Sue - the consequence is that many people probably won't have bothered to get a release for a finger or toe which may limit the number of photos people can upload.

Thanks click_click for the clarification. I wasn't aware of this Alamy policy. I thought it might have been an error but I guess not.

Regards,

John

Ah yes, Canada. I'm also in Ontario (near Ottawa). I'm not a tax expert but this is based on my own experience with microstock income for about 5 years.

I'm not aware of any income limitations for home office. I certainly use that deduction (I have a small home studio as well). As has been mentioned already, you're not an employee but are getting paid royalties. Since you are in Canada, you're probably receiving a T5 from IS. I've reported here in the past limitations in the tax software (Turbotax and Quicktax before it) related to t5 royalties. The software adds the income to your regular salary by default. If this is your issue, send me a site mail and I'll describe what I do to fix the problem.

Regards,

John

I agree with the comments above. The toy boat isn't a good subject for microstock even if the shot was perfect. It just wouldn't sell.

As for your question regarding equipment, I started shooting microstock by using natural light (window) and reflectors. You can create your own reflectors with white cardboard, etc. I would start there and eventually add an off-camera flash (you can get a cheap manual flash for this with a cheap remote trigger - see the Strobist site).

I got into microstock with the hope of buying photography equipment with the money I made (to support my hobby). I wouldn't have been able to justify the equipment otherwise ("sorry kids I can't buy your school supplies this year because I spent 5K on a camera":-).

I did reach my goal eventually. Don't give up but also be realistic. I started in 2007 when microstock was relatively easy to get into and images sold much better (I was told then that I had missed the "good years"). I probably would have quit had I started today since new images don't sell very well. I would suggest you not invest in a lot of equipment upfront - shoot with what you have and use the income to upgrade equipment gradually.

Good luck

You're getting good advice here. Don't use the inverters unless you're willing to lose your flash. I've used one of those battery packs used to jump start a car (it also has a couple of plugs, lights, radio and air compressor). The second time I used it with one 300 w flash it blew the fuse on the flash. Needless to say, I've never tried it again since.

Alamy accepts RF. You shouldn't be uploading the same images as RF and RM.

It's funny, every time the Mac vs PC issue comes up, someone will mention the Mac "fanboys". What is that (satisfied customers)? I've been a PC user for over 25 years. I recently got a Macbook pro. I love the Mac and my next desktop will be a Mac. It took about 15 minutes to learn how everything works. My wife uses the iPhone and iPad (and the iCloud) for her business. There's no going back to PC's now. I couldn't care less about Apple's image. We just love the products. Hey,  I am a fanboy!

I also started with just one strobe. There are a lot of cheap ways to trigger your flashes. I used a cheap RF wireless trigger on my portable flash (the flash had no optical trigger). The portable flash triggered the strobe and it worked great.  I'm not familiar with the Nikon set up. I think you can trigger flashes using TTL wirelessly with Nikon - but you don't want that here since the camera can't control the strobe's output.

Umm, I was under the impression that deactivation was the default. I recall deactivating the first few batches. Could the site be using the previous setting as a default? Can anyone confirm?

Thanks,

yeah, right. I suppose you also think the Atlantic ocean isn't a pond

Alamy sales are much fewer than on micro but they are worth the effort. I sold an image for $1300 last year (before the 60% commission) and was getting decent sized sales at least every other month with just under 300 images online. Sales have been a bit slower for me in the past few months but I'm sure they'll pick up again. You have to be patient.

I remember when I first started microstock in 2007 and pretty much every site would refuse certain types of photos becuase there were already too many (flowers and sunsets come to mind). How long before 90% of all topics will be fully covered and rejected in a similar fashion (unless they're exceptional or unique)? I'm hoping we're not already there.

Never had any issues with SS payments in just under 5 years. I also get paid through Paypal.  

I wonder if the folks behind Lucky Oliver would be willing to sell their old site? It looked very modern. Probably wouldn't take too much work to get it up and running.