I started with BigStockPhoto in Sept, 2007. I just achieved my 2nd download on Dreamstime just this morning

I plan to give stock photography a two year trial dedicating 20+ hours a week outside of my day job.

Mark

Naz,

I have been coming to that conclusion myself and have been looking at the Canon 350D, and A640/30 as potential replacements. Several of the "A" Canon Series cameras has a sensor that is a step-up above what I'm trying to make do with ...

The silver lining in all of this, is that if I can stick with it throughout all of the rejections, my editing skills are becoming really good. So when I do upgrade my equipment ... it will be like running without the ankle weights holding me back ...

In the meantime ... shoot with mono pod whenever possible (looks really funny on such a small camera but helps prevent blurry photos), minimum ISO (no greater than 100), use minimal post-processing working in layers on .tiff files before final conversion to .jpg and then zapped with noise reduction program before upload.

Mark

I also awaiting my upgrade information from Neat Image (which is amazing by the way and I have no affiliation with them). After the updgrade I will not lose meta data after I save with them ... but I will give what you guys are saying a try.

So if I enter the keywords through one of these programs ... then I don't have to enterthem in the upload forms on the sites? Is using FTP the only way to make this method work?

So after the upload goes to the site with metadata attached, what work remains using this method ... any?

Mark

Quote from: mwp1969 on December 16, 2007, 02:40

...
hmmmmmmmmm .... no    I've been using the web form upload, then input title, description, and keywords on their website.
...

You are making a very big mistake by assigning title, description, and keywords after uploading. About the worst thing you can do is upload an image, fill in the title, description, and keyword fields, then copy and paste the info from there when you upload the image to another site. Although it may seem easy and efficient to you now, you will find that you have created a monster when your portfolio is larger and you want to upload to a new site.

Being new to this game, you may want to consider modifying your workflow to filling in these fields, waiting a day before revisiting them, and finally uploading. The information you supply is your only selling tool, and it's critical that you develop good habits and sensibility if you want to maximize your sales.

Sharply,

I can very much see you point, and I am BIG on developing the proper methodology and processes from the start. However, now that you've pointed this out ...

What is the process?

I thought I had developed a good process (defined for critique as follows)

#1 Upload new images to BigStock after its been "Post-processed" and run through Neat Image (I have to upgrade so that I can retain "metadata"). I post to BigStock first since they require the most: title, description, categories, releases, and keywords.  By doing this to BigStock first then I am able to cut-n-paste into the forms on the other sites.

I would agree completely that if data could be put into the images only once and then upload to the various sites, that would be preferred ... however, my current camera requires all of my post-processing efforts to get my images approved.

Perhaps I can try putting in metadata after it has been run through Neat Image ... then re-save and then upload.

Now if one of these programs that your referring to allows for the input of keywords, what about categories that seem to be different on all sites?

Thanks for you help ....

Mark

What about the software that comes with the Canon cameras or Vista itself?

I am really enjoying their easy upload process and high approval rating. As I am waiting on just about every site for my first sale ... it doesn't hurt me to try where its easy to upload and lot's of my images are being approved

That being said ... I am still anxiously awaiting the day I receive approval at shutterstock. Part of me wonder's whether or not that will happen with my current camera ... anyway ... for now I do what I can with what I have ...

Mark

mShake and everyone thanks for your input

I too would be a bit upset if the business model were to change AFTER I subscribed and not offerecd an alternative. It appears that almost all sites require you to have your images "locked-in" for at least a minimal period. If the business model were to be changed mid-stream, it only makes sense that they should offer an "opt-out", or at least the option of pulling your material from off the site, or some other alternative form of compensation. IMHO.

Mark

a.k.a.-tom,

What is NLS ... Could you send me a referral link? I am very much interested thanks to your post ...

Mark

rjphoto

I do believe that would be a tremendous gimick for them to get a temprary "spike" back into say 1st place for total number of images ... I wonder if they are approaching a magic threshold number that is important to their marketing ... or perhaps they're just in the "giving" mode for the holidays? Either way ... I hope I get my approvals in before I'm locked-out due to another batch of rejections ...

Mark

Jorge,


hmmmmmmmmm .... no    I've been using the web form upload, then input title, description, and keywords on their website.

I recently am experimenting with FTP with "filezilla" for the first time. However, my digital noise reduction software does not currently retain IPTC metadata until I upgrade it.

Please share with me:
#1 What work do you do offline?
#2 Does it depend on the site or can you "cookie-cutter" the process across sites (ex. using FTP)
#3 What tool do you use?

Anyone else who wants to answer those questions as well ... please feel free as I need all of the help I can get

I do understand that the view traffic is not necessarily a viable gauge, but lacking anything else ... its all I have to look at until I start to get some sales.

For example, I know that with someones spamming keywords that are not relevant, they can increase their view traffic, however, if its not what the designer was looking for its a waste of time and they might even get reported.

Mark

BigStock was my first stock site. For that reason alone I will always have a soft spot for them I suppose ...

That being said,  I am now at 36 approved images and still awaiting my first download from them. Since then ... I've been approved at:

2nd Approved Site: Fotolia (FT)
3rd Approved Site: Crestock
4th Approved Site: 123rf

Here are the few observations from being a competitive and market research analyst by profession and a newbie to uploading stock photography ...

my # of views on my 17 images on DT have blown away the # of views on the 36 images at BigStock even though the BigStock images had a good month on DT.  This tells me that the traffic at DT is much higher than BigStock ...

my 1st sale has come from DT not BigStock

my approval % is around 23% on BigStock. This was locked in lower than my other sites due
to my learning curve about what works for stock  and what does not. Its been my goal of improving my submissions each week.

I'm on my 5th application at Istock
I'm on my 3rd attempt at shutterstock

BigStock requires more data input to upload to its site than several other sites. I use this to my advantage by often uploading new material there first, so that I have the most complete copy of data there (title, description, keywords etc.) Their keyword dialog box retains the commas which are needed at other sites after cut-n-pastes. They also keep track of all rejections. DT's list is only 7days long. This is a benefit to BigStock when I want to find data for an image that's been rejected, that I think will work on a different site.

Anyway ...

I hope some of this information might be of some use to someone.

Mark

rjphoto,

I have as well been awaiting my next application approval at shutterstock. My 2nd batch of photos shows that they were rejected, however, this time around I did not receive an email telling me to wait another 30 days.

I did notice that the "upload" section was still available to me. I have been continuing to upload more photos and they are showing as "pending" review. In response to those separate uploads (batches of 3-5 each), I've been receiving emails saying that they would be reviewed Mon-Fri during normal working hours etc ...

Perhaps they wanted more uploads to bolster the photo count here to close out the year?

I don't know ... I only hope I get my first approvals and that I get to start using SS like I've been hoping for months.

Mark

No doubt Pixart. I think I'm on my 5th application with IS just to try and get started with them ... all of my applications have been with images that have been approved by DT, BigStock and Fotolia ...

Mark