Let them crash and burn. They have earned it.

I got the email too. It amazes me how incompetent they are, they aren't even able to stop their emails since I got mine about 8 hours later than your post.

Quote from: fotoroad on October 30, 2023, 11:20
Depositphotos ...only problem is low sales

Thanks... already there. I get rarely a payout there, but it does happen now and then.

Which sites have the easiest uploads? (I mean REALLY EASY!)

Hello, I haven't been uploading anything since 2017 (I think?),
I have some income from my old uploads to various sites back in the days.

I was wondering if there is a site that I've missed that has ridiculously easy
upload process where I could dump thousands of images and I would get
at least some more earnings?

At which sites you don't need to click on individual images, select categories etc.,
just click a few buttons for a big batch of images and you're done?

EDIT the sites I'm interested from the right side of this forum: Vecteezy, MotionElements, Indivstock, Pixt, 500px... and maybe others if you know anything easy and worthwhile outside these.

If the goal is to make as much or more money as working at a regular job, then I will say "forget about it". It would be very hard to make even $10 per hour from microstock nowdays, probably impossible. Then I will start my story... "Listen to me, kid, back in 2006, things were different..."

(I wish I would have invested all my time to microstock back in 2006 and not do any work for clients.... I could have probably earned a million or two even if everything dried up 10 years later, and I would probably still get a monthly income with a 10x bigger portfolio, now it's just peanuts.)

So, opting out from distributor sales is the thing now? Is there any agency that understand it's the contributors who makes the images?

However there are lots of people that already have invested in the equipment for other reasons than stock (for example shooting videos for clients or some narrative projects etc.). It doesn't cost them even a bit to grab their Red or Ursa mini etc. since they already have it.

Quote from: everest on December 03, 2020, 14:41
I think you already can figure it out why 99% of stock suppliers don't shoot on Arri or Red. Those mentioned subscription sites pay a video a dime, so contributors go for 1-3k equipment, not camera plus lenses that costs 20k+ Same with aerial footage. Drones shots are done with a mavic pro 2 at best. You rarely find footage shoot on Inspire 2 or above. It does exists but it is really a minority as income would not cover expenses.

I shoot with Blackmagic 4k as it gives nice quality with good Dynamic Range and excellent codecs but again it is a 1300$ camera. I would not dare at the present times to plunge heavy on camera equipment when clips are paid in single or two digits now, or even less when you are talking about subs.

Quote from: Perry on December 03, 2020, 11:16
Of course it means. You don't get the same look from a gopro as from an Alexa. (And my main point was still about shooting skills)
There are some DSLRs that are "okay", and many more mirrorless ones, but he didn't mention those.

I have downloaded some stock videos that have been just too bad quality, luckily they were on a subscription based site so no financial damage was done.

Quote from: everest on December 03, 2020, 05:48
Pro level video and cinema cameras mean nothing nowadays. Today cameras are good enough for stock footage by a large margin. It is the right subject and style what matters the most and not if you shoot with an Arri Alexa or a Panasonic Gh5.

Quote from: Perry on December 02, 2020, 22:31
I'm not trying to put you down, but learn how to shoot high quality video first. It's not about "Gopro or DSLR", even tho the competition you are facing are using pro level video and cinema cameras.

IF the clip would be selling at the same speed, It would take you 15 years to sell the clip for $3000.
In real life it won't be selling for 15 years.

I'd grab the money and run!

Of course it means. You don't get the same look from a gopro as from an Alexa. (And my main point was still about shooting skills)
There are some DSLRs that are "okay", and many more mirrorless ones, but he didn't mention those.

I have downloaded some stock videos that have been just too bad quality, luckily they were on a subscription based site so no financial damage was done.

Quote from: everest on December 03, 2020, 05:48
Pro level video and cinema cameras mean nothing nowadays. Today cameras are good enough for stock footage by a large margin. It is the right subject and style what matters the most and not if you shoot with an Arri Alexa or a Panasonic Gh5.

Quote from: Perry on December 02, 2020, 22:31
I'm not trying to put you down, but learn how to shoot high quality video first. It's not about "Gopro or DSLR", even tho the competition you are facing are using pro level video and cinema cameras.

I'm not trying to put you down, but learn how to shoot high quality video first. It's not about "Gopro or DSLR", even tho the competition you are facing are using pro level video and cinema cameras.

Define a "big sale"?

I got a couple of $150 RF sales a couple of weeks ago, but that's an exception.

I deactivated my portfolio in the end of May, but I noticed a couple of my images had been sold 19/06/2020 ($7.80). Why? What?

If the thumbnails are still showing on shutterstock's site, wonder if we should make DMCA Takedowns for each image?

Quote from: theendup on June 05, 2020, 14:43
It was close to 326,5 millons a week a go. Despite thousands of images added every day, whole archive is around 2,5 millions less now. I guess around 3 million assets disabled in one week on image side.

I'm dreaming about this to continue for 2 years at the same pace. What a lovely dream

They could easily be manipulating numbers to keep the contributors calm(-er). It would not surprise me a bit if they did it.

Quote from: gnirtS on June 01, 2020, 14:50

Quote from: Perry on June 01, 2020, 14:37
People here waiting for the new scheme to take effect... why? Why haven't you disabled your portfolio alredy, nothing good will follow of this.

Maybe because at this point in time, some people simply cant afford to lose hundreds or thousands of dollars just to make a point...

I do hear and understand that. It was a tough decision, I have earned about $100,000 Shutterstock (which have probably earned THEM half a million). But the line has to be drawn somewhere, and now they went too far, I had to stand behind my principles.

People here waiting for the new scheme to take effect... why? Why haven't you disabled your portfolio alredy, nothing good will follow of this.

I just clicked the box (I have only photos) hoping I'm out June 1.

4000 images, about $100,000 of lifetime earnings in 12 or 13 years. Makes me sad, but this is for the better. I did like Shuttertock, but now the feeling is gone... breaks my heart. I really hope a lot of contributors will do this, it would send SS and other agencies a signal. And if the buyers move somewhere like Adobe Stock or Alamy I wouldn't mind a bit.

Lately I have made only about $250 to $300 per month there (at best I used to make over $1,000 per month), after the new royalties I would most likely make just a $100 per month, so it's not that big of a deal to give that up.

I do leave the back door open, if people report the same earnings (or more! – not likely!) I will return.

Remember, if you are making $100 month on SS, by disabling your portfolio won't make your earnings go down by $100, but more likely $30 since you won't be earning nowhere close to $100 after June 1.

Has anyone tried to untick the image licensing box? And later reticking it? Does the images get back on sale, with the same placement in searches etc.?

Just thinking about unticking the box June 1, but leaving the back door open...

Quote from: monti on May 27, 2020, 11:45
Before you blow up the whole shutterstock, please consider that they have changed the whole pricing structures for customers, so now you can not say anything about how your income will look like after the changes they want to introduce.
Subscription plan is divided now into 4 new categories, and nobody of us knows a crap how those categories work.
And the same with 'on demand' section. Not mention other.
Check this out:

https://www.shutterstock.com/pricing


One thing is for sure: contributors with little portfolios of hundreds of pictures who have been earning just a little will be getting still less because of the new system.

It's not that hard. The largest one (750 images per month) is 0,21€ per image, everyone is going to earn $0,10 per download. If someone downloads only 200 images a certain month, they will pay photographers $20 and put $130+ in their own pocket.

What we need to do is campaign in this fashion: Every customer of SS should download all their monthly quota of images in the last day(s) of every month -> more money for contributors, less for SS.

So.... but if the images are on sale on alamy, and they sell... where does the money go? Yayimages.com? (I seem to not have an account there...)

I'll hijack this old thread to ask a question:

My earnings page says:
I have $321.50 of earnings, "Ready for payout"

Underneath it says:
Total Earnings: $ 6.27 + $ 321.50

What is that $6.27?

Quote from: Chichikov on November 25, 2018, 08:58
Record in mono, then publish a stereo file (L/R)

Thanks, I'll propably try that.