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Topics - Kngkyle

Pages: [1] 2 3
1
General Photography Discussion / Underwater Camera Case?
« on: October 06, 2010, 21:53 »
So I'm going on a cruise in December and thought it would be kind of cool to try some underwater photography while snorkeling or whatever. So I'm looking to purchase a underwater case. Anyone here have any suggestions or experience with underwater photography? I've searched a bit with google and found some DiCAPac cases for around $120.

2
iStockPhoto.com / Royalty Structure Idea
« on: September 09, 2010, 14:26 »
What about a royalty structure based on the downloads of a single image, instead of the contributor as a whole. So the more downloads a image has the higher the commission for that image. It is similar to how Dreamstime has the single image tiers based off of downloads, except instead of effecting the image price it effects the commission.

I really have no idea if this would negatively or positively effect my income or anyone else's. I'm just thinking out load here.

Here are some numbers for exclusives that I pulled out of my ass:
1-20 downloads = 25% commission
21-200 downloads = 30% commission
201-1000 downloads = 35% commission
1001-5000 downloads = 40% commission
5001+ downloads = 45% commission

I think Non exclusives should continue to just get 20%. Anything below that is just pathetic. They say the reason for this change is the diminishing returns they get from contributors going up canisters, but that doesn't apply to non exclusives who are at 20% for life.

3
iStockPhoto.com / Partner Program Delayed Earnings
« on: August 28, 2010, 20:38 »
It is nearly September now and we still haven't got the partner program royalties for July. Is it just me or is this much of a delay totally unacceptable?

They get to make interest off our earnings while we sit here and get nothing. Yet nobody seems to be complaining about this. I don't see any reason why they can't pay us the first of every month or at least within the first week. It's not like someone needs to manually go through and total up what everyone made during the month. It is all electronic so they should have all the numbers they need to do payouts as soon as the month ends.

Such a long delay could be grounds for a lawsuit.

And for the record, I didn't opt into the partner program until I went exclusive. So no I'm not taking a measly 25 cents per download.

4
Veer / Free 25 Veer Credits
« on: July 23, 2010, 17:14 »
Email from Veer. And sure enough, my account has 25 credits now. Might have to look at their merch and see if anything catches my eye.  8)

Quote
There are some big changes at Veer today.
And a gift of 25 credits waiting for you when you get there.

Caterpillars change into butterflies, seedlings grow into trees, and according to
Hollywood sometimes cars turn into robots. Change is good.
Today, Veer has changed for the better, with new ways to search, new ways to
pay, and exciting new ways to save. An uncomplicated shopping experience that
lets you stay focused on whats really important: your creative work.
To help you test-drive the new features, we loaded your account with
25 Veer Credits. Thats enough to buy 25 extra-small images, or your own
combination of images, fonts, and merch, until August 31, 2010. To spend them,
choose the pay-with-credits option on any product page.

New features

Affordable new fonts
There are now over 12,000 fonts to choose from at Veer, with individual fonts starting at just $10. Exciting new releases from some of the most talented designers in the world are added every month.

Two ways to pay, new ways to save
Use a credit card every time you check out, or save time and money by loading your account with Veer Credits a prepaid option that helps you save up to 56% on all images, fonts, and merch.

A simplified shopping experience
All Veer images are now royalty-free, available in six standard sizes, and accompanied by worry-free licenses. Plus, you can search every image and font collection at Veer from a single search box.


LIMITED TIME OFFER 25 Free Veer Credits! Beginning July 10, 2010 you will receive twenty-five (25) free credits from Veer. Simply sign in to your current account at www.veer.com and use your free 25 credits good toward a purchase of images, vectors, fonts, or merch (shipping charges apply). Credits must be used by August 31, 2010. Promotion is only valid in the United States and Canada, excluding Quebec (Territories).

5
iStockPhoto.com / Canister Changes Postponed
« on: February 20, 2010, 12:34 »
Good news for some of you. Doesn't really effect me though.

Quote
The canister level changes that we talked about back in December were originally scheduled to happen on February 24. We're going to push this date back. Right now there are just too many other projects taking up the team's time to get this one done on deadline. It is still coming down the pipe though and will be happening eventually.

So for the present and the immediate future it will be business as usual.

We still don't have a new date set for the changes. We will give you at least 30 days notice of the new date when we do though. Thanks everyone.

6
iStockPhoto.com / To go exclusive or not?
« on: January 18, 2010, 05:31 »
Well, with the new canister levels taking effect in just over a month now I need to either commit to being exclusive or commit to being independent. So here is my situation and I hope you will share your opinion on what I should do.

First off, I'm just a small fry doing this as a hobby. I started in 2007 and haven't really uploaded much in the past year. I do still keep up to date with whats going on and will certainly upload more in the future. I don't make a whole lot off microstock but as a college student the extra couple hundred dollars a month do make a difference. (no student loans!)

I am just a bronze canister on IS with ~800 downloads and am unlikely to obtain silver for at least another year. (assuming I do go exclusive and am grandfathered into the current levels) Over the past year the percentage of my earnings coming from IS has consistently increased and is currently at around 40%.

What I am trying to decide is just how much my earnings will increase if I do go exclusive. If it doubles then that would be a 20% loss over being independent. I know it is impossible to estimate just how much the increase will be but perhaps some of you who recently have gone exclusive can shed some light on this. Some of the recent changes IS have made have likely widened this gap (vetta, 2010 pricing) and I will take that into account.

My biggest problem with IS is their hatred for raster illustrations. Getting them accepted is incredibly difficult. And because of that, I only have 64 images online at IS compared to 300+ at most others. (Admittedly 50-100 of those 300 are crap that I made in 2007 when pretty much anything would sell at SS) You might ask why I even bother uploading raster illustrations and the answer is -- the ones that do get accepted sell great. Yea yea I know the reason they sell great is likely because they are picky so there is less competition. Even so it is still frustrating getting constant rejections and having to send scout requests.

I do submit photos as well though, and I don't have a problem getting them accepted. I would submit more photos but as a college student I don't have the money to travel and I'm not too fond of studio work. OK I'm lazy too but that should be a given.  :-X

So that is pretty much where I stand. I love IS for the professionalism and earnings potential. I hate IS for their raster illustration policy.

Fortunately because I have uploaded so little in the past year, I shouldn't have a problem deleting/disabling my portfolio from DT and BigStock in time. (I already missed the deadline for requesting an extension to the February 24th cutoff)

So what do you think?

7
iStockPhoto.com / I've had enough.
« on: May 15, 2009, 22:57 »
I never read or post anything on iStock forums but the not stock worthy rejections for any and all raster illustrations is getting to me and I had to let off some steam. Think it will get deleted?  :-\

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=88425&page=1

Quote
The "Not Stock Worthy" rejections for nearly all non-vector illustrations is getting obsurd. I have only managed to get 14 raster illustrations accepted and at least half of those were rejected at least once and were only accepted after a scout reinspection. The 14 raster illustrations that were almost all initially rejected (not stock worthy) average more than twice the number of downloads of the photos of mine that were accepted.

Let me provide an example of one of my raster illustrations that was initially rejected. I can admit that it does seem to have limited usage. But it has brought in over $600 worth of sales in which $480 of it went straight to iStocks pocket. Not to mention it has had 10 downloads this month alone...



By all means keep the strict technical standards. All I am really asking is that you losen up a bit and let the buyers have more of a say in what is and isn't stock worthy. As it stands now, I can't submit 70% of my images. And that unfortunately makes exclusivity a non-option for me. =\

EDIT: This one was just rejected for of course not being stock worthy. I submit it for a scout review.. now I wait a month to get a response.




8
General Stock Discussion / The best buyer ever?
« on: May 07, 2009, 10:22 »
I just noticed that someone keeps downloading 3 of my images over and over again every couple days. It is really starting to add up. I dunno what could be the cause of this though.

May 7th:

April 27th:

April 21st:

April 9th:

April 3rd:


nearly $40.
interesting eh...

9
Photo Critique / First Try with HDR
« on: April 20, 2009, 21:46 »
I love the way HDR photos look so I wanted to give it a try for once. These are some of the results. I hope to get a few of these accepted to the stock sites.










10
StockXpert.com / Subscription Sales
« on: January 24, 2009, 02:23 »
Are they completely taking over for anyone else or just me? My ppd downloads have fallen off a cliff in the past 2 months. Hell I have had more ppd sales at Shutterstock this month than at StockXpert! I'm thinking of opting out for February to see if I do any better. I need to make that decision soon cause I think it takes a few days for photos.com and JIU to sync.

11
Off Topic / My New Computer
« on: January 22, 2009, 02:04 »
Just got myself a great deal on a dell studio xps from dell outlet thanks to a 15% off coupon.  ;)

The basic stats:
Processor:
Studio XPS 435 Desktop: Intel Core i7-920 Processor (8MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz)
Hard Drive:
640 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 
640 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 2nd drive
RAM:
8 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (6 DIMMs)
Video Card:
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850

for.............. $985.82

Just gotta throw in the 24" Dell S2409W monitor for $250.  ;D
It is missing two things that I wanted though -- wireless and the 19 in 1 memory card reader. But on dell outlet you can't be too fussy. Dell Outlet = returned/refurbished systems marked down significantly. All the reviews and comments are positive and they still come with the warranty.

This setup costs about $1750 to buy new from Dell.



12
iStockPhoto.com / iStock rebound?
« on: January 17, 2009, 03:42 »
Is anyone else having a dramatic increase in sales this month? They have definitely changed the best match because some of my files are appearing on the front page in some searches when before I was unable to even find any of my photos. If things keep up iStock might have its best month since February 2008 and be my top earner this month. Anyone else seeing a change? Also, has anyone noticed whether new files are getting exposure again or if they are still buried as soon as they are approved?

13
General Stock Discussion / Your Referral Earnings
« on: November 19, 2008, 23:06 »
This could be interesting who knows...

For me, Shutterstock and Dreamstime are the only two that bring in anything worth mentioning. About $12-20 a month from Shutterstock, nearly $300 total. Dreamstime has just recently taken off, getting about $10 a month but only $30 total.

I know for most of us it's probably just peanuts but I'm sure there are some that make quite a lot from it.

14
Off Topic / PicLens - Awesome little plug-in.
« on: March 27, 2008, 19:19 »
EDIT: Looks like I'm a little behind. See below.

15
StockXpert.com / If sxc.hu were to close...
« on: March 03, 2008, 14:17 »
In case you don't already know what StockXpert.hu is.. it is basically like stockxpert except all of the images are free. They have twice the traffic that stockxpert has and 351,000 images online.

Now imagine if sxc.hu were to close/merge with StockXpert. Having double the traffic that stockxpert already has, this would certainly mean a huge increase in sales even if only a small fraction of the traffic signed up.

What is the reason for keeping sxc.hu even open?

Just food for thought.

16
Zymmetrical.com / How are people doing here?
« on: December 23, 2007, 21:32 »
I only have 5 files approved here, and when I search for them there is not much competition. So I am wondering how others are doing here? I haven't gotten a download yet, but again, only 5 files. I have had another 5 pending for a month now. ;\

Anyone get any sales?

17
General Stock Discussion / POLL: November Earnings
« on: December 01, 2007, 09:47 »
Same options as last month.

For comparison, last months results were:
Less than $100     - 11 (15.7%)
$100-$250    - 13 (18.6%)
$250-$500    - 14 (20%)
$500-$1,000    - 13 (18.6%)
$1,000-$2,000    - 10 (14.3%)
$2,000-$5,000    - 6 (8.6%)
$5,000-$10,000    - 2 (2.9%)
$10,000-$20,000    - 0 (0%)
$20,000+    - 1 (1.4%)

70 votes total.

18
General Stock Discussion / November Earnings Breakdown
« on: December 01, 2007, 09:42 »
Well... it's that time.

Site - % of earnings - $ per download - portfolio size (at end of month)

1. Shutterstock | 43% | 0.34c/dl | 318 |
2. StockXpert | 18% | $1.00/dl | 239 | BME
3. Istockphoto | 13% | 0.91c/dl | 26 | BME
4. Dreamstime | 10% | 0.77c/dl | 225 |
5. Fotolia | 8% | 0.58c/dl | 305 |
6. Bigstockphoto | 4% | $1.00/dl | 222 | BME
7. Other | 4% | 0.35c/dl | (includes Crestock, Canstockphoto, Snapvillage, LuckyOliver, and Featurepics)

Overall BME. Earnings up 23% from last month.

19
iStockPhoto.com / So Frustrating
« on: November 24, 2007, 21:20 »
Excuse me while I rant. I figure it would be better do it here than on their forums.

The frequent "not stockworthy" rejections on my abstract illustrations are killing me. The only way they get accepted is if I send in a scout inspection. For the 2 files that I have bothered to do this with, the results are:

1. http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=3125782
13 downloads in 6 days.

2. http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=3208093
6 downloads in 2 days.

Similar submissions are all rejected. I can't send in any more scout requests since they limit them. I sent in a message to support but it's been a week with no response.

I have 22 images online there with 39 downloads.  Of the 39 downloads, 30 of them are from initially rejected illustrations, which is only 4 files.

I understand that these have rather limited usage, but they are my best sellers by far.  >:(

I love the income, but for fuck sake.  >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(


20
The falling US dollar seems to be costing foreign photographers more and more money. Since I live in the US, and I have both a moneybookers and a paypal account, I could transfer funds for people. Assuming I get a small commission to make it worth my while. This would require some trust, so I can understand if you would only want to do it in small amounts at a time. Would anyone be interested in this?

Also, to give me an idea of what some of you are losing, out of say $100 you make, how much do you actually get?

21
iStockPhoto.com / What have I done...
« on: November 17, 2007, 11:49 »
Look at what I got myself into...
Hopefully the portfolio exposure will increase my sales. 99.9% of the files in these lightboxes are not mine. I will frequently be posting lightboxes on the Lightbox blog page, which is great advertisement. As the top thing says... add me to your creative network and I will scan your portfolio for images that fit into a lightbox. (My Istock page)

*Not all of the ones below have 20+ images and are public, but you can still see them from these links. Still got work to do.  ;)

































Oh, and before someone mentions it. I know 'Tropical' is misplaced in the alphabetical ordered list. It was Caribbean but I changed it so its more general.

22
iStockPhoto.com / Lightbox Questions
« on: November 13, 2007, 18:34 »
What effect do they have on sales? Should I create some lightboxes that have to do with my images? Is it worth the time of day?

23
General Stock Discussion / Microstock TV Commercials
« on: November 06, 2007, 19:38 »
It is an interesting idea to ponder. Would it be worth it for say Shutterstock to have TV commercials? You see many no-name companies really come alive from TV advertising.

Discuss.


24
General Stock Discussion / Site Traffic
« on: November 02, 2007, 18:10 »
These statistics are based off of alexa.com.


Rank - Site

323   Istockphoto
1341   Shutterstock
1978   Fotolia
2091   Dreamstime
3708   StockXpert
6912   Bigstockphoto
9895   123RF
22746   Luckyoliver
23705   Crestock
31794   Featurepics
59967   Canstockphoto
74848   Albumo
110481   Moodboard
120747   Vectorstock
171012   Snapvillage
215784   Regimages
264641   Zymmetrical
278655   Microstockphoto
554574   Scanstockphoto
560346   Fotomind
562888   Imagevortex
803702   Usphotostock
821045   Stockphotomedia
1041191   Photola
2879694   Paxxion
5403136   Thephotostorage

To compare:

107790 Microstockgroup

25
Site Related / Chat?
« on: November 01, 2007, 18:26 »
I think it would be neat to have a chat room like feature here. I am not sure how many people would actually use it, I would though.

Anyone else like the idea?

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