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Messages - steheap
Pages: 1 ... 55 56 57 58 59 [60] 61 62
1476
« on: February 22, 2011, 12:18 »
And one request from me: Please make the sign-in time longer. The site appears to automatically log out after around 30 minutes of non-activity - you can't immediately tell that it has happened, until you try to edit an image and then the page just sits there trying to load. You need to reload the whole page and sign in again to continue. No reason why you can't have several hours of non-activity for a site like this. Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1477
« on: February 22, 2011, 10:19 »
Hi Robert I was the one who complained about the 250M limit on uploads - thanks for clarifying that this was an old email. I do think the new site is a big improvement over the old approach (I had pretty much stopped uploading to Panther some time ago) but I did run into a limit this morning. I have a lot of images to upload and so when I saw your response this morning, I restarted my FTP. I did hit a hard limit at 1024MB (ie 1gig) - all files after that point were rejected with an error stating that the Quota had been exceeded. I do need to get on the site and start adding the main keywords etc. but it does look as though there is a hard limit of FTP space. Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1479
« on: February 21, 2011, 15:28 »
I asked the site to send my user name and password for FTP, and it was in that email: "Important : - Avoid special characters in file name - Edit or remove images in your FTP folder within 7 days - Your available FTP space: 150MB (please do not exceed this) - Please do not create sub-folders in your FTP folder" Perhaps it is not a real limit? Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1480
« on: February 21, 2011, 13:08 »
Did you see the restriction that you only have 150MB of FTP space (which turns out to be about 38 images). So the upload process now needs to include separating all the files I haven't uploaded over the past 2 years into blocks of 150MB... As well as waiting 258 minutes for the FTP to process and then going through all the steps against each image (or at least now we can create a set of images to edit) Why is this so hard.... Steve http://www.backyardsilver.comPS - anyone know if this is a hard 150MB limit or just something we need to manage ourselves?
1481
« on: February 12, 2011, 12:23 »
I think I have come up with a solution to the right click problem, which was exacerbated by me uploading larger than necessary images to the wordpress blog - which lets someone click through to the large image and then download that one for free. Wordpress allows you to choose the link that is opened when an image is clicked - this normally points to the larger file size on the local server. When I have a larger image already on-line in a protected environment (like Smugmug), I simply replaced the local link by one pointing to the image already online. A viewer would then be able to see other images taken in the same location - for instance, the Washington DC Cherry blossom image now links to a page of related images around the Washington area. I guess there is a chance that someone would be interested in buying one of those (I live in hope...) Where I don't have an image already on-line on my own site, I can point the link to one of the stock site pages for that picture, or just leave the link blank, in which case all anyone could copy would be the small "thumbnail" image on the blog. I've no idea if anyone has copied and used these images, but this seems to fit into my workflow for new posts and I have gone back and modified the obvious earlier posts where I had a large file size accessible. I guess you can never be too careful... Thanks for your help on this Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1482
« on: February 11, 2011, 16:11 »
This is an interesting question. I do edit in ProPhoto RGB (which is set in Lightroom in Edit:Preferences:External Editing), and if then I save the file in ProPhoto as well as my master, but the JPEGs I create are always converted to sRGB. I did that because I assumed that most buyers are looking at the images on the web sites on their computer monitors and I thought all monitors were easily able to show sRGB, but only the better ones can show a wider gamut. Is there a common view among the experienced contributors about which color space to use for uploaded images? Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1483
« on: February 11, 2011, 11:22 »
It is easier than you think. It is in Edit/Convert to Profile in Photoshop. I wrote a little action that combines all the layers, converts to sRGB and then I am ready to save as a JPG. Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1484
« on: February 11, 2011, 09:00 »
Thanks for your advice. I need to keep my bigger images on a site designed for the purpose and leave smaller thumbnails on the blog. I decided to reduce the sizes of the most popular images and add a low opacity copyright symbol to them. For those interested in adding that symbol, there is a site that offers a range of free to use copyright symbols here: http://www.copyrightauthority.com/copyright-symbol/. I lowered the opacity to about 10% and saved as a PNG to keep the transparency and then used the Copyright editor in Lightroom to add the symbol on export. I'll investigate the right click protection in Wordpress though - my early investigations suggested they were relatively easy to get around, though. Steve
1485
« on: February 11, 2011, 08:04 »
Yes - I do keep them quite small, and the best sellers are saved with more JPEG Compression, but I agree there is some risk! This is always a conflict - how to make the site look attractive and the images pristine, but not lose them to theft.
I'll try the watermarking feature in Lightroom - is there a way to make the images secure from right-clicks in Wordpress?
Thanks for the warning, though!
Steve
1486
« on: February 10, 2011, 22:35 »
Yes, I did weigh that - although if someone is going to try to get into the business anyway, I may as well try to help them. Anyway, what is another 1000 images in the 14M already on Shutterstock! I think I originally signed up using some of the links on this site - which helped me a lot in the early days (and still does!) - and so I'm following the same logic for the next generation...  Steve
1487
« on: February 10, 2011, 19:03 »
Maybe you have tried this before, but I got a $100 credit from Google Adwords recently (and I have seen $75 offers in magazines like Business Week). I decided to write a long and detailed step by step guide to getting started in Stock Photography on my blog http://www.backyardsilver.com and create the article as a free downloadable PDF as well, and then use my $100 to create the Adword boxes that appear next to search results on Google. It looks like each click will cost around $1, and so I will get 100 visitors who are presumably already interested in stock photography to my blog, and, hopefully making use of my referral links. I did a test run earlier in the week and at least one person has clicked through to Canstockphoto, but as the cost is zero (ignoring my time to write the article), it seemed like a good plan! Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com - My Blog http://www.backyardimage.com - My best photos http://www.backyardartisan.com - My wife's jewelry You get the marketing positioning - all I need is a backyard theme for Zazzle and we will be all set....
1488
« on: January 18, 2011, 13:21 »
Mark You have some great products there now - about how many products do you have in your store now? Steve www.backyardsilver.com
1489
« on: January 05, 2011, 10:55 »
Mark You have really worked hard on that store - some nice customizations. I've been trying to come up with interesting takes on products, but at least with Shutterstock you get some pretty immediate feedback when you upload images - it seems to take a long time for a sale to come along with Zazzle! Steve http://www.zazzle.com/backyardimage
1490
« on: January 03, 2011, 10:57 »
Thanks all, for your help in putting one of those rotating Flash product bars on my Zazzle store! I investigated the promotion of Zazzle a bit more and came across an interesting gadget that shows the top products in any particular search, and if someone uses the gadget to buy one of the products, you get a commission for referring them to the site. It can contain your own products, but I think it makes more sense to show the best selling ones on the site and get some referral earnings based on those. The site with the details (it is called My Zazzlit) is http://www.highton-ridley.co.uk/tutorials/zazzlit-gadget-tutorial-adding-it-p1.html. Here is my example in the left hand sidebar of my blog - I used "Valentine" as the search term, but will change this as the year goes by. http://www.backyardsilver.comI've no idea how successful it will be, but it takes little effort as he gives you the code and explains very well how to customize it. Steve
1492
« on: January 02, 2011, 13:45 »
Donding You have that rotating panel of products as well - I can't seem to find the option to put that on the home page! The site looks OK to me - I like the calendar (you have been to the same waterfalls as me - looks like Cucumber falls on one of them!). I sold 8 of my Kauai calendar this December, and, while I was lucky to get a best product award, the only external marketing I had was to mention the calendar a few times during the year on my blog. It is also possible that someone searching for a specific location for a calendar is more likely to find one than a more generic places of beauty title? Maybe having it named and tagged as waterfalls may get more traction? However, I'm only learning here, and plan to try to create a niche of products - although I missed the Christmas season with this product: http://www.zazzle.com/waiting_for_santa_card-137526653313345648, I think I will focus on a bengal cat set of products with cards, mugs etc. and perhaps some more calendars. Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1493
« on: January 02, 2011, 09:57 »
Mark How did you get that rotating panel onto your Zazzle page? I know how to get that into your blog or personal website, but did you directly edit the code on the Zazzle page to get it on your shop page? Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1494
« on: January 01, 2011, 11:37 »
I'm glad someone resurrected this thread - I had forgotten about this site and so went to check - I had a sale of a high res image for 12.50 Euros. A Christmas present! Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1495
« on: January 01, 2011, 11:18 »
December wasn't great for me - after a run of $500 months, I am back at $430 even after two $25 downloads from Pond5. Stats: Shutterstock: 40% iStock:23% Dreamstime: 11% Pond5: 11% 123RF: 4% Fotolia: 4% BigStock: 2% I've started posting a graph of earning each month on my blog - the biggest change this year has been the focus on getting more images on-line. I have probably gone from 400 to 1300 on Shutterstock as the year went by. http://www.backyardsilver.comSteve
1496
« on: December 31, 2010, 14:57 »
Mark Some nice products! Can I ask how well these sell - I don't have anywhere near as many products, but apart from my calendar, it has been very thin. Steve http://www.zazzle.com/backyardimage
1497
« on: December 31, 2010, 11:16 »
Thanks! I'm sure that part of the problem of overall low sales is the lack of appropriate advertising and linking to your products and so I have been trying to mention them in related blogs and web sites. I neglected to put a link to the calendar in the previous post - here is my blogged entry on the calendar to try to build some traction: http://www.backyardsilver.com/?p=246On a different, but related topic of earning additional money, has anyone had success with Amazon affiliate program with their links to commercial products? On the same blog I did a review of the x-rite colorchecker and signed up to the Affiliate program: http://www.backyardsilver.com/?p=260. Is this worth putting time and energy into? Steve
1498
« on: December 31, 2010, 10:42 »
I've been with them for about 12 months or so, but it is generally slow - I sold some stamps in the early days !  However, I put some effort into creating a nice calendar of my best photos of Kauai, won a Best product award ( back in February), and the calendar has sold pretty well over Christmas. 8 copies sold for a total income (at 15% royalty) of $18.95! You are a bit out of control of the pricing as they had several offers on calendars during December which reduces the commission, but I guess a sale is a sale! Now I need to do a bit of editing and create a 2012 version of the calendar. Good luck with your stores! Steve http://www.backyardsilver.com
1499
« on: December 30, 2010, 08:47 »
I like Canstock - the upload is easy, the rejections are fair and not very severe, they are quick to review new uploads, and, with about 1000 images on the site, I have earned $144 in 2010 - helped with a couple of full priced downloads from some of the partners. Last month was $9, which is fine for a very low maintenance site. Steve http://www.canstockphoto.com?r=32663
1500
« on: December 30, 2010, 08:37 »
David
A possible bug - I uploaded 8 files and assigned them to the channels (it would be good to have "Select All" on the channel list). All went well, the files were uploaded to each site. I was then thinking about longer term organization and so I selected all the files and moved them to a newly created folder by clicking the image, moving to "catalog" tab in the image window, selecting the new folder and clicking save. The images moved to the new folder, but they are now shown with no titles, description or keywords and all records of them having been uploaded have vanished. I managed to get them back to the main catalog again by deleting the folder, but they are still missing all information and history. I later saw that you could assign them to folders using "Assign: Folders" - so maybe I made an error before.
No great problem with these images as I am still playing with the system, but can you look at that issue?
Steve
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