|
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 - cobalt
4776
« on: January 09, 2012, 13:21 »
At the moment I use a sony nex5, but if video is good on this one, Ill consider it!
4777
« on: January 08, 2012, 13:08 »
Many people in your creative network rate your files even today. But it was a lot easier, when we could see the fresh uploads from our network on a seperate page.
If the rating is from in inspector it will just say "initial rating".
4778
« on: January 08, 2012, 12:58 »
jsnover has the correct answer. intial ratings are only given if the inspector really likes the file, but it has no effect on best match.
4779
« on: January 08, 2012, 10:08 »
.
4780
« on: January 08, 2012, 04:57 »
Hi Sean,
do you think they may be planning to "rate our files on upload" by some kind of system?
4781
« on: January 07, 2012, 13:38 »
Give them a 10K shopping list.
That is what I do. I give them a long shopping list, a list with an introduction to copyright problems, court cases about model releases, a link to the istock critiqueforum with a long, long list about artifacts, overfiltering, chromatic abberations, I recommend a school with a two year photoshop class etc...a link to the microstockgroup and a list of the 10 major agencies pointing out that they all have different criteria to submit photos. Usually it ends right after they read the list.
4782
« on: January 06, 2012, 12:06 »
That is Baaad...LOL!
4783
« on: January 06, 2012, 05:17 »
I think what would give us more information if there was a stats page where every month we entered average return per download and average return per image for the given month.
4784
« on: January 05, 2012, 23:00 »
So true!
Thanks for sharing!
4785
« on: January 05, 2012, 12:59 »
If search placement is "negotioable on istock" means deals along the lines of "We promise to put x% of your files into Vetta/agency" then yes, I will believe that, because this is already being done with all that content coming in from Getty. V/A gets preferential treatment in the search. So do the exclusive files and arent there a few Getty artists/groups that have exclusive crowns although they are not exclusive and also sell their files elsewhere? But for the normal collections? I do a lot of searches, really a lot on istock and I have never seen anything that would make me believe that some contributors had "special deals" to push their content to the front. Besides, we all know the joke how if it wasnt programmed by Sean the code wouldnt work and mess up the site...and there is truth to that. 
4786
« on: January 05, 2012, 03:00 »
What about dropping partial exclusivity? I am still photo exclusive but no longer video exclusive.
4787
« on: January 02, 2012, 11:18 »
I wished there would have been more love for exclusives like myself the last few months. The end of this week I am NON-exclusive.
Whow! That is very sad indeed. I think losing you as an exclusive artist is a big loss for istock. I see you dropped photo exclusivity in 2010 after the changes, which is understandable. At least this gives you a head start because you got to know the agencies. I wish you all the best and hope istock takes these losses seriously and that 2012 will bring some new insights and a change of direction. ETA: just remembered your thread on the video forum. Very respectful and professional.
4788
« on: December 27, 2011, 08:34 »
It would mostly be a decision to try and see how close I get to that level and to have a good basis to build on for 2013. And maybe I get lucky...
But you are of course right, the level will probably be similar to what has been announced before, so I will probably be better off investing my time into getty and video. Video of course is an experiment, no idea how much money I can make with it. But if I don't try it this year, I never will.
I would certainly make more money if I spent the "video time" on istock.
4789
« on: December 27, 2011, 08:01 »
If you're not putting in all the effort you can right now, then why are you doing it in the first place? If the target is 150 or 140 or 130, what difference does that make to what you are doing?
stock is not my only source of income, Ineed to plan in advance how much time and effort I devote to the different income streams I have. Within the "stock income stream" I have to decide between shooting for getty, istock or video. For many different reasons I had already planned to make the focus getty and video and shoot to maintainthe current level on istock. But I can still adjust, if I saw that it could be reachable. Well, then again maybe I won't. This year, like last last year, my main problem is that I still have to waste a lot of my time on things that bring me no money but demand tons of attention. But reasoable RC levels would be an incentive to shift more time towards istock itself, even if I see the goal might be reached in 2013 and not this year. I don't think what I am doing is unusual, most people i know mix stock shooting with other work, so planning ahead how much time you devote to istock is always necessary. I am sure if they introduced more incremental levels or came up with new incntives for mixed media contributors that would be interesting as well. But they don't have to. I am sure istock has more than enough photographers and my humble work won't be missed anyway.
4790
« on: December 27, 2011, 07:26 »
Well it would make a big difference to me if they announce the targets early in January and I felt that the 40% level was reachable if I put all effort into it - then I would put a lot of time into istock.
Without the targets I will just shoot to maintain the current level while keeping most of my efforts on either video, getty or the other income streams that I have.
istock will then just be minor focus point this year.
I need to plan my time and attention and I can't try to reach targets that I don't know.
4791
« on: December 18, 2011, 19:06 »
I agree that the business model is historic and personally I would not be pursuing it in this way for the future. Like you say I understand different language/country "stores", I also understand specialized agencies (medical, agriculture) but otherwise...it sounds to me like brand dilution and it must cost quite a bit of money to support marketing all these different agencies (if they are all owned by Getty)
On the other hand, we dont have any numbers and Getty obviously has a wealth of experience in managing several sites.
So maybe this kind of sublicensing of files is more profitable than we imagine.
4792
« on: December 18, 2011, 14:56 »
Thank you for making us look at this...Ill have to forward that to all those people who want to have my job... (yes - reaalllyyyyy - it is thaaat easy...just switch to ppppp) 
4793
« on: December 18, 2011, 14:32 »
Other customers.
Not all the people that buy from istock shop at Getty direct.
It is like all the getty content (including my own images) that I am finding on Corbis, Masterfile, some Russian website etc...etc...
Most of these agencies have more or less the same images, but the agencies have different owners and apparently know how to attract "their kind" of customers.
Its like a company that makes jeans trousers or Nike shoes that are being sold in all kinds of stores around the world. Somehow they all survive although they all offer more or less the same things.
Or all these online computer shops - they all have the same computers, the same accessories etc...but they still find customers from somewhere.
4794
« on: December 17, 2011, 21:20 »
I have one question: market share - number of my downloads over total of downloads on istock charts in percentage?
4795
« on: December 17, 2011, 21:13 »
Absolutely stunning! Thank you for making Xmas come early this year!
4796
« on: December 15, 2011, 10:23 »
With all that I have learnt in the last 12 months I believe I will need at least 3 YEARS to get myself to a moderate professional level in video. Ill also have to take classes and workshops, work with many different people etc..
But I am really enjoying it, I just dont know if the time I spend on it now will really pay off in the future. I do try to take pictures as well as video, but this is difficult because video needs much harsher light and I dont always have the time to rebuild the set for the photos.
Maybe editorial video is easier? So many places and trades and cultures in the world not yet covered.
4797
« on: December 14, 2011, 22:49 »
Hi stepheng101,
Never underestimate the FUN faxtor I would love to hear your results as you press forward.
Best of luck,
Jonathan
The fun factor is what is driving me towards video! Couldnt agree more! But if I am just counting the money than it would be best to just shoot...much more...I really dont think I will ever reach a payout level anywhere near my photo portfolio. Everyone uses photos, very few people need videos...on a daily basis. It will always be a much smaller market.
4798
« on: December 14, 2011, 20:24 »
Well, Id like to add something positive. I am really impressed with the editorial sales. That is something I see as a successful project in 2011.
I will definetly add more in 2012.
4799
« on: December 14, 2011, 16:32 »
Because video is very hard work. I am trying to build a video portfolio and I can shoot many, many more photographs in the time that it takes to set up a video shoot. There is just no comparison.
That is why videos are so much more expensive - cost of production, including time - is much greater...
There is also a lot to learn - you dont just put the cmaera on a tripod and press a button. With video you have - moving actors , moving lights, lights dimming or being switched on, the camera moves, the focus shifts during the shoot and has to be constantly manually refocussed. You need to plan a storyboard, take and retake and again retake every scene etc...
If you think of photography as chess, then video is 3D chess - at least this is how it feels to me.
I will try to build a little video portfolio, but I have already decided that my main income will remain from photography, much easier to get sales.
But this is my personal experience...as a complete newbie...
4800
« on: December 14, 2011, 12:31 »
I sincerly doubt that anyone here is hoping that istock customers leave and lead to a drop in traffic.
The fact remains that istock management have remained completely silent about the terrible drop in traffic and havent offered a single explanation to their contributor base. This is drop of over 70% depending on which stats page you look at.
If the traffic loss was because of some google seo change magic I am sure they would have told us immediatly. It is not in their interest to be perceived as a "failing site".
The silence about the traffic loss is the scary part, not the loss itself.
Add this to the depressing monthly threads, site bugs, abruptly disappearing KW, refunds, the unreliability in any announcements, inability to meet deadlines they set themselves and then the video artists reporting slow sales although they are supplying a growth market that is just starting out...
I would love to believe that all is well with istock, but if they continue to avoid communicating about the issues that contributors are worried about, they will have to live with the lack of trust and exclusive contributors spreading out into the larger stock market.
We are all digital entrepreneurs here, if we didnt know how to spot a trend, we wouldnt have become so successful.
|
Sponsors
Microstock Poll Results
Sponsors
|
Show Posts
