I would highly recommend trying images in the Lucky Oliver Sideshow. Here's a post regarding the potential for really good sales: http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=1915.0

We've been testing out Lucky Oliver's midstock pricing- with good results! Today, on an image with a 4X factor, we had an EL license at 200 tokens. Here's the image: http://www.luckyoliver.com/photo/2364098/young_woman_portrait?loaf=iofoto

As a long time stock shooter, being able to price your own work for standard licensing is a major milestone! I also appreciate that other sites allow you to price buy-outs. While the prices are far different than any traditional stock distributor, I truly believe that microstock and now midstock are bringing in new customers.

Quote from: hatman12 on May 30, 2007, 18:23
As I am a newbie, do any 'old hands' here have any experience of demand for Christmas images in terms of production timing etc?

In the assignment photo world, I can remember shooting Santa in July! In stock, I think summer is a great time to upload although we've already had Christmas sales. Since Christmas is a saturated category, think about shooting other events of the season such as Kwaanza or Hanukkah.

Quote from: hatman12 on May 22, 2007, 17:30
I don't believe that quantity will win over quality in microstock; the buyers will buy quality and relevance; photographers can try to saturate the market but unless they maintain quality they won't get the sales.

I've been on location and missed the original post. (By the way, we're open to any critique, comments and thoughts! No problem...) This is a new industry that's already in transition....

hatman12 is absolutely right! Relevance and production value is key. I gather that the original discussion regarded the submission of similars. Three thoughts:

1) Emphasizing what "digiology" said... microstock is a HUGE benefit to designers in that they can download a hundred images for the price of one in traditional RF just to make a design presentation before downloading a full-res version for the final project. Or simply to try out different angles, copy placement, etc. Our clients need choice- both of the photographer's vision and experience, and of angle, lighting and composition. Excellent article regarding image sets: http://www.luckyoliver.com/odditorium/post/43/make_more_money_with_image_sets


2) There's not an image that we submit that doesn't have market research or sales history knowledge behind it. We're a business and we're not going to waste time on shooting, color-correcting, retouching, keywording and submitting images that have a minimal chance of selling. That said, there's some images that might be "off-the-chart" wacky conceptual where we're trying out an idea on the customer base to see if there's any response. This aspect of our portfolio is 10%  or less.

3) Shooting a subject many ways is a great way to push your creative vision. The first few might look like what you had in your mind, but then you go beyond the obvious and start creating the images clients really want to set their work apart. Much like a maraton runner going past "the wall" we as shooters need to go beyond "the creative wall" to deliver something extraordinary.

Again, I really appreciate the opportunity to be part of this community, and all the comments, pro or con!

Quote from: Pixart on May 11, 2007, 19:53
Thanks for responding Ron, and I hope you don't mind that I compared your work style...  I hold your work with high regard and appreciate your honest commentary...

No problem! I'll be glad to offer my thoughts on the "business" aspects. We're really in this together. Clients are always looking for fresh perspectives, and I'm quite invigorated by looking at all the awesome new images that are now available through the microstock community!

Quote from: Pixart on May 11, 2007, 17:46
another success story - Iofoto... who has a team working along with him.    I wonder how long it takes for a photo for these guys to break even after salaries, etc.

The break-even is a really good question! We're not there yet. Like any business, we're testing new markets and microstock shows promise. In the "old" days of traditional RM and then RF, we hoped to break-even, on average, on any given image production, within 2 years. Of course, some productions never achieve profitability, and others are home-runs... But those were the days when getting an image into the marketplace could take months, not minutes.

What's exciting for us- and I think for anyone in microstock, is the growth of both the customer base and the pricing. Once customers discovered the simplicity of Royalty-Free, about 20% more customers used RF every year, and the average price per image grew about 20% a year. In microstock, that means $1 in sales today will equal $1.40 a year from now, and $1.96 two years from now due to compounding interest.

If you're interested, here's 2 links to my business thoughts:

About The Image article
http://www.abouttheimage.com/2007/03/a_brief_chat_with_stock_photography_veteran_ron_chapple.html

Stockxpert Forum
http://www.stockxpert.com/forum.phtml?f=showtopic&n=2111

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And anyone is welcome to read my crazy shoot adventure blog...
http://www.ronshoots.com/

Quote from: chellyar on April 27, 2007, 22:55
Wow... You put a lot of effort into your blog! 
Are the hand held flash units in some of your shots quantums?

Thanks Chris! And yes, the handheld is a Quantum- the Qflash T5d with the Freewire transmitter/receiver. Works really well, for the most part... A few problems with the synch cord into the transmitter, but I think that's because we're tough on our gear. Here's an overview of all our equipment: http://www.ronshoots.com/what-gear/

Wanted to invite anyone who's interested to my shoot blog at http://www.ronshoots.com. Since late last summer, I've been sharing the process, tips and techniques that go into many of the images we shoot.

There's also my perspective on the business of stock at Stockxpert (http://www.stockxpert.com/forum.phtml?f=showtopic&n=2111) and a column regarding the creative process at Lucky Oliver (http://www.luckyoliver.com/big_top/photobooth/photobooth_0307).

At RonShoots, scroll down about 5 posts and there's a behind-the-scenes video of a yoga shoot. I rigged up a "camera-cam" so you can see the shoot from the photographer's perspective.

You'll probably find out that I'm seriously addicted to taking pictures! And, as always, any comments and critique are welcome.

http://www.iofoto.com

Quote from: eendicott on April 08, 2007, 14:53I'm very interested to hear how you recover those costs

Ed, good question! I rarely do a major location shoot with only one licensing model in mind. For example, the productions with the largest investment will be submitted to rights-managed or royalty-free. But while I'm in the area, I can book a second set of models and create a few images for microstock. The cost is amortized over all the licensing models. Investment in production must be viewed over at least a 5 year period. In general terms, if I break even by year 2, I'm doing great! The profit comes in year 3 and after.

As Ellen mentioned, its all about balance, long term investment, and upfront research. Suggestion: find an image category, or demographic, that has very few images, then invest in that "keyword"  to increase your rate of return since there will be fewer images for the client to choose from.

As far as airports go, you can probably find a smaller city with a nice clean airport at no location fee- just trade out a few photos!