short, direct, and clear application of mask/curves... very helpful.  I'll try this today on some vacation shots I took

Congrats on the simple and effective shot.  Flame on!

I have not really paid attention to approval % (dare I admit that  - yes it't true).  Perhaps I should as my downloads have dropped way off for June (just two this month!)  Mine is awful <50% -  from the sounds of this thread I'd better improve that number.

Very well done - I like how you included short cuts into the content.  Masks are something I know I should know more about but don't.  Looking foward to learning more - thanks for your time and effort on lesson 1.

Congrats on the sale.  A few questions should I ever be in your place...

do you have to tell the buyer the number of times it sold before he/she bought it?  Seems they should know that it's out there somewhere because if they see it and think they have exclusive rights to it, may tick them off thinking you've just kept selling it AFTER they bought it.

was the buy-out notice different from other notices of sale?  If it's subtle, I might miss that I have to do something special.

thanks,  T

that is amazing - I'm thrilled when I go into double digits - cannot image that milestone!  All the best to him.

mine flipped to green (was green then went to yellow) -- still no watermark

Thanks for the tips -- I'm heading to Banff later this summer and will use the info. 

currently fotolia has a "we're down and working on the problem" message instead of my phtographer's page.

I just logged in without problems.  I'm on the east coast of the USA and logged in around 7:45

Quote from: odvdveer on May 05, 2007, 08:40
The latest one is that on my approved images after may 1st the watermark is missing

Olga

Thanks for pointing this out -- same for me - watermark missing on latest approved ones.

Quote from: fotografer on May 04, 2007, 12:48
I've always had to log out and log back in again before I can post

same with me on that -- I've given up and don't post there.  I use netscape but have had the same issues on ie.

as a side note - since I got a raise, my sales have been slower than slow!! I'm making more per shot but many, many less shots.

I just started uploading yesterday -- I noticed that Bigstock was one of the "big 6" but I hadn't, for some odd reason, checked it out.  Saw that on many folks monthly results they were having some success there so started uploading some of my shots.  I'm glad to hear some of the less popular ones get accepted and sold - sorry to hear it's not working so well for all.

Had 3 .30 sales - seems they started this mid-day as the one I had this am was a .25-er.  A very nice surprise 

That's good news - glad you're $125 richer!

Quote from: madelaide on April 26, 2007, 23:37

Once I tried a search for lipstick (I was working on images of makeup items) and was amazed that maybe 90% of the results were photos of women, though not necessarily in closeup or with a lipstick in hand.  So it's like evey photo of a person in full body people pick "eyes, ears, mouth, lips, cheek, hair, hands, fingers, ..." and if a woman they also add "makeup, lipstick, ..."



Regards,
Adelaide

I had the same experience this weekend -- looking up carnival.  I tried "fair" but that was worse.  To be "fair" there wasn't any way to indicate fair skinned so I got an eye-full   

As with most things - when I switch roles I learn a lot about both sides - that is, when I searched for a certain type of image I learn a lot that I can apply to my keywording of images.

Steve -- thanks for the update -- I've been selling a lot on StockXpert the last few months and look forward to the Japanese market.  Any tips - either photo topics or keywording - for your new market?  Theresa

Good news for me -- I make the cut so an extra .05 for me.  I'm working on my first flame/etc. on all the other sites so it's great to already have make it here.  Thanks for posting the news and the link.

the same % and reasons as always for me -- could be that I'm rejected more than accepted so I don't notice any new strictness.

I've been using the beta version for a few months now and really like it.  I've totaly gotten used to the brightness/contrast changes as well as the B&W conversion tool.  I didn't have a strong handle on CS2 as I just upgraded from Elements right before the free beta came out.  I will wait and see what the deal is (money-wise) to upgrade the CS2 package I fairly recently bought. 

@Miz - the edited version is way better - nice work.  I've yet to shoot raw - not sure why exactly -- probably neww stuff overload.

I tried it, too.  Learned that "I see keywords"    

Also had some folks apply keywords to my images and learned that it's more about seeing things differently -- they offered unique ones using the photos in different applications.  Not worth the payout but I've taken this mindset with me over to my comments at LO. 

I've learned that leadership looks different to folks.. I believe "leaf" offers leadership on microstockgroup and does a wonderful albeit subtle job.  For my "day job" I do mission statement work (and other stuff) and find that  "a meetingplace for microstock photographers" to be an ample one.   Too much gets in the way sometimes.  Simple and open offers freedom.

It's strange .. when I connected tonight I wondered what the mood would be here --  so while it might look like I'm taking issue with some of your thougths, professorgb, I totally agree with the sense of climate that started your post.
(I also wondered "what's the deal with senior member, junior member, and full member" ...  but that's another thing

I've appreciated some of the tips/techniques threads  that "sharply_done" and "the miz" have contributed to (side note that I've used these on some lack luster shots and, while not accepted everywhere, did get some accepted on some sites - better than I would have without the tips. 

@miz - that's so simple and very impactful - I tried it on one of the shots you mention in your article - the ones where the color you experience doesn't transfer as you'd like to the image - worked well and in different ways that the first tutorial -- putting both in my "how to" file -- thanks 

Cool -- really helps add something extra to technically fine photos but ones that lack sizzle.  Used it tonight on some shots that I took a while ago but didn't quite know what to do with them.  I'll add a link when I finally upload them and they get accepted (somewhere I hope).  Either way- sure appreciate you taking the time to share -- Thanks.

Site    Jan   Feb      Mar     Apr
SS     37%  19%    40%
DT     22%  14%    13%
IS      22%  21%    19%
FT     14%  18%     14%
FP       1%   2%       0%
StockXpert    4%   10%    11%
LO      0%   16%      3%

March was my highest revenue month yet.  StockXpert sales was an all time best.