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Messages - 33ft
1
« on: December 05, 2013, 17:20 »
If you want to change it for your whole portfolio send a mail to Fotolia and ask them to do it for you, they will do it.
Great to know, thank you...will save me all of the time going back
2
« on: December 04, 2013, 17:28 »
I noticed that when uploading the only thing I can change is the "X Extended" price which is a range between 10-50 credits. Can someone share with me what they place here or their strategy? Isn't this an extended license, and so do you guys up this to 50 on all of yours? The process flow is obviously set up to slate it at 10, but I didn't know how many people were adjusting this upI also would hate to think I am getting such a small amount for a extended license...
Thanks,
dL
3
« on: November 28, 2013, 22:00 »
if you are up for a little work, having your own domain and hosting a wordpress site is relatively easy. Once that is accomplished you can get quite a few nice templates for that. Themeforest (by photodune) has quite a few nice ones. I also use elegantThemes a lot (I've got their referral ad at the top). I've also used themify.me
Thanks for the referral Leaf. I do have my own domain, now just need to figure out this side of it. I will look more into wordpress as a blog has been interesting to me as well.
4
« on: November 28, 2013, 21:58 »
Squarespace is a good place to build a portfolio - a place to point clients to, with examples of the work you have sold, tear sheets, existing clients etc.
www.squarespace.com
If you want to build a place to sell pictures - well that is a completely different proposition. Unless you have existing customers or a strong brand you will struggle to sell stock in any meaningful way from a one person website because the agencies offer the variety of top quality work which can only be provided by hundreds or even thousands of photographers
Thanks for the referral. Pretty impressive site, and looks fairly easy.
5
« on: November 27, 2013, 17:04 »
Hey guys,
With all of the discussion around self hosting images I admit I am far behind (in both reading forums on the topic and actually doing something).
That said, as I look to invest further does anyone have any suggestions on places that sell really good template websites that are both great visually, but also functional from a management perspective and ultimately looking to sell direct?
I'm assuming that the best ones are not flash because of the loss in SEO???
Any thoughts shared are greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
David
6
« on: September 21, 2013, 13:59 »
Good points, thanks for the feedback.
7
« on: September 21, 2013, 10:48 »
Anyone have any selling strategies they use to sell over at Fine Art America that they care to share? I know price is all based on the value perceived by the owner & buyer but I as I stared at their print sizes and empty boxes for prices when uploading an image I froze. The only images I would place there are those I really like, and would think someone would on their wall or in print, so they tend to carry a little more value to me. Guess I just don't know what the norm is.
Would love to get some experienced thoughts.
Thanks,
Dave
8
« on: August 30, 2013, 23:24 »
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Tab62, looks like I will be out in your area for business next week. Anything great to shoot from a quick roadside drive from Seattle to Kennewick?
9
« on: August 30, 2013, 21:24 »
Great month, rediculous number of $3 sales on Monday.
10
« on: August 30, 2013, 21:20 »
Anyone move from CS5 to CS6 and loved something that you picked up because of the upgrade? I'm not going to head to CC, but thought about picking up a cheap upgrade boxed from Amazon.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Dave
11
« on: August 30, 2013, 21:17 »
I've always used Aperature and done all of my edits in PS CS5.
Missing out by not picking up LR5?
12
« on: March 15, 2013, 22:00 »
Mine are mostly U.S., scattered around with both coasts covered. For me it's always interesting when the more Americanized images sell over seas. Of course there are always the mid-Atlantic ocean sales...
13
« on: March 12, 2013, 15:46 »
Congrats on the sales! 
I am sitting here in a similar situation except that I am the one out of commission (recovering from surgery) with nothing to do but watch TV and be on the computer, bored out of my mind. Even the dog is sick of me, LOL.
Unfortunately, in my case, no big sales to brighten the day. Yet. Maybe later.....
Hope you get on your feet soon. A little bit of time down can be refreshing, too much though is depressing. I also noticed I almost read through every thread on here. That's bad when you feel you run out of posts to keep your interest lol.
14
« on: March 12, 2013, 10:17 »
I'm sitting here, cursing my life since I have a horrible infection after a tooth removal. Never went through so much pain in my entire life. And for everything to be complete, I'm pissed because I had just 3 sales since last Thursday, after getting accepted more than 70 pics on SS. So I really wouldn't mind one of those 90$ sales  Can you send a bit of your luck to me?
Sorry to hear about the tooth and the pain. Maybe it's the ole luck of the Irish with St Pattys approaching. Hopefully some will come your way soon.
15
« on: March 11, 2013, 19:20 »
So you are sitting there, housebound since Friday evening because all of your kids and the mrs are down with the flu. Great weekend plans right? Miraculously you continue to be fine, and meanwhile you are playing nurse to all yet you are slowly losing it mentally from a lack of sleep and 24-7 cartoons on the tv to entertain the kids while they recover from the couch...have I set the stage? Occasionally when you aren't refilling drinks, or grabbing meds, you sneak upstairs to start a new file upload via the FTP, or to knock out some editing. Don't get too excited, you are quickly interrupted for some other need. (I'm happy to do it, don't take me wrong) Amongst what seems to be the 5th time I've watched Wreck It Ralph, I get to zone out and check the SS photo stats from the phone. And then it hits you, what was already shaping up to be a good day download wise, someone decides to download several images at $90 a pop effectively already beating in one day how much you had accrued so far for the month. I love stock for these days! Thank you SS! Now back to being Dr Dave  , hope you guys are seeing positive results this month as well.
16
« on: February 21, 2013, 11:46 »
I have one folder with all my images in it. Everytime I have a batch to upload I make a folder for each site with the new images in each one. As I upload to each site I delete the images out of the relevant folder. For places like DT that don't like similars I leave some from each batch in the folder and gradually feed them up with other batches.
I like this and may have to try this system since some sites it's just easier than others to get them onto in volume. Others have upload limits, so getting files to them is slower. Thanks everyone for sharing.
17
« on: February 20, 2013, 20:58 »
after meta data, i move the images to an area of folders for each site. sometimes i upload to multiple sites right then, sometimes just to SS - if i dont upl right away to a site, i copy the images into that folder. later i can upl to other sites. Then after uploading to individual sites, i just delete the images
this upl area is completely separate from my archives. early on i tried to track acceptance, etc, but decided it was a waste of time.
Interesting, so you use folders to essentially create a staging area. But you are saying that since those folders are not your archives, if you happen to get ahead of yourself on one site, but not another, then you just leave a copy in that sites folder until you get around to uploading it and then delete?
18
« on: February 20, 2013, 20:52 »
I have one folder.
I upload all new images to all the sites.
Whatever gets accepted - fine.
Whatever gets rejected - who cares?
Agree, I don't care what gets accepted where, only that it has been submitted here and there.
19
« on: February 20, 2013, 11:59 »
The one downside of keywords intended for my internal use like this is that they show up one way or another when you upload, so you have to be very disciplined about identifying and removing them immediately after upload, and (preferably) before inspection. If one of your keywords slips through, you might create a situation in which an iStock inspector sees "Shutterstock Rejected" as a keyword - not a good way to start a new romance.
Are you saying you just add a keyword to the metadata of the file once it is submitted to a certain site, i.e.: "shutter stock-rejected" that way you know where it has been submitted and its status? I don't know why I never thought of this. Is that option searchable? i.e.: if I searched a folder on my computer that had thousands of jpegs for "shutterstock rejected", and that keyword were imbedded on that particular file or files, it would pull all of them in a folder search?
20
« on: February 20, 2013, 11:54 »
I also use the "growing mess" system.
lol, classic!
21
« on: February 20, 2013, 00:37 »
As I continue to branch out onto other sites I'm struck by the growing monster that resides within my external backup hard drives.  I'm curious, does anyone have a great system they don't mind sharing? Not so much from simply naming and dating files, but more on what has been submitted where. To give an example, early on I only submitted to SS and IS. Backed up files...Then those to DT and FT. As I continued to branch out to some smaller sites, some I grew bored of and let them gather dust, yet continued to upload to the big boys. Unfortunately I lost my way. There are many files that I truly cannot tell if I submitted them to the smaller sites without doing a host of research. So, the past is the past. I am more concerned about the future. As I continue to shoot, upload, and expand to other sites, any great systems out there that people use to tell the history of where the file itself has been submitted? Thx
22
« on: February 12, 2013, 01:24 »
My advice is to not make the mistake that I made early in my stock career, which was to upload to new sites which treat contributors well, and then quit a year later because sales were slow or negligible. It was an unwise move on my part, and it just causes frustration for agencies which we should be supporting.
There are only a few valid reasons to leave an agency -
- They are treating you poorly through bad relations, low commissions, etc
- You are going exclusive somewhere
- You are leaving microstock
Leaving because you are frustrated that there are no sales just wastes your time and energy, and causes an agency to deal with your mood swings when they should be concentrating on their website and its growth.
Honestly I never would have left Featurepics and Yay a few years ago if I had not gone exclusive at IS. Sales were slow, but commissions were good, reviews were fair, and I wanted to support their efforts. I would reapply to them, but at this point I just don't have the time.
So if you are going to take a chance with a low earner, make a long term commitment. Don't bounce on and off agencies like a rubber ball.
Interesting, I've not seen it really from their perspective much, more just focused on optimizing my time and energy. Guess it won't hurt leaving them up, but low commissions do concern me. Veer has quite surprised me the last 90 days, to the point that I cannot believe they are in the low bucket.
23
« on: February 11, 2013, 22:11 »
I rely on the numbers on the right and when I go for a site I upload as much as I can - have about 1500 images I find best sellers unpredictable so find it easier just to put everything up and wait.
Thanks for your reply!, 1500?, wow, guess me giving some of them 40 and then hanging tight was a little shallow of me. I agree with what you say about best sellers sometimes being unpredictable.
24
« on: February 10, 2013, 21:31 »
I've been spending some time lately letting the ole ftp burn up the night uploading to some more of the mid Tier and Low sites. I was curious what were some of the other's strategy when uploading to new sites.
Do you have a certain set of images you send? Like a variety?, and how many do you chum the water with before letting it sit and watch the performance? 40? 100? more?
Do you send your best of your best or do you keep those aside while you wait and see?
Anything you mind sharing is appreciated as I sometimes wonder if I am giving some of these a fair go.
Thanks,
David
25
« on: February 07, 2013, 23:57 »
The poll results are in and Stocksy will be added to the right hand bar in no time!
All kidding aside, reading this shortly after the BS topic is quite a lift. Would love to be part of it. Hope they have a short runway to liftoff!
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