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Topics - bobkeenan
26
« on: May 04, 2011, 13:01 »
Anyone using iPad as part of their workflow?
I am sort of imagining being able to download images to the iPAD and doing a 1st cut removal of un-needed images. And maybe doing so metadata work. And then transferring those images to my Computer and using my Aperture for raw and other post processing. Then maybe also use the final category and approval on the ipad after they are uploaded to the sites from my computer.
Thoughts?
27
« on: April 23, 2011, 09:10 »
I have about a thousand images at SS that I have added over the past 2 years. My acceptance rate has averaged about 60% It used to be rare that I get a 100% rejection on my images. OTOH at IS my acceptance rate is about 20%.
But... the last few months I have been getting whole 10 image submittals rejected at 100%. I am now at about 3 in row (30 images). I took those same images and submitted them to BS and about 25 were accepted. 30-90% were accepted at most of the other Top and Middle tier sites.
My IS rate is still almost a constant 30%
I just wonder what in the heck is going on at SS. Its my best sales site. But they are behaving like they are Getty or something. Maybe they don't want my style of images anymore?? Most of my stuff is nature, buildings, abstract.
Its getting really depressing.
Does anyone know what is going on?
28
« on: April 07, 2011, 12:45 »
I have a Canon 5DmkII. Most of the time I have a 24-70mm on it but I also use my 70-200mm f2.8. I like to walk around and take shots. Sometimes I will carry 1-2 other lenses in a shoulder bag. Other times I will carry a tripod as well (not that often). I discovered Black rapid straps about 1 1/2 years ago. And I love them. Wrote a blog post about it here. http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/black-rapid-strap-love/BUT...... I do not like the freedom of movement that it has....which is also a plus when you are taking photos. If I lean over the trunk of my car....clunk... goes the camera on the car. If I want to climb some boulders to get out on a jetty...crash.... goes the camera on the rocks. Other that that I love it.....but it does restrict some things. I know that the Cotton Carrier system that is mounted on the chest is a good solution. But I don't think that I can take the attention that wearing that system would create. I also know that there are bags that can go on belts or small backpacks but that defeats the really easy accessibility that I want. I am leaning towards getting the spider holster and then putting it on a think tank belt as the leg guard on the spider holster looks restrictive in a crouched or sitting position. But I would love to hear your thoughts on the Spider and Cotton systems? -- Bob Keenan http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/
29
« on: April 05, 2011, 13:24 »
I have my images on the big 4 and most of the middle tier. I was curious as to what my total sales are for each image. That data is there for Shutterstock and Istock, but most of the others do not do that..... I think.
Does anyone have a similar situation and if you do keep track of each image sales....how do you do it?
30
« on: March 31, 2011, 10:21 »
I know that there are some threads about this program but after about 15 minutes I did not see what I need. So time for a new topic.
I have about 800 images on SS and about 1200 on BS. Both got the same photo submittals so my accept rate has been better on BS. Oh the other hand.... my total sales on BS are about 10% of what they are on SS.
So I got the offer to opt in on bridge to Bigstock and said ok. I figured it could only help my BS stuff.
But after thinking about it. I bet that most of my SS stuff is already on BS.... so no change there.
The question is....... do I still upload the same files to both SS and BS like I always did. If my accept rate at BS stays the same I might get some of my SS rejects accepted there? I do regularly have SS rejects sell at other sites including BS.
Also
If I submit the same images to BS will they know that I have already submitted the same images to SS and bounce them out?
Or if SS rejects an image will it automatically be rejected at BS?
31
« on: March 29, 2011, 19:15 »
I wrote another little post to my blog about my experience with a Benro Travel Angel. You can read it here: http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/benro-travel-ange-c0691tb00-reviewed/The short version is that it was great a couple years ago with a smaller dslr and kit lens but it's not doing the job with my current set-up. Like a Canon 5DMkII, and a 70-200mm f2.8... sometimes with a tele-extender. Anybody have any good experiences with a travel tripod that can fit in a normal size suit case (does not have to be carryon)? -- Bob Keenan http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/
32
« on: March 17, 2011, 10:51 »
I have been uploading about 30 images a week to microstock sites for the past 2+ years. My sales have shown a nice linear growth over that whole time. The question I have.... is what would happen if I stopped for a month or so? Would the sales stay flat at my current level? Would they slowly drop? Would they drop quickly?
I have heard lots of microstockers say you have to "keep feeding the monster"!
Just curious?
33
« on: March 16, 2011, 17:46 »
Someone at work asked me how to sell a dslr camera that he had because he could use the cash to get another camera. He knew about craigslist and ebay but had never done anything with either. I have been using both for so long that I forgot that it took me a while to learn how to use those places. Now I mainly use ebay. But.... I thought...maybe this is another excuse for a blog posting... a tutorial about some of the ins and outs of selling stuff on ebay. I think this would be of great use for a beginner. I would also love to hear about any "tricks" that the more experienced people have that I might have missed. I can add them to my posting. The posting is here : http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/sell-dslr-stuff-internet/
34
« on: March 10, 2011, 18:38 »
I love my RS-4 Blackrapid camera strap. Well as much as you can love a strap. I went from the canon strap that came with my DLSR to an assortment of different camera bags, to a wrist strap, and finally settled on the RS-4 strap with a 1" Kirk arca clamp on it. I find its easy, comfortable, light weight, and safe. So I figured.....another excuse for a blog describing it and how I got there. If you are interested you can read more about it here: http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/black-rapid-strap-love/-- Bob Keenan http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/
35
« on: March 06, 2011, 18:21 »
I was comparing some of my sales stats today and was wondering why I am not getting increased sales here. I started at several sites a couple of years ago. I upload a set of images every few days. Two years later I have, for the same images, about 50% more images accepted at shutterstock than fotolia. In addition, my total sales per week has climbed from both starting at 0 to $20-50 per week at Shutterstock and from 0 to $4 per week at Fotolia. So Fotolia is more picky on its image acceptance AND there is a really weak relationship between added images and increased sales. I don't do people shots....is that my problem with Fotolia??
36
« on: March 02, 2011, 17:40 »
For those of you who have 17-55's I bet most of you have noticed that you keep getting more and more dust inside the lens. You have probably noticed that it does not affect your image quality....But it probably bugs the heck out of you. Will the dust get so bad that it will affect the image? I did not wait to find out. I looked around the internet and found several sources of people who cleaned and documented how they cleaned the inside of their lens. So I wrote a little blog on it. http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/cleaning-inside-the-canon-ef-s-17-55mm-f2-8-is-lens-and-then-sealing-it/Some people posted that they were going to put some silicone glue on the slots under the label to see if it would keep the dust out. But I could not find any posts of the results of that experiment. Well.... I did it. And it did stop the dust or at least slowed it down to what a normal lens would be. So if you feel courageous (or stupid) and you hate dust....give it a try.
39
« on: February 02, 2011, 14:37 »
I am thinking about another lens, probably a prime. Currently for my 5DMkII for microstock I use:
24-105 f4 IS - Almost All the time, main walk around lens
100mm f2.8 Macro - Sometimes when I am doing Macro's
70-200mm f2.8 IS - Sometimes for walk around lens
100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS - Rarely - mostly for animals/birds/sports
I did a survey of my MS images. About 40% are around 50mm focal length, 40% around 85mm, the rest are scattered between 24-400mm.
What len(s) do you use the most for microstock?
40
« on: January 31, 2011, 13:29 »
I just uploaded about 8 files to Canstock last night. This AM I did the review and approval, I immediately went to look at my portfolio, and there were all of my files....approved?
Canstock is not a big earner for me. So I do not pay that much attention. But I did generally notice that they take most of my stuff and recently its been all of my stuff. But I don't remember this fast.....
Its almost like they reviewed it last night before I approved it...or I have gotten to the point where they just take my stuff without review. Note that with IS and SS I am more like in the 30-50% approval range.
41
« on: January 26, 2011, 17:29 »
I just finished another blog entry. This one is on Aperture 3 Workflow. Lots of people have written about this. I am not sure if many have done it in relation to microstock. As I mention in the blog...this is not necessarily the best work flow but it is the one that I have developed for myself over the past 2 years. So have peek. Let me know if I have it all wrong, am missing something, or if you have any questions. http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/my-aperture-3-workflow/-- Bob Keenan http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/
42
« on: January 17, 2011, 14:43 »
I did a new blog entry on why I went to a FF camera. I ramble a bit too much in it and also get less than dramatic results in a little test I ran but it may be of some value to people pondering the question of FF or APS for their next camera. My blog is here: http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/time-to-go-to-a-full-frame-ff-dslr
43
« on: January 07, 2011, 00:00 »
I just put together a short review of various methods of camera/lens micro-adjustment. All of these methods have been written about on the net. What I tried to do is put them all together in one blog post. http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/blog/This article is more for people who have never done micro-adjustment or have only tried one method. Feel free to comment.
44
« on: January 05, 2011, 13:07 »
I started uploading to Veer in Jul10. For a couple months after they approved me they only had 8 of my images posted with hundreds in review. But I made about $8 on those images. I thought....my goodness.... when I get all my images on here I should be making about $300/month on this site. Well.... its Jan11 now. I have over 600 images approved and posted. I got to a total sales of $19.25 a couple of months ago....and there it sits. 
45
« on: December 31, 2010, 15:18 »
I just set up my first web page blog and gallery. And just finished my first Blog tutorial. Its here: http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/microstock-simplified/Pls provide any comments or questions. I hope it has some value out there.
46
« on: December 29, 2010, 16:16 »
I was not sure whether to post this here, or the dpreview the 5D, or 7D forums. But since it is microstock related....
I have been doing microstock for 2 years now. First with a 50D, then a 7D, and now a 5DMKII.
Prior to the 5DMII my percentage rate of accepted images is about 30-100% depending on the site.
Well.... I got the 5DMII. And I love the quality of the images and the ISO performance. The AF system IMO is not as good as the 7D.
BUT....my acceptance rate for the past few weeks since I started using the camera has been about 0-10%.
I don't know why the drop. It could be that the reviewers have changed over the holidays. Or it has been rainy or cloudy the last few weeks so making open the aperture more and use higher ISO's.
The most likely candidate is a loss of DOF compared to the way I used to shoot?
Today I took shots on a monopod at higher apertures.....we will see what happens.
47
« on: December 14, 2010, 20:32 »
I have been using Fetch. Very reliable. I upload to 7 sites, the same stuff to each one. I used to do it serially. Then I found out that Fetch can handle multiple uploads at the same time so now I open 7 windows and then drag and drop to each.
What would be better is to select 7 sites and have the software load them automatically to all of them.
I know there are some microstock programs that do this but some charge and others seem to not service some of the sites.... but I could be wrong.
Any ideas..... and and its got to work on a MAC
48
« on: December 07, 2010, 12:24 »
This is similar to the latest post on this section of the forum.
But, I find these guys a little annoying. If the upload was really easy like 123RF or Canstockphoto, I could take the low sales but it is a little tedious given that I only get about a sale a month if I am lucky..
So if you are making enough money here to get a payout.... what is the style or subject matter that sells well here....because it is NOT my kind of photos.
49
« on: December 01, 2010, 14:10 »
I have a photo library that spans about 15 years with 20K images of my family and friends at homes or on travel. They are 95% people with some to little background of the surroundings.
In the past 2 years my images (several thousand) are 98% no family and friends with unique views of nature, animals, cityscapes, and landscape.
I first noticed this change when somebody asked for photos on a recent vacation to the Pacific Northwest. I had lots of pictures of unique walls, wet streets, home doors, a bell, a dark staircase, a cloudscape, a church steep, a ferry loading ramp, flower macro's...... I think out of 400 some images I had 4 of my wife, and 3 of my daughter. My friend looked at the pictures and said they were neat but where were the vacation pictures....
So is this a permanent condition? Or will I recover someday?
50
« on: November 20, 2010, 18:24 »
I have had a 7D since they first came out. I love that camera..... BUT....
There is a lot of noise in the dark or shaded areas of a low light shot that show up at ISO400 viewed at 100%. I use Topaz denoise to get rid of it. Does a great job it also robs some sharpness and detail. And I am too lazy to do the 2 layer PS masking thing to fix it.
So I thought I would get a full frame...5DMKII for the higher ISO performance.
I posted a similar post on dpreview... and got a quick education about how my DOF will narrow. To get the same DOF as my crop camera I will probably have to push the aperture open a couple of stops....which is about what I gained in ISO performance. So it almost looks like its better to stick with my cropped 7D for those close in, low light shots.
Thoughts?
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