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Messages - grapegeek

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General Stock Discussion / Re: Keywording Gold from StockPerformer

« on: December 10, 2013, 14:51 »

Sorry a little late to this thread. We all know that IS has some type of ranking system behind the scenes. I proved this years ago about keywording a bunch of files exactly the same as to the top best match at the time. So, it's useless to try and keyword exactly the same as top results. We know the other factors that come into play with IS are exclusivity, age of file, amount of downloads, description and several other things, but there is surely some ranking system that IS uses internally to make some files float to the top in best match searches.

I also think it's safe to say that the top search terms in SS are going to be pretty close to the top search terms with IS. Flower, Christmas, Background, Vector, Medical, Family, Tattoo(?), logo, music, woman

iStockPhoto.com / Re: All istock images uploaded on 12-31-69?

« on: December 10, 2013, 12:48 »

Just checked it this morning and it looks like it's fixed!

iStockPhoto.com / Re: Been away for a couple of years. State of iStock?

« on: December 09, 2013, 09:27 »

I am enjoying the ride. I am also going to upload a few files and see what happens. I can't fathom why they would keep favoring old files vs. new, but as I've seen over the years that buyers are like lamb. They keep downloading the same popular images over and over again without seeking new and interesting images. Was there a time in the recent past that best match favored new images? I could see relaxing the standards on images a way to cut corners and not tie up the inspectors so much, but to promote 7-8 year old images over new ones still has me scratching my head!

iStockPhoto.com / Been away for a couple of years. State of iStock?

« on: December 08, 2013, 15:43 »

I started uploading to iStock back in 2004... well actually that date is wrong. I originally signed up to istock back in 2004. Got pissed off that I ddin't make the cut and came back in 2005... but still a long time. uploaded hundreds of images for about 3 years and then downloads dried up and my personal job situation changed. I kept tabs on the money but was super anemic. I've been exclusive since about 2008 because I couldn't feed the beast at Shutterstock and Dreamstime which seem to favor new uploads.

A couple of things have changed in the past few months. I've had my best year in like 5 years. I'm getting downloads all over my portfolio. I guess I've been with IS so long that I am getting a large chunk of the money for downloads and I have a couple of Vetta images that get frequent downloads and pay really well.

I've started uploading again, and I haven't had a single rejection yet which is strange and then I poked around here and it seems like IS is taking just about everything they can. I saw a couple of portfolios that reminded me of Alamy. Just thousands of random snapshots with with few downloads.

What do others see? Is IS taking everything these days? Seems like they are favoring old images over new. Exclusives over non? Thoughts?

General Stock Discussion / Re: Poor sales on Alamy

« on: December 06, 2013, 18:20 »

I've had a small portfolio on Alamy for several years an only have had a couple of sales. When I got into them I was on Yahoo group that was focused on Alamy and when people would post their portfolios I would check them out and it was crazy what some of these guys had up there. To me it seemed like many thousands of random shots of England. The only guys that did good where focused and had a unique vision. I stopped uploading there years ago...

General Stock Discussion / Re: back on the horse

« on: May 09, 2013, 13:43 »

I have had images accepted and sold quite a few with a lowly Canon A620 years ago, but they have to be with perfect conditions. I also have a G10 that a few have been accepted and have been selling, but those are old cameras and I only use them for fun now. I've been using Canon Rebels since the original one came out and now have the Canon 3ti and several lenses. I would not buy used equipment unless it's something that is still being sold as new. If you want to keep the price down, invest in a Canon 3ti or 4ti. They will last you many years. Maybe start with the kit lens (I don't care what you guys say, you can get images accepted with the kit lens) and maybe a macro lens. Get used to the process of uploading and keywording and see how productive you are or if you can make money at it. If the money starts coming, then upgrade to professional equipment.

General Stock Discussion / Re: What happened?

« on: May 09, 2013, 13:13 »

Just like istock changes their best match search engine, google changes the way they crawl the internet from time to time. I bet that's what it is...

iStockPhoto.com / Re: istock sales for new contributors

« on: May 09, 2013, 13:10 »

I've been away from here for a while and I'm going to start uploading again. I started in istock back in 2004 but haven't maintain my profile much. I have several hundred images uploaded. It's been the same story since I started at istock, sales are slow to start and you aren't going to make any money until you hit 100 uploads at least then it's slow going but steady. With Shutterstock you get downloads immediately, but old stuff really falls off and you have to feed the beast at Shutterstock to keep new material coming in.

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