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Messages - joingated

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1
Beautifully styled, beautifully lit... Absolutely love them! Thanks for posting!

2
Independant, about 2100 images on most sites, half photos half vectors.

Top 4 all doing well, bme for istock, nearly $1000 a month there now with small mostly vector portfolio (about 350 images) Im only on 16% there now.

Shout out to Veer for doing really really poorly for the first time, about $35!

The others were pocket change as normal, will stop contributing to agencies that deliver under $100 a month this year.

January a much better month than december where I was way down.

3
Freelance Graphic designer and heavily pregnant mum. Micro income has been invaluable since I've been on maternity leave.

4
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Depressing January
« on: January 29, 2011, 15:05 »
Interesting. Even going from 20 to 16% my istock folio income continued to grow... Only by about $80 this month but still trending up as it has all last year. I do primarily vectors there though so I guess that's why as you independent photogs seem to have nothing but a downward trend. I figure photo is still way more oversaturated.  I also find photo acceptance much easier than vector but much less sales (50%) less. Any other illustrators out there seeing the same?

5
Whoops. Meant I agree with stickmarketer. Warrens post slipped in before I could post. Also I agree with warren re overheads. I don't know how you pros do it with overheads. I use what I use in my day job as a graphic designer. Investment has been in lighting and lenses which certainly racks up but is well worth it. I don't shoot models or anything that costs more than a few pounds. But it's all about the idea and usefulness of the image for me. I would never try and shoot people as so many others do it so well!

6
Agree with the above. I started in 2009. Rpi per month was $1 end of year. End of last year it was up to $1.78. So newbies can grow and get a good return even in these crazy commission times.

7
Haha nice advice with hindsight! I wish I knew when my top sellers where going to be so popular. As it stands I'm still surprised by files that sell hundreds or thousands as opposed to tens. It's rarely those I predict.

8
Jeeeezzz... I find reading this thread unbelieveable in that some people are saying you need up to 1000 photos to make $300 a month, why on why would you bother to do all that work for $300 a month!!! Unless people are saying they are shooting isolations shot at a million different angles or something! For me as an independent Id say 150 to 300 images spread across the top 4 will easily achieve that.

9
General Stock Discussion / Re: How was your 2010?
« on: January 13, 2011, 11:18 »
Im independent, average portfolio size is now about 2k (a lot less on istock as they real pain with accepting vectors which is half of my portfolio) Ive been doing this a couple of years and so guess Im not a newbie now.

Im still in the steep growth phase pretty much as I enter year 3... earnings were up from 2009 (where I had about 1.3k images) by 230%. This represented a big jump in income and I think proves newbies can still do it and make a very good secondary income (now about half my fulltime wage as a freelance graphic designer), I think vectors help though and appear to sell much better than photos.

I wouldn't fancy doing this full time though as I think it could easily be very demoralising with all I read in this forum especially with the way things are heading commission wise. Many of the big ideas I have will never be attempted as it wouldn't be worth my time and effort which is a big shame so Im hoping something will come up that attracts bigger money for real quality and a fair commission, at the moment it seems there is only Getty RM and I don't want them taking 80% of work I've really crafted, mmmmmm!

Best performer for me in terms of percentage increase was Istock which was way ahead of the others, which of course makes life difficult with the measly commission rates and dilemnas therein! Second place bizarley for % increase was Veer, I know many don't do well there but I seem to, this was then followed by the big 4.

10
Shutterstock.com / Re: On-Demand Sales on SS
« on: January 13, 2011, 07:12 »
Ive found on demands to be increasingly a chunk of shutterstock income. About a third monthly total for me with around 2.5k images. I'm chuffed with that!

11
Cameras / Lenses / At last a good point and shoot???
« on: January 13, 2011, 07:09 »
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1101/11010620olympusxz1.asp

Forgive me if this has been previously posted but looks good to me in my search for a good Carry everywhere camera... I'm gagging for a small camera and so far nothing has met the mark. Thoughts???

Jo

12
Veer / Re: 'missing jpg review' problem for eps vector
« on: December 13, 2010, 13:03 »
I've had that the last 2 uploads via FTP. I fixed it by making my jpegs 7000 x 7000px. A right pain but worked!

13
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock changing royalty structure
« on: October 30, 2010, 13:36 »
In answer to th question a few posts up. I know a photographer that used to shoot directly for jupiterimages. He was paid a day rate. At the time 800 a day which was ok. But for that he gave up all copyrights to the images he took and he was given a tight brief from the agency. All expenses, travel and models were paid for by the agency. He used to moan a bit about it but did it every few months when regular work was quiet.  That was for RM though so was a good bet for jupiterimages I guess to invest...

14
iStockPhoto.com / istockphoto 'Agency' positioning
« on: October 27, 2010, 10:50 »
Im sure there is a post lurking here about the Agency collection but as some posts keep getting hijacked, I thought Id start another! I buy a lot from micro and macro, and I just went to look on istock for a generic image of 'colour'... OMG! 2nd page is full of 'Agency' stuff of an asian woman and a guy running with some fake clouds and skyline (both series stood out as obviously not correctly positioned and the price too, unbelieveable!), whole series of them, so frustrating I just quit out and went to Veer... Im sure there is more but I havent the time. If it wasnt for this site and being a contributor too I would never be aware of that stuff and would just think how awful they were, can this be turned off?

So.... 2 things.... as a user, they are going to really p**s people off, I havent the time to wade thorugh the s**t and 2 as a contributor this stuff is at the front of the best match search and is irrelevant, I really think this will hurt istocks reputation.

15
General Photography Discussion / Re: Freezing motion help!
« on: October 10, 2010, 07:17 »
Thanks all for your help, it seems then that I might be able to get some better results than I'm getting by trying out those techniques (thanks gostwyck) also sjlocke I found your IS thread and it never seemed to be totally resolved in terms of shooting people and capturing them mid air, what did you do in the end?

Digging around the internet last night Ive found that to really capture pin sharp 'Big motion' I might need some really expensive gear and knowledge to accompany it! I found a guy shooting amazing hurdlers pin sharp in studio and his lighting gear was tens of thousands of pounds. Also some of the points pasted here are a bit above my head to be honest so Ive lots to learn which is all good....Mmmmmmm!

So for me I think I will invest in the strobist kit of a couple of speedlights and stands etc which is coming in at about $500 so not too bad (maybe santa will bring me some!)... if I cant resolve my issues. For me I want to shoot pouring chocolate (slowish) but would like to try things splashing in water and some other classic studio stuff which I assume is faster and therefore more of a challenge to my studio lights, Ive found lots on you tube about splashes of water and they all use speedlights. Hey will let you know how I get on anyway, and big thanks!

16
General Photography Discussion / Freezing motion help!
« on: October 09, 2010, 12:34 »
Hi All

A while ago I posted about whether to buy some lights or a 5dmk2, thanks for the advice and I went for the lights. I bought a pair of elinchrom dlite 4, (400watt) with softboxes, these have proved to be great and opened up a world of photography that previously just wasn't hitting the mark. However I've since got more ambitious and want to freeze motion but it seems that my lights wont cut the mustard. For instance anything over 1/200 power at f8 and i can see the shutter.

I've tried playing with my settings on camera and lights and cant get close to freezing motion, I have been trying to capture pouring chocolate which isnt the fastest of things either! I often see shots of people jumping in the air, how is that done???! Someone here directed me to strobist which has been a great source but is all based on speedlights, do I need to get myself a speedlight set up for anything fast? Any help hugely appreciated, (by the way I shoot on a canon 450d)

Jo

17
General Stock Discussion / Re: Anyone a Getty contributor?
« on: August 29, 2010, 04:13 »
I'm with you sharpshot! The nasty comments normally say more about those dishing them out than those on the receiving end! But back to the thread... I've just applied to Getty through the normal channel of submitting 10 pics etc etc. Will let you all know how it goes. Every post I've seen here the last year or so seems to have been offered photographers choice and the fee. If that's the case I will pull out!

Btw... what I've submitted is complex illustrations. I have a photo port in development but it's not distinctive enough right now. I would only submit if I thought I could offer something not already there. 

18
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales slump
« on: August 27, 2010, 04:47 »
I seem to have flatlined all summer but then I haven't uploaded anything. So shutterstocks fall from not uploading has been covered by istock still growing. I think i may have got lucky but can't find the motivation to crank back up again! It's definitely true as my port grows uploading doesn't increase sales. zero motivation and the summer rain is relentless in the uk too!

19
For me with 1500 files at veer sales are really growing fast. They pay well and they are designer friendly and I use them a lot in my day job along with Getty and istock. . Last month was  my first $ 200 month. I wish them the very best.   

20
StockXpert.com / Re: Thinkstock earnings posted
« on: August 27, 2010, 04:38 »
Interesting. I have 969 files on thinkstock, last 3 earnings have been $33, $64 and $104. I chose to opt in through stockxpert as I really do think they will grow and become a big player like it or not. I'm also hoping they will bring in a pay structure similar to shutterstock. Mmmmmm! But regardless here in the uk some big players seem to have signed up. I'm still on the fence royalty wise seeing what happens over the next year. 

21
Microstock News / Re: Microstock has reached a plateau...
« on: July 16, 2010, 13:34 »
Yeah powerdroid come back you are the positive voice of the newbies! As vociferously positive as those that are so negative. We need the balance! Hey my graphs are still climbing steeply after 2 years too! I just stop coming here when it's too much doom and gloom and then come back now and again to check everything out. Sometimes the negative stuff makes me laugh out loud, much is Tongue in cheek. ; )

22
iStockPhoto.com / Re: New Images DOA on Istock?
« on: June 15, 2010, 04:30 »
Regarding those interesting stats about contributors acceptance... I applied in Jan 2009 and got in 6 months later for vectors, it was quite hard, I found photos acceptance ok and got in relatively quickly. But istocks vector policy is very difficult to guess, there are a lot of rejections for 'this isnt what we are after', a tricky one as Ive never once had it for photos and my vectors sell twice as well as photos. The only certainty is that they like very intricate vectors and icons!

But back to the topic I haven't found that new images take ages to sell, but i seem to be in the minority as am experiencing an upturn at istock of about 50% month on month for the past few months and istock is coming close to shutterstock now for me, with a portfolio there I guess of a few hundred (way off of the other sites, about 1750) Vectors continue to outsell photos for me 2 to 1 I'd say.

23
Dreamstime.com / Dreamstime are driving me crazy!!!
« on: June 15, 2010, 04:13 »
Dreamstimes new policy of 'no similars' is driving me crazy.

I shot a series of garden herbs, chives, coriander, basil, etc, etc, different bunches, and they will only accept one shot, so what if someone wants basil, chives, coriander, etc, etc and not mint. They have only let mint in. INSANNNNE! Sorry had to get it off my chest and there appears to be no appeals procedure for dreamstime, is there?

24
Cameras / Lenses / Re: 5dmk2 OR Studio lights!
« on: June 05, 2010, 16:27 »
Thanks everyone for your responses, yes I want them both, but its going to be lights... now the fun part choosing the kit! Thank you!

25
Cameras / Lenses / Re: 5dmk2 OR Studio lights!
« on: June 04, 2010, 08:28 »
Thanks Guys, yes I forgot to say I currently have a 450d, I like it in many ways mostly for the small size, but the main limitation for me is the live view feature which is awful and the noise issue which I can live with for now. I do have some very nice lenses though, mostly primes, which has helped out a lot with quality.

I did a short 1 to 1 studio lighting course with a pro photographer and so have got a basic grasp of where I need to go next with lights, transmitters, etc, but its a whole level up for me! Im leaning towards lights as I think theres lots to learn there, mmmmm...

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