ok well my current avast antivirus software is about to run out and i was just looking around before i bought another licence with them.

looking at reviews, nod32 seem to be up there...

any others worth looking at?

I do this from time to time, it's always amusing to see where your pictures end up!

Just found someone on eBay selling prints of one of my photos. I didn't even realise this was allowed?

I'm sure this question has been asked before but what's the strangest place you've found one of your photos?

Oh dear, sounds like i've made a good move then...

If you had to choose one or 2 more to upload to which would you choose then... i have a bit of free time at the moment whilst im off work and cant really do much with a broken wrist, thought id try and be productive

well i've finally decided to try some other agencies instead of just ss and dt, i have a port of around 1400 on both and while ss does quite well dt is almost pointless- i stopped uploading there a long time ago.

How should i expect sales to be compared to ss once is once my port is fully uploaded? is it as simple as the poll results to the right, expect about half of what i get from shutterstock?

Also how long are review times at the moment, im eager to get my first few hundred reviewed

cheers, phil

This may be a daft question but, i have several sets of images from various trips to the mountains with my hiking partner, would i be ok to use the same release for each shoot or do i need a different one for each time?

Thanks, Phil

January a bme by far for me on ss
dt pretty average

its made up for the December slump anyway 

i'm now getting this message:



Due to an unexpected outage, we have temporarily taken Shutterstock's contributor site offline to help improve load time for customer downloads.

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to have all operations back up as soon as possible.

For updates, follow @ShutterstockReq.

Bme for me on ss by nearly double, also passed the 1000 pictures online mark

Average month at dt

Finally bit the bullet today and bought a synology ds213+ and 2 x 4tb drives, its still varying disks/ parity consistency checks which should be done by the morning.

It may take me a few weeks to get myself all sorted on it as there are quite a few shoots i haven't even touched! and just need to get it all organised. then i can have peace of mind when i take the other externals offsite!

I like how i can even access my files from where i will store my offsite backup too aslong as the nas is conencted to the internet, and can even dump files onto it when im on holiday ! 

A friend of mine highly recomended the synology one to me, though insisting i go for the 8tb (2 x 4tb) to give me that extra bit of time before i have to start looking at more drives or something with more bays as he knows how much i go out photographing

Been watching a few reviews on the synology on youtube and think when payday (from my day job) comes tomorow ill be blowing a big chunk on one of these as it seems to tick all the boxes http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-050-SY

Ok, well im looking to get a new system in place to backup my photos and get them all arranged as my files are spread across 2 hard drives, if one fails i loose half my shots since i started photography 5 years ago, if we get robbed or the house burns down i loose the lot!

i've been looking into a raid 1 setup for home and then using my current externals to keep at a friends or relatives house incase we get robbed etc...

i only need 3 tb of storage so ill be looking at a 6tb raid1 so 3tb on each drive as they are mirrored.

what could you recomend for around the £300 - £400 (gbp) mark, i dont mind spending a little more if it means i get exactly what i want...

i've noticed that western digital do one for about 290 but anything after that and it seems your looking at the 'big boy stuff'

Ps my computer knowledge isnt the best so dont want anything over complicated

Basically it seems like its going to be something like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Personal-Storage-Mirroring-Western-Digital/dp/B006TD68GM/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1383049210&sr=1-2&keywords=raid+1#productDetails

or the more expensive option of  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-058-SY&groupid=1657&catid=2400

Thanks, does that include my new canon 5d mk3, fuel etc etc

I'm a little confused as what do do with tax etc.

I currently work a full time 'day job' as an employee for a large company and do microstock on the side as a hobby (between 50-120 gbp a month, though this is gradually increasing)

Now, am i supposed to declare it or not?

I'm a little confused on this matter and obviously dont want the tax man knocking at my door one day...

Phil

I've been into stock for 3 years on dt and 1 year on ss, finally on ss i've 'broke that wall' and the last 3 months (and already this month) i've smashed the payout threshold (probably not that amazing for some of you i know) but its a great feeling

I've always kept my stock earnings in a seperate account and thought i'd spend a bit, splash out and upgrade from my canon 5d mk2 to the mk3

good decision! just need to keep at it now... 

Thanks for the quick responses, any chance you could pop your version just so i have something to go off and check all is ok with mine

I know its cheeky but im sure you was in my shoes once 

right, i have never really had much of an interest in shooting people, though i have recently been asked to help out my friends other half with some modeling/ dance portfolio shots,

Being a good friend i havn't asked for any money (and the fact that i havnt touched a studio scenario since college 4 years ago so will be a bit rusty) i have asked in return that i can have a model release so i can also post them on stock which she's fine with.

So, i have a model release etc but do i need to get a scan of her driving liscence aswell?
any other things i need to do?

phil

ok, just curious if you got penalized for having more keywords... 

I'm not sure if anyone knows but what i'd like to know is for example:

1. i have 15 solid keywords for an image

2. i have 40 keywords including the 15 mentioned above with other maybe slightly less relevant keywords

If someone searches for one of the 15 keywords mentioned above, which image would appear higher in the searches?

I hope this question kind of makes sence! also how many keywords do you guys aim for per image?

Right, as it stands i've been in stock for about 2 years, i don't tend to shoot specifically with stock in mind, its my hobby so i shoot what i enjoy but its always a plus when i can make a bit on the side to fill the car with fuel for new trips or buy new gear...

I started off being exclusive on dreamstime then left a few months later to try with the highly regarded shutterstock where i am making a payout every 2 months with 700 photos and not making much at all on dreamstime with over 1000 photos

Now, i have 1000's of untouched photos which i am gradually sifting through and editing (over 1tb) but before i start on those do you think i should start uploading to the likes of istock photo, fotolia, depositphoto, 123 etc?

how do peoples sales fair to those of shutterstock? and also how strict is their reviewing process, i think i got about half accepted on shutterstock than i did on dreamstime...

Phil

well, i have always used each website to keyword each photo but now i want to upload to several i need to think about keywording in a program so i only have to do it once.

What do you use to keyword, and is it 'metadata' or 'keywords' is it possible using adobe bridge?

Cheers

Quote from: Firewall on March 31, 2013, 10:48

Quote from: phildaint on March 30, 2013, 21:52
still no sales in well over a week now, starting to get a bit worried, maybe i should stop uploading here for a while and put my time and effort into fotolia etc for a bit (where i  stil need to upload my whole port to!)

Not sure if FT is any better, they reject images which have been accepted at all other agencies for unknown reasons.

cant be as bad as some of the shutterstock rejections haha

still no sales in well over a week now, starting to get a bit worried, maybe i should stop uploading here for a while and put my time and effort into fotolia etc for a bit (where i  stil need to upload my whole port to!)

Just a quickie wondering if anyone has experienced really slow sales this month, so far im on a whopping 7 dollars for this month compared to my usual 30/40

not had a sale in over a week

really anoying when i'm 3 dollars from a payout!

i have been contacted twice via different news agencys to use my pictures in the national press which also had some nice payouts!

first publucation

second

from a similar set

Flickr hasn't worked out too bad for me tbh...

my sales are as follows, though i dont really shoot with stock in mind. i shoot what i like and this is where i upload my photos (like most people upload to flickr) but here i have a chance of earning a bit of extra money to spend on kit

with ss i have 524 files online and havn't uploaded in a few months and my sales for the last 4 months are

90
68
61
68
and this month im already on 38