Are you writing a book or something?  We seem to be moving through various chapters.

1: What sites to join
2: How many pictures do I need
3: White Balance
4: Pushing Exposure
5: Isolating Objects
6: Keywording
7: Equipment
8: Lighting 101

There may be a market if you (i.e. SJ) were to write one 

If you do a tin eye search on the OP's file it brings up the 123rf file.

They are actually so slightly different but it appears to the casual observer that they are copies.

I'm a bit confused here. what was the source for this, a photo of a grey background then run a filter on it that makes a frame and scratches on it.

I remember the old NASA saga at Istock.

People had downloaded photos from NASA, done a bit of clean up and were selling them (some of them quite successfully)

After much discussion Istock removed quite alot of them. I think using the photos as components in changed work is still allowed.

Close to BME in March and so far this month sales have been spectacular. If it carries on like this it will be a massive BME but I am waiting for the sales to be 'switched off' again as usually seems to happen.

I tend to find my sales at Dreamstime appear in bizarre cycles of say 10 days of 'feast' followed by 2 weeks of 'famine'. I get the impression from the search results that different contributors are 'favoured' (or not) over time according to some unknown algorithm.

I agree with your feast or famine cycle theory, I have experienced a very similar patern there too.

I suppose its better than always being at the bottom like at some other agencies.  (wonder who I might be talking about)

Dreamstime has been quite good for me the last 4 months.
Personally I believe it is a combination of increasing pricing due to images reaching higher levels and that I have been uploading more lately. 

Quote from: lisafx on April 27, 2011, 18:39

Quote from: jsnover on April 27, 2011, 18:02

The deal for video and vector was part of the incentive to get contributors to opt in to Vetta. There is no such deal for photographers. Right now they won't even give us a date for when they'll announce the photo targets.

Honestly, I don't see how they could leave the targets the same for photographers.  Downloads seem to be in steep decline there for many, many people. 

Very true but they will likely leave them the same so we all take another pay cut...that's simply been their M.O. for nearly a year.

I'm still worried that they'll move some of the levels up.
I'd guess that they'll leave the top tiers the same but those of us down the bottom might get another kick in the  "donkey".

Quote from: louoates on May 07, 2011, 15:43

I found quite a few of my images on someone's Facebook page. I commented on each that I loved those too, mainly because I took those photos myself. What irked me was how other folks were gushing their appreciation with the images and the Facebook page person never said that he didn't actually take the photograph or say that he was merely posting photographs of others that he liked. I emailed him that if he wanted to post the pictures he should properly attribute them. I'm not too concerned because none of them had any stock value.

I once had someone post a pic I liked on Facebook and when I asked if it was hers she blatantly said that it wasn't and that she stole it.  She was bragging about it.  When I told her off, she changed her tune and played dumb and said that she just wanted the image so she can draw it on a bar stool at home (she was apparently an artist herself) ... as if that's okay to do as well!  I was utterly disgusted so I shamed her on facebook and let everyone know that I notified the true owner of the stolen image (which I did).  I also reminded her that I have no control over what action he would take.  She disappeared voluntarily from Facebook after that.

I'd guess she just signed up using another name

Seeing you have access to this location that for most photographers would be near impossible to access will you submit it to micro or aim higher ?

Quote from: Xalanx on April 26, 2011, 18:22

My point of view about them at this moment, based on facts: I have $42 with them as all time earnings (which spans for quite a long time I must add) so they're basically a "no-earner" for me, with a portfolio of 4000+ images.

Everything else you wrote after that doesn't matter (and I didn't read on), this result is incredibly pathetic, I would never even bother with such a site. If it takes a single minute for a photo to be uploaded, keyworded etc it's 4000 hours, so I guess you can expect to earn 1c/h during a long period . PATHETIC!

umm I think your over reacting here. 1 minute per photo is 4000 minutes not 4000 hours.  (which is about 67 hours worth.)
I think its not unreasonable to spend 10 minutes a day uploading you best sellers. (upload limit is around 25 per day)

Personally I'm supporting Stockfresh because they are at the moment paying a fair % royality and it very easy to upload.

Each to their own.

$46K ? 
Is that just the fees to go to classes or total cost per year (eg accommodation,expenses etc) that you pay for your daughter.

In Australia a four year engineering degree is about $5-6k per year and you can pay upfront for some discount. Otherwise they take it out of your taxes if you get a job. The debt is indexed with CPI.

20 years ago it was free.

I stopped uploading to Istock for several months, then I saw the que was still sitting at 30-60k and plenty of new content from both exclusives and independents were still flooding in. I couldn't see me holding back a couple of hundred images a year was going to change their minds. I gave it crack but not enough people were "striking" so I crumbled.  Istock is around 35% of my income.

I have been submitting to stockfresh to support them, their reasonable pricing and their 50% commission.


 

This is annoying I can't believe that buyers are going to think that there is affordable content on Istock anymore.

Searching photos
"surfing" the first 140 photos are agency or vetta  (first non-vetta/agency photo needed 400 download)
"industry sunset"  47 of the first 50 are vetta
business team  44 of the first 50 are vetta or agency
girl environment 48 of the first 50 are vetta or agency

Needless to say from what I can see its going to be hard sell for independents at the moment.


 
 

hey I own the copyright for at least 5 of those colours, law suit coming on

Huch:

Considering the anniversary as well as price increase, we've decided to offer all our imagery free of charge for the day. Designers or simple members will be able to download any images for free, promoting the site to their business partners, associates or friends. This is available only for a 24 hour window on April 1st 2011 and should allow everyone to adjust to the new price structure.

If it is some wierd april fools joke I'm sure it won't win any friends.