|
MicrostockGroup Sponsors
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - Seren
Pages: 1 ... 8 9 10 11 12 [13] 14
301
« on: February 23, 2008, 16:20 »
Looking at the Image Seren highlighted it is very specific to a region, however a shot of a couple of rowing boats or canoe's pulled up on the bank, and maybe a distant shoreline is more stock, because it could have been taken and used anywhere.
David
I disagree, this is a particularly famous place in Slovenia. If I'm right, it's at the foot of the only Alpine peak in Slovenia, so would make excellent stock, for places such as climbing / mountaineering websites, kayaking websites, mountain biking websites... It was the place that made me want to go there. Those steps on the island are beautiful, and one of our plans was to kayak out to them. Saying that you should not keyword this lake with it's name, is the same as saying that you shouldn't keyword the Panama Canal with it's name - they're both famous landmarks in their own subcultures. It concerns me that Shutterstock would reject "foreign" place names because they're not in English, because we are in a global image market. How on earth are you supposed to find pictures of places if you can't use their native names?
302
« on: February 23, 2008, 15:59 »
Will it ever be released for Mac?
303
« on: February 23, 2008, 15:23 »
It takes a few seconds to find a tent on eBay for $19.99.
Anyway, we are talking about microstock photography which is a business and the most efficient you are when shooting the better it is for your business.
Did you try to shoot with a light tent? I've made isolations with and without tent and for me, it is easier and faster to shoot with a tent and you get more predictable results. But it may depends on the subject, the photographer etc.
Anyway, everybody use different techniques and this is just fine.
Yes I did. And I found it frustrating because I either had to use a tripod to shoot with, or I had to dig my strobes out to get enough light. Shooting with a flashgun bounced means I can shoot handheld, but can have a "shoot" completed within 15 mins or so when I have just a little spare time, including set up and take down.
304
« on: February 23, 2008, 11:39 »
And I'm not sure a flashes + a cord + various poster boards and reflectors will be cheaper. The flash only is probably more expensive. And you need some diffuser for your flash.
ds.
I got a flash on eBay for $15 (Centon flash with moving head. Not pretty but it works). Sync cords can probably be picked up for not more than $10 (or a cheap remote from HK). Posterboard is about $2.50. Diffuser is your white ceiling. Add $2.50 for your reflectors. That's around $30 if you're a good bargain hunter!
305
« on: February 23, 2008, 10:51 »
Forget spending all that money on light tents. Instead buy a cheap, second hand flash gun, a cord to get it off camera and a sheet of white poster-board.
90% of my isolations were done with the above kit (well, except I have a canon speedlite, but it makes no real difference, I also use a Centon flash). Just set the flash up to bounce the light off a white ceiling and you'll get flawless diffused lighting every time. Add reflectors as needed (silver foil) and you have an easy way to do isolate small objects.
306
« on: February 23, 2008, 05:54 »
By the way, you tend to downplay it but the scripts on your site are just fantastic. As a php-contributor to CPG with karma 5, I can really appreciate the great job you did, both the implementation and the creative idea behind it.
Ummmm, that would be iWeb. It's an application that comes with a Mac and it's just drag and drop. I'd love to be able to program something like that.
307
« on: February 23, 2008, 05:40 »
Sorry, I responded to the bit where you wrote: "Tell me what you think (not about the subject, more about the isolation,...)." If it's any consolation, I love this shot. I had the chance to go to Slovinia this year but had to pass it over due to lack of money! I'm going to have to go back, to add exactly this sort of iconic shot to my portfolio! 
308
« on: February 23, 2008, 03:46 »
Good luck with that. Let us all know when you have something we can share. 
Also, fewer people have a problem putting their passwords into an application than on a website. At least it's possible to monitor the traffic to see if information (login credentials) are sent anywhere suspicious.
True enough. I don't have the knowledge anyway to build a website like that. I wouldn't have the knowledge to be able to fix it on the fly when things went wrong! But I reckon I could start with a little widget... I'm so annoyed with the iStock one that just doesn't work. It would be nice to have all the sites earnings displayed on my dashboard all the time.
309
« on: February 23, 2008, 03:26 »
Pleasant feedback Seren - really positive and encouraging
To be fair, the first post I (and others) made was pretty fair, but the person didn't appear to want to listen. Sometimes you just have to point out the obvious!
310
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:43 »
Sure ok.
The first shots in this thread do not have a white background.
The shots in your portfolio are pretty awful technically, and I'm not sure why they would have been accepted.
311
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:28 »
The first shots were not 255 white. They were sort of murky grey. And when you used your "isolated method" it introduced a whole host of other problems.
312
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:27 »
That's fair enough.
Just saying, for me it would be awesome. I hate having to go to each site. Not to mention that not all sites have it somewhere obivous on the front page.
Guess I'd better start work on my widget!
313
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:22 »
Oh yea, I'm on Fotolia. I've uploaded about half of my portfolio, but only have 7 approved so far! Just another few hundred to go...
I would have abbreviated it to FL I guess! That's why it didn't click.
314
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:13 »
Good stuff. 
Perhaps it should be scrambled eggs. Mmmmm, eggs...
315
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:11 »
They're dull, the backgrounds aren't white, the shadows are deep and harsh and the subject.. well.. it looks like my dog rolled the apple round the floor. Get perfect specimens (unless the point is that it's NOT perfect!) and get the lighting more evenly. If you look at my pictures at the link below (I don't know about putting pictures on these forums - is that pimping?) you can see colours the pop off the page and really attract buyers from the thumbnail. This is one that seems to do really well for me on shutterstock. http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/health_and_beauty/diet_nutrition/healthy_eating/3050005_healthy_eating.php?id=3050005Best of all - no lightbox needed. You could do this with 20 worth of eBay goodies. 
316
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:02 »
What's FT?
317
« on: February 22, 2008, 17:00 »
Of course it does. But then so is giving our credit card over the bar when we're on holiday - but we all do that. Life is all about risks.
318
« on: February 22, 2008, 14:03 »
Heh, I'm wondering now if my forum ban was pre-emptive! They knew I'd make a stink!
319
« on: February 22, 2008, 13:36 »
I've had flower shots at all the agencies I'm with... none are stunning! But two got extended licenses at iStock.
320
« on: February 22, 2008, 13:13 »
I was with the other big sites before I went exclusive, so I have a good idea where they will fall in my earnings.
And I'm really glad I'm not exclusive with them now they're messing with prices again in the form of a sale. I didn't agree to have my images sell for less...
I also have jewellery selling in a few galleries in the UK, and if one of them did a sale without telling me, and then just sent me less than I was supposed to earn, I'd go mental. I'd send them an invoice for the difference!
321
« on: February 22, 2008, 12:05 »
I don't know if you all missed this post or not but the whole thing was an error on the part of IS. The buyers got the images cheaper but the photographers get the commission at the higher price so everyone should be happy .
I don't know if you missed this, but iStock just announced they are having a sale.
322
« on: February 22, 2008, 11:54 »
Ha! So true! I'm addicted to Monopoly at the moment on my laptop, and it's always running in the background!
Couldn't get into Civ. My previous housemate used to play it all the time!
323
« on: February 22, 2008, 11:10 »
After being used to Windows and their various products through the years, the 100% stability and complete uncrashablility of Linux is a dream.
Can't argue with that! I ran a reasonable XP gaming machine for a few years, kept updating it with cool stuff, and all the rest of it. It was my baby. But it still crashed loads. Bought a Mac 18 months ago and... It's crashed twice. TWICE! It's amazing! And both times it crashed I was forcing it to process loads of video AND photos and I think I was playing Sim City at the same time!
324
« on: February 22, 2008, 10:49 »
Sans a Linux based computer, Ctl-Alt-Del becomes your enemy and savior on many occasions. I'm not trying to scare you away, by all means go for it, it is a great learning experience, and a very useful and marketable skill, but expect massive amounts of frustration at first. Wow, thanks for the huge post! Something to read again when I get home. Your point above about Ctl-Alt-Delete, I don't have to worry about that, I'm on a mac. I'm sure though that being on a Mac will make programming way harder, but thems the breaks! I thought it could be a useful skill to learn, since I'm hoping to go freelance as a "photographer" late this year, and anything else I can use to pick up the pennies will be worthwhile. For instance, I'd love to be able to program a website, as a subscription model, that people could use to track all their uploads to different websites, all in one place. Perhaps additional functionality like sending pictures to various sites and even requesting payouts. I don't know how it would work, but that would be a site I would subscribe to! But even just coming up with widgets and gadgets that would be useful to me, and perhaps others would be a good start. Like gadgets for iGoogle to check all my stats while I'm at work.
325
« on: February 22, 2008, 10:41 »
So they are having a sale in one of the most busy months? That doesn't make much sense. I could understand if they did this in the summer and winter, when downloads are lower.
Yeah, I just say that. I'm not being funny, I don't want my images selling at discounted rates, when our work is already being valued at such low prices... Especially not the new XL files from my 5D - I worked bloody hard to afford that camera, and now they're selling the files cheaper! I wouldn't mind if they still gave us the full cut, or allowed us to opt out!
Pages: 1 ... 8 9 10 11 12 [13] 14
|
Sponsors
Microstock Poll Results
Sponsors
|
Show Posts
