Good question Karimila,

 I don't know off hand but I can look into it and see if I can find out what the time line is. Quite often even though an artist dies their work is passed onto someone else. Like Yoko has the hold on Johns art since his death. I'll take a better look.

Best,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 I am using Getty's legal terms not my opinion but there's, which are followed by most everyone in the industry. I believe at last count Getty had 20 lawyers covering their company that's enough proof for me even if some images may have slipped through. You can not use a photo of art work or designer furniture created by an artist without that persons signature releasing that image for creative use, editorial yes, creative no.
You can shoot anything that the owner cannot prove is their creation. Everyone makes sofas so they are not a problem but if you shot an expensive designer chair that was clearly identifiable to the designer Getty looks at that as a need for a property release.
 Please find an agency agreement that does not require that in their contributor agreements and I'll show you an agency that has set itself up in a dangerous position and left themselves unprotected against law suits. I don't think you will find one successful agency that doesn't include this in it's contributor agreement. Maybe Micro is different and they are willing to fight the legal battles I am not sure, but not Getty, Corbis, Amana....etc.


Best,
Jonathan

This is BIG business. Take a look at the board of directors. This is a serious company with mucho dinero. Thanks for the link.

Jonathan

Hi Cardmaverick,

 Yes you will need a property release from the artist not the home owners. here are some possibilities to work around it, unless you are going to sell the images in Editorial collections only.

1. Make some art work on an inkjet printer that matches the size of the frame and place it over the original glass. We keep our modern art pretty simple, an orange circle on a white background or something of the sort. If you choose this route make your prints support the surrounding color pallet of that room.

2. Remove the art from the wall and shoot at angles that don't show that wall a great deal.

3. Post produce some art in PS and drop it in in post production over the original, this is the easiest and quickest way as apposed to bringing your art work. Keep the image of the print you will cover clear of any foreground obstructions like a lamp so you don't have to much work with your selection path.

4. remember if you are shooting models the subject will be most of the focus so you can always use a long focal lens at a wide aperture to let the art work go out of focus in the background.

5. Good luck, I am happy to hear you found a great location and try your hardest to find angles that don't bring the art into play.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

Don't let Mat fool you, he helped a ton whenever I needed him he was there and ready. Thank you for the super kind words Mat as well as everyone, they mean the world. Yesterdays shoot was a high end shoot for us but there are so many ways around the costs, you would be surprised what you can build with the right team for a reasonable cost, bartering is what it's all about and everyone wins.
 If this seems daunting to consider at this point in your career one thing to remember is that my wife and I started off shooting RF Macro 11 years ago just the two of us on the super cheap ( like free ) this just all developed over time. it is not so hard as it seems now looking back, and with the technology that is going to be at the fingertips of this new generation the work we think is out there and on the edge now will seem passe in no time. The fun part for me is it always allows you to learn something new, this buisness never sleeps

Best to all,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 All stock photos should be signed by the model the day of the shoot. Then we have the model hold up the signed release and take a photo of them and keep it in your archives in duplicate. For those of you not following your rules you are leaving yourself open for some serious danger down the road.

Good Luck,
Jonathan

Thanks AP,

 Maybe a blog someday I haven't approached the idea seriously to much shooting to do : ) But I do appreciate the kind words they mean a lot. I agree that people should be able to choose what they share with others, whatever they are comfortable with. I just don't think that sharing those numbers hurts my business, some people here do, that is their prerogative.

'Best,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 I am very good friends with Ryan Mcvay. Look him up on Getty he has over 25,000 images there that he has created for Getty as a Getty photographer. It might not be for everyone but he has loved the last 12 years or so of being able to travel the globe with big expensive casting and support and just become an excellent shooter while he gets paid with the best art directors available.
 He was one of my students for a semester in college and he has come a long way on their dime. He can shoot anything with any light source you could imagine. I asked him once why he didn't just do it himself. He replied " because I like to go take awesome photos get a pay check and be able to work in my garden on the weekend. He likes the 9-5 corporate deal and he has been with them for over a decade, they can't be treating him all that bad. I don't know if that is the kind of job Getty is offering but if you were young with a bit of talent you could become a master of the art of photography while getting paid. Not a bad gig.

Best,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 Not to change up the subject completely but there is a correlation here to what I was getting at you might find it not relative but I do. How many of you are getting a 50/50 split with your agency. That is what stock used to be before RF it was even 60/40 at some agencies in favor of the photographer. Why did it change when the cost of supplying those images dropped dramatically for the agencies during this same time thanks to the internet? I was of the understanding that a forum was for us to support one another about the industry and what we can offer each other to help move ourselves along and have some form of shared understanding, the sharing of knowledge. Knowledge is power and the knowledge I offered is power for anyone that can find it.
 Maybe ask yourself who are you aligning yourself with the agencies or are you just wanting to go it alone. I don't mind some of you not interested in the information but you should really read what some of you have said when I tried to help and offer up information that was asked of me.
 Even asked by an individual who shows no signs on this site as actually being a photographer, more an alter ego of someone else here on the site. No one has answered my question. How does me sharing those numbers which I have shared for 11 years with anyone that wanted to know hurt my business. I think I am doing pretty well.
 As for not offering information as we get bigger I have found the complete opposite the biggest players are the most generous with their knowledge because they are not of a threatened nature. Maybe that is why the are so successful.

Best,
Jonathan

Good Point Paulie,

 There is a big difference and both have their place and should be equally respected.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Warren,

Oldest trick in the book but it still seems to be working after centuries of use. Pretty amazing.

Best,
Jonathan

Here you go Gostawyk,

 Since this is just Micro I will share my Micro sales since you asked. This is sales over the last 10 months as we did not upload any real amount of imagery before that. I did add 50 images back in 07 to see what there was but that is a very small portion of my sales so I consider the beginning when we made our first big upload.

SS:   $ 21,086.27 from 2500 images making a monthly RPI of 84 cents a download per month or an annual RPI of $10.08 with 100% sell through rate/

IS:  $5570.33 from 454 images making a monthly RPI of $1.02 per download or an annual RPI of $12.26 with a much smaller sell through rate of 60% due to their uploading limits.Tough to get a number on the sell through since we upload every week and it takes a couple of months for us to start seeing real numbers at Istock. So the annual RPI per image on images sold was $20.55.

FT: $ 8,337 from 2705 images making a monthly RPI of 30.8 cents an image or an annual RPI of $3.69 with a sell through rate of 51%

DT: $ 5339.95 from 2582 images making a monthly RPI of 20 cents a month or an annual RPI of $2.40 with a sell through rate of 62%

StockXpert: $ 1169.00 from 2500 images but we just joined this company in the last 6 months so the numbers will be based off of that time frame. A monthly RPI of 5 cents an image with an annual RPI of 60 cents an image.

Total sales in Micro to date for 10 months is now $41,534 from the last ten moths with 2500 images available. Total cost for production $ 40k so in 10 months I am just starting to make money with another 1000 images to add from last years shoot. Actually I have another 3000 to add to Istock but that's going to take a while : )

Any Micro companies I am partnered with that are producing smaller returns ( 5 of them ) are not mentioned because we just brought them on and I do not have any real stats for them.

 The balance of my income comes from Macro RM / RF and RR motion and it isn't much use to break it down in to much detail for a Micro stock forum. I average $127 in sales per image a year from these combined as well as sales from direct buy outs on occasion. I have also become co-owner in two agencies that have a return when sold considering the small cost it took to become an owner and the return possibilities. I am also working on a brand new project that I hope will continue to increase my revenue, just to early to share yet.
 Check Getty alone you will see I have very close to 10,000 images there. The math is no secret and telling you does not threaten my business model. Please explain how the numbers I shared jeopardized my company by offering the information to other shooters and I will gladly listen. Many of you are secret with your stuff and that is cool but it is just what the agencies want to see. Playing the game the way they want you to.

Cheers,
Jonathan

gostwyck,

 I already have. Would you like me to do it again, will you join me. I understand some people like to keep things to themselves them why share BME at all. If you would like me to print my numbers again I am happy to do so. I was just saying that BME offers no useful information without numbers to back it up. I made over a 7 figures last year and would be happy to break down where my income came from. What agency, their return per image, the sell through rate. By sharing numbers we become more united against the agencies that control the pricing. Those numbers I share with you do not create a threat to my income they only let you what agency sells what the best.

Best,
Jonathan