Hi louoates,

Thanks for clearing up my mistake. You can see why my wife is the money person in tis business relationship. You do not get penalized if you are close and are short by some they just are watching for big shifts in quarterly taxes but when you file your extension you still have to send the check they believe you owe. The main reason is it gives you more time to get your ducks in a row. I will say the one part I do understand is if you have made a lot of money this year you should make any large purchases you are considering before the end of the year. Unless you are going to make even more next year. As was pointed out there is no way around it. My wife has been audited by the IRS and also the State and passed with flying colors but it was a nightmare of organization you don't want to have to deal with. Sorry for the misinformation.

Best,
Jonathan

Good post Patrick.

Best,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 Good choice on the incorporation Lisa. You should always file an extension as well at the end of the year. Hold onto your money as long as you can and collect the interest, which is also taxable but at least it is more money in your account at the end. What are people using to follow their write offs. if you are unsure a good accountant might actually make you more money after you pay them their fee if you are not clear on all the options. The U.S. has areas that throw up red flags when your return comes through, learn to avoid the red flags and avoid an audit. An accountant is very good at helping in that department trusting you have a good accountant. Audits are not the end of the world but they are a royal pain in the behind, stay very organized.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Hi AP and all,

 Definitely a growth of great proportion thus the drop in the other models. Istock sold $865,000 in sales just yesterday. Just one day, that's serious chowder at a few bucks a piece. The RF Macro has dropped significantly and someone said it dropped 70%. %'s don't mean much if you don't mention dollars. RF Macro had the room to drop that far and still make more than Micro clearly for my company because the RPI in Macro RF used to be $3-$4 hundred a year with a $1500 hundred life average, that's per image. Now it dropped 70% so you make $400- $ 450 dollars off your RPI in Macro RF over it's life ( 3-5 years ). I am still making more per image a year on my Macro RF by far and I haven't produced hardly at all for it in 09'. As a matter of fact I have some Macro RF ( 1400 ) images from an old collection I have not added to for 5 years and it still outsells my Micro images that are brand new.
 RM is a completely different model from Micro that will have buyers for quite some time  and can actually take advantage of some of the chinks in the Micro armour. I don't consider Alamy as one of the RM players though so that makes a big difference around here. Corbis and Getty RM are still making way more RPI than Micro and motion is huge in RM compared to Micro, for the time being.
 Diversification in as many models as you can keeps you safely protected in the long run. It's like Roulette, I have a much better chance of winning betting on red than I do on 27. All models have there place at this time, to early to say that some are dead or dying. Watch and wait to see where you might play your chips and keeps your bets small and across the table till the wheel gets hot.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Yep Zeus,

 Timing is everything in life : )

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Vitaly and Maria,

 The price point is often based on how many images you bring a retouch company and how often. Te price can be negotiated. I have heard of people paying 5 dollars and I have heard 3 dollars so that gives you an idea at least with off shore re touching.

 I also pay 5 dollars per image for personal retouchers here in the U.S. but these are not big service agencies these are independent professionals.

 You can send images through FTP that is the easiest but you can also mail dvd's or hard drives as well.

 Sometimes if you have an extra big retouching job on an image they will offer you a price for the time spent but for basic retouching this will get you close.

 If you want to pay an extra fee you can always get a personal retoucher as well that works on only your images so you can build a relationship and they get to know how you like your images processed and retouched, better results with less redo's.

Hope this helps,
Jonathan

Hi Vonkara,

Thanks for putting this together for us. Good feedback and info.

Cheers,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 We don't shoot a frame till the model release is signed and a photo of the model holding the release has been taken. This is added to our archives and guarantees we will not be sued down the road. Easy to do and totally covers you. Along with a witness to the signing of the release and your safe as can be.

Best,
Jonathan

 If it's a great shot reshoot the same location and clone the people out from the clean version, combine both images to make one. Just an idea.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 I use Captain FTP but if you find one that works well for you I would stick with it. If it ain't broke don't fix it 

Best,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 If you just want to view them to sort or tag then Photo Mechanic pops them up much faster than Lightroom or Bridge. That is all I use it for because it shows the images so fast they upload in a jiff, then I change to another software once I have edited.

Best,
Jonathan

Good post Nosaya,

Thanks for the info.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Stockforfood,

 I use retouchers who keyword and upload and track my sales at www.lookstat.com they are here in Seattle, Wa. There is also Janco Tech out of India that does similar work as well. These are the two best that I know of. I hope this helps.

Best,
Jonathan