MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Adeptris

Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 ... 26
76
General Macrostock / Re: FlickrRF/Getty
« on: September 28, 2009, 06:20 »

77
General Macrostock / Re: FlickrRF/Getty
« on: September 28, 2009, 06:20 »
It likely did come from a traditional agency, this will be one of the Images from the Getty Flickr Collection, if you check the pricing it is comparable.

David

78
Software - General / Re: What is the best IPTC these days?
« on: September 28, 2009, 05:27 »
I use photoshop did not enter poll as the question was:

What is a good free IPTC software?

Off topic but relevent, anyone that has problems with keyword spelling there is a website I found, controlled vocabulary, where you purchase and plug-in wordsets for software like PhotoShop etc:

David

79
New Sites - General / Re: The3dStudio, a concern about quality....
« on: September 28, 2009, 02:47 »
I don't know a whole lot about 3d modeling, but I do know that in just under a month I've had 16,623 views and 2 sales. When I do a search for something and search only photos, a HUGE percentage of the results are renders or illustrations. I'd really like to see them do something about that.


I agree with filtering or splitting photographs and illustrations, but they might have been caught out by the take-up of new contributors to carry out any site changes yet, I joined because they had loyal customers and over 300K of assets mainly non photographs these were built up over 13 years, after a push into photographs and illustrations they announced a month ago they reached 400,000 looking today their library could hit 500,000 within a week.

The management of these new assets will take some real effort as the collection grows, they will need to improve the search options to attract or keep buyers, the website does look dated but it works for thier customers as it was not designed for just stock images, the owners seem ok and do communicate well, like most sites they will take time to find where they fit in.

I doubt if they will ever make a large percentage of income, if we maintain perspective, do not expect to much to soon, look for organic growth from an established asset website, just look on The3dStudio for supplimentry income, if you have PayPal they pay out each month whatever you have accumulated which then limits the risk of loosing any income.
 
16 Artists used my affiliate link and 14 of these are active contributors, it will be interesting to see how thing develop.
  
David  ;)
 

80
Quote from: lephotography link=topic=8971.browsor g116953#msg116953 date=1253851909
<...
I agree with leaf, I do not think that it is saturated and I too think alot of people do not realize what microstock photography is.
>...
A lot of potential customers will never find microstock as they will never look, but they would become customers if the delivery and payment method was different.
 
There is lots of software out there where you can add your own image but only point to your hard drive for the images , the agencies need to get thier act together and plug this gap and open the marketplace with pay-per-download from the application or browser.

Shutterstock's will likely keep the two entities seperate but streamline the cost side of the business, this is normal practice with aqusitions, cut and streamline the staff, servers, premises, marketing, development, R&D and other costs, this increases profits, then tweek the software to make the business viable.

David  ;)

81
I see you posts below I think Java is best way to handle with all operating systems.

Looks like the best option, another programming language to learn  :(

David

82
What is wrong with BSPs home page? I always thought it one of the best and most informative of all the sites.
-Larry


Hi larry,
I blogged recently about Microstock and Image Diversity and the BigStock search engine was the 'worst bar stock expert' for returning relevent images, improvements in this area could generate much better sales, so it is not all bad!

David

83
I'm optimistic that this will work in our favor.  Both agencies have treated me well, with few if any moments of what? decision making.  The only problem with BigStock is the revenue it generates; a serious marketing effort could make all the difference.  If they see synergy, I'm happy to sit back and watch them, ummmm, synergies.

I would hold the 'yippee's' for a while, for the existing BigStock contributors the flood of new artists migrating from SS will only dilute the revenue far greater than any new marketing can generate 'new sales', as there are limited new markets this move could be just a way to use the SS brand to try to attract Customers from the other 'Credits' agencies existing markets, costs can be reduced to increase profits by bringing both server farms, inspection and administration to SS, when companies are aquired it is not often that the suppliers benefit from the deal.

This move will consolidate SS in the market but will not really benefit the existing BigStock artists that have helped to build the brand, IS and SS both grew thier models as pioneeers in microstock the growth has now peaked and consolidation by aqusition is the new direction.

David (sorry to pee on the fire)

84
iStockPhoto.com / Re: IStock's new idea - Logo Designs
« on: September 23, 2009, 02:22 »
The company I use, personal design service, logo and stationary pack for < 100

David   ;)

Yeah I know one company in north london that does that! Very ugly logos btw. I feel sorry for their customers!

I was not impressed with the Logo's on  brandstack and It is a common reaction when something is cheap to attack quality, I think I got better quality and far better service from the specialist logo company I used than I would get from Istock or  brandstack.

I am in the UK and used the people @ Inspired Logos just have a look at thier portfolio, My Adeptris logo is in the second row, I paid them about 100 in total, got a personal telephone service and this price including an extra graphic to create a favicon, I would recommend them anytime.

Istock Logo will start at $100, I purchased the Inspired Logo Start-up for 75 for my website branding, chose the logo from 6 designs, and had an additional Icon graphic designed for 25 on top.

6 unique logo concepts
2 unique stationery pack layouts
Unlimited revisions on any of the designs

There are loads of other services like them around the same price point.

David  ;)

85
iStockPhoto.com / Re: IStock's new idea - Logo Designs
« on: September 22, 2009, 15:52 »
The company I use, personal design service, logo and stationary pack for < 100

My Domains I register through my hosting company for <$10, many are parked by companies but there are still some to be had.

This week I was thinking about cloud technologies and web images so I registered DigitalRaindrops.net and DigitalRaindrops.co.uk, dot com had gone, I will get the logo (Choose 1 from 6 designs) and stationary pack again < 100   8)

I will need a couple of raindrops designed later, looking at the amounts quoted here I will have to shop around  :-X
David   ;)

86
Thanks for the input, it looks like I need to look at another programming language and delivery method, maybe a browser plug-in and Java?

The applet needs to run on the local machine, anyone know which language is cross platform or what browser is most popular on Mac's?

David  ;D

87
Just for the Mac users, I am thinking of developing a small desktop application with Microsoft Visual Studio, when compiled it would need to run on Windows with the dot.net framework, before I start I was wondering about the Mac users.

I am not a Mac user but understand there are Mac applications that allow Windows applications to run on a Mac, do the Mac users here have the ability to run Windows applications, or do you only install applications for the Mac operating system.

Any other information is welcomed.

Thanks

David  ;D

88
New Sites - General / Re: Clustershot.com
« on: September 21, 2009, 02:57 »
I like the site, I signed up for a pro account since i was looking at setting up a web site anyways. easy interface. I was concerned though when I started searching pictures. There are a lot of photos with copy righted materials and logos everywhere. You might need a copyrights information link somewhere during the sign up process.

I like the watermark tool but I wish it was a little bigger.

I Agree about the need for a release flag and a Limited Use (Simple RM) or  Editorial Licence, because the licence states that the Photographer/Artist is giving the permissions, I think that there is not enough due diligence from Clustershot in protecting buyers and artists.

Quote from: Clustershot RF License: Your Agreement with the Photographer/Artist
You are welcome to use the image:
On websites, in multimedia presentations, in broadcast film and video, and emails, etc.
In printed materials, such as magazines, newspapers, posters, books, brochures, flyers, CD/DVD covers, etc.
To decorate your home, your office or any public place.


David  ::)

89
General Stock Discussion / Re: Alamy and microstock sites
« on: September 19, 2009, 05:50 »
<...
>...
As I understood it, the search data which is shared isn't quite 'all', but is taken from the searching of their top buyers. I have no idea what the difference between these two figures would be.

Off-thread, one of the things I notice from my own Alamy stats is how often buyers are looking through well over a thousand images to make their choices. Granted, that's partly because of the poor keywording/search engine (no DA, no CSV) throwing up irrelevant images. But it's still intriguing considering how contributers on iStock firmly believe (and for all I know, may be right) that if the best match doesn't put their image on the first page, they are heavily losing sales.

Example: this week, I had two sessions searching on 'Celtic' (no other keywords used). I have two photos relevant to Celtic football club, several Celtic crosses and several featuring celtic knotwork/designs. Without defining  'celtic' further, all these images came up for celtic, and between the two sessions, over 14000 images were viewed. Unbelievable - did the searcher - apparently one of Alamy's top buyers - not know how to refine their search? Or were they really looking at all possibilities for the word 'celtic'?


I downloaded 6 months of buyers search data, and the average search was two pages 240 images viewed and one in a hundred zoomed, it may have been an intern or researcher looking for a number of images for an editors lightbox, they would have the time to go through 14000 images, and might not know how to refine a search.

I blogged about keywording for Alamy and keyword placement here

David  ;)

90
General Stock Discussion / Re: Alamy and microstock sites
« on: September 19, 2009, 02:31 »
If you look at the Alamy trading statement you will see that over 80% of sales are Rights Managed and Editorial use, that will mean that any Commercial RF images that might also be on a microstock sites will be in a very low percentage of the sales, there is nothing in the rules to stop you uploading a micro portfolio, but the sales might be few and far between, and there is the $250 payout point to consider.

Alamy do share all the search data, so it is easy to do your research as to what is selling and target your content, then upload RM, the scatter gun option might work for a photographer with a few thousand images.

David  ;)

91
if you right click on the image posted on their site, you can select Save As, so the image they posted can be saved.

TagCentral looks to be just an aggregating website, using a keyword will collect public feeds and aggregate the data in one place for the user, they are doing nothing wrong.

The images are coming from SmugMug via a public RSS feed, they will have a way to exclude your images from public feeds or mark images as private, but that is not much use in getting your name out there, so do not rely on others as protecting your images is your responsibility, just add the watermark before uploading or even upload two, one private un-watermarked and one watermarked public.

If I use this link and go to SmugMug where your images are and use the right mouse it is disabled,  but if I select any un-watermarked thumbnail, I can have a usable image with a few mouse clicks and keyboard strokes, I can have the 600 x 400 preview image, Ctrl + PrtSc, open paint and Ctrl+V, select the large preview with the selection tool and Ctrl+C,  Ctrl+N dont Save, Ctrl+C and you have a 600px x 400px image to save.

9 Simple steps that takes less that 30 seconds to steal your image, because you have relied on someone else to protect your asset, make them private or watermark them.

How much faith should we have in the disabled right mouse or flash galleries where right mouse is also disabled?


David  ;)

92
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Vetta
« on: September 18, 2009, 06:30 »
^  I don't agree - it depends - they may be searching for regular stock or they may be looking for something special, but the "rare and unique" stuff tends to be less popular and gets lost in the regular stuff.

So it makes sense to show off the special stuff at the top, so they can at least get a taste of it without having to wade through pages of more standard images.

I do think though that Vetta images should be more obviously seen as "different" (and hence warn the buyer that they cost more) by, say, putting a different border on them and reserving the top row or something.  Sort of like iStock have done at the stock.xchng site.

Why not just put them in their own separate collection away from the standard stock?

'Click here if your looking for something extra special'

They already have that:

Quote
Need more options?
Check out the new iStock Exclusive Collection found only on Getty Images or try this search on gettyimages.com for images or video.

David   ;D

94
General Stock Discussion / Re: SS didnt wanted it - Flame at Istock
« on: September 17, 2009, 02:18 »
And just maybe it got the 100+ downloads quicker on IS because it could not be found on SS  ;D

95
Off Topic / Re: joke of the day 17/9
« on: September 17, 2009, 00:16 »
I guess I am the only one who finds it just gross, not funny.  :-\
^^^^ Make that two

96
Site Related / Re: What do you wish MSG had more of?
« on: September 16, 2009, 09:44 »
I seclected "other"

I would love to have input from proven buyers/designers on this forum. Only from Verified buyers!

Now we could have some useable information from their point of view.

-Larry

Hi Larry,
I would also like some views and statistics from the buyers that purchase from the microstock websites, as I think the designers and AD's only make up a tiny percentage of the microstock buyers, and most microstock images are purchased by other individuals and small businesses for thier direct use, the website blogs and articles where they talk to a couple of hundred designers to find out 'what they want' may not refect what the real market wants.

David  ;)  

97
Yes I saw this. I was quite surprised to see the market they achieved 'success' in and the market share they had got, not to mention the revenue. A bit of lateral thinking and some marketing $$ can go a long way. It may not necessarily been the agencies that need to look around, individual artists need to get off their arse, stop moaning about this and that, and find the new markets for their assets themselves.

Thanks for the reminder, I do remember now they first went after iTunes with no luck, but by sheer luck found a new market supplying licenced tracks to Gym and fitness instructors, who can visit the website select the tracks and download a compiled fully licensed audio track to use, but it still remains the same analysis for any new offerings, they will not break into the existing markets and have to create a new market for their products.

David  ;) 

98
In the UK we have a TV program called Dragons Den where entrepreneurs pitch for investment from millionaires, one pitch recently was for seamless audio track merging software, and the entrepreneur said they were after 1% of the iTunes market, one of the dragons said they would be lucky to take 0.001% of an existing established market, another said they would be better licensing the software to iTunes, the entrepreneur said they would sell downloads through the website, but a few months on they have signed a deal to license through iTunes.

The moral of this is simple, this is no longer a new and growing market, and new offering thinking they will steal a share of the existing market from established sites are just wrong, the only new services that will survive will be niche or offer a new service that is not available through the established websites.       

David  ;)

99
With all the flux and constant changes and new offerings going on with most sites, it seems like Shutterstock is holding quietly steady.  No major shifts or changes going on there recently, price increases, commission decreases, major site overhauls, etc, or am I mistaken?  My earnings there have never dipped drastically, only gone up very slowly but very steadily with my very slow and steady portfolio growth over 3 years.
<...
>...

Stability is a good thing, and as you point out the growth has reached a peak and levelled, this is where I think some sites will start to panic, as their business plan has a forecast of growth values that they cannot reach, this will make any venture capitalist partners re-consider the next investment leg and maybe cut their losses, this is what happened at PhotoShelter with their collection.

Other sites under pressure will look at the revenue stream and may cut commission and adjust sales prices trying to grab a bit more of the existing market, instead of looking at the delivery of the assets, there are millions of other widgets and plug-in's, the stocksite's growth was so good they missed this web and blogging market, now they are looking at it as another avenue of growth, but they need to sort out delivery, this could be as simple as adding affiliate, ecommerce and Pay-per-Download to the API via and the viral marketing Could happen without much effort on their part.

<...
>...
I know there are lots of images bundled for free with Microsoft Office, for example.  It would be much better if people only had the thumbnails and could pay to use the images through the software.  A much larger selection could be available to the buyer that way, and of course the contributor would be compensated.

If this does develop, I would hope it is pursued by the current sites, rather than having to upload yet another place.

I agree that the current sites need to think about this and partner with the website and software producers, I did think about this type of service and look at how it could work, to set it up from new has a very large costs, to work as a partner with the existing API's is not an option as the buyer has to visit the website to register,  but an existing websites could provide an API and service from existing images, this would require a new or changed API, a plug-in for contributors own websites, 'WordPress' and 'Live Writer' to start off.

It would only require a small sidebar search widget about 200 x 500 which showed a search box and scrolling thumbnails, delivery would be images sized and priced for the web 200, 400, 600px width maximum, panoramas 800px, headers 900px, small Icons for add to cart and checkout, on checkout a small asp, flash or php pop-up insead of a web page, as payments would be through PayPal verified accounts (Instant Payment Notification) no need to register at the website, but the need for an email address and password for the sale, then the choice for instant download of a zip file with the images and license or an email sent with a 5 day expiring link, not that I have really though about this.    

If things took off then banners and header graphics could be included later, as a lot of images have copyspace which is not required, a site could even allow contributors to crop and upload prepared medium resolution web images just for this collection, this would give an outlet for some rejected images that may have a section that looks great at smaller cropped sizes but does not quite cut it overall as a whole image, one full image may have the potential to crop into several usable web images, portrait, square, panorama and header graphic.


David  ;)    

100
I have read several posts about new website images and new pricing structures, is the market contracting to the point that the websites are starting to panic, or has the market growth just stalled.

My forecast is I think that credit packages and expiring subscriptions create a false market expectation, a large number of downloads would be to "use up credits because I have paid for them" and "I can download xx images a day, so that is what I will do".

The revenue generated this way gives a false picture of the numbers of assets that are downloaded to be used, and excludes a large number of customers that only want to pay-and-go, I think that there needs to be a bigger option or move to 'pay per download' and away from credit and subscription packages.

It is a bit like joining the local gym, they sell a number of sessions or a prepaid package and know that a large number will drop out after getting bored, or by not pacing themself and doing to much to soon, so it is good for business to get that limited revenue while they can, a number will stick at it and incentives can be used to keep these members happy, costs are constants revenue goes up and down, so I cannot blame the websites.

Contributors are just like the people joining the gym, but instead of money they upload assets, the owners know that there will be a steady flow of new members, many will crash and burn while others will stay the course and become stronger and a constant source of assets and licence revenue.  

Some have the idea that the web market is there for the taking, and are offering smaller web assets, but have really missed the trick with delivery, many users will not visit a website, but delivery of the assets via a plug-in will generate new revenue.    

More downloads and reducing prices is not required and is not the key to new markets, but with a small investment and new ways of asset delivery will open up these new markets!

The things I.M.H.O. that are lacking are correctly sized images for the web, with a pay-per-download service at the point of delivery, visiting a website to get an image should not be the only option, anything I need for my WordPress blog I can get via a plug-in, these services should be falling over to provide a pay per download plug-in for all types of applications.

This is my take on things, I would like to hear from others  ???


David  ;D
      

Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 ... 26

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors