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451
General Stock Discussion / Re: There is a business model I would like to see
« on: January 11, 2009, 17:16 »
I suspect this is the strategy Yay is using. Still a bit early to judge results.
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455
Newbie Discussion / Re: Gimp - who knows that one?
« on: January 07, 2009, 14:52 »
The pen tool in GIMP does the same things as it does in PS, although the hotkeys are different and a few other variations.
456
Newbie Discussion / Re: Gimp - who knows that one?
« on: January 06, 2009, 16:45 »Gimp does not support 48 bit RGB, though, unless I do not remember correctly.Referring to Yuri Arcurs' workflow (and he seems to get it right enough), he does all curves/levels adjustments in his RAW processing software of choice (Capture One I think - he dislikes ACR), saves as 16-bit TIFF, opens in PS and converts to 8-bit for further editing. I could easily do the same (my Pentax RAW converter is good if a bit clunky) and do my editing on 8-bit files in GIMP. I don't use plugins much (except Primatte Chromakeyer for isolations, but channel masking works just as well except when blue/green spill is involved). For me the biggest drawback of GIMP is lack of adjustment layers, and some performance issues.
457
General Stock Discussion / Re: Composites
« on: January 03, 2009, 18:14 »No better way to learn than jumping right in Alistair. Do get yourself a copy of Katrin Eismann's excellent book Photoshop Masking and Compositing first though. Also, I suggest you start with someone a bit less challenging than Mark. Another newcomer is always a good choice when you're starting out.Most of my activity on istock at the moment is in the steel cage. Plenty of composites there. I've just finished my seventh battle, so 35 composites designed and delivered (and judged). At the moment my stuff is pretty mixed media - 3D render, photos and hand painted elements. Not so good for stock, but lots of fun and really quite challenging and exciting.Well done Christine.I would like to learn enough about adobe and image manipulation one day to kick Mr Mevens butt in the steel cage.
458
General Stock Discussion / Re: Composites
« on: January 03, 2009, 15:06 »
Most of my activity on istock at the moment is in the steel cage. Plenty of composites there. I've just finished my seventh battle, so 35 composites designed and delivered (and judged). At the moment my stuff is pretty mixed media - 3D render, photos and hand painted elements. Not so good for stock, but lots of fun and really quite challenging and exciting.
459
General Stock Discussion / Re: Composites
« on: January 03, 2009, 05:32 »
I've got a few on istock, but only sold one. But then, I don't sell many regular images so not much to go by.
460
General Stock Discussion / Re: What is the Future for Microstock Agencies and contributors?
« on: December 30, 2008, 16:40 »
I think the future depends a lot on exactly who the buyers are. There are plenty of people who are happy to buy some digital asset at 50 cents a download but not $5, and they're not too fussy about quality. If this market segment is big enough, then when the major agencies raise quality and prices, newcomers will enter at a lower price point and with lower quality images. At the moment most of the sites seem to be trying to woo the big spenders, professional designers and the like, away from the macro sites.
461
Newbie Discussion / Re: Starting a microstock business
« on: December 30, 2008, 16:26 »
Sounds like your main aim is to claim photography expenses as losses against some other main income. I guess if your tax laws allow it, why not? In Australia (my home) you need to have a significant turnover in the sideline before that is allowed, and I certainly don't have that from microstock.
462
General Stock Discussion / Re: Were you Happy with 2008?
« on: December 26, 2008, 07:30 »
I'm very happy with 2008, despite complete failure to progress with my stock photography. I've branched out into other areas of digital image making and am having a lot more fun than I did last year. I'm currently engaged in my seventh battle in the istock steel cage, which is very challenging and stimulates my creativity much more than photography ever did. I've also started looking into 3D, which is a fascinating area. I think my lack of success with photography was a major incentive to go sideways. Good thing too.
463
General Stock Discussion / Re: sRGB or Adobe 1998?
« on: December 26, 2008, 07:22 »
When I convert an image from Adobe RGB to sRGB in Photoshop, I can never see any change in the appearance of the image. I doubt that most people can tell the difference with most images. Adobe RGB images only look bad on the web because browsers can't interpret the color accurately (browsers assume they are sRGB when they aren't). Image editing software has no problems. I think Yuri said somewhere that he always uses sRGB for micros.
464
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Rejections increasing?
« on: December 19, 2008, 14:47 »
A bit of crystal ball gazing here - I wonder if the istock premium collection is about to become Gettys new dollar bin.
465
General Stock Discussion / Re: SS, for sure the new leader!!
« on: December 19, 2008, 14:40 »I wonder if they would be allowed to. Governments very wisely tend to prevent monopolies, although this situation would be more complex, micro being only a business model and not a whole production process.There is no doubt in my mind that SS has overtaken the role as THE agency to be with, everything just flows with an effortless ease and professionalism, ELs are often and plenty and with the right PF theres always money to be earnt.I wonder what will happen if getty buys Shutterstock.
Their search-engine is as good as can be. If theres one agency I would bet on to survive all crisis it would be SS.
It will be the end of micro............
466
Photoshop Discussion / Re: Any Cagers Here?
« on: December 17, 2008, 07:05 »
If anyone's interested, this battle is under way.
467
Adobe Stock / Re: deleting ugly images
« on: December 16, 2008, 19:08 »
Some buyers look first in portfolios they like. I guess that's more probable of one doesn't have a lot of uninspiring images.
468
Photoshop Discussion / Any Cagers Here?
« on: December 16, 2008, 00:38 »
I've just challenged gswd to a battle in the istock steel cage, and am wondering if there are any other cagers here? This is my seventh battle - won 3 and lost 3 so far. With a bit of luck I'll earn myself a Mask of the Plata Bigote. I'm a bit out of practice though, and am definitely not a designer (or even much of a photographer). I find the steel cage a great inspiration to be a bit creative. Now, I have the first blow, so about 71 hours to come up with some stunning concept.
469
Illustration - General / Rolling up the sleeves
« on: December 15, 2008, 02:31 »
I've just upgraded some equipment - a new PC. My 3 y.o el cheapo PC was good for most things, including Photoshop with enough RAM, but I'm about to get serious with 3D work. So, for the first time ever I bought a high end gaming console - Intel Core i7 processor, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB HDD. I didn't find any inspiration in the box, but hopefully that will come from somewhere.
470
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Best Match 2.0
« on: December 14, 2008, 13:12 »
None would annoy me in a broad search for business either, but I'm OK with conceptual keywords. istock isn't, and how they allow a blank post it note or a set of blank signposts, or lightbulbs to carry the keyword business is beyond me, given their stated policy. I'm sure if I uploaded such images with that keyword they would be rejected. Even computers don't unequivocally convey business (but then I'm in education).
471
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Best Match 2.0
« on: December 14, 2008, 00:00 »
However broad the search may be, one would hope that a good best match algorithm would return 100 very relevant images on the first page. A few of the current selection look a bit marginal to me.
BTW, I'm not a designer, but I am the veteran of six steel cage matches on istock, so I do have some experience with the search engine from a buyers perspective.
BTW, I'm not a designer, but I am the veteran of six steel cage matches on istock, so I do have some experience with the search engine from a buyers perspective.
472
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Best Match 2.0
« on: December 13, 2008, 21:17 »
My test case for the istock best match is to type 'business' into the search field and check out the first page (100) results. There are a few changes there from a couple of weeks ago, but not sure that the overall relevance has improved significantly.
473
Computer Hardware / Re: Slide scanners
« on: December 13, 2008, 14:53 »
Yay takes editorial work.
474
Computer Hardware / Re: Slide scanners
« on: December 12, 2008, 16:45 »
This site has an extensive review of the V700. There's one for the 4990 somewhere there too. Great detail about all film formats.
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Computer Hardware / Re: Slide scanners
« on: December 12, 2008, 06:26 »
I've used the Epson V700 with good results. It's not good with Kodachrome though (and doesn't claim to be either), so check which transparency film was used before committing to a scanner.
| Site | Earnings Rating |
| Top Tier - Big 4 | |
| storyblocks | |
| AdobeStock | |
| Alamy | |
| GettyImages | |
| Zoonar | |
| Shutterstock | |
| Vecteezy | |
| iStock | |
| MotionElements | |
| Pond5 | |
| Canva | |
| Dreamstime | |
| DepositPhotos | |
| Crestock | |
| 123RF | |
| Canstockphoto | |
| ColourBox | |
| Envato | |
| Bigstockphoto | |
| MostPhotos | |
| Self-Hosted | |
| Indivstock | |
| ClipDealer | |
| PantherMedia | |
| EyeEm | |
| YayImages | |
| More Poll Results Updated: 2025-07-19 | |
