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Messages - Uncle Pete

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4551
in the government 'soon' usually occurs within 50 years...
Or not at all...........

Remember the OP used soon, not AS.

My view is something like this "Editorial may be added after, careful strategic thinking, feasibility investigations and a thorough committee review. Which will be reported to higher level management for further evaluation."  ::)   ;)

4552
One's numbers will also be affected by when they started and how much they sold early on when subs were .20, and OD's and SOD's and EL's hadn't been invented yet.

Minus Video Stats (I have no reference for that).
Here's a brief history of SS royalties.
*disclaimer just a quick look back at my history - not anything official*
2005 Subs .20

2006 Subs .20 
         ODs introduced (3.99)
          ELs introduced $20
          March 30th Subs increased to .25 

2007 Subs .25 
         April 30 Subs increased to .30

2008 Subs .30   
         May 14th Levels introduced
         Subs increased to .25 - .33 - .36 - .38
         ODs increased to current tier level
         Els increased to $28


2009  Subs & OD's - No Change

2010  Subs & OD's - No Change

2011 Subs & OD's - No Change
         SODs introduced ($2.94; $5.70 & $18.00)

2012 Subs & OD's - No Change
         SOD's (Sept got first larger $90 DL)

2013 Subs & OD's - No Change
         Facebook .38 SODs introduced (late January)

2014 Subs & OD's- No Change
          Larger SOds
          June SODs for 125.61; 73.81; 120.00


2015 Subs & OD's - No Change

2016 Subs & OD's - No Change
         EL's change to your level pricing and amounts vary, but most under $28.00

2017 No Change

2018 No Change

** Edit - .71 for me all time

That was interesting. I never collected all the changes, but I knew there have been some.

As a hobby Micro shooter, unlike the "professional" which some here actually are...  ;)

.697720475 or .70 RPD

I started in 2007 but honest uploads 2008 (total crapstock!), had files in the hundreds (amazing lack of effort) until 2012 when I added a couple thousand and 2015 a couple thousand more. I'm at 4482 now and upload when I get an idea or the urge. I will say that better images, make more and the junk or filler is still a waste of time.

How's that? Oldest 100, which is pretty much first 100 = .48 lifetime RPD average, Newest 160 2018 .82 but wait a year. What I'm hoping is that I'm smarter and make images that sell better, than the first year when I shot everything I saw.

A particular event, setting, action kind of shot, that I shoot additional a few times a year, $1.52

My Illustrations, my blurred backgrounds, other ideas that I did test sets of say 50-70 works = .50 average (my illustrations are terrible rasters, don't waste time looking) there are others that I just skip now.

Just pointing out that when I find something that earns more, I upload more of that. And when I find some idea that doesn't work, like flowers, my nasty illustrations, insects, isolated food on white, or whatever else, I stop spending time on those. I can say, almost no duck shots.  ;) My stunning, inspired, and brilliant triple cheeseburger concept, 3 sub DLs  ;D



4553
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Property release for a plane??
« on: October 10, 2018, 11:38 »
Just submitted a batch of videos of a crop duster over a cotton field. Nothing special. No logos on the plane. Pretty straight forward. Got the videos back for revision with a request for a property release. Now... Can't really understand if these clowns want a property release for the crop duster or the cotton field. Dear lord... Is there no limit to the incompetence of iStock reviewers???

Should I bother to answer? You've already decided they are incompetent clowns and you are right.

Are there registration numbers on the plane? Is it pained any special color scheme? Anything else besides the plane and a crop, like a building or a tractor that could be recognized? Show a frame so anyone here can take a stab at the why, otherwise everything is just a guess. What keywords did you use, any that might be trademarks or protected?


4554
So, If I have understood well, you can also put photos that are not in your Adobe portfolio and not destined to be sold?

Looks that way, I just added some from my external drive.

4555
This is who I use, reliable, up most of the time, 24hr support and they have actually resolved any problems including some I created. https://www.gate.com/

I'm running my own sites and a restaurant site I manage with them.

4556
What happens when a subscription ends? No software, everything stops working. I've read that the cloud storage stays for a year, so good news you don't get locked out of your own files.

Is the subscription by month or actual date? If I subscribe today will it end Oct. 31st 2019 or Oct. 4th 2018?

This Scott Kelby article does a good job answering your question: https://lightroomkillertips.com/happens-cancel-lightroom-cc-subscription/

-Mat

Thanks, there's so much misinformation, rumors and false claims, I wanted to see if I could get some more reliable information.

4557
What happens when a subscription ends? No software, everything stops working. I've read that the cloud storage stays for a year, so good news you don't get locked out of your own files.

Is the subscription by month or actual date? If I subscribe today will it end Oct. 31st 2019 or Oct. 4th 2018?

4558
Definitely not a cap for me. Just wondering if there is a floor..... :(

My question is how do they set the earnings range for each of us and why are they so different from person to person? (yes as Farbled says cap suggests only a limit) And this is just a question because my earnings are flat, but not within a dollar a month as some say, or the same every day.

For me, it's pretty much the top ten sell over and over, nearly daily, but for certain numbers of times a month, then the rest, seem to sell on a as needed basis by subject or buyer needs. How would an earnings range control the specific downloads?

Good questions for someone who works there. As it is, I only have my end result and no way to find out. I wouldn't even try speculating how its possible or what statistical anomaly is affecting me and a few others.

Well I want them to update my quota to a higher number!  ;D

As you know, I don't doubt what you see and someone else saw their earnings drop in half suddenly one January, I think it was 2016, and those numbers haven't returned.

My sales fluctuate up or down from whatever normal might be, I'll just use my average month, the seasonal I can understand. But I don't have the same as some people report, same day after day or nearly identical totals month by month. I have better than average months and average months. The lower, below average are usually during the seasonal times. Nothing that I would call unexpected.

I don't track day by day, because they are so variable. Yes I look and I see during the month and no change, Saturday is my worst day. Has been for years.

Sept. this year was the worst since 2014. Oct. is ahead of the past four years. My downloads and income is quite variable.

4559
CanStockPhoto.com / Re: CanStock on a roll...
« on: October 02, 2018, 08:36 »
Are they worth uploading to? It's the one agency of the middle tier I am not uploading to.
I wouldn't class them (or Bigstock) as anything like middle Tier. In fact I think there is only a "big three" and Alamy as a swinger between lower and big four depending on luck that month  then low earners then "Walking Dead" such as Yay and feature pics.

Add Pond5 if you do video?

4560
Shutterstock.com / Re: Keyword suggestion tool broken again?
« on: October 02, 2018, 08:22 »
I did a week ago, just kept saying no matches, or it just wasn't loading anything to click either. Hour later it was working again. SNAFU  ;)

4561
Adobe Stock / Re: Minimum Payment Commission Increase
« on: October 02, 2018, 08:17 »
So is there any reason that I am still seeing some sales @ 25c?

Is there an option in there somewhere that only pays this or is it an error?

Thanks

If your rank is Silver, this is a XS (1 credit) sale.
https://eu.fotolia.com/Info/Contributors/Royalties

Or https://us.fotolia.com/Info/Contributors/Royalties  :)

4562
iStockPhoto.com / Re: New conspiracy theory! Hooray!
« on: October 01, 2018, 08:29 »
You get my vote, nice one.

4563
Definitely not a cap for me. Just wondering if there is a floor..... :(

My question is how do they set the earnings range for each of us and why are they so different from person to person? (yes as Farbled says cap suggests only a limit) And this is just a question because my earnings are flat, but not within a dollar a month as some say, or the same every day.

For me, it's pretty much the top ten sell over and over, nearly daily, but for certain numbers of times a month, then the rest, seem to sell on a as needed basis by subject or buyer needs. How would an earnings range control the specific downloads?

4564
Shuttestock does not make money by having buyers download more in a subscription based model. They tweak the algorthm in the hopes that buyes find what they want quickly without downloading unnecessary extra images. Lightboxes work against us as well. They can save dozens of images to show clients and only download the one they pick. Gone are the days of buyers downloading ten apples on white to let the client pick one.
There's no way algorthm changes are meant to benefit contributors.

Nice summary, and the way the official line was spun into "increasing downloads for all contributors" is actually, increasing downloads for Shutterstock.

I never thought of light boxes anywhere, hurting sales. Interesting viewpoint. So do galleries hurt us too, because we make those to attract sales, when the same could eliminate sales? Somehow I think lightboxes might help sometimes, not just harm? But true the use could eliminate wasted downloads and decress our income, which would increase agency income.

I just question the part about buyers finding what they want quickly? How does accepting total crapstock, duplicates, images with inappropriate keywords and a search that isn't very adaptable for buyers to eliminate useless mismatched junk, helping make it easier to find what they want? Can you explain that to me?  :)

4565
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock Milestones
« on: September 27, 2018, 12:00 »
Not going to make any big observations, just a note: 220,000,000 or 220 Million images now on SS. September 26th 2018
It looks like growth is turning linear though 1-1.2m per week ;-).

Might be doing that, I've said before, there should be a point where negative growth of upload numbers occurs. New uploads are a runaway train, we can only watch, nothing can stop the inevitable crash. Too many files!

September 21, 2006 - Shutterstock surpasses one million stock photos (now that many new a week!)

February 14, 2010 - Shutterstock reaches 10 million Photos (now that many new every eight months)

Lets me see, why would sales be lower now than 2010? Hmm, can anyone see something that might have caused that?  ::)



Ah so thats how trains make little trains :D

Very good, I always wondered where they came from.  ;D



4566
General - Top Sites / Re: inspection time on shutterstock
« on: September 27, 2018, 11:51 »
6 month later it take 1 day to inspect and now 3 days

Yes, it's been around three days lately and sometimes in the past it was minutes.

Reminder, Editorial, video and Illustrations go to a different review track. My three days is for photos. My last Editorial was 2 days.

4567
Take no notice of Nobody. It's an 'in joke'. ::)
Yes, they are always tweaking the algorithm and really odd things do sometimes happen. Just how it is.
Be grateful you are getting some spikes. At the moment I seem invisible....!!!

Part joke, part reality.  :) Yes the search is always changing.

Posted 11 September 2015 - 03:38 PM by vincent shutterstock

The search engine algorithm is proprietary, and there are numerous reasons why we are not going to share what it is. The algorithm is constantly tested and changed (several times a year, not just once every few years) with the simple goal of increasing downloads for all contributors.

Why and how we change the search engine algorithm is very simple: we test a new algorithm in a select market or on a random part of our customer base. If the new one gets more downloads we change it for all customers, if the new one does not result in more downloads we revert to the old one. We will always choose the algorithm that gets the most downloads.

Ultimately our goal is to keep it fresh and keep the customers interested (i.e. downloading) so an image showing on top of the search result for 8 years may be good for Laurin, but it is very bad for everyone else because customers do not want to see the same image every time for 8 years and will go elsewhere if it does as our tests have shown.

4568
Newbie Discussion / Re: Selling your Best Pictures online?
« on: September 26, 2018, 11:14 »
I show in a Gallery In my town Beverly Hills. I do 2 a year. One for new Paintings and One for photos. Always B&W Photos and always street work. paintings are usually large scale because i do whats called main Room pieces 6ft x 6ft or larger.or over the couch 30 x 40 ish I also do Installations In corporate Locations,,,,banks,Libraries  etc.. . I will usually mix subjects from Hard Core Abstract to landscape.
Photos I do 20 x 30 Framed. If the original paintings don't sell and because I Photograph everything when Finished.  The original Pieces go Into My Rental Area. Every TV show or Film that has Interior shots has artwork On the walls. It is rented. and a VERY good business. My agent for 30 years does quite well. A large piece can Get $500 a week and if it's TV and becomes Popular??? Ca Ching. then they will usually Buy the piece.

I;ve done over 1800 pieces and I Photograph each One, I then do a Hidden Portfolio Site for Interior Decorators that I've worked with for years. that do Hotels,Restaurants.Hair shops  etc all Over the world. The Kind of stuff you see going to your room in Hallways. they will order a 100 at a time. I supervise the Archival printing, I ship, They Matt and frame.Done.
Whatever is used up or a certain amount of time goes to stock Output. which is coming to a end in the foreseeable future unless there are considerable changes. Been doing micro for 14 years and general stock since 1968 and it's getting quite Old and Rather futile and simply Not cost effective anymore and Honestly Kinda heartbreaking.... The site greed factor is alarming.And there is No way I would or could do this today. A little Flashback for ya. I sold My first stock Image on Kodachrome. we had dupes made and sent to agency. MY first sale Had a commission of $400 for a Cactus in arizona,Magazine cover. Thats A LOT in todays Money. you could Buy a car for That. LOL
My advice is Listen to Sean. A Large part of Image Making Is Learning How to sell. I have Old artist friends that do the art Fair in Parks circuit. they do weekends for 3/4 Months of travel, Kinda like a circus. then come home. Thats a very simple way, If you have the selling Gene. If not?...Good Luck..I DO NOT do any POD sites!!.. Way to many Fools Taking a Image by someone else. running a filter on it and calling it Theirs. And the sites don't care one Bit.

You wouldn't be hinting at a site with the initials FAA would you?  :)

Part of the learning experience is figuring out what works best for you at what pricing level.

Well said and direct.

Answer the Question:  8) Do I sell my best work on Micro, yes some. Do I hold back some for other outlets? yes some. It depends. If I could find more places to sell for more, then I'd upload less to Micro. But most of the time, I'd like to have a bit of something, rather than 100% of nothing.

4569
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock Milestones
« on: September 26, 2018, 10:21 »
Not going to make any big observations, just a note: 220,000,000 or 220 Million images now on SS. September 26th 2018
It looks like growth is turning linear though 1-1.2m per week ;-).

Might be doing that, I've said before, there should be a point where negative growth of upload numbers occurs. New uploads are a runaway train, we can only watch, nothing can stop the inevitable crash. Too many files!

September 21, 2006 - Shutterstock surpasses one million stock photos (now that many new a week!)

February 14, 2010 - Shutterstock reaches 10 million Photos (now that many new every eight months)

Lets me see, why would sales be lower now than 2010? Hmm, can anyone see something that might have caused that?  ::)



4570
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock Milestones
« on: September 26, 2018, 09:30 »
Not going to make any big observations, just a note: 220,000,000 or 220 Million images now on SS. September 26th 2018

4571
Shutterstock.com / Re: Has Shutterstock returned to normal for you?
« on: September 26, 2018, 09:25 »
Whenever, I read a topic like "How was your month" we get the following replies:

1. Newbie states - "Best Month Ever" - yeah, you have like 100 images or less in your portfolio and if your sales go from 10 to 14 you have a whooping 40% increase. Yeah!

2. Veteran states - "Worse Month Ever" - They have over thousands of images in their inventory and just keeping their sales on par is a major challenge with all the newbies flooding the market. 

So in the end, what is really the true value of a post like 'How was your month'?  :(

It fills the time between, bots doing reviews, caps, search changes, blackouts by location, stockholders run the company now, and other reasons why everything sucks? On the other side, review standards are lower than ever, duplicates and keyword spam are ignored, and the site is just a giant nearly unregulated morass.

You know my answer. 220 million images, dilution of sales. Doesn't matter if 100 million are total trash, I don't submit that and they are competition, just that the real competition is always adding new and better images. Sales down for individuals is not a mystery or unusual economics question. Individual COMPETITION.

For the agency they don't care, as long as their sales are steady and they make their 78% on our work.

My month is normal, flat and average. Been that way for about five years now.

4572
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Getty - 500px partnership
« on: September 26, 2018, 09:09 »
Hi,
I'm new here but I read you since many years now.

I have a few hundreds of images selected by Getty from my 500px portfolio (they sent me an email with the link to my portfolio at Getty).
Unfortunately, on Getty my images have no descriptions and the keywords (that are both in the metadatas and in 500px) have been replaced by terrible keywords : only very generic keywords, no places, countries or city names. I have a close up of an eye that does not have the keyword 'eye'.
It seems to be the same for all images from their "500px collection". I even found a horse keyworded "goat".


I contacted 500px 2 weeks ago about this but I have no answer....

AI or English as a second language, offshore keywording?  ;)

Before someone jumps on that, I have to admire many people on the forum, who are not born English speakers, for doing a wonderful job of handling a strange language. Some people who were born and raised here do worse.

4573
Adobe Stock / Re: Minimum Payment Commission Increase
« on: September 25, 2018, 15:10 »
wonder if Shutter will jump in with a fat pay raise now  8)

If AS starts taking editorial, I'll have no use for any other agencies except SS and AS.

Yes, wouldn't it be nice if this forces SS to up the ante for our work. And yes, if AS offered an exclusive program, by image like FT did, I'd go for that too. Right now that is missing from the AS site but was still allowed on FT.

This is when competition helps us for a change, instead of driving prices and values down. Good to see that AS also holds up the review standards, and rejects spam, junk and duplicates. Seems like Adobe has some respect for artists, instead of treating us like trash. I like them better every day.  8)

4574
There are 2,115 images, 22 pages shown as being for sale at this moment.
Now slightly off topic, I recently posted a shot of a wall in Verona that was covered in lovers messages and it was rejected as Non-Licensable Content (they do have many shots of the same subject for sale however). So how can you have shots of the items on this page, when it would be fair to say they are registered designs without any doubt. Any answers???


This has come up many times over the years. One theory is that people who do the reviewing are also photographers with portfolios and an image that is similar, so they reject it so theirs doesnt have competition. Or, as you said, they already have many shots of the same thing. Maybe the images just dont sell, so why keep accepting them? Who knows, their game, their rules.

You are saying those bots have portfolios and they reject similar to hold down the competition?  ;D

If I leave the keys in my car, it's alright for you to steal it? The point is, SS can make things more difficult, but they can't eliminate theft. Also the problem is the person who stole the images, not the artist or SS, but you don't seem to see past what you want to believe, so you attack people instead of the ideas? And you seem to have a love hate relationship with agencies as you want them to pay you but don't like them and think they are dishonest, and you don't trust them. But you keep giving them your work?

A wall of graffiti is not allowed, and hasn't been for years. No artists rights...  you can't resll other artists works.

Back to the OP, I think you have a good case and hopefully SS is looking. We have all seen the messages here, "they closed my account and I did nothing wrong", so I hope SS is doing research and will close this, like the other image theifs we have seen here.

I still wonder if that person also uploaded your work to other places. That's scary and you'll have to chase them to get more accounts closed. Good luck!

Thank you! They responded this week and said they are still looking into it. So far I haven't found the work for sale anywhere else. Which is a good thing! I was really surprised to see my work stolen. It's pretty basic stuff. I would think they would steal something that would earn them a bit more. Perhaps mine they thought would be less noticeable. Thanks for all of the suggestions to everyone who has posted here. I will updated when I find out more.

Good luck, apparently this thief thinks your work is good enough to copy and steal. Which could be considered a compliment to your work. But none of us want that kind of honor.  :)

4575
Shutterstock.com / Re: Photo in newspaper never sold
« on: September 24, 2018, 15:41 »
Its as ShadySue pointed out

"Please note that there may be a reporting delay for customer downloads reflected in your Shutterstock contributor account."

It's called credit terms ~ any large corporate account is going to basically pay not on the day when they use the image but on a monthly or quarterly basis.

No doubt the sale will turn up eventually and when it does you'll know what credit terms SS are giving to newspaper and magazine publishers.

In which case please come back and report what that was!

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