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Messages - cascoly

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4076
Overall I wish I were independently wealthy and could take stock photos, and travel and take nature shots all the time. To me that would be a dream come true.

  you're not alone, but a lot depends on your goals - travel AND wealth are antagonists - one usually defeats the other.  for me travel was more important, so i foundincome sources that would let me do more travel -- that meant consulting programming work and shareware and online games in the early internet days.  also some traditional stock sales thru getty & corbis; the key was jobs that were extremely flexible but with potential for a decent income to allow time off. 

trade off was long range security -- and the niches themselves changed, so it's not a path if yu want to avid risk and uncertainty -- most shareware became irrelevant as more & more features became part of operating systems [anyone remember TSR routines that let you run more than one routine at a time?]  online & other computer games were all independly developed at first, but gradually the hollywood model took over .

today microstock can work [for now] as part of a plan -- recognize you're not going to be a major player but instead adapt what's available to meet YOUR goals.

steve


4077
Dreamstime.com / Re: Flagged keywords - what???
« on: September 11, 2009, 15:28 »
So the system is actually more open and fair than it has been in the past - but if you don't spam keywords you have nothing to worry about - being flagged has no impact whatsoever on a contributor unless he/she is spamming. If you are not spamming, you have not been harmed in any way. 
p
  spam and confirmation bias are highly subjective which is why i dont think this system is a good use of time.  the lion - cat example is excellent, and part of a broader category.  in these discussions, many seem to think there's only 1 way t search and 1 type of searcher - but buyers are going to differ in their knwledge, needs and searching ability, so we have to be ready for all f them -- when i post a orang or gorilla picture, i use 'monkey' as a tag - scientifically incorrect, but check out how often you hear it while taking thse pix in the first lace!

a lot of the confusion could be eliminared if sites used the description in the search [some do, most dont].  then specific info lke panthera, lcatin details, etc can still be found, and the tags can be reserved for more exact keywords. 

i incude detailed location & sci names w all my images - but on many sites no one will find my peru pix unless i include 'peru' in the tags too.  somene viewing a market scene might object to using Peru [one reviewer actually removed images claiming location was irrelevant for stock!] and flag the image, wasting a revieweer & my time.  yet someone who needs market scenes for a blog/article on peru wouldnt want images from bolivia

essetially the keyword system has to cover a wide range of ssearches and each site has to determine whether they want to control type I or type II errors - you can't easily do both -- so do you have as system that fails by returning some images that are not relevant?  or fails by NOT returning some images that ARE relevant?

4078
General Stock Discussion / Re: When is a time to abandon a site?
« on: September 11, 2009, 15:11 »
i've got portfolios at cut, feature, albumo and yay - the only one that sells ANYthing is yay, and id drop them  if it werent so easy to upl. [takes maybe 5' when i'm also doing the other sites].  i've stpped contributing to the others, just not worth the time.  FP does sell maybe 1-2 /yr but that's basically nothing.

one new site that may be worth your time is 3d studio http://www.the3dstudio.com/default.aspx?id_affiliate=468058

my first month there they became my 4th best sales - outdoing 123, ft, and istock.  part of the reason is prices range from $4-12 and you get 60%.  don't need many sales to beat.  customers apear to be 3d designers who are ready to spend $100 for a 3d model of a car or tanker, so backgrounds, animals, textures, landscapes, etc seem to interest them too

steve

4079
Newbie Discussion / Re: New to stock, should I also have a blog
« on: September 09, 2009, 13:47 »
most buyers are looking for a solution to a design problem - they need specific types of images and don't really care who the photographer is.  so the best approach for most of us is to spend our tme shooting and submitting and let the agencies do the marketing.  quality is necessary for success, but volume will probably determine your longevity

s

4080
General Stock Discussion / Re: Microstock tug o' war
« on: September 07, 2009, 03:28 »
Hi Steve thanks for that info!! Can I ask you if you don't mind, how many images do you have in your gallery, and how many do you add to that on a monthly basis? Just curious!  :)

it really varies - if i'm home i work steadily on editing, tagging & uploading. most months i add 500-1000 images to my MS portfolios.  last month it was 3000, but that's because i signed up at 3d Studio and snapixel & they take most submissions.

i've got somewhere around 3500 images in my work area,  including about 800 from last year's peru trip - but many of these are similar to images already submitted, so they won't all get processed and submitted.  my total archive is about 5500 digital images, plus about 1000 images scanned from slides.

we're heading to India in nov for 5 weeks, and i expect i'll gather about 15K images plus video - about 1/2  of that can be reviewed and discarded quickly [often over beer and papadams in the hotel bar] - near dupes, bad comp, camera moved, etc, but it will still keep me busy thru ski season.


4081
General Stock Discussion / Re: Microstock tug o' war
« on: September 06, 2009, 13:35 »
i not only pay for my mortgage, but pay for several tax deductible foreign trips each year mostly from MS earnings. 

too much of the discussion here seems t assume an either-or zero sum situation; even if all the participants in this forum withdrew all their portfolios from subscriptions, the world wouldnt even notice.  instead, this is a huge field, and 'dancing among the elephants' is a profitable niche to aim for.

similarly, many seem to assume that by contributing to a subscription site you're hurting sales elsewhere - but that assumes buyers search by photographer, AND that they search multiple sites. 

finally, too many focus on the big $ that images sell for on some sites, ignoring the number of users that would/could never consider those prices.  'different horses,  different courses' -- it's up to the individual to analyze their portfoo and decide where it will perform best.

steve


4082
Bigstock.com / Re: How are you doing at BigStock?
« on: September 06, 2009, 13:17 »
anon - great post about a buyer's choices

 can you expand a bit on HOW you find images? do you use keywords or categories?  do you use concepts or descriptors?  how might t vary from project t project?
s

4083
i didnt notice it on FT, but i did on 123 - last month almost all sales were subscription -- i had about the same number of DLs as i have for the past 6 months, but only 60% of the income.

s

4084
Off Topic / Re: Quit Job To See The World
« on: August 27, 2009, 16:23 »
we're ending our stay in eastern india yb flying from bangalore or chennai to rajasthan at the end of Nov, so  we may just miss;  but i'll have reasonable internet access

steve

4085
General Stock Discussion / Re: Microstock tug o' war
« on: August 27, 2009, 15:10 »
[

See, I'm not so sure about that anymore.. is anyone really submitting to stock sites using images taken using a compact camera still? It seems like a DSLR is a basic requirement now (It wasn't always)..

it's still possible -- i just bought a sony hx1 - partly for video ability, partly for the 20x zoom combined with the low light capabilities [it takes 6 images and averages them, producing sharper images than a dslr]  and have seen no difference in acceptasnce rates for those shots and my dslr ones

i also use a lumix oint & shoot for ski trips, etc, and these are good sellers.

since i'm submitting 4MP images, the biggest differnence is the dslr gives me more latitude in cropping and reducing than the smaller cameras d

steve

4086
Off Topic / Re: Quit Job To See The World
« on: August 27, 2009, 14:42 »
good luck on your travels -  we tend to take shorter trips of 4-6 wks

last summer we spent a month in Peru - travel's easy, the bus system is very good & comfortable on the long hauls.

http://cascoly.com/trav/south/peru.asp

time your cusco stay to visit the Pisac market. rather than a sacred valley  tour you can also take a taxi to the end of the valley at Puca Pucare.  then you have your own pace to walk down the 8 km to Cusoc, visiting the various sites, ending at Sacsayhuaman

====
India's my favorite place - we spent 6 wks there a few years ago and are going back for 6 wks in Nov without covering much of what we did before. 

 absolute highlights were our trip to palitana in gujarat http://cascoly.com/trav/india/palitana.asp  and the Pushkar camel fair in Rajasthan http://cascoly.com/trav/india/pushkar.asp

 this time we're spending a week visiting hill tribe markets in Orissa

i'd be happy to answer any specific questions.

we have good friends who are travel guides in turkey and in india, if you need any specific arrangements while in those countries or as a contact while in the country.   

steve

4087
http://www.redbubble.com/people/cascoly/art/everything/tags/autumn

has some shots from banff and glacier, among other NPs -- when you're ready to go, i'd be happy to suggest some places t visit

steve


 
Hey, that moose....  he didnt look too much like he was walking.... rather looked kind of ticked... LOL
Aint nothing worse than a moose that's ticked off during runting season.  Had too many run-ins with them up in Maine and NH... ha ha ha ha....
 


the moose was probably confused - i was standing about 10-15 ft away in our condo doorway!  we'd just returned moose-less from a morning game drive into the tetons NP. luckliy i had slipped a blank CF card into my camera while i was DLing from the used one - 'cause we looked up and there was this moose walking across our backyard.     but he just wandered off like an extra from Northern Exposure

s

4088
i've had a website http://cascoly.com since the mid 90's, concentrating on online games and travel guides/photography.  5 years ago, i had about 500K hits/month, now it's down to about 300K/mo, but income has never much more than paid for hosting costs, etc.   i used to sell cds with photography but that seems to have dried up in the last coupla years, too;  there's just so much out there, it's hard to get found. 

i made the choice so me years ago to just do online games as a sideline, after having it as my main career for more thsn 15 years, and my photography is mostly travel oriented, so my experience may not be the best example for someone just getting started  - travel is my primary goal, and if i can sell some images to help pay those costs, i'm satsified; i'm not looking for a full time job.  i had a gallery for my images, but when it had some db prblems, i didnt bother to get it running again - surprisingly with litte difference in traffic  to the rest of my site

steve

4089
http://www.redbubble.com/people/cascoly/art/everything/tags/autumn

has some shots from banff and glacier, among other NPs -- when you're ready to go, i'd be happy to suggest some places t visit

steve

4090
sounds more like something for the AGENCY to address -- once a designer finds the couple they like, they would probably appreciate a wide choice - bits are cheap, so why not offer both

  using image analysis software you could probably show only 1 or 2 from any series, with a link to 'more f the same'.   this would be a way for a newer MS agency to really distinguish themselves

steve

4091
Adobe Stock / Re: I am so sick of Fotolia rejects..
« on: August 26, 2009, 13:17 »
i dont bother to post to ft anymore, and BigStock has gotten almost as bad with these sorts of rejects -- dt is more realistic.

i dont try t figure it out-- if i upload to an agency, i send them all of each batch, and they can accept it or not

steve

4092
i'm sorta surprised no one has mentioned referring newbies to this [or similar] microstock sites where they can get all the info they need to get started, find out the differences among agencies, and watch some of the discussions lik this ne
a coupla days folloing there forums should give them an idea whether it's someothing they'd like to try...

steve


4093
why would reducing artist % be the only way to compete? leveling the playing field doesnt require paying the lowest royalties - there are other ways to trim - less overhead, smaller profits for owners & shareholders [who may be passive investors], streamlined web prcessing, better marketing, established loyal customers from other ventures, etc

sites like 3d, yay, cut etc have very liveral acceptance policies - that may backfire in the longrun, but it means their current costs are lower than sites with more reviewers

steve

4094
i too was surprised at the immediate thousands of reviews -- but what was more amazing were 4 sales so far this month, for about $20.  i had about 300 images at the start of August, about 1000 now. with 30,000 views.  upl is quick & easy.  this first month they've already beat IS, FT, 123 and  SX in royalties

highly recommended -- my affilaite link is below

steve

4095
When I did the Inca Trail, I was faced with this dilemma. We had porters to carry our 'luggage", but we had to carry our own stuff for the day and I am not built to carry a lot of weight, especially at high altitude's thin air. So my choice then (using a film camera) was a 28-70mm. Not much wildlife to shoot, but a tele would have been nice in some occasions, however this lens was enough for my purposes.  I don't regret sacrificing a couple of missed opportunities for a lighter weight.


we were over 14,000 for most of our peru trek, with almost daily passes of 16k, so i certainly understand your approach, but i still took my 18-200 zoom and my mnopod took the place of a walking stick.  it was tough going, but the camera also gave an excuse for stopping

since the digital switch, i take a lot of verticals to form into panoramas that are more 4:3 in format but with a lot more detail

http://www.redbubble.com/people/cascoly/art/everything/tags/peru shows some of the results and samples of the 'vertical' panoramas

4096
first, re sherpas - on my Nepal & peru treks i carried mre lenese, tripod, etc, but you still have the question of what to carry during the day, since the porters are usually not available

i like to g w one lens since it prevents dust, etc in harsh environments - i have an 18-200 for my dslr. 

however, i've been amazed at the results from my new sony hx1 with 20x zoom, and may start carrying that instead.  it's also an incredible camera for low light [it takes 6 images, then averages them t get the sharpest image]

i normally walk with a monopod; i'll add a tripod if somene else is carrying weight, for evening & early morning camp & sunset scenes;  for a week long backpack, i sometimes toss in a tabletop tripod, or just use a stuffsack filled w clothes

the best advice i'd have is to carry the camera ready to shoot -- if it's back in your main pack, all too often you'll be too tired get it out and miss great shots.  i did this even when mountain climbing

s

4097
General Stock Discussion / Re: Did a Test at IStock
« on: August 20, 2009, 13:57 »
what you've 'proved' is that some editors might use 200% to check for copyright/logo concerns, and that's legit.  still doesnt address the question whether they're using 200% to judge sharpness, etc

s


4098
Panthermedia.net / Re: PantherMedia and microstock images
« on: August 14, 2009, 14:16 »
or, closer to home, look at cameras, batteries, etc  - you can go to a retial store, or online equivalent, or you can get deep discounts at amazon, ebay etc -- yet the retail stores still stay in businees with higher prices. 

i buy an item for $.20 each and sell them for $10 on the SAME site - and i'm still listing at a fraction of what these go for on other sites! 

sure, we could get a lot more $ for our images if we sold them ourselves - trouble is, most of us can't compete with the large agencies for  views in any meaningful way.   so each makes their choice freely about whether to work with agencies or not. 

steve

4099
Veer / Re: Losing my enthusiasm for Veer
« on: August 13, 2009, 14:08 »
What really bugs me is how long it is taking them to get their website working right.  I am a php programmer and I know that adding a link to our portfolio is a simple, simple matter, and adding the ability to search our ports by views, downloads, etc is not rocket science either.

I thought this was the case, glad you have confirmed. I don't understand simple functionality taking so long to add.
I hope we see some progress (and sales) soon.

of course, that assumes the db was designed properly in the first place so that data could be collected easily

s

4100
Mostphotos.com / Re: New uploading system
« on: August 13, 2009, 13:22 »
same here - the voting system is absurd - i made one sale, but havent upl'd since last Dec.

s

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