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Topics - stockastic
26
« on: January 26, 2015, 14:47 »
On the FAA forum there's a new blast of posts from people who had images disappear after editing (i.e. adding keywords). While editing it seems like nothing goes wrong, then you notice later (if you're lucky) that the image is gone. The response from the forum admin is the same as always - tell me which images are gone and I'll try to restore them. They never explain what's going wrong or how they're able to recover the images.
This has been going on for a long time - months, maybe a year - without any official response, let alone a fix. It's a real drag because I'd like to go through all my images and improve the keywording and descriptions, but with hundreds of images, I can't keep checking for losses.
Problems with product quality and lack of customer support also seem to be more frequent.
I'm convinced FAA is hitting the wall because one guy can no longer manage it. At least not the current guy, who seems to be spending all his time turning FAA into Zazzle. It's frustrating because FAA has so much of the market.
27
« on: December 22, 2014, 13:03 »
There's already a thread for our predictions for 2015. Most of them, including mine, are pretty much doom and gloom. This thread is for the hopes.
What would you like to see happen, in the image market (both stock and POD) in the coming year? What would constitute a real, acheivable, positive development in online image sales?
28
« on: November 26, 2014, 15:34 »
I'd like to see an example of a SmugMug site set up for print and card sales. Does someone here have one?
I want to see the actual UI for buying a framed print or a greeting card. Sorry but I probably won't actually buy anything :-)
You would think that SmugMug's own web site would feature some good gallery examples, but no, it's just a wall-to-wall sales pitch.
29
« on: November 15, 2014, 20:38 »
I need a white backdrop that I can light up with a strobe. I don't usually do people or portraits, so I'm not equipped for it. But something has come up.
It needs to be at least 4 or 5 feet square, and something that a modest strobe light can push to pure white, so it should be a bit reflective I guess, a bed sheet won't cut it. I see various paper and paper-like backdrops on Amazon but they all require a bulky floor stand to hold them up. Ideally I'd like some sort of pull-down, roll-up screen I could hang from a ceiling without taking up floor space, of which I have little.
Dad's old slide projection screen from the 60s would do the job, but I no longer have it.
30
« on: September 30, 2014, 18:23 »
Do the keywords we supply for our images get indexed by Google, or does Google just look at title and description? Or is the answer to that question unknowable?
31
« on: September 04, 2014, 18:17 »
32
« on: May 09, 2014, 19:19 »
Macrografiks contributors should log in and read the new post on their blog (Contributor Report). They're considering giving up on marketing and instead relying on contributors to make their own sales through the site, on which they'd keep a small percentage (if I'm understanding correctly).
Best case, I think this could become something like Symbiostock, but with buyers purchasing through a single, professionally maintained web site instead of the open-source distributed concept.
I'm a small player with no ability to market my work directly, so it's unlikely I'd get anything out of this, but I like the idea. These guys have shown the ability to create a visually well-designed site.
33
« on: May 05, 2014, 13:07 »
Thinking I might like a mirrorless for travel, and not have the big D700 and 200 mm VR zoom hanging around my neck. But they're expensive, and there are already too many models for me to figure out.
What I'd like is small size, low weight, a good viewfinder, and better image quality than an ordinary P&S - especially in low light. Manual controls, so I can use shutter prioity. A small VR zoom would be great. Weatherproof would be nice.
Worth the price?
34
« on: April 30, 2014, 19:07 »
A new photo POD site, Crated.com, has just announced itself and supposedly will be running towards the end of May. This one is curated to the extent that you need to be approved to get in; it claims contributors will get 80% and have some control over pricing, and it looks likely to be a clean modern design. And that's about all I know.
Why is this one any more interesting than all the others? Someone recently started a thread on FAA to discuss it, and Sean McDunn soon jumped in and rather rudely shut it down. This seems especially odd because there have been long-running discussions on FAA about Zazzle, SmugMug and other PODs.
McDunn's censoring of the discussion was accompanied by an oddly defensive post, claiming he's not worried about Crated, it's just like all the others, etc., leaving one wondering why he wouldn't allow discussion of it.
My conclusion is that Crated.com might be one to watch for the future.
35
« on: April 27, 2014, 11:01 »
I sometimes do isolations and would like a cheap small strobe to light up backgrounds at distances of a couple of feet. I've used a dinky Nikon SB400 speedlight but it doesn't quite have enough power and relies on batteries. A small AC-powered strobe with hot shoe sync and variable output is probably all I need. I don't want cr@p that just falls apart, but it will get light use and I won't be carrying it anywhere so 'amateur' quality is fine.
For starters, I looked at the cheap strobes from Cowboy Studio. They are really rock-bottom products - you can't even replace the bulb. I'm thinking maybe I need to go up one notch, but no more than that...
36
« on: February 23, 2014, 11:03 »
Anyone else following the recent threads on FAA about 'missing' images? Several people have reported images that quietly disappeared - the thumbnail still shows up on the gallery, but click it and...nothing. Forum admin has stated that they run a script that supposedly detects and deletes "corrupted" images, without notification. No explanation of how or why they became "corrupted". Only recourse is to upload again - if you happen to notice one is missing.
FAA forum threads on the subject have been closed.
37
« on: February 06, 2014, 12:08 »
It's been 3 weeks since I created a support ticket asking IS to close my account, and I've heard nothing.
Anyone else in this situation?
38
« on: September 30, 2013, 09:17 »
... but I haven't done anything on the IS site in a long time, and I can't find the way to deactivate. I've searched and searched. Can someone clue me in?
39
« on: September 10, 2013, 17:35 »
Earlier today I started a new thread under Macrofiks. It doesn't show up on the home page among "recent discussions". So, no one is likely to see it or respond.
Is that how it's supposed to work? What would qualify a new thread to show up on the main page?
40
« on: September 10, 2013, 10:15 »
Thousands of views. No sales. The site is still fairly new. Anyone known what's happening?
41
« on: July 21, 2013, 16:25 »
I deactivated all but 1 on D-Day. I wanted to keep the account active in case lightning struck and IS was sold, or reorganized, or by some miracle started to make sense again. But in the time since then, things have just steadily gone downhill, and these latest price cuts have me thinking I should just close the account and forget about it.
Is there any point in keeping the account active?
42
« on: June 19, 2013, 19:47 »
43
« on: June 10, 2013, 09:36 »
Is anyone using SkyDrive for 'serious' backup - like 50 gb of images? I currently use Amazon S3 and it works, but there are some things I don't like about it. I'd prefer to have everything in one place, under one Microsoft account.
SkyDrive advertises prices for storage up to 100 gb, but requires everything to be in the single SkyDrive folder on C:. I haven't checked out the details of synchronization and other fine points of how it manages your files.
44
« on: May 20, 2013, 08:06 »
Anyone submitting here? And if so, selling anything?
45
« on: May 17, 2013, 13:11 »
I want to post some photos on FB and have them look as good as possible. Should I upload full size and let FB resize, or should I resize to FB's max displayed size (whatever that is this month), and sharpen at that size, before uploading?
It's hard to know what to do because they're continually changing things. And if you Google for answers you find all sorts of out-of-date information.
46
« on: April 30, 2013, 10:53 »
Someone recently claimed (here on MSG) that zooms typically led to sales that should up maybe a month later. But when I look back at my sales, and compare them to the 'zooms', there no connection between zooms and sales. I guess I don't see any reason to even look at zooms.
47
« on: April 26, 2013, 16:02 »
The big wheel at DT has turned again, and I'm back to nothing but subs. What a joy to get 35 cents for level 4 images at maximum size.
I'm starting to think it might finally be time to drop these guys, as the percentage of subs is increasing, and I'm only undercutting myself at other sites.
DT's system of 'levels' used to be a reason to stick with them because you felt you had someplace to go, you'd see sales for higher prices over time. Now they've all but wiped out that advantage with the increasing sub sales. Not much reason to be there if it's just another 35 cent sub site.
48
« on: April 06, 2013, 09:03 »
I don't do video, but I see the term "footage" is still in common use, although it's from the days of film. I wonder why video people keep on using it, although 'still' shooters don't talk about submitting "film", and we say "postprocess", not "develop".
So why say "footage" instead of just "video"?
Just wondering. I'm old enough to have seen film replaced by digital, and all the film terms fade away.
49
« on: March 02, 2013, 17:43 »
In the past I've posted rants here about the lack of a truly easy to use, yet capable, keyword editor. I'm now at peace because I found GeoSetter, an excellent program that does exactly what I want. This might be old news to some of you, but if not, I definitely suggest giving GeoSetter a spin. I have no connection with its creators. http://www.geosetter.de/en
50
« on: February 26, 2013, 11:45 »
On Feb 2 I deactivated all but 1 image (in my admittedly tiny portfolio). Today, I tried to reactivate one just to see what would happen. I got this:
File Not Available
File #[...] is not available for download. For more information, please contact Support.
My Uploads
Deactivation History:
Date 2013-02-02 14:10:14
Reason
\"\"
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