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Messages - Adeptris
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601
« on: May 14, 2008, 02:44 »
I am in three tears, tears of laughter with the raise, tears of dispair for the <$500 contributors, and lastly tears of joy as I am out of there after getting a payment, and leaving $0.00 in my account there. 
602
« on: May 14, 2008, 02:39 »
2. They deliberately give newest images far more strength than they should have, meaning that images which are more popular/more likely to sell are naturally put further back than they should be, lowering the quality of images the buyer sees. This also makes shutterstock work best for newbies who dont yet know what sells, and worse for people who have been doing this for years and know their stuff, giving those people more incentive to go exclusive with istock.
3. They give only a few cents per image, putting off a lot of macro photographers.
Number 3 is the reason for number 2, I was with SS for a few months each upload would bring good downloads for the uploaded images then a decline, until the next upload. I did stay until I got a payout at SS, other sites I left I have converted my low earnings to credits, so I can purchase images just to delete them, so someone else will benefit, and not the site. SS have the buyers money, the buyer has a window in which to download, if they buy new contributors images SS may have to pay the contributor either $0.25 or $0.00 if they reach payout, if they buy non new contributors images they will have to payout $0.33+ per download which is a bit more per credit. I.M.H.O. the new contributor are a big bonus to SS where you cannot convert your earnings if you leave.
603
« on: May 13, 2008, 15:23 »
604
« on: May 13, 2008, 15:11 »
Oh Dear! I posted a reply over on the SS forum, about the way they have treated the <$500 contributors, rationalised post not naming other sites, and suggesting that the impact was in fact a reduction, and now I am banned. Freedom of 
605
« on: May 13, 2008, 13:39 »
With Istock another Large site about to eat into the subscription market, and enough clout to hurt SS, it is likely a good move for SS who will have a big battle on two fronts, first they will have to share some of thier market, and then the overheads of running SS will increase as the global squeeze tightens. I was with SS and deleted all my portfolio at the beginning of May as IS was returning more revenue for 1/4 of the downloads, with the rates promised for subscription downloads over on Istock it should be a wise move but time will tell. But the biggest problem with this raise which will hurt their reputation is the $0.00 for contributors <$500, they did promise a raise, not a raise for some contributors, with the devaluation of the dollar, credit squeeze they have in fact cut the value of a download for the lower end of the market, and if there is a year wait for the next raise, what will the $0.25 be worth then, this after raising the price to the buyer this year by 50% Shame on them! 
606
« on: May 12, 2008, 08:51 »
Contributors are Vendors we supply goods to the Market. Stock agencies are merchants, connecting the Vendor and Customer, always protecting thier margin, dispite what is reported they are NOT communities but a business. 
607
« on: May 12, 2008, 08:41 »
My definition of serious: Willing to spend $900 or more for your first DSLR, means your serious.
Now how you became serious about investing that much money is a mystery to me.
So far I count only 1 "weenie head" and it ain't Adeptris.
Cranky MIZ
There are a large number of family and hobby snappers in the UK with expensive DSLR's and top end P&S camera's, and spending $1000++ for a family snaps camera, that looks like they know what they are doing  I would say the 400D ($900-$1100) is good hobby & stock entry level camera, my first shots were from the 300D 6mp, and an Olympus P&S 8mp. Semi - Serious Canon kit, I.M.H.O. starts at 40D which is about the $1800 mark, flash gun 580ex II another $500-$600, and a couple of cheap entry level lens, $1500 - $2500 My target is the top end Canon 1D III $5000-$7000 (Ebay), when I can justify the spend, then I would need new glass another $6000, that is serious dollars!  As an example I am off to Camera Club tonight, where some members have top range DSLR's (D3's 1D's) which are worth many times what I have, and they just use them for thier travel snaps, which they enter in the club competitions   All values were roughly converted 1:2 from GBP () UK prices @ Windmill - My Canon 50mm - 1.8f, was a best buy for me, well used and a reccomended buy!
608
« on: May 12, 2008, 02:32 »
Hey! I must be a "Canon 400D Weenie head", currently the most popular entry level DSLR  How do you know how serious you are about something until you try it!  Working in IT is see this everyday and I do love and laugh at these people, they need a push bike to get to work, off they go 2000+ on a top of the range bike, then another $1000 on accesories, then 6 months later it is on Ebay or in the garage, with the golf clubs, fitness kit, surfboards, ski's, scuba kit, motorbike. You know who you are! I am happy with my entry level camera, cheap studio lights etc:, and if in 6 months I change direction, no big thing I might lose a few dollars if I sell up, but if I was sitting with 12000 worth of kit I would likely lose at least 4000. B.T.W. the 400D was an upgrade from the 300D, next will be a 40D, take little steps making bigger strides, instead of running before you walk, yes good kit would help but it is the photographer takes the photograph. Like the O.P. just my views
609
« on: May 12, 2008, 02:16 »
I am new to Stock Photography and found the history of the stock image business very interesting, and how the cost and quality of digital camera's have impacted and opened up a once "Select" world to many.
David
611
« on: May 10, 2008, 03:58 »
Here in Asia, most people use pirated software, and I can't say that I blame them.
Just remember this if you see one of your images being used by a "Pirate", they might say "it ok to steal and use because the Photographer Don't Blame us!" And the next time you buy full priced software, insurance or pay your taxes, the price you pay could be as much as 50% less if there was no scammers, I for one do not share your view on this
612
« on: May 08, 2008, 04:17 »
That data isn't relevant to me, what is relevant to me is the paycheck at the end of the month and my SS one is 50% higher than the one I get off IS.
take your Istock total Revenue to date and divide it by the total downloads, mine comes in with an average of $0.98 per download, compared to SS $0.25 a download, I have pulled all my work from SS because of this very point.
Yes and for 400% more downloads, the RPI is more important to me, each to thier own, I have decided that it is better to sell 1 image for $1.00 than 4 images for $1.00, 1/4 of the effort. I have also sold an image 1 download for $54 elsewhere, that would be 216 downloads at SS 
613
« on: May 08, 2008, 02:46 »
take your Istock total Revenue to date and divide it by the total downloads, mine comes in with an average of $0.98 per download, compared to SS $0.25 a download, I have pulled all my work from SS because of this very point.
A lot of designers might prefer to download a xSmall rather than a watermarked comp, then thier client do not know the image source, so think that the xSmall could be used for a mockup, and if the designers client goes for it, you may get a medium, large or xlarge sale later, thus getting two downloads for the one piece of work
Also think that if the xSmall option was not there the designer may have brought a large download of the same image over on SS or any other subscription based site that has your images, and you would not be here complaining about that, although it may have cost you revenue.
I try to look at all perspectives to balance any post, and in conclusion think that xSmall images may lead to a bigger future sale, so if I get any I am quite content.
If them 4 xSmall downloads turn into large downloads come back and complain that the poor customer was unable to trade in the xSmall download as part exchange.
David
614
« on: May 08, 2008, 00:30 »
I think it is a throwback to Pyramid Sales, where the top earners get up and "Woopee I love this Company, look at me!", and others look on in amazement and dream of that day they can add the woopee.
Read between the lines, they are not really thanking SS but advertising the fact they made the cut, "immediate gratification syndrome"
How about the many contibutors that have made sales but not hit the magic value that gets them a payment, and may never hit it, maybe they should have another thread each month.
"Sorry SS I never made the grade this month, thank you for staying with me through these tough times", woopee I love this Company!"
Funny when you register a bank account with PayPal they can pay in a few small payments to verify your account, any bank anywhere, but the stock agencies cannot pay direct to your account, and cannot pay unless you have hit a set amount of sales, and they love you so much they pay it to another Company PayPal that charges you again to use your hard earned money.
You are not part of a community, if you fall off the face of the earth tomorrow they will not care, as they are a merchant they take the goods from the vendor, make a transaction with the customer, all the time protecting thier fixed profit margin, what a fantastic business model, suppliers come to you give thier goods sale or return, no logistic, warehousing, only costs are the servers a few staff and advertising.
David
615
« on: May 05, 2008, 23:57 »
Read the SS forum threads and you will see time after time, "you have to keep uploading to maintain sales"
It seems like the search promotes new images and the biggest sellers, I only had a small portfolio of 50 images there for a few months, but found when the images were new the sales were very good
My best month was 72 downloads and I stopped uploading in January and Sales went January=42, February=16, March=13 and April 8
I do think it is the search model at Shutterstock because at Istock I get steady downloads with only 40 images, so they must be getting found in the searches
I have been told that I should not base my analysis on only 50 images, so it will be interesting to hear what other say.
But I think it will be "you must upload upload upload" to maintain sales that is unless you have an untapped market where only your images come up in the search
David
616
« on: May 04, 2008, 17:55 »
I do agree with steve's comments, and they are valid going forward, however we are talking about acceptance images.
One problem I have seen is new submitters "shooting for stock" trying to re-create a top 50 image, or something they saw in another portfolio, looking for the special thousand download image, rather than shooting simply for acceptance, where IMHO quality is the main issue, I have never cropped or made an image "Pop" for acceptance, and have always been accepted first time except the very first site, with quite boring images, so I can only speak from my own experience.
The cropping issue and doing two images sounds like a good idea after acceptance, as is testing how far you can go with post process different sites different rules.
The two bits of advice I took early on from the submitters was "keep it simple", from the designers "don't crop".
These are only my observations on initial acceptance.
B.T.W. several designer said in another forum, that many a sales was lost as a lot of the image are already over cropped, and they have had to settle for thier second choice
David
617
« on: May 04, 2008, 14:17 »
618
« on: May 04, 2008, 14:15 »
Funny thing is; I got accepted by iS. However They have rejected 100% of my isolations. More pie!
I had problems with missing tiny area's of isolations, that you could hardly see ay 100%, so I tried a few, and now I have a good rate of acceptance for isolated shots on IS, this is my workflow, it is quite easy and quick, try it on a couple of shots! http://www.adeptris.co.uk/PS2Tutorial/tabid/136/Default.aspxDavid
619
« on: May 04, 2008, 14:03 »
My two best sellers on IS were SS rejects, so I would say be picky in what IS images you use.
There are different rules it seems, my SS rejections were for "where the focus point should be", thay had a clear focus point but different views from site to site
620
« on: May 04, 2008, 13:59 »
I found that the main key is quality more than anything else with acceptance shots.
Make sure the image has a clear point of focus, do not crop or resize, shoot at the lowest ISO, avoid heavy shadow or high contrast shifts, and if in photoshop if you need to do anything more than a slight tweek then that image should not be part of a submission
A stock image is often used as a part, a design element, so you are the photographer not the artist in this case, if the designer wants a crop they will do it, do not try to provide the finished shot, think of copyspace and allow some space around the subject, the key is also to keep it simple.
My images included animals, people and objects, none were "shot for stock" as such but were selected with the above rules and I had 8/10 first attempt.
Someone said "Why Bother", I was refused at the first site I ever tried, in the 30 day wait I trawled the forums learned the process, got accepted at other sites, when the 30 days were up, I submitted again and was accepted, I never uploaded to that site after reading about them in the forums, I bothered because they had refused my images, and accepting that would have bugged me.
I went and uploaded to 8 sites but now I am only uploading to one, the one which gave the best consistant return oer 6 months, with a small portfolio.
David
621
« on: May 04, 2008, 02:51 »
Maybe a large number of localised specific images in a portfolio would help, as they would have to come to the UK to copy.
But then the way micro is going any local building would need a release, any local logo's need to be cloned out, any incidental person in that crowd shot needs a model release, and that nike logo removed.
So is the ease of copy not caused by the micro's in the first place, and can anyone claim IP infringment on a "Generic Image"
Traditional and Editorial would be a smart move, as aspects of local images will be hard to copy, limited market so a large portfolio will be needed.
Just a thought, another option is for several local photographers to get together as a collective, and all upload to one large portfolio, this could mean more views when buyers view the portfolio, on some site better return per download, and possible a greater number of downloads, then the revenue split by contributors download, so no one is being carried.
But then are we all so paranoid and centered that any though of a co-operative is a "no no"
As to Eastern Europe, many economic migrants are now leaving the UK, as there are more jobs and a better lifestyle to be had back home, the statistic say that 50% of the Poles that came to the UK to work have returned to Poland due to the upturn in thier economy.
David
622
« on: May 03, 2008, 16:18 »
BTW Yuri announced on his blog that he earned $64,000 in January as total income from all agencies.
And he has dedicated people on his staff just to manage the stocksite images, and has to pay some of them as well! I think I read on his site about 10 employee's, studio, rent, rates, kit, travel expenses and other liabilities, I know that the studio will have customers as well, but it might be that it just gives a nice lifestyle and dollars in the bank, but not enough to relax, as you have to stay ahead of the game. He likely thinks that all the new contributors hurt his revenue, and as always another way to look at things, I have worked for some big companies that charge me out for five times what I am paid, but the end of the year the balance sheet only showed a small profit % after all was paid for. Stock is like any other service business you have to build a customer base, supply a quality of service (images) that makes them come back and look for your portfolio David
623
« on: May 03, 2008, 14:25 »
Hi there are a couple of applications where you can prepare your files keywords etc: Just for Istock you have http://www.deepmeta.com/ this will also test the keywords and gives you the categories, from the application upload then just finish the uploads off on istock, deepmeta is just for Istock and is free. If you upload to other sites then there is http://www.prostockmaster.com/ this will suggest keywords and return statistics, and you can embed the IPTC data with this application. Both applications use the embedded IPTC data, and when starting out prostockmaster can be used with the free limited version, and later when you are earning it is not that much money $49 to register. David
624
« on: May 03, 2008, 01:37 »
I have looked at load of solutions, but could not find any that really fit the bill
I wanted something with a multi tier pricing structure per image
None of the links below are refferal urls so this advice is impartial with no gain to myself
A cheaper hosted solution from $70 a year you could look at www.clickpic.com they have a 7 day free trial
these are standalone free or with a one off charge
The one I look at last was http://www.pixaria.com/
This is about $200, ecommerce and designed for photograpy, this came very close
An opensource FREE shopping solution I would look at http://www.magentocommerce.com/ you will need to be artistic, inventive and open minded to see how you can use it as a gallery, it has built in ecommerce, but no multiple price options per product, that is at the moment, this is a fairly young product that will evolve.
There are a number of Flash templates galleries out there these have a number of PayPal ready templates http://allwebcodesign.com/
My website www.adeptris.co.uk uses another opensource product called www.DotNetNuke.com, which allows me to plug in different modules create and edit pages online, need a database at the backend.
For my gallery I found and use a Flash Gallery product www.slideshowpro.net I purchased the flash solution and the director online image managment suite, total cost around $100, but you really need Adobe "flash 8" designer not player if you want to change it
It does not have PayPal as standard, but I have been designing a PayPal version which can be seen and the solution downloaded from my website.
WARNING
All these solution will require you to have some development skill and install and modify the solutions, if you have not done anything like this before, research the "how-to" and FAQ's or get some help, and there is always services like SmugMug to fall back on.
David
625
« on: May 03, 2008, 01:15 »
I have looked at load of solutions, but could not find any that really fit the bill I wanted something with a multi tier pricing structure per image None of the links below are refferal urls so this advice is impartial with no gain to myself A cheaper hosted solution $70 a year you could look at www.clickpic.com they have a 7 day free trial these are standalone free or with a one off charge The one I look at last was http://www.pixaria.com/This is about $200, ecommerce and designed for photograpy, this came very close An opensource FREE shopping solution I would look at http://www.magentocommerce.com/ you will need to be artistic, inventive and open minded to see how you can use it as a gallery, it has built in ecommerce, but no multiple price options per product, that is at the moment, this is a fairly young product that will evolve. There are a number of Flash templates galleries out there these have a number of PayPal ready templates http://allwebcodesign.com/My website www.adeptris.co.uk uses another opensource product called www.DotNetNuke.com, which allows me to plug in different modules create and edit pages online, need a database at the backend. For my gallery I found and use a Flash Gallery product www.slideshowpro.net I purchased the flash solution and the director online image managment suite, total cost around $100, but you really need Adobe "flash 8" designer not player if you want to change it It does not have PayPal as standard, but I have been designing a PayPal version which can be seen and the solution downloaded from my website. WARNINGAll these solution will require you to have some development skill and install and modify the solutions, if you have not done anything like this before, research the "how-to" and FAQ's or get some help, and there is always services like SmugMug to fall back on. David
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