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General Stock Discussion / Re: Are things going well in microstock?
« on: January 30, 2008, 08:05 »
Hi, I'm new here, made a bit observation.
Lately I have been to some forums to see Microstock photographers idea of Microstock business.
I think the value of photographers work has been cheapen by some photographers providing bulk amount of high quality photos and sell them at a low price.
For the photo buyer, the cheapest way to get big amount of high quality photos is go to Shutterstock. That is also who most photographers get their biggest payment from. Sounds reasonable, the biggest sales produce the biggest income. But photographers forget about the most important thing, their idea, skill, creativity and talent. While they sell their photos cheaply, they also sell a good photographers qualities cheaply. Well, if you dont respect yourself, how can you expect agencies and buyers to respect you?
Photographers should have a price of the photo in mind. If you think 0.25 cent is too cheap then dont sell your work there. Thinking about a neat carpenter sell his/her work in the car boot (flea market), how much do you think a person coming to the car boot would pay for the carpenters work? Must be cheap, isnt it?
Mind you, pirates are everywhere. I dont know if they have come to Microstock. If they want to pirate some decent photos for a cheap price, so that they can make a big money of it, where they will go to buy a bunch of cheap and high quality photos? You know, I know.
In this kind of business, photographers would not be able to know where their photo has been used. One day you might find a poster which has illegal used your photo to do the promotion and you might show the photo to friends and family proudly.
As silly as me, that situation might happen to me. So I decide to category my work and decide where and what price I am going to sell them. Also consider to let some good photos go exclusive to certain agency. Although I am not that sort of girl that can easy make a commitment.
I believe a lot of photographers have earned good money by selling cheap price. That is also the main reason they cant draw out from the cheap market. I dont know what would happen if they choose some photo to go exclusive to certain agency. That would definitely earn more than usual. But how much more? Can it make up the lose by exclusive photo? Self-esteem and money, hard to choose isnt it?
I dont have children need to be fed, I guess I can have a go.
Lately I have been to some forums to see Microstock photographers idea of Microstock business.
I think the value of photographers work has been cheapen by some photographers providing bulk amount of high quality photos and sell them at a low price.
For the photo buyer, the cheapest way to get big amount of high quality photos is go to Shutterstock. That is also who most photographers get their biggest payment from. Sounds reasonable, the biggest sales produce the biggest income. But photographers forget about the most important thing, their idea, skill, creativity and talent. While they sell their photos cheaply, they also sell a good photographers qualities cheaply. Well, if you dont respect yourself, how can you expect agencies and buyers to respect you?
Photographers should have a price of the photo in mind. If you think 0.25 cent is too cheap then dont sell your work there. Thinking about a neat carpenter sell his/her work in the car boot (flea market), how much do you think a person coming to the car boot would pay for the carpenters work? Must be cheap, isnt it?
Mind you, pirates are everywhere. I dont know if they have come to Microstock. If they want to pirate some decent photos for a cheap price, so that they can make a big money of it, where they will go to buy a bunch of cheap and high quality photos? You know, I know.
In this kind of business, photographers would not be able to know where their photo has been used. One day you might find a poster which has illegal used your photo to do the promotion and you might show the photo to friends and family proudly.
As silly as me, that situation might happen to me. So I decide to category my work and decide where and what price I am going to sell them. Also consider to let some good photos go exclusive to certain agency. Although I am not that sort of girl that can easy make a commitment.
I believe a lot of photographers have earned good money by selling cheap price. That is also the main reason they cant draw out from the cheap market. I dont know what would happen if they choose some photo to go exclusive to certain agency. That would definitely earn more than usual. But how much more? Can it make up the lose by exclusive photo? Self-esteem and money, hard to choose isnt it?
I dont have children need to be fed, I guess I can have a go.
