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Messages - sharply_done
Pages: 1 ... 19 20 21 22 23 [24] 25 26 27 28 29 ... 73
576
« on: December 18, 2008, 16:49 »
We just had 13 of 15 rejected by Is with our last upload. All 15 passed all our other sites.
AVAVA
It can be maddening when this happens - just don't let it get to you!
577
« on: December 18, 2008, 16:42 »
Not sure if it will be my worst month of the year (except on istock where that's pretty definite) but not looking good, that's for sure.
Ditto. Looks like I'll end this month at around what I made in January, +/- $100. I don't care about 1 month, this year is much better than last year. As long as I make more each year, I am happy. Might have to work a bit harder next year but I am prepared for that.
Ditto again. I made 80% more this year (my second in this industry) than last year. It sure would have been nice to double my income!
578
« on: December 17, 2008, 23:16 »
I'm not seeing much of a change at IS.
It's not unusual for those who see dramatically rising/falling sales trends to have such a small sales volume that separating signal from noise is difficult.
579
« on: December 17, 2008, 13:11 »
...
I can understand why they are being strict about the image quality but I don't see much use why they (most microstock agencies in general) being too fussy about the paperwork.
...
I sometimes get MR rejections from IS because the MR contains typed-in information (e.g. names, addresses, dates).
580
« on: December 17, 2008, 12:58 »
...
PS: I decided I will completly stop looking at other peoples portfolios. ...
I decided to do this shortly after I started shooting stock. Although life would be easier and my income would probably increase if I looked around more, I find it much more validating/rewarding to make a living through my own ability and creativity. On a related note, I did an experiment about a year or so ago where I included a few 'stupid' keywords to see who was copying my stuff. I was a little surprised by the results.
581
« on: December 16, 2008, 18:48 »
Thanks for making the search looking cleaner. I'm sure your portfolio will also gain from this. The day I will have that much images I will certainly do the same 
Nope, and as I mentioned earlier, removing garbage files has no effect on sales at FT at all. None. Nada. Nil. Zip.
582
« on: December 16, 2008, 16:23 »
Can someone tell me where I can find my id nr for Istock? I found DT, SS and FT but for Istock I'm at a loss....
Here's an easy way: Log into IS, then click on your name underneath the IS logo at the top left of the screen. Now look at the address bar (e.g. http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=1234567) - the last digits are your user id.
583
« on: December 16, 2008, 16:20 »
Don't worry, they won't reject the image if it is 'good enough' for their library. What they will do if they aren't happy with your release is bump the image back to the uploading area where you can attach a release to it - no need to upload again.
584
« on: December 16, 2008, 03:12 »
Free FTP just in case you want to make your life easier. Filezilla
http://filezilla-project.org/
FTP is also built-in to Windows, which makes it free, too.
585
« on: December 16, 2008, 03:09 »
1000 images and only 30+ sales per month? Wow, that's a really low 'batting average' for StockXpert - opting in might not give you much extra.
StockXpert subs account for 10% of my income there this year and 12% since September. Photos.com (subs and ppd) and Jupiter Images (subs only) together account for 15% of my StockXpert income since September. By opting in I've increased my income by 27% in the past 4 months. For me this about the same amount of money per month I make from the a lower-tier agency.
586
« on: December 16, 2008, 02:32 »
Sorry to hear of your bad experience, helix7.
When I lived in the USA I bought and sold a lot of stuff on eBay. The only bad experience I ever had was as a buyer. I needed the item immediately and bought the item on condition that the seller would ship within a day or two - he waited 6+ weeks.
I shipped via USPS Priority and always used tracking numbers. I found the USPS to be amazingly quick, and the only complaint I ever received was when the buyer told me it was okay to leave the package at the front door without a signature, and USPS insisted on one even though I didn't pay for that option.
eBay is much more convenient in the USA than in Canada, and I've hardly used it since moving here 3+ years ago.
587
« on: December 15, 2008, 15:35 »
Use pertinent keywords in your title and description, as DT uses these in their search algorithm. Looking at the first image in your BigStock portfolio, you'd be better off with something like 'rolling countryside boardwalk' for a title and 'rolling countryside boardwalk with tree silhouette in vertical frame' for a description rather than using 'boardwalk to heaven'.
588
« on: December 13, 2008, 15:03 »
Reality check time - don't consider a pro-grade lens for a 14 year-old using an entry level camera. Honestly, I don't know what some of you are thinking.
589
« on: December 12, 2008, 15:04 »
What part of shanki's statement is wrong?
The part where he postulates that people will be making (daily) payment requests after the deadline. IS is disabling this part of the site until 8:59am on the 2 nd); no payment requests can be made after the deadline, which means there won't be a backlog. Sure, there may be an abnormal number of payment requests made on the 2nd and days following, but not a backlog.
590
« on: December 12, 2008, 13:00 »
No, shank is wrong. Here's the stated IS policy:
While you're busy celebrating the holiday season this December, our accounting department will be doing the same. This means that you will be unable to make payment requests between 9 a.m. MST December 16, 2008 and 8:59 MST January 2, 2009.
... make sure to get your payment requests in before 9am MST on the 16th!
591
« on: December 12, 2008, 12:49 »
After a year-long trial of doing what you're starting to do, I've found deleting non-selling images to be ineffective in increasing sales.
My method was to remove all files that had zero sales in 6 months (lots of these) and less than four sales in one year (not nearly as many). Rather than keep these files offline, I re-uploaded them in the hopes of getting additional income. It was only occasionally that a re-uploaded file was licensed, and I learnt that a 'garbage file' is for the most part exactly that. Removing non-selling images had, at the very most, a trivial effect on my sales, regardless if the files were re-uploaded or not.
That's not to say that examining your non-sellers is a waste of time. I did this experiment with three agencies, and the non-selling files were more-or-less the same across all three. I found this to be a valuable 'learn from your mistakes' experience in that I was able to see subjects/techniques/compositions that weren't commercially viable. I still experiment with offbeat stuff to see what happens with it, but I also make sure to regularly revisit the non-selling part of my portfolio so that I don't repeat mistakes.
592
« on: December 11, 2008, 15:36 »
I have contacted them but there is still a very grey area about this topic. They say they will get back to me. The same with the Jupiter acquisition. That would make other Pros now able to be Exclusive but I was told they will get back to me. I would suppose after the deal is officially closed. Still looking for an answer if anyone knows.
Thx,
AVAVA
There's no way that IS will allow this. If they did, I could see how many IS exclusives would use it as an easy way to market their IS-rejected imagery. There would probably even be a lot of non-exclusives who would jump on board to have-their-cake-and-eat-it-too.
593
« on: December 11, 2008, 15:19 »
...
With DT, however, while they may say the images are disabled, I have no way that I can see of reactivating my portfolio. There's no list of disabled images visible through the contributor interface.
...
You can see your disabled images (and enable them, too) by first clicking on the 'Management Area' tab and then on the 'Disabled Files' icon.
594
« on: December 11, 2008, 12:35 »
While that's true, it's misleading. Anyone who has achieved any success on other sites has seen their income rise because of it. SS, DT and FT pay you more for higher sales (either per contributor at SS and FT or per image DT). When you go exclusive you're giving that all up and need to start over if you then change your mind.
I think that avoiding uploads to multiple sites is about the worst reason I can think of for considering IS exclusivity 
From what I've read, closing your acount at rival agencies is not a requirement for IS exclusivity - removing your images is enough. So it is possible to retain your higher income status if IS exclusivity doesn't work out. Given that images are only disabled on DT (instead of erased), you'd only have to enable them and not reupload them there. As far as uploading to only one sites goes, I personally find that to be one of the most attractive things about IS exclusivity - If I could maintain my income and manage only 1 portfolio instead of 9 I'd be all over IS exclusivity.
595
« on: December 11, 2008, 12:06 »
...
Thanks for this input I see I have to upload my collection to another site that I didn't realize had so much traffic. Your one post will increase my sales by a good margin. 
...
AVAVA - I'm under the the impression you think this shows sales. These are number of images online, not number of images licensed.
596
« on: December 09, 2008, 03:19 »
I'm not optimistic about IS at all - Saturday was my first zero day there in 22 months. (ouch!) Although I could once count on IS for 1000 DLs per month, I'm lately counting myself lucky to get 250. (double ouch!)
597
« on: December 04, 2008, 20:45 »
... I'd absolutely LOVE it if Adobe could put a spell checker in LR or PS...
Here's an easy work-around: Copy and paste into MS Word and press F7. You can also use http://www.spellcheck.net
598
« on: December 04, 2008, 12:51 »
...
Irrelevant, but today I got 4 EL's
Yee haaaaa!
599
« on: December 04, 2008, 03:08 »
...and what about personal integrity - wouldn't you rather believe that you are contributing something of value, instead of simply trying to steal sales from other people? Otherwise, you're just making money at other people's expense, and you haven't contributed anything worthwhile to the world. Why not take some pride in your work?
Well said.
600
« on: December 03, 2008, 16:50 »
Was playing around with the 85 1.2 on 40d the other day. DOF is so shallow, you don't know wheather to look at the sharp parts of the picture or the wonderfull bokeh. Was hard to get the focus just right wide open (probably my fault, I'm not used to 1.2  ). Can't imagine that one on 5d wide open, if you focused on eyelashes the eye would probably be OOF
I've shot with this lens, too. Although using it wide open is attractive, it isn't always the best thing to do - even at a focus distance of 15ft you'll only have 8 in of in-focus room to play with. A better tactic is to stop it down to twice (to f/2.5), where you'll double the in-focus room and have something approaching maximum sharpness.
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