I'll work up the numbers but I can tell you right off the top of my head.... I'm way ahead with IS and SS.  SS further in front only because I've been with them a year longer than IS.  However, at the current pace, IS will soon pass SS.   =tom

I've been shooting 35mm film for 36 years...   never thought about selling it until a year and a half ago.  Point... I just didn't bust into photography when I bought my first digital...been doing it a loooong time. ..and I still shoot film too.

That being said,   my take on the digital revolution is this.  Digital has enabled so many more folks who    HAD THE TALENT,  BUT COULDN'T AFFORD TO EXPLORE IT (or exploit it)   to now do so.   Ten minutes on any RM  site will show that too much of the work there is mediocre crap that would never fly on the new micros.  On the other hand,  ten minutes on any reputable micro will find you NEW talent that produces images putting the mediocre crap on the RM's to shame.

If you could buy a baby grand piano for 300 bucks (instead of 15 grand) you'd find a lot more people had musical talents as well,  perhaps even find dozens, even hundreds of new (amatuer) concert pianists  here and there. 

You could quite possibly have walked by an individual today who has the talent to be the next  Frank Lloyd Wright or da Vinci,  the next  Alexander Bell or Newton, or the next Mozart or Bach... or the next Ansel Adams...     but will never realize their potential because they can't afford to pursue the education or purchase the 'tools'...

The digital camera revolution.... allowed that for those who love to take pictures... to realize they had an ability they never knew they had.  Now we have a lot more  talented people producing images.  And yeah,   some are selling them cheap... that is,  cheaper than what oldtimers were accustomed to selling them for..  oh well. 

I find great humor in that argument as well.  Why do you think the Ford dealer in this block is selling T-birds for  2 grand less than the Ford dealer on the other side of town?  Why's a pound of provolone cheese sell for half as much at the deli 2 blocks away?  Why's the gas station across the street sell gas 4 cents a gallon cheaper???   You sell your picture to a magazine for 2 grand... I'm happy with 15 hundred. ....  oh well.  Now the guy that sold for 2 grand, didn't sell any... and I just got a second sale for 15 hundred more...  ....... do the math.  If that's whoring my pictures.... I'm crying all the way to the whorehouse (bank).  I guess your pix weren't worth the 500 more.....  welcome to the 21st century.

Times have changed... there's no turning back the digital clock.  There's a lot more competition now for the better or worse.   Instead of sitting around crying the blues....  maybe some of those whinning should get the camera out of the bag and get to work.

Hey... the really talented pros have nothing to worry about.  If they are that good,  they will still and always command top dollar for their work and the use of their images.  Those that need to worry are the old RM shooters (pros) whos work wasn't all that good in the first place.  They were only there because there was no competition, they were the only game in town,  there weren't thousands shooters with pocket cams breathing down their necks with work that is pretty good, even great!

Until the time machine is built and they can go back and kill the guy who invented the digital camera,  the whinners better think about getting off their complacent butts and...   go shoot some more and better pictures.  If they don't, some 'mom with a point and shoot'  will.  And more power to her, go explore and exploit that talent, momma, good for you,  I say!!
    I talk to people like that every day and you know what?  I encourage them all the more. Go for it!! You keep burning up that digital memory.   I think the competition is great!  It forces me to be better than yesterday.   And when I can't stand it any more,  I'll retire to the den, turn off the lights, suck down some beers and watch the slides I took in 1969.

 I understand Ellison's point.  I understand his feelings and fine... stand up for yourself.   But man....  this ain't your daddy's day and age.  There's only so far you can go telling people to  F-off before you find yourself with no pot to pee in.  Does he think the DVD won't be produced because he said.... no?

Do the RM's pros think mom will put the camera back in the box because... they said.. she was an amatuer?      Guess who the last laugh will be on.....................             

mobius121...   As can always be expected,  Hatman12 is a source of valuable advice and observation (least I've found that to be true in my reading).

At 100% they must be completely and absolutely free of any noise/artifacting.  IS, SS, DT, StockXpert will shoot it down in a heartbeat.  It must be absolutely crisp in focus, not close, but dead on.  ...if you want to sell them on micros.
        On the other hand... and this is what has always confused the crap out of me.   When I deal direct with editor and art directors,  they couldn't care less about such extremism.  In fact,  the latest magazine issue hitting the bookstores this week with our work,  has a nine page spread written around our pictures (wife and I) and it is with great belly laughter that I say, 25% or so of those pix were shot down by the micros for noise.  Yet, the magazine looks .... perfect!   
 
go figure....  why,   I don't know.  Maybe because they aren't  making billboards with them?   

But on the micros....  it's gotta be outstanding.    Incidentally, your work looks fabulous!! =tom

mobius121........   Yeah I was told that too when I started out a year and a half ago...

My top sellers are landscape/travel shots!  Not only have they done well for me in the micros... but the exposure of them on the micros opened the door for me to the publishing world (magazines/books)  where I am doing extremely well for absolutely minimal work and effort.

I made more money on just my last two publishing deals this year than I have from  all my micro sales on all my sites this year!  And it was all landscape from parks. 

I'm sure that folks who shoot (and just to be clear, i'm not knocking it, more power to them, just not what I want to do)  the same model from 52 different angles are waaaaaayyyyy outselling me on the micros. Don't doubt that at all,   but...  my landscape sells.  Books, magazines, road maps,  DOT websites, travel agencies around the globe...  it sells.  Somebody has to take pictures of Yosemite and the Grand Canyon,  The Great Smoky Mountain National Park and Acadia...   and I am so sad to be forced...  to go to those places, hang out for weeks and take pictures of them.... LOL

Open a book on national parks,  a magazine on the outdoors, walk into a tavel agency...   somebody had to take those shots.  It could soon be you!!!

My point... If you shoot quality landscape... there is a niche out there for you.

If that's the case then they missed aardvark ... (anyone knowing "Blackadder" here? )

we talking the tv comedy  (3 times)  Blackadder?   ...... =tom

No... I'm getting reviewed rather quickly.   All rejects  "thanks, too many already"    .... so it might be a good thing that they are taking the time to look at them. =tom

Quote from: melking on November 18, 2007, 15:15

the site is so slow!!!!!  I just cannot take it to look for photos on here and I just give up!

Funny, I don't find LO particularly slow.  Is it in any special aspect, like searches?  On the other hand, IS is slow for me when I open an image.  The page loads with all the info, but the image takes years to load.

Regards,
Adelaide

Slow for me too.. I just left there before coming here today.. I was trying to comment on a few pictures. It was taking so long..... I stopped. My time is too valuable.    I've got a kick-butt machine here that speeds my fanny around the web at a touch of the mouse! I've got highspeed broadband...    but  LO really drags somedays, today was one of them.

I'm still hanging on a bit more... I've been hanging on for over a year now....   I can give it a little more time....  but I fear that I am day by day falling off the LO map.  The same portfolio is bringing me cash out after cash out elsewhere.  Of the agencies that I've been with for over a year...  I have had repeated cashouts at all except  LO and 123rf.... and I can't complain about 123 as I only have about 50-60 pix there. 

I'm hanging on....... but it may be all in vain.  At this rate, I'll never get a sideshow and I may never reach payout in my life.....   and views on all the work submitted in the last couple months are ..in some cases, still zero to two.  That doesn't even account for my mother looking at them...
 Hey, Wait a minute!!!   Maybe she isn'..................    LOL

hanging in New Jersey ....   -tom

Of all the sites I'm on, Stockxpert is getting to be the most annoying with rejections and or, rejection reasons.  I used to think IS was hyper picky.  But they now accept pictures that StockXpert rejects.  Well, it all goes in cycles.  I usually wait a bit and then resubmit.  Sometimes you get better results from a different reviewer.

I'm finding that to be the case with several of them.  Right now, my IS acceptance is higher than StockXpert, LO,  & DT. 
     StockXpert..... man.... it's so frustrating.  I just had a whole batch rejected  "thanks have enough already"  .....  what the heck?!?....    what a waste of time uploading!   Incidentaly, they were different topics, not all the same.           Thanks, we have enough already... 

How..... can you have  enough of anything?  Isn't the point to keep generating fresh images of all subjects??     =tom

a.k.a.-tom:
To post an image, get its URL and then use the IMG tag (it's the second icon on the second line of icons, below the Italic icon). Or type (IMG)URL(/IMG), but with brackets instead of parenthesis.

Regards,
Adelaide

thanks much!!

I like LO and I have from the start, been there since august 2006.  Sales are low and slow.... I did have one EL  recently...

I'm hanging in there. See what develops. 

U.S.    insurance system,  medical system ......sux.

the rich can afford to get anything they want

the poor get it for free

the middle class takes it up the nose...  medically speaking...

I gave my vote...  beverages would be great...     then later, I could enjoy the "fruits of my labor"....     oh snap!!    =tom

and someone please tell me how (again) to create the link....thanks...