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Messages - TSLphoto

Pages: [1] 2
1
I was only submitting to IStock due to the convenience that it was possible through Stocksubmitter. This makes it an easy choice to drop them from the list. 

2
I wondering how all the blockchain sites will handle the EU-VAT. If there is no middleman i have to write an invoice and have to pay VAT for every single sale in the EU buyers country.

The administration cost will explode...

This is the beauty of blockchain technology, it would reduce admin costs. The EU-VAT system could integrate it's own blockchain that would record all VAT transactions and it would become fully automated. This would also reduce fraud as a transaction in the EU would require the VAT ledgers "seal of approval" to show the transaction is legit.

The different blockchains don't have to be independent of each other, they can all work together.

In the case of stock photography. You license your photo on Block A to a consumer on Block B, Block C (VAT ledger) would look at the smart contract and determine the amount to charge depending on each individuals location at tax rate. The transaction would then be verified and there is a permanent record of the transaction stored forever.

I think it's only a matter of time before blockchain tech is incorporated into many areas of our lives. The governments are still trying to figure out how to regulate them right now but down the road there will be so much less fraud.   

3
If bitcoin etc is supposedly so incredibly secure, as I have read often on such threads on msg, how come:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/moment-undercover-cops-pounce-on-500k-bitcoin-hacker-on-board-train-a3829071.html
Because for every one who is caught, there will be many more uncaught, as with all other types of criminal.

Because that article has nearly nothing to do with bitcoin. He used phishing emails so people just gave him the info he needed. There's nothing new about this type of scam. It isn't a vulnerability of bitcoin, it's a vulnerability of humans.

4
General Stock Discussion / Re: Wemark hows it going
« on: May 02, 2018, 16:16 »
So, if this transaction is between the buyer and seller, why do they get 15%?

Someone has to build and pay for the tech.

5
General - Stock Video / Re: The end of QuickTime PhotoJPEG??
« on: February 11, 2018, 15:12 »
Google "AnotherGUI", works well for converting to almost any format including many ProRes formats. It uses FFMPEG and I've never had any issues uploading 4k ProRes files that have been converted.

Why is there an assumption PC cannot do ProRes? All my clips are ProRes and processed on a PC.

You just have to shop for the right software.

Do you upload 4K video to Getty/iStock via ESP?

From what I can tell all PC software the says it can create ProRes uses FFMPEG. What software are you using if it's not FFMPEG?
FFMPEG is not very good at creating 4K video and they often fail for technical reasons on the Getty ESP.


As far as ESP goes, 4K for Getty/iStock are the same price as HD, why bother even uploading in 4k?

6
Software / Re: How to shoot static timelapses
« on: January 16, 2018, 19:53 »
I'm sure Boris is much better (I've never tried it, just read about it). I'm just suggesting LRTimelapse works well on a budget for someone who can't afford the $1700 price tag of the Boris software.

$1,700???

It's $299 (Image Restoration Unit, one of the Continuum Units). It's free if you are a student.

Still a bit pricey, but not outrageous. The rest of the Continuum plugs aren't that useful in my opinion anyway...

Just download the free trial and try it out.

---

It works well on drone footage too (Phantoms/Mavics), that often suffers from compression flicker due to the low bitrate and suboptimal codec.

Woah! I must have been on the  wrong page, I'll check it out again. Thanks for the heads up!

7
Software / Re: How to shoot static timelapses
« on: January 16, 2018, 12:50 »
LRTimelapse has wonderful deflicker. I've never had a clip I couldn't fix. I now shoot the majority of my time lapses in A-priority making high dynamic range transitions super easy to deal with. Also a lot cheaper that Boris  :P

It's not wonderful compared to Boris. And it's incredibly slow with no customization of the parameters used to analyze... It's nice to fix some of the flicker at RAW level though. You might sometimes get the best results by first using LRTimelapse and then Boris, but normally a giant waste of time.

I'm sure Boris is much better (I've never tried it, just read about it). I'm just suggesting LRTimelapse works well on a budget for someone who can't afford the $1700 price tag of the Boris software.

8
Software / Re: How to shoot static timelapses
« on: January 15, 2018, 23:19 »
LRTimelapse has wonderful deflicker. I've never had a clip I couldn't fix. I now shoot the majority of my time lapses in A-priority making high dynamic range transitions super easy to deal with. Also a lot cheaper that Boris  :P

9
Envato / Re: Envato - Set your own price
« on: December 12, 2017, 16:55 »
As was previously mentioned, Early 2018 self pricing. They are moving all the marketplaces to self pricing, the only ones left to change are video and audio.
I don't think they are trying to get more content uploads, the wait time for review is already like 6-8 months...

That being said, they are consistently my best earner.

10
Haha, the compensation they offer are a joke. The only time it might be worth it is combining a shoot with something else. Until I find that or a higher payout, I'll have to keep declining.

11
 YouTube videos can be much shorter than 10 minutes. The only reason to make them longer is to try and increase ad revenue, which at this point with only 60 subs probably shouldn't be your focus.

Content is king. If you produce helpful, engaging, attractive content then the audience will come. There are no shortages of video and time lapse tutorials already on youtube.

No offense but what makes your content special and better than what's already available?

12
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock + Flashstock
« on: June 28, 2017, 08:47 »
The briefs that i've been offered at flashstock have always had very low budgets. Usually in the $100-200 range and expect ~20 photos. These are usually quite specific in what they require which ends up making the brief not worthwhile for me personally. The cost to shoot the photos would take the whole payout.

Maybe Shutterstock can make things more appealing but I feel like this is another race to the bottom where they pay contributors pennies of what a proper photo shoot would cost and the contributor takes the hit.

JMHO

13
Most films are released at 24 fps so that's not a huge issue unless you want to get some slow motion shots which would require 60-120 fps.

Others have said it, bring your ISO down, no need to have unwanted noise and it will allow you to drop your shutter speed.

Aim for a shutter speed around twice your frame rate. This gives a natural motion blur to moving elements. Higher shutter speeds end up looking a little weird. It's a little counter-intuitive when you start from photography since you're used to trying to freeze your moving objects with a high shutter speed.

For aspect ratios, try to go with a standard ratio such as 16:9 (cropping to this in lightroom is easy) which also corresponds to 1920x1080 for HD, 3840x2160  for UHD, and 4096x2304 for true 4K.

14
I think it's situational,
If possible you could upload a 60 fps version of the clip which allows the shot to be used at real time or slowed down to the buyers desired speed.

If you're clips can be slowed down to slower than half speed it would probably be best/easiest to upload separate clips since ultra slow-mo has its own appeal.

It's a balance between how much work and upload time you want to commit to a clip, I always see if I can upload a single clip that can serve as real-time and slow-mo.

Personally, I've never had different speed versions of a clip rejected so it's likely not something you need to worry about.

15
The drop off may also be due to your files dropping in the "New" or "Most Recent" searches. I usually notice a week long spike in new upload sales then the sales for those files slow down but the good quality content continues to sell well down the road, especially if it makes it to the front page of search results

16
Time lapse and real time are very different so submit them as separate files.
 
Real-time and slow-mo can be achieved with the same file so why not just submit one that covers both bases? Unless you want to take it to the extreme and make a super slow mo or long real time clip. It's all relative. You can only push the footage so far and have reasonable file sizes and clips. For the extreme example you gave, three different clips would probably work.

I personally think a shorter clip with higher frame rate is more useful. A 30 second clip shot at 60 fps can be slowed to less than half speed and still be smooth so it's got a wider appeal. Why make the buyer look harder than they need to?


17
I have one question. One film with sea waves. For example, Real Time, Slow Motion, Time Lapse? In three variants this is spam?

Videohive earns millions on movies and here are just a few of the respondents?

I guess videochive does not care about new videos.

As for variations of for example sea waves, Think about what the buyer can do with the file. If you submit a file that was shot in 60FPS, then they can slow mo the shot themselves. Same with speeding a clip up.

I wouldn't really lump real time and time lapse together since a time lapse generally covers a period of time that normal video is not feasible for.

18
They can't keep up with the amount of new video content being submitted. They've said in the forums they are aware of the issue and are actively trying to find a solution.

http://quality.market.envato.com/videohive

117 day average is pretty brutal though.

19
Adobe Stock / Re: Adobe Stock Contributor Portal Updates
« on: April 19, 2017, 18:55 »
Now this is how to deal with contributors correctly. Thanks for the update!

20
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock is unsafe.
« on: April 18, 2017, 17:30 »
If you have a signed model release, how is this even an issue? They signed the release, they put in writing that you can use the photos for whatever you want (unless damaging their character). I'm surprised sending in the model release form didn't get them off your back.

21
Off Topic / Re: General Tips for newbies
« on: April 18, 2017, 09:47 »
I think for number 3 it will vary by person. Easy fix, don't have a family then you can go anywhere and hang out wherever you want for as long as you want taking photos. I can see where keeping a family vacation somewhat separate from stock photo endevours would be a smart thing to do for your family.

22
Video is going down the same path as photos. As supply increases and demand doesn't keep pace then everyone's market share will drop. The barrier to entry continues to drop, camera's are cheap, 4K stabilized footage is easy to produce. Why would anyone pay a premium for clips that some kid with an Iphone can create?

If you want to be able to charge a premium for high quality content that the average joe can't make then microstock is the wrong market place. I don't really see a point in fighting to hold onto "how it used to be" because the market is changing and if you don't adapt then you're going to get left in the dust.

People can say they will pull their portfolios but in the end someone else will fill that space. We can complain all we want but we all know the direction this is heading and it's not up...

23
There looks to be more agencies that are trackable in the phone app over the desktop app. Will all agencies be available on both platforms at some point?

24
General - Top Sites / Re: Thoughs On 4K Video For Stock
« on: April 04, 2017, 10:59 »
Again, I did a pixel by pixel comparison of frames from a video rendered to PRORES and a video rendered to H264. The difference was negligible, the file size of H264 was significantly smaller.

It is a complete myth that PRORES is a good codec.

Out of 8,000,000 or so pixels, only 500 to 2000 differed between the H264 and PRORES rendered frames, and the H264 file size was a fraction of the PRORES file size.

People using PRORES are deluded into thinking it is superior to H264, and they are completely wrong.
"Pixel by pixel comparison" doesn't mean anything if you don't define what you're comparing. You have to have standards. As spacestock said, crank some settings and compare again. Is there a percent difference? I'm hoping you're using a program to analyze the colours and not your eyes. Having the opinion that they look the same does not mean they are. 

25
General Stock Discussion / Re: Bigstock FTP. (I need help)
« on: April 02, 2017, 14:53 »
From their website.

Upload via FTP
Have lots of images? Upload image files only - no folders - to the Bigstock FTP server:
1) Install a FTP client (https://filezilla-project.org/)

2) Login
Hostname: ftp.bigstockphoto.com
Username: <your Bigstock username>
Password: <your Bigstock password>
You may use the FTP Log to check upload status of images.
3) Drag and drop

Important Information about Uploading
Do not use our FTP site to upload model releases.
You must upload your model releases using the Release Manager.
After your upload, go to Edit and Submit Images to add keywords, assign releases, write titles, descriptions and categories. When you're done, submit your images to Bigstock.
Photographs should only be uploaded in JPG format.
Illustrations may also be uploaded as PDF, PNG and EPS files.
The maximum size for image files is 25 MB.

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