, the combination of hot shoe flash and studio flash is making a lot of sense to me. That seems best and most economical. That way and I can have a studio setup now and always continue to add to it as needed.

Thank you Araminta. You have plenty of great isolation shots in your portfolio. Were they done with hot shoe flash units?

What I am worried about is that if I go this route with the 430EX's and 580EX, then in the future if I start trying larger projects such as groups of people, I will have to start from scratch buying equipment.

I am not going to buy anything until I get my payouts for the month of December, so I have a bit of time to decide.

Thank you very much for the input.

I am looking to buy some lighting equipment in the next few weeks. Initially this will be mostly for still life work, Isolated images, etc. But whatever I buy, I want it to be good enough for use in the future for people shots too. I do not want to start over again buying new equipment, but rather I will keep adding to what I have. I will also try some people shots with whatever I buy now, but probably not too much yet.

Currently, I have two light stands, Two white umbrellas (can be used both as reflective and shoot through), 1 pair of Pocket Wizards, 1 Canon 430EX Flash, 1 Vivitar 285HV.

I plan on spending up to a max of about $1,200 for new equipment.

So far, I am considering getting:

1) Two Alienbees B1600 flash units
2) One Heavy Duty Light Stand
3) One Softbox

I would appreciate any comments and/or advice that anyone may have.

Some specific questions I have are:

1)Should I purchase Three B1600's instead of Two? I am thinking maybe I will need too so I have a background light for blowing out backgrounds.

2) Alienbees has several size softboxes. 24X36, 32X40, 30X60. Which should I get? Is it best to get the largest one?

3) Is there anything else I should get now that I will have a hard time getting by without?

4) Will I be able to use these flash units in slave mode or am I going to need additional remote triggers? (Pocket Wizards since that is what I have now).


Thanks for any help you can provide.

I have had photos there for a pretty long time. Stopped uploading a pretty long time ago too. Never had a sale.

My last purchase with stock money included the 24-105 L lens. It replaced a Sigma 24-70 that I fell with and smashed a while back. I do not think you will regret buying it once you make the purchase.

My next purchase will be a good carbon fiber tripod. The tripod I use now is about as good as using no tripod at all.

I keep a running % comparison if photos accepted at each site. I use SS as a guide so at SS I am always at 100%. The other sites vary based on the % above or below SS.

My lowest acceptance rate is CREstock at only 64%. Listing some in order I have:

SV: 118%
LO: 117%
BS: 107%
123: 107%
CS: 105%
SS: 100% (Of course, this is my base)
XP: 100%
FT: 96%
DT: 80%
IS: 78%
CRE: 64%

Had my first sale late last week. Yes, the Euros are nice.

Also, 2 or 3 times I uploaded a photo that got a pretty quick response with ratings and for a day or two those photos seemed to sell well on other sites. I think maybe people see photos on mostphotos with high ratings and then look for it cheaper on other sites.

I edited the image and added the location to the description and some location specific details. Thanks to everyone for the help.

Thanks for the link and the interpretation. I am really not sure what I am supposed to change. I have the category set as Lakes and Oceans (because it is a lake). The title is "A Lake in the Wilderness".

Does anyone know where I am supposed to make a change?

Is there someone can interpret the below for me? I started submitting to Panthermedia because of the threads I have seen in the forums here. My first two were reviewed. Once says it is accepted. One says it will be accepted after modifications. But the message for what needs to be done is:

Reason: Bitte Detailangaben ergänzen (bei Tieren/Pflanzen: Rasse/Art; bei Städtefotos: Städtenamen/Land, etc.)

Could someone tell me what this says in English?

Thanks

Thanks for the responses.

I am beginning to upload to Zymmetrical. I have two questions I hope someone can answer for me.

1) Keywords - It seems that the first 20 keywords are taken from IPTC data. I uploaded a few photos and need to change these. I see the keywords that were taken from IPTC data. When I go into the moify keyword option, there are 20 blank boxes. If I want to add 1 keyword, do I have to repeat all the ones that already exist too? I tried one as a test, but the new keywords I added have not taken effect. How does this work?

2) I cannot FTP. Below is the error I get. Has anyone else experienced this?

Response:   220 Zymmetrical FTP Server ready...
Command:   USER sbonk
Response:   331 User name okay, need password.
Command:   PASS *******
Response:   530 Not logged in.
Error:   Could not connect to server

I now can get to the queue and see my photos. The error is gone. I also see the approved status. Not being able to see these photos before and the associated status is why I was a little confused.

I'm off to upload some more.

I just joined and uploaded first 5 images 2 days ago. Yes, they sort of dissapeared. If I looked in the queue they were not there but there is also an error displayed. But today I see that 4 of the 5 have been approved. I guess they were approved becuase I can now add keywords and change prices. The other 1 does not show in the queue and I still get the error message.

There are also prices assigned to each photo and they vary significantly. It looks like they must initially assign a suggested price and then you can change it if you want. I will have to check on that.

Has anyone used a Dane Compact Flash with the Canon 40D? I bought a 4GB Dane card and it will not work. It actually locks up my 40D and I have to remove the battery to get the camera working again. My other flashcards work fine so I am sure the problem is not the camera. I am not sure if this is a general problem with Dane brand or if it is just this one particular card.

I am switching internet access from cable to fiber optics and will no longer have my current email address once the change is done in about a week. I changed my email address with most microstock sites but cannot figure out how to do it at 123RF. When you access your profile information here, email address cannot be updated. Does anyone how to change this?

I did send them an email but so far did not get a response back. It has only been 24 hours though.

I have the same problem with microstockphoto and usphotostock. I do not upload there any more and will probably never get a payout, but I figure I will change it anyway. Does anyone know how to do it at these sites?

Thanks!

Thank you ptlee. I will look into them more and will probably try them. The prices are very reasonable and it does look like you can print at any dimensions..

I want to try a print to canvas. This will be my first time. Can anyone recommend a good online site where I can order canvas prints? Most that I have found limit you to canned sizes. You must then crop your photo to fit one of there sizes. I want to be able to print at any size. For example, the photo I want to try first would be in a size of about 15X23. Most places seem to want 16X20. If you not send that size, they will crop your photo.