I cared, but probably in a different way than most.  I had a little over 8 dollars in there and couldn't get a payout, but they let me do a final payout for the 8 bucks...sometimes it is the little things in life.

Quote from: cdwheatley on June 25, 2008, 17:43

Quote from: michealo on June 25, 2008, 17:02
cdwheatley, is disable the same as delete?

As far as I know, disable is the only option.
You can disable 30% of files uploaded in the last 6 months. If you disable your newest files, you can leave 6 months after your most recent "active" upload. For example: Lets say you have 100 files online that you uploaded 6 months ago. since then you uploaded 3 files. 2 files five months ago and 1 file yesterday. By disabling the one file you uploaded yesterday you can leave in 1 month, not 6 months. I believe this is how the system works?? correct me if I am wrong?

According to their FAQs that sounds right to me.

Quote from: cdwheatley on June 24, 2008, 23:58
It looks like this does shave some time off of the six months. I just deleted 30% of my newest files and now it says I can start deleting again on 10/17 ..where before deletion, six months would have been up on 12/01. So, looks like I was able to shave a month and a half off the waiting period.

Thanks for replying on this, always wondered if it would work to save some of the wait.

I am perfectly happy with Dreamstime, but since this comes up often I have wondered exactly what would be the best method. 

In the FAQs at Dreamstime it states "You are allowed to disable 30% of files uploaded in the recent six months however 70% must be kept online for six months from their approval date." 

So, if I am reading this correctly, you can disable 30 percent of your portfolio starting with the latest uploads and working back.  Now your most recent file should be a ways back, maybe months, depending on your upload rates.  You now have to wait however long it takes to make that upload 6 months old.  Now 70% of your original portfolio and 100% of your non-disabled portfolio is more than 6 months old.

I have never heard of anyone doing this and maybe I am reading the wording wrong or over thinking it.

Quote from: Seren on June 17, 2008, 17:46
iStock doesn't accept a Getty release because it doesn't have the witness on.

I just took iStocks wording, retyped it, added my own company branding at the top and use that.  Works for all the sites.

Same here, Istocks without their name anywhere and remove the part about governed by Canada or something like that and it will work at all sites.

A few days ago I got my first subscription sale.  It was small size for $0.57.  I checked back and that image credit sales for small generally produced about $0.75.  Fairly close and much better than any sub sales at other sites.

I had the exact same problem in premiere, but when I went to mobile devices and then chose quicktime and used h.264 it output a mp4 file.  Not at all clear the way adobe set this up.  By trying to make the menus user friendly they made it really difficult to do specific tasks.

Dang, I read this a little too late, but thanks for posting.  I spent what seemed like endless hours on Saturday trying to get mp4 files out of premiere elements.  After about 6 different settings I finally found that if you go to the share and select the mobile devices instead of computer you can go into advanced and find the h.264 format.  This actually creates a .mp4.

How have you liked your HV30 leaf?  I ordered one last week and it is supposed to show up tomorrow.  Getting very excited, but a little stressed to on figuring out how to get video from camera to pc to istock.  Has that gone ok?  I did order a firewire cable after reading something somewhere about the usb issue.

I think I read on another thread that you were purchasing Adobe Premiere Elements.  I ordered version 4, hope it works ok.

Do you shoot in 1080p or 1080i?

Thanks for the reply and good to hear that 3 works with 1080i. 

Darn Adobe, a little before I started this thread I also checked on Adobe's site to try a trial of elements 4, but got the not available error.

I have read where some people use free copies of hdvsplit and mpegstreamclip, not sure if these let you do any kind of editing or not.  Just getting into video so not sure the best way to start.

Thanks again for the reply.

Hi All!  I just ordered an Canon HV30 and am trying to decide on what video editing software to purchase.  I use a PC.  I was going to just order adobe premiere elements 4, but then read a lot of bad reviews on Amazon saying it crashed alot.  Now I am thinking about getting the older version 3.  Does anyone know if this will work fine with an HV30?  Will it edit 1080i HD video and output in a format that Istock would want?  Just want to be sure before buying.  Any other recommendations or experiences would be very much appreciated.

Thanks 

Love that site, haven't tried anything there, but neat to see the crazy ideas.

I found an article on building a "window box" and that got me curious what else people have built and had success with.  I think I will give the window box a try this weekend, looks really easy and it probably is handy for those of us on a low budget.

Anyone else have examples or articles on DIY photography equipment that they find useful?

wow...not just me.  My sales have been horrible their for a little over a week.  Used to be nice and consistent.

I would be curious if there is anyone out there that has gone exclusive and then opted back out at Istock.  It seems that anyone that goes exclusive stays exclusive, which seems to speak for itself.

Quote from: lisafx on April 29, 2008, 21:37

Quote from: leaf on April 29, 2008, 21:05

Quote from: melastmohican on April 29, 2008, 20:52
I am kind of forced to become graphics designer on the way. I have to learn how to use Photoshop and noise reduction software 

or a photographer of the 21st century

Amen brother

Not sure why anyone would be selling an unfinished product to customers anyway.  Learn your craft before you expect people to pay you for it.

"unfinished" seems like a relative term when speaking about photography.  I think each photographer decides what is considered finished for their own product.  Not sure about others, but the day I quit learning will be the day I quit photography.

Shutterstock is nice because beginners get an instant return on investment.  Downloads right away to boost confidence.  For me and I think many others, the other sites take a while (sometimes quite a while) to get going.  When I first started it took 3 or 4 weeks to get 1 download on Fotolia.  I have since done a better job of taking pictures of what sells well, and sales have increased ever since. 

At first I was uploading whatever I took a picture of, listening to everyone saying upload, upload, upload!  This wasn't working great and I was spending a ton of time post processing, so I began trying to concentrate on just one photo at a time.  Whether it was one I already had and really like or thinking up a new one to take.  One well thought out photo will make way more money and take way less time in the long run than a whole bunch of average photos. 

Once the photoshopping and keywording is done uploading to more sites doesn't take much effort and in the long run it will pay off. 

Microstock is constantly a learning experience.  I use almost no noise reduction, but I also shoot almost solely at ISO 100.  I am trying to get better with photoshop, I have found that is another learning experience that seems to never end.  There are some great tutorials on the net though.  Wow...800 photos in queue, not sure if Dreamstime has a way you can remove them and then prioritize and upload your favorites to start out with.

I think that if you enjoy taking pictures and are interested in microstock, then you should give it a try.  Uploading to Fotolia and Dreamstime costs nothing and there is no review process, so all you have to lose is a little time up front and then see how it goes.  So what if some of your pictures get reject, or many of them, you will get free professional criticism.  I felt the exact same way as you when first thinking about microstock and thought why not give it a try.  the stuff I uploaded at first was pretty sad, but I feel I have steadily improved because of the reviewers and now I get regular sales.  A website that helped me immensely was http://www.sprintingturtles.info.  It has some good tips on where to start out and what things to do from the beginning to help.

One of the biggest things and nearly the mistake I made, is don't upload 15 or 20 pictures, wait 2 weeks and decide...wow no sales, this isn't going to work.  Get enough pictures out there and enough time to really see if it will work.  Good luck to you.

I found a website that a photographer lists his microstock earnings each month.  This gives a general idea of earnings consistency month to month and comparisons of the different sites.  He doesn't have a very big portfolio so not sure how good of a comparison it is.  The one thing it does confirm is that the more he uploaded, them more money he made.

For me, at first I was trying to just upload lots of photos, but now I am trying to focus more on quality than quantity.  Guess I will see if it makes a difference.

Thanks Guys!  I am so excited, I feel like a kid again.  Giddy as a school girl and all that.

After 3 tries, I was finally excepted at shutterstock.  Wow, what a great stock site, already got 9 downloads.  I was beginning to think I would never pass the review process.  Just wanted to give a thanks to www.sprintingturtles.info where they had an article with tips on getting in at shutterstock.  I found a link on another forum.  Not sure, if this is what finally put me over the top, but I had a better idea of what to try once I read this.  Looks like the site had some nice info for people new to microstock all together.

Again, thank you SprintingTurtles!

Wow, nice job!  I am still working at it.  I found a post on a different forum that had a link to a website with tips on getting past the review.  Hopefully with this help I can get accepted to what sounds like one of the better microstock sites out there.  Here is the link I found:  http://www.sprintingturtles.info/ShutterstockAcceptance.htm
for anyone else still trying.

I also use a spreadsheet to track all kinds info on each site.  Photos are sorted into folders for the various sites, accepted and rejected.  This way I can look for trends.

Fotolia is really hit and miss for me, but I am slowly getting better and better with the ranking, so I guess that is good.  This week has been one of my better weeks.