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Messages - bobkeenan
101
« on: October 21, 2010, 11:28 »
I am just whining here. 80% of my income comes from SS which is easy to submit keywords and categorize.
IS does have my highest RPI, primarily because they are so selective on the images they accept. I also appreciate them as my best critic to learn from.
But I hate their keyword system.... I hate it.....You have to go through each keyword and either accept what you submitted, use one of their alternates, or remove the keyword. When I prepare my images, in Aperture 3, I use Yuri Acurs site and try to get about 50 keywords. And that is what gets submitted.
I submit all of my good shots to the other sites, then select the best of the good for IS. I am lucky to get 20-50% accepted... but I have to go through each image and each keyword to submit. That's thinking 50 times... some with keystroke actions, for every image that MIGHT get accepted.
Anybody have any tricks.
For example...Could I just use about 5 keywords.....submit it.... and then if they get accepted try to add the other keywords?
102
« on: October 13, 2010, 16:34 »
Hi Steve,
Thanks....I'll ask the team to look at the wording for these. We have an extensive list of trademarked terms and it's possible that some are marked with "too broad" an explanation for why they might be an issue. I'll see if the team can tweak the wording on some or all items so it's less confusing.
Thanks,
Scott
Product Manager
Bigstock
It works now!!! Thanks for monitoring this forum.
103
« on: October 12, 2010, 22:36 »
I submitted some pictures from an apple orchard with single apples on the branch of a tree. I got the keyword warning and they will not allow me to submit the images
104
« on: October 01, 2010, 00:13 »
iStock has always been the toughest for me to get my images accepted. So I usually wait for my photos to get accepted by Shutterstock or others first. If they pass that test then I submit only those. Of that I get about 30% accepted at iStock.
With the last 30 or so..... None got accepted at iStock.... ugh. Several of those are already selling on SS and others.
So I am wondering if there has been a shift in policy or I just got unlucky with the reviewer(s) that are checking my pics.
105
« on: September 30, 2010, 18:58 »
After 3 months in the que, Veer they have finally started the review process. They did about 70 of the 380 I had in line for review. They must be caught up from the dash for cash promo. I am kind of excited because I had a few sales from the first 8 they accepted 3 months ago. So I have high hopes for good sales here!!
106
« on: September 26, 2010, 20:52 »
Hi I'd love to know what your "income" curve was - I've been loading up images to some sites for about a month and think I've learn't a lot already but waiting for that first sale. How long was it to first sale, first $100 say. I'd like to think I could have about $300 towards a lens by April but thinking I'm being optimistic!?
Sure. First I have to say... I still consider myself a newbie. I am getting better at understanding what gets accepted and what sells but I still have a ways to go to get to "how to make consistently sale-able images". Anyhow. Here is my curve. Week 2 - first sales Week 20 - $100 Week 51 - $500 Week 80 - $1000
107
« on: September 22, 2010, 09:36 »
What review times are you seeing?
It seems like the year or so I have seen 1-2 day turnaround on review times... I like that....BUT the last couple of weeks it seems like its taking 4-5 days.
I love this site... about 40% of my sales comes from SS. But I miss the shorter review times.
108
« on: September 18, 2010, 13:26 »
Sorry, $1000/month? Or $1000 total?
Edit: Sorry, I see you said total in the OP now. So, no, not semi-professional by U.S. standards, maybe by some other country.
OK... how about " very serious hobbyist with good potential for semi-professionalism" 
109
« on: September 18, 2010, 10:45 »
Well..... it took me about 1 1/2 years to do it but I finally got to a total sales of about $1000.... Yea! So do you think I can call myself a semi-professional photographer now?? I am on all of the top and middle tier sites with about 200-900 images on each. Shutterstock represents about 45% of the sales, istock and dreamstime each about 15% and the others split the difference. I figured out when I spread my earnings out over all of the hours that I have put into this.....I am making about $1/hr and my ROI from my camera and lens investment is in the very high negative numbers. BUT.... I am having fun and learning a lot.... and probably becoming a better photographer. Next milestone.... have total sales that equal the value of my photography equipment.... I think I can get there before I die
110
« on: September 18, 2010, 09:50 »
Well....I have bout 300 in que. Most of them since early July. Now it looks like early Nov before they are caught up....Ugh....
I guess what really kills me is that I did not know about the dash nor was a Veer contributor while that was going on.
So I hear all the great praise about the promotion, get no sales from that, and have to keep waiting. The only reason I keep uploading is that I have actually had a few sales on the 9 images that they DID accept as part of the application process....which bodes well if they ever get to processing my other images in que.
111
« on: August 19, 2010, 10:27 »
I got accepted to Veer and after the first 10 I uploaded a couple hundred images. That was 3 weeks ago. They are sitting there un-reviewed. Is that typical?
Well..... its 6 weeks now... and I have added more images. But still no review?  ?
112
« on: July 25, 2010, 09:53 »
I got accepted to Veer and after the first 10 I uploaded a couple hundred images. That was 3 weeks ago. They are sitting there un-reviewed. Is that typical?
113
« on: July 06, 2010, 11:35 »
Its a subjective game and always a crap shoot for me. For example, I had a couple of recent shoots. Whittled the 600 pics to about 20. Cleaned them up and key-worded. Split those into two folders of somewhat similar subjects so that each submission did not seem to duplicative. Same Quality, Similar Composition, Same camera, same lenses, similar camera settings. The first batch was 30% accepted, the second batch 100% accepted. The only real difference was one was submitted on a weekday and the other on a weekend.
It used to bother me but I think that this is just the nature of microsctock and we need to get over it. There are lots of reviewers and they have good days and bad days like the rest of us.
114
« on: July 06, 2010, 10:46 »
I am finding a big slump in sales at all of the sites EXCEPT Shutterstock. My sales there are not large or increasing but still a steady stream of sales just about every day. So I am loving Shutterstock. I wish they had exclusivity. 90% of my sales come from that site and I would probably drop the other sites in a flash if they had that.
115
« on: June 30, 2010, 23:19 »
I think I just figured it out. Fotosearch is getting my images from my portfolio in Canstockphoto. It looks like about half my sales are subscription or regular ($.30 - $4) so far. I wonder what I would get if I get a full $99 sale at Fotosearch?
116
« on: June 30, 2010, 22:58 »
Every now and then I search for my images to see if I can find out where my "sold" images end up. Then I noticed one of my images up on Fotosearch? There is no indication that I can find that the picture has my copyright ownership AND they are selling it as a high resolution enhanced image for $99.
I have images at most of the top and mid sized sites. Is that where they got it. If it sells.... does part of that $99 come back to me?
117
« on: June 24, 2010, 15:25 »
Just making sure its not just me. I have had some images uploaded to Istock for a couple days that i want to finish editing categories, keywords, etc. And they say that this is not available now? And that's be a few days now.
Do others get that too?
I really don't mean to be rude, but: Don't you read the IS forum to keep informed on what's going on?
++ Uploads Disabled until Thursday 6PM MST ++
As RacePhoto recently said in another thread: Don't Panic!
Did not think of that. I checked the FAQ/Support area but nothing was there. But you are right it is in their forum. But had to look into a coupe of folders to find it. I go to this forum more often so I figured I would try here.
118
« on: June 24, 2010, 11:41 »
Just making sure its not just me. I have had some images uploaded to Istock for a couple days that i want to finish editing categories, keywords, etc. And they say that this is not available now? And that's be a few days now.
Do others get that too?
119
« on: June 17, 2010, 12:22 »
Yea, I have noticed the same thing. I usually have 50-80% acceptance. I don't think I have every had a full batch rejected till this week. They were similar to the previous batch with 95% accepted. This site is not big earner for me compared to SS but I did get my first payment last week.... that was nice.
I will have to see if this is a trend or not. I sort of think that some reviewers are tough and others are not. Some have good days others bad. I have already had some sales on a couple of the photos on another site that were rejected by 123 in this batch.... so that always makes me feel better ;-)
120
« on: June 12, 2010, 09:15 »
I think it was more a reviewer issue than noise or focus. I sent in a 2nd batch. Same lens, same exposures, same subjects but slightly different compositions. The first batch 100% rejection, the second batch 70% acceptance !
But I think my images were not as good as they should be and in the future, for my Macros, I will try to use the tripod and use a flash or reflector for more light.. lower ISO.
121
« on: June 10, 2010, 19:28 »
In well lit areas there was no noticeable noise. But the shadows had noise and at 400 it was bad noise.
Shadows aren't more noisy, it's your post processing (fiddling with levels/curves etc.) that causes it. If the image is correctly lit and exposed there is no need to bump up the lightness in the shadows.
Hmmmm. Beg to differ.... Without ANY post processing..... If you take a series of shots of an image with darker areas or shadows, AND if you increase ISO with each shot in Av or M mode, You WILL start to see noise in the darker areas first and it will get worse at the higher ISO's. Eventually you will then see it in the well exposed areas too. I do agree that post processing will cause noise too but, to me, this is more like artifacts. These look more like squiggles and lines rather than the random noise that you get with High ISO sensor noise. Correct me if you think I am wrong on this please? I still have lots to learn.
122
« on: June 10, 2010, 11:08 »
Ouch.... Just had 12 of 12 photos rejected. Mostly noise and focus.
Shutterstock is my best site. I usually have 60-100% acceptance. It is really rare to get 100% rejection. I have been a contributor for about 18 months now.
One thing that was different about this batch is that most were new hand held Macros from a new 100mm f2.8 macro lens that I had just gotten. I am new to macro shooting. One thing that I found is that there is almost NEVER enough light. I don't use flash (maybe I should). So.... while I normally shoot at ISO 100 in a non-Macro lens.... I pushed it to 250-400 for these shots on my Canon 7D. In well lit areas there was no noticeable noise. But the shadows had noise and at 400 it was bad noise. Noise reduction took care of most of it and for the bad areas I added some light blurring.
Also my DOF was more narrow than normal due to the lack of light and distance to the subject. I thought that added to the "feel" of the image. But it was different than my normal stuff.
I thought the images looked good. Maybe the bokeh was a little unnatural?
So I am wondering..... did I get a reviewer who had a bad day or just did not like these kind of shots OR did they see the larger ISO and that increased my chances of rejection?
123
« on: June 09, 2010, 11:37 »
My goal is to make enough to afford my camera habit. For me that would be $3-6K per year.
My first year I made about $700. Its not much compared to all of the effort I put into it. But this is primarily a hobby for me. I keep learning stuff every day. And I get a real kick when I make a larger sale.
My sales are still increasing as long as I keep feeding the little monsters. Its slower that I thought it would happen, but I feel pretty confident that I will get to my goal within a few more years.
That's not bad considering that I ONLY put in effort when its fun and whenever its not fun... I stop.
I think it would be really tough to make any sort of living at this.
124
« on: June 03, 2010, 16:04 »
I read that some microstock sites weight the first few keywords more importantly in buyer searches. Is this true for Shutterstock?
I never paid attention to this and use Aperture 3 for my metadata. I was not paying attention until I read this but Aperture rank orders the keywords by alphabetization. Even though I placed the most relevant key words first, this program shoved many of them to the end of this list.
If Shutterstock does this weighting is it possible to reorder some of my existing photos?
125
« on: May 27, 2010, 11:03 »
yes, I understand what you mean
both quality and quantity count, but SS is mainly based on subscriptions, so a strong accent on quantity - at times over quality - is unavoidable
my response is to give them what they want:
acceptable quality AND quantity to SS;
great quality to IS;
variety to DT;
subjects they like to FT;
everything to all minor sites which accept everything just to increase content;
and of course LCV shots for ourself, just to stay interested in photography.
PS: seeing that people are buying pictures I myself think are crap - but I know HAVE commercial value - makes me feel some sort of 'punk' intellectual pleasure
This is a very accurate summary from , my experience with all of these guys for the past 15 months. BTW What the heck is LCV shots???
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