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Messages - Graffoto
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726
« on: September 14, 2008, 16:13 »
I've been trying to figure out why IS is doing so much better (by a huge margin) than all the other sites and I think it is because I work as a professional graphic artist and just "get" IS and what they want. A lot of my stuff is very "North American" .
Could you elaborate on very "North American"? Are you referring perhaps to your scenics? Shots of US currency or something else altogether? My most popular shot is very generic and could be from any industrialzed country in the world. OTOH, the shot that seems to be generating the most interest is of a young Latina. My take is with the changing demographic in the US, that the Latino market is something to target. Just my $0.02
727
« on: September 12, 2008, 14:56 »
I work with a fellow that is a beta tester for Adobe. He tells me that Bridge in CS4 really screams on a MAC. Can't comment about Windows machines though.
728
« on: September 06, 2008, 01:17 »
Hey Jay, Welcome to MSG! No, not THAT MSG that just for chinese food. I'm in North County, same as you. If you ever need someone to show you how to shoot a portfolio of images that don't sell well on Micro, just give me a holler...  Joseph
729
« on: September 01, 2008, 00:54 »
Oh this gives me an idea for a shot: A mushroom cloud of oatmeal dancing on the head of a screwdriver, with oversaturated flowers spewing forth all over  I go cross-eyed looking at my monitor for more than 15 minutes. 10 Hours??!! Did this guy never hear of color fatigue? You cannot look at anything for too long or the colors will seem to shift. This explains why we get some of the really whak rejections sometimes.
730
« on: September 01, 2008, 00:41 »
You should be able to use the clone tool and healing brush.... but its a lot of work and my not be worth the trouble. There was a nasty reflection of me taking this shot in the car's door. I had to clone and heal it out.
731
« on: August 30, 2008, 18:20 »
Hmmm,
It says F-1. That would be a film burner.... I wonder what a roll of 36 exposure would cost for that puppy!
732
« on: August 30, 2008, 14:25 »
Years ago, I worked for a small chain of Heath & Beauty aids stores.
The stores ran a newspaper flier once a month to coincide with when retired people received their social security checks. Always had a big boot in sales.
When the economy started to slump. they cut out the fliers. They went belly up six months after that.
Anyone that cuts advertising, is cutting their own throats, at least in the retail world.
733
« on: August 21, 2008, 17:50 »
Got my vote too. Always was a sucker for those slot canyon shots
734
« on: August 20, 2008, 23:02 »
At most sites, getting $5 in a day (versus a month) should be a no brainer, but Murphy's law goes to work when you want out
He-he, yeah like watching a pot and waiting for it to boil  Well as of today, I only have $3.44 to go! So, I'll start taking your advice on the disabling process very soon I hope. Cheers, Joseph
735
« on: August 20, 2008, 09:38 »
Good thread. I am in the same boat, but I have less than a month to wait now and I can pull ALL my images off of DT. Only hope that I can get $5 more in downloads before then, because then I will make a payout before I shut 'er down  I just hate the idea of giving away images, which in effect is what we are doing when we close an account before hitting a payout threshold.
736
« on: August 20, 2008, 00:41 »
I have paid as little as nothing, but given the models a CD of retouched images. I have paid as much as $100 per hr for a very experienced model.
In general in my area (Southern California) the semi-pro models are asking $75 per hour but are willing to take $50.
A good model and MUA can make or break a photo shoot. So I am in full agreement with Chumley on the importance of good talent.
I find some on Model Mayhem, and some are referrals from people that I have already worked with. After a while you will build a reputation and people will actually seek you out.
737
« on: July 30, 2008, 22:56 »
In the final version you CAN import your existing libraries from Lightroom 1.xxx
The new version has some things that were not in the beta , such as a gradient tool.
738
« on: July 30, 2008, 04:58 »
If I am shooting a new concept or on a location shoot, I will experience a bit of anxiety. It does go away a few moments after the shutter starts clicking  Having been a rock & roll musician in my youth, these feelings are very familiar. I used to have a set routine before each performance and if I deviated from it, I always worried that the performance would suffer. That was just youthful superstition of course. Now, I just prepare the best that I can, make sure I have back up equipment in case something fails.... and hope for the best. (I guess that is my 'new' routine).
739
« on: July 23, 2008, 09:11 »
I agree that they're great images but would be interesting to see if any old schmuck could get them accepted.
It has been said over and over and over again by JJRD that the "overfiltered" rejection is not used in the case of artistic images that are very well done. Bruce himself has stated that their inspection philosophy is that for a borderline image, they are to look for a reason to accept. It is really sad that some people are so adamant that any rejection they ever get MUST be because they are not exclusive or because istock sucks or any other thing except the flicker of possibility that it might actually have something to do with the merits of their own images.
In my opinion, it's really rude and disrespectful to have even posted this thread at all. Any beef you may have with istock should not involve singling out and calling into question another artist's abilities on a public forum. It comes across as petty and jealous, and really lends no credence whatsoever to any of your conspiracy theories.
Hey Bitter, I am the OP so this must have been addressed to me. I posted it as an honest question, since from a lot of my readings on this site people have stated over and over that IS does not like heavily processed images. I certainly was not trying to be disrespectful to the artist, and if you read carefully you will see that I did say the I thought they are wonderful character studies. So, I actually am agreeing that the work is deserving of praise. BTW, I don't have a 'beef' with IS and juggernaut that they are, I am sure that they don't need you coming to their rescue either. BTW who is JJRD?
740
« on: July 21, 2008, 17:47 »
zeus, we will all be driving a cab , only if we continue to undervalue our photographs and celebrate everytime our image earns less than a cup of coffee. sure, the dabblers will still give away their rejected photos for free, but if we keep making better images and putting them where sites pay more, someone will look for us. it won't be selling as fast as with SS , but it will pay us more. i think we all agree on that!
Totally agree and that is the reason I quit SS. Oops, coffee break time is over...I need to go put gas in my cab
741
« on: July 21, 2008, 17:37 »
First, let me qualify this by saying that I'm an illustrator, not a photographer.
However, isn't the majority of that effect coming from a ringflash, not photoshop? They look like the pictures my friend takes with her ringflash + some strobes.
For certain this is not simply lighting, although that is a necessary foundation for this sort of work. It also is not a ringflash. Just check out the catchlights in the subjects eyes or the reflection from glasses. It looks more like softboxes of differing size from both sides. I believe that the first person to popularize this style of post processing was Andrzej Dragan. Although his work is much more over the top than what I see from Sarahlen. Dave Hill also has a similar post processing technique, although his results are also a bit different. In any case, it is more of an 'illustrated' look than a pure photograph. Hence the reason for my original question... since it started out as a photograph, why the inspectors let it through. Although I think jsnover, pretty much answered my question.
742
« on: July 21, 2008, 16:35 »
I was just looking at the portfolio of this weeks 'Artist of the Week', SarahLen.
No doubt they are wonderful character studies, but why were these not rejected for overfiltering or 'overprocessed from their original quality'?
I mean this is really a very grunge style that only occurs with a lot of post processing (or a touch of Lucisart).
Am I missing something, or is this style just 'hip' enough that IS will take it even though they are aware that it is heavily manipulated?
743
« on: July 18, 2008, 00:30 »
I have stopped uploading to DT as I am planning to see how being an exclusive at IS works.
Having said that, it was never a fast sell through for me there, even though I had an 'editors choice' once. That file did turn out to be my best volume seller there, but not the biggest $$ maker. That honor went to a file with an extended license.
Bottom line, I can't find rhyme nor reason as to what their buyers want, but I can't discern any changes either.
744
« on: July 18, 2008, 00:20 »
It's also true and a proven fact: If you stand on one leg while you rub your stomach with one hand, and pat your head with the other, while reciting "Mary had a little lamb" you will increase your chances of downloads for the day by 63% on iStock.
This I know to be true.
Cranky MIZ The voice of reason
If I was talented enough to do that, I probably wouldn't bother trying to make $$ on microstock  I could at the very least get a spot on the gong show (I hear its coming back).
745
« on: July 10, 2008, 00:38 »
He's not the only one on a MAC
746
« on: July 07, 2008, 21:09 »
@leontura,
"So why didn't you go there wanting to see a fascinating culture which is one of the most different from our own? I'm also a hardcore realist- I have no interest at all in the hippie thing. But their religion isn't simply "people with many arms" or "loving each other" but much more complicated philosophical issues. As an atheist I still found it very interesting. One thing I didn't go to see is the political situation or a decent economy. If I was interested in that, I wouldn't have gone to India."
Actually I thought I went there with a fairly open mind and not too many preconceptions.
A little background first: In my almost 52 years on this planet I have traveled extensively on business. I've spent considerable time in the following countries: Canada, Germany, England, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. I did some reading on the major religions and the caste system in India. I found the Jains to be the most interesting as their extreme devotion to all things living make them refuse to eat root vegetables (potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots etc). Seems they don't want to harm the little buggers that might be living on the root plant.
In any event, I felt that I had had enough time in the 'third world' to not be surprised by too much. I was mistaken. I was just not prepared for the extremes that India offers. The poor there are more destitute than any I have ever seen (I have not been to Africa though), and the rich are totally indifferent to the slum dwellers as they are from the lower castes.
And you are totally correct about the lizard thing. I found it amusing alright. I thought "these people are the biggest tree huggers on the whole planet... yet they pollute like crazy"!
Weird world. Very very weird.
747
« on: July 07, 2008, 09:08 »
Notice I did not complain about the people themselves. No, I was there working sometimes very closely with many Indians. By and large they are wonderful, intelligent people, and yes their faith runs very deep. Sorry but I am not impressed by that. I consider most 'faith' to just be a remnant of our primitive brains not fully able to comprehend nature. In other words superstition. Oh, another story I just remembered from the trip. All air traffic had to be delayed from landing on an airstrip, due to the fact that a 'family' of lizards had wandered onto the tarmac! @Leontura - My wife is from Indonesia and I have spent a great deal of time there. Also 'third world', but waaaay ahead of India. @Tina - Glad you and your family were not ill. I was with a group of 30+ people from the USA there on business. Many of my co-workers are originally from Japan, China, Korea etc. About half of us fell ill. One poor young man was in the hospital for two days. What I saw was much more than litter. Cows, dogs, sheep and goats in a major metropolitan area walking casually through the streets. Defecating wherever they please. People as well. There was a large open field that the people from the slum used regularly as a toilet. This was directly across the street from my office building. During monsoon season, which is June-July, all this raw sewage runs into the streets and the rivers. I need not explain what this does to the water supply. People see what they want to see. If you go there seeking faith and the way to nirvana, possibly you will find it. I am a hard core realist. I see the suffering, disease, poverty and also the extreme wealth of the few and wonder why it has to be that way. Their government is to blame. Nothing gets done the until the proper palms are crossed with $$$. Some people are becoming very wealthy on the backs of the poor (the poor in the US don't know how comparatively well off they are) and I find it offensive. End of rant...for now
748
« on: July 06, 2008, 19:15 »
Tell us more! I like to hear about India. Crazy place... Crazy in a good way!
Sorry to disagree, but I would say crazy in a really, really bad way. It was sort of like stepping back in time a couple of hundred years in some ways. While I was there, these stories were in the papers: 'Office worker loses her footing and falls off the train and dies on her way to work', Several deaths from malaria and leptospirosis were reported, Also several 'honor killings' had happened recently. Honor Killings, for those not familiar with the term is the murder of a woman by her own family for 'disgracing' the family in some perceived way. for instance in one area of India it is taboo for members of the same villiage to marry, even though they are not related. They may both be killed for such an offense. I was working from viturally the time I got up, until 6 in the evening, 6 days a week. So, I had very little time to shoot. I also felt little inclination since I was feeling a bit sickly most of the time. The following is the view from my office in Mumbai. Note the slums by the river.  Here are some other mixed images from the vicinity.  
749
« on: July 05, 2008, 21:31 »
Hi all,
Just came back from a month in Mumbai, India on business. Had to get 5 vaccinations just to go there and I am still on malaria pills for several more days.
Interesting experience, but I for one am not in any hurry to go back.
It does make one feel grateful to live in the 'developed' part of the world though.
750
« on: May 30, 2008, 21:01 »
I also would like exclusivity on an image-per-image basis, but I also think they will offer a higher commission or some other benefit to make their current model more appealing.
edited to add: To those who have not received the email, doesn't one need 500 dlds to be able to become exclusive? Maybe you are below this?
Regards, Adelaide
Nope, I received the 'invitation' as well and I only have a little over 300 downloads. I think the lower limit is 250 with at least a 50% acceptance rating or thereabouts.
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