MicrostockGroup

251

Dreamstime.com / Re: Advise on DT Please beefore I upload to them.

« on: February 13, 2009, 14:18 »

DT in my experience seems a little more willing to take "experimental type" shots than other sites (Shutterstock, iStock, etc). My approval rating there just keeps getting better, luckily my style seems to jive with what they are looking for most of the time.

252

Software - General / Photosynth

« on: February 13, 2009, 11:54 »

Just found out about this fun new program called Photosynth. It lets you combine lots of similar photos of an object or space and puts them together in a 3d environment like a video game and lets you explore.

http://photosynth.net/default.aspx

It would be cool if you could render out a movie from this.

253

Newbie Discussion / Re: Canon or Nikon?

« on: February 10, 2009, 15:58 »

I started out on Olympus and am now a Canon enthusiast.

I recently (six months ago) bought a 5d kit with the 24-105mm IS USM and after spending months researching I felt it was the best camera for the price and I am very happy with it.

Honestly though, you will be just fine with Canon or Nikon. Just pick a brand and stick with it.

After all its the photographer not the camera

254

General Stock Discussion / Re: Sharpening an image..

« on: February 10, 2009, 15:51 »

If you shoot in raw (I do) you probably want to add some sharpening. I might be wrong, but from what I have heard raw photos tend to be on the soft side and need a little bit of sharpening.

255

General Stock Discussion / Re: Do you use Mac or PC for your photography/creative art workflow and why

« on: February 10, 2009, 15:46 »

I use a PC...I have never like Mac. I used them quite a bit in college and I always felt like I was trying to write with my left hand (im a righty)

256

General Stock Discussion / Re: Do you do HDR? and what has been your experience selling them as stock

« on: February 10, 2009, 15:41 »

I dont know of any sites that specifically dont accept HDR photos. I think you might have a hard time getting HDR images accepted just because its hard to get them to look really good at 100% and a lot of sites might think they look too "unnatural" or not "stocklike" enough.

I have done a few with limited success. I guess what im doing isnt really true HDR, im using one raw file and generating different exposures from that file. I tried taking multiple shots of the same subject but had lots of problems with artifacts and alignment (probably because I was shooting nature stuff that wasnt being totally still).

Here are a couple of mine

257

Mostphotos.com / Re: Who has had sales at MostPhotos?

« on: October 28, 2008, 10:18 »

no sales for me yet, but uploading is so easy im going to stick it out

258

Dreamstime.com / Re: Customer refund?

« on: October 21, 2008, 15:11 »

I have only had one refund (that I know of) and it was from IS. I think the file was too big for the buyer to download, so the returned and bought a smaller size.

259

Dreamstime.com / Re: DT is going to partner with MySpace

« on: October 21, 2008, 15:08 »

Sounds interesting.

I hope its worth it.

260

Crestock.com / Re: sales getting better?

« on: October 21, 2008, 15:05 »

I came very close to throwing in the towel at Crestock, but my sales are getting better too. I think im going to stick it out now that I hit my first payout and am close to the second

261

Yaymicro / Re: My first sale

« on: October 18, 2008, 15:23 »

good to hear...not sales here yet, but im not complaining.

262

Cameras / Lenses / Re: You have a backup camera?

« on: October 18, 2008, 15:22 »

I recently upgraded and wondered the same thing.

I think it is always a good idea to have a backup....sure I could sell my old camera and get a new lens or something, but what if I bust my new camera? Im holding on to the old camera until the next upgrade.

263

iStockPhoto.com / Re: It's nice to know I'm not alone...........

« on: October 18, 2008, 15:17 »

I could complan about IS until I was blue in the face.

I just dont get why they have to be so uptight about keywords either. I have never had a photo rejected for keywords at any other site and I get them quite often at IS. If there are people out there repeatedly spamming keywords, by all means punish them. But what about all of the other people out there who occasionally get a bad keyword on a photo.

The way I look at it IS is responsible for keeping their buyers happy as well as the contributing artists. So a buyer searches for a cup of cappuccino and your photo of coffee beans show up, whats the damage? The buyer either ignores your photo or they think "Hey, coffee beans that will work too." On the other end of it you have the photographers stuck with rekeywording all our photos and putting up with ridiculous rejections and upload restrictions.

It just feels like the photographers get the short end of the stick more often than not at IS...that is if you are non-exclusive.

264

iStockPhoto.com / Re: Can inspections become more inane?

« on: October 17, 2008, 15:29 »

I only ever have problems with releases at DT and SX.