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Messages - stormchaser

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251
General Stock Discussion / Re: Do you Buzz?
« on: February 11, 2010, 18:00 »
I hate it that right now everytime I log into the gmail account I get the stupid buzz promo. IMO, no we don't need another. And just please let me get my mail and be done with things.

252
Off Topic / Re: Amazing Miniatures and nice photo work too
« on: February 07, 2010, 23:45 »
Nothing short of incredible! I am going to contact the guy to see if I can get a couple of prints because one of my favorite cars ever is in one of the shots.

THis is the fave.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/2346837878/#

I must have it! The last time I saw one of these was in Vancouver in 2002. It was cherry red, and the owner let me sit in it. He would have taken me for a ride, but he was on multiple errands and his wife was not in a good mood that day  :)

253
Off Topic / Re: The Superbowl
« on: February 07, 2010, 23:37 »
It was nice to see these 2 quarterbacks in the game, both classy guys. It's going to be quite a party in New Orleans. I had work to do, but caught parts of  the game in between things. One of the better games I've seen. For me it usually seems like a lot of hype and then a snoozefest.

That onside kick was somethin' huh? Ballsy  :)

254
Adobe Stock / Re: Did It - Dumped Fotolia
« on: February 07, 2010, 23:29 »
i dislike FT myself for all the above reasons too, esp the fact that the forums are so strict. i wasn't even allowed to mention yuri arcurs site!

i have never had a sale there, but with success elsewhere. i only stick with it since it was the first i started uploading to. maybe i should change that.....



While I understand a site not wanting you to mention other micros or macrostocks, a Yuri restriction is insane! In microland, people eventually wind up discussing Yuri. And although I haven't visited Yuri's site lately, to my knowledge, he has always been gracious and helpful. An agency could only benefit by having their contributors learn from him.

Regarding never having a sale, yes, do some thinking there. Good luck to you.

255
General Stock Discussion / Re: Viewbug
« on: February 06, 2010, 22:46 »
...still trying to decide what to do at iStock.  I still haven't signed up there.  Maybe I should try that one before considering new comers? ???

Had I properly seen the handwriting on the wall, I would have started out micro with iStock exclusivity in mind. But a friend of mine sucked me into Dreamstime ;-) and that's where I started. It's been fine - I do well there. But iStock has given me the best returns so far considering the minimal time invested there.

With the demise of StockXpert I did a little housecleaning and dumped Fotolia, and I think Yay and Cutcaster will be next. Making the best use of my time is in my own best interest.

Good luck with the iStock app. Submit the very best, and vary the subjects.

256
General Stock Discussion / Re: Viewbug
« on: February 06, 2010, 16:48 »
I think what annoyed me was that I could not find the Contest Terms/Rules up front. It's usually by reading those that you'll find out if the service is a pure rights grab or scam. Looks like the contest rules are available only after a signup, and I don't more spam by giving them my email address.

257
Adobe Stock / Re: Did It - Dumped Fotolia
« on: February 06, 2010, 16:39 »
Out of interest did you explain to them your reason for leaving and if so did you get any response.

I put in the payout request first, so waiting for that to fianalize. Yesterday I had my niece go thorough the tedious task of deleting all the files. After payment comes through, I'll send them a civil letter about the decision to leave.

Like I said, FO was never any fun for me. I found reviews inconsistent, the forum hostile, the revenues dwindling to a mere trickle, and like many here, am acquainted with one party who received one of the poison pen threats. I no longer wish to be associated with a business that uses strongarm tactics. I think even the DT people would frown on these things;-)

For those people that have found success at FO and are happy, congrats. It's just not a service I enjoy. And micro should be a little bit of fun at lest. FO was not.  Just always a headache for me.

258
Adobe Stock / Did It - Dumped Fotolia
« on: February 06, 2010, 05:41 »
Fotolia now gone from my list. Many reasons. I actually made the decision to dump them back in December but just didn't get around to it.

I never did get along with their keywording//category system, and after they changed the vector rules it seemed that just about everything I sent got rejected. FO started off like gangbusters for me, and dwindled to a trickle of XS sales. I never did quite get the hand of what sold there. Surprisingly, a of my best sellers on DT, iSTock, SS were rejected by FO. Go figure. It is actually a relief to be out of there.

So with all that's going on there, let's hope the final check clears ;-)

259
General Stock Discussion / Re: Viewbug
« on: February 06, 2010, 05:31 »
Why would I join a place that has this in their Terms?

"By submitting your work here, you grant ViewBug the right to do the following: put it on the web, print it in the magazine, and use it in the promotion of ViewBug."

And after that sentence I stopped reading.

260
123RF / Re: has anyone deleted their account at 13rf?
« on: February 04, 2010, 22:09 »
You'll probably have to send a note to support. I needed to change my micro accounts email address because bad spammers got hold of it, and couldn't find a way to do it on site. Sent a note to 123 Support and they said "oh yeah - we do that". And it was taken care of promptly.

Good luck in your new venture ;-)

261
Adobe Stock / Re: FOTOLIA - NOW PAYING LESS THAN 16% !!!!!!
« on: February 04, 2010, 05:05 »
Here's my prediction...their selling to Getty.   ::)

Yes and all the Fotolia images will all wind up on Stinkstock

I have just put in for my final payout at FO and then will get the images out of there. Fotolia started out like a ball of fire for me, but since last summer it's been one XS image after another, and now the last sale there was Jan 25 or so. So, they're done with. One less headache for me.

Actually, I don't think your prediction is that far fetched.

262
The site is new but it has blood on it's hands! StockXpert and the old Thinkstock have been bumped off.



I also believe that Thinkstock has been around for quite awhile.

I didn't realize the name had been around already.  Still, the site in its current incarnation is new.

The thinkstock domain was originally registered in 2004 and yes I believe it is  one of Jupiter's old properties. As I stated in another thread, Jupiter had an extensive "in place" web architecture which when taken as a whole, could very well have exceeded the value of the image files held. One factor being ownership of the highly desirable Photos.com.

And the migration thing gets crazier. A handful of my old StockXpert files are on TS at present, they are all Valentine vectors. But some keywords appear that I never put in like wedding, honeymoo, and celery. o figure that one. This will be interesting. And I was opted out of everything at StockXpert.

263
StockXpert.com / Re: RIP Stockxpert...
« on: February 03, 2010, 05:05 »
I was opted out from subs in StockXpert, so none of my photos will be in ThinkStockPhotos, right?  And none will be transferred to IS either, right?

I was opted out too, but all those Valentine vectors are showing up as active on Think. Thus I'm just going to wait for the dust to settle, and I'm too tired to sift through the various missives and mixed messages.

264
Adobe Stock / Re: Can we do something against them?
« on: February 03, 2010, 05:02 »
They annoy me, always have, so I'm just leaving. In fact, this post is just another reminder to do so. It's been on the list of things to do since Jan 1. These days I submit a lot of vectors, and their quirky requirements are just an annoyance for me.

Plotting etc is a waste of time and energy and more constructive things can be done instead of uploading batches of bad images. To the OP -  If they bother you so much, just get out. We all know they suck.

265
Bigstock.com / Re: Increase in BigStock downloads lately?
« on: February 03, 2010, 04:52 »
Even though I had not uploaded to BigStock since July or Aug, I had a stellar December - record month for there. But January sucked, and haven't looked at Feb yet. Port there is about 700 I think.

266
StockXpert.com / Re: RIP Stockxpert...
« on: February 03, 2010, 04:48 »
I've really got better things to do with my time than try and figure out this f__ked up mess. SO here's the deal for me

I found 4 of my images on Thinkstock. They are all from StockXpert, they are all vectors, and they all just happen to be Valentines Day images. Bizarre. They are all marked "Hermana Collection" or whatever that new group is.

Whatever they do, they do. Thankfully I've got some other lucrative irons in the fire right now.

267
StockXpert.com / Re: RIP Stockxpert...
« on: February 02, 2010, 20:00 »
Just a few random comments as I have not read the full thread here...

On the question of Getty buying StockXpert etc just to kill it off - The Jupiter Images web architecture by itself was  worth gazillions, in big part due to the old Jupiter owning the coveted domain of photos.com. The extensive web architecture includes not only those very familiar to m'stockers, but some well trafficked ancillary sites as well. The fact that Getty now gets all the images too is just a bonus for them. 

It looks like the new Thinkstock will be Getty's attempt to compete with sub packages similar to Shutterstock. We'll see how things pan out.


268
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Istock took away one of my Pics
« on: January 31, 2010, 20:19 »

That is until they pull them for the bowls or plates design.
.

You're joking... however... another of Getty's children (StockXpert) just shot me down on a dining room table ... they wanted a property release.   8)=tom

no joke -- plate designs are copyrighted, that's why most sites urge sellers to use plain colored plates


usng designs on plates also reduces the range of uses if the main emphasis is the food

steve

This is true. I try and buy all plain jane stuff (dishers and glassware) at the dollar store.

On dining out - if you try and shoot food at the local TGI Friday's, you'll get bounced for the red and white stripes on the tables (Trade Dress). And it doesn't stop there. One cupcake baker (the name escapes me) claims trademark on their frosting and decorating. I think (not sure) they are a boutique baker perhaps in Texas. If you search the iStock wiki, it's in there somewhere. Signature dishes by renowned chefs may also be subject to design rights. And don't ever try and sell a pic of a Sylvia Weinstock wedding cake for stock. You're just asking for trouble there.

269
General Stock Discussion / Re: Who's right?
« on: January 23, 2010, 19:56 »

... it surprised me that Getty feels we should get 1099s listing our royalties, but DT doesn't.  You'd think this stuff would be easy for everyone to act along the same lines.

Is Istock sending out 1099s this year, or is this just for royalties made on the Getty site itself?

Sean - Just opened up my spam folder in the email and DT is bugging me for a W9. So I'll send it and see what they do.

Lisa - I had emailed iStock last year about a 1099 or something similar - they said they didn't send those out, but would send me something like a "statement of earnings" if I requested. Getty of course is another animal.

I'm sure things will evolve further as the US IRS looks to grasp more revenue from new sources. Micro just wasn't on the IRS radar until fairly recently, just like blogging revenue and stuff like that. 


270
Shutterstock.com / Re: A Happy ShutterStock Contributor
« on: December 26, 2009, 16:26 »
Most of the Shutterstock bashing seems to reference the "First 10" submission. What a lot don't seem to grasp is that they need to send their Best Work. And vary the subjects. Yet some will continue to send the bees with the flowers, and poorly lit or badly composed subjects. Saleabilty is also an issue when submitting - a shot of a well done isolated hamburger will go further tha the mundane landscape or zoo animal picture.

After acceptance, I find Shutterstock pretty easy going, with only the rare rejection.

Race is right, things will level off. Keep submitting on a regular basis. The beast here needs to be fed. And slanting your submissions with saleability in mind will take you a lot further. Good luck!

271
Bigstock.com / Re: December commission = 0$
« on: December 17, 2009, 12:28 »
Had BMEs there October ad November, and December is looking very good. There's been a nice increase for me there and I haven't loaded new images since August. Hard to figure how things work sometimes.

272
General Stock Discussion / Re: ImageCatalog - one more is gone
« on: December 04, 2009, 23:09 »
I did get my payment from imagecatalog as well, a day after the request.

273
General Stock Discussion / Re: ImageCatalog - one more is gone
« on: November 30, 2009, 18:47 »
I did have a pending balance of about $40 there and just sent a note to request it. If I get any action I'll let you know either way.

274
I wonder if it's a change of guidelines to iStock's, or even a transition to phase in the actual reviewers from iStock.

I haven't uploaded to StockXpert since about July. I usually had almost automatic acceptance there. Wonder what it will be like when (if) I start up again.

275
Newbie Discussion / Re: Need advice on photo editing
« on: November 22, 2009, 10:23 »
In PS go to File>Open and select you file.

Go to Image>Mode and check RGB color

Go to Image>Image Resize and type in your desired number of pixels in the dimensions box.

Then File>Save As and select jpg from the dropdown. Use the arrow slider and save at quality 12

Just a note - you want to upsize the image by 100% or more. It will pretty much look like garbage, especially starting such a small image. Be sure to view your image at 100%. Use Cntrl + and Cntrl - to zoom in and out. Unless you have a cracked version of photoshop where the command may not work. You'll have to then use the navigator window.

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