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Messages - Freezingpictures

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101
Just wondering what people think of lightboxes on iStock vs UBB links vs. neither.

Do people believe its worth the effort? A lot of the bigger contributors do take the time to do it, and I have up until now.



I guess it depends how specialized your collection is. I have a fairly big collection of penguin images, almost a hundred, and each image has a lightbox link to my penguin lightbox. The lightbox has because of that now almost 6000 views. I am pretty sure I got a couple of sales through that. On the other hand I have only a quite small sandwich collection. I did the same there. And the lightbox is older than a year I think, with only 23 images and got just over 200 views. I might have gotten sales through the lightbox as well, but if then only a small amount. If I would have only five images from one subject, I think I would not really bother.

On the other hand you could get together with another contributor who has a similar subject and make lightbox with him or her together. Not only will you increase exposure for both of you, but you will also make the lightbox public, which means it will be searchable through the lightbox search function.

102
Not that I think the police is all innocent, but this guy simply could have shown some more cooperation and I am sure he would not have been arrested.

103
Your wait may indeed be due to a waiting period but they seem to be having a longer than normal delay on payments right now for some reason.  (At least for me...) I've been waiting on a payment since July 2nd, which is a bit unusual. Seems I'm not the only one.  There's a locked thread on their forums where some folks have been waiting since June 26th!  Anyone else been paid lately?

Wow, thats a long time! I have been paid pretty regular every week or so sofar in July.

104
So did you get a surge of new hobby photographers who want to sell their holiday snapshots on PM? :)
 Interestingly that they named Polylooks with Panthermedia and Shutterstock at the same time. It would have probably been better to get them focusing on buying images from PM instead of selling images on PM. But anyway congratualtions for the two minutes free advertisment on Sat1. That is of course great for PM  :)

105
For me ~13,5 Credits the last 1000 sales at Ft. I guess thats around 1%.

106
New Sites - General / Re: Zoonar.de
« on: July 14, 2009, 08:44 »
never mind

107
Off Topic / Re: Poll For Photoshop Users
« on: July 13, 2009, 04:59 »
If copy of PS costs in US much less then in east Europe while US avergae income is 5-10x higher... oh well, what a surprise!

Abobe price comparison between the US and a country in Western Europe (all prices converted to Euro):

ProductUSEU
CS4 web premium buy11542055
CS4 web premium upgrade407725
CS4 master collection buy16973387
CS4 master collection upgrade6101209

Don't try to buy online in the US: your IP will be rejected since all major corporations are bound by a EU regulation that sales from within the EU should be diverted so they can be taxed an additional 21% VAT. Educational prices are much lower, but still 250 euro. Yet every college student I know seems  to have CS4 on his PC. Nuff said.

If PS wouldn't be "shared" in huge volumes, everybody would use GIMP.
If Windows wouldn't be bootlegged massively (or preinstalled), everybody would use Linux. The search for one legal copy of PS amongst individuals (not companies) between Vienna and Vladivostok is harder than the quest for the Holy Grail.

I am not so sure.. I used Gimp a bit and more extensively Linux at University but also on my own Computer. After tried that I was quite happy having a paid version of Photoshop and Windows. Although if Windows 7 is not a lot better I probably will switch to mac for photography/design stuff. The thing is if you are not really a pro you do not need professional photoshop software. Elements is more than enough. And Elements has a very reasonable price. But yes Photoshop software in general could be a bit cheaper.. especially the European prices.

108
Oh I would not prevent them from being able to license an RF image for extended uses. I would simply make them purchase an RM license and pay more appropriate fees for the extended rights. The right to reproduce and sell images for $50 or so is ludicrous. To be able to do it for that minimal fee and still have RF rights to do it over and over, naw that is a bad practice that we should have never allowed.

Ok that makes sense. Now someone please start this agency  :)

109
Here are my personal 12 steps to a better agency. I know a few of these items would be unpopular with the masses of microstock contributors but IMO they would be good for the buyer.

1. It would not be a crowd sourcing site. It would be by invite only and those invited would be the individuals who have proven that they know and understand production photography and can concept and create true stock images, not just happy snapshots that might find a handful of sales per year but images that are truly commercial stock. Yes it would be an elite collection for professional content producers.  Crowdsourcing agencies fill a market niche and there are already more then enough of these agencies out there but I have yet to see a true professional microstock site. In short "YES" it would be an elite agency for elite content providers and it would attract elite clients and as such would be able to pay elite commissions (by current Microstock / Midstock Standards)

2. It would have an approved camera list and that list would not include point and shoots, not even the best of them. I know that there are P&S cameras out there capable of creating useful stock but this would not be the place for that stock.

3. It would be an agency that understands what it means to be an agent. It would treat its contributors like the important backbone to the business that they really are. It would be an agency that understands that the Agent Works for the Content Producer not the other way around.

4. It would offer both RF and midstock priced RM collections. RM Collections would have to be exclusive to the agency and similars from same shoot would not be allowed on other agencies. RM submissions would have to stay with the agency for a minimum of 24 months. RF submissions could be removed at any time.

5. It would offer subscription sales for web res - web use images only. All print usage would be on a per image license

6. There would be no RF Extended license. Extended rights fall into the territory of RM and would be priced and licensed accordingly.

7. Key wording would be done by agency staff not by content creators. This service would come at a cost of a 3% lower commission across the board. This would not be negotiable as it is the only way to truly prevent the keyword spam issues.

8. It would offer a clean intuitive GUI for both buyers and Content providers.

9. Content providers would FTP images and the submission process would end there for the content provider. There would be no instant personal gratification in the submission process. Images would be reviewed and key worded by agency staff in a timely manner (7-21 days)

10. A logical model release management tool would be provided that would allow content providers to upload one copy of MR and then apply it to every image of that model in bulk by allowing them to assign a searchable ID# to model and link it to the release. Model releases would be submitted with a head shot of model attached and then would be available to a top level agency staff member only. Releases and models private information would not be available to image reviewers.

11. There would be no image acceptance rejection appeal process. The agency would either choose to represent an image or they would not, simple, cut and dried.

12. There would be a solid and professional support staff that would communicate openly with content creators and content creators would have a personal agent within the agency that they would work with on all issues that require communication with the agency. There would be no contributor forums, this would be a business not a community. If there was a support issue that issue would be taken up with the content providers agent who would then escalate action up the ladder as required.


This is the best suggestion for a new stock agency I have heard so far! (If I would be invited of course ;) ) I would love to see something like this take off.
The only thing I do not like is point 6. I understand the thing with RM, but you hereby limit buyers by not offering them to use extended lienses for RF images.

110
Adobe Stock / Premium Subscription
« on: July 07, 2009, 04:27 »
I just received a Fotolia newsletter from Fotolia Germany  that they will introduce Premium subscription.
That means buyers can download high res files, vector images and videos with this subscription.

For high res images the royalty will be:


White        0.35 Credits
Bronze        0.36 Credits
Silver        0.37 Credits
Gold                0.38 Credits
Emerald        0.39 Credits
Sapphire        0.40 Credits
Rubis         0.41 Credits
Diamond        0.42 Credits

For vector images 3x and videos 10x this royalty.

What do you think?

111
That's a good idea __ I will try it out to see what happens.

In reality I usually buy the card one below the very latest model, Sandisk III rather than Sandisk IV for example. I assume I'm getting most of the performance for a lot less money.

I only rarely shoot high-speed sports, etc and have always assumed that the main limitation is the camera's own processing speed rather than the card itself. I note that when Canon specify the camera's capability of 9 fps or whatever they never add a clause "when used with such and such type of card".

Even an Ultra II is more than enough for most purposes. For Sports not of course... But the camera has anyway a buffer so you can take the first few images in the highest speed possible, no matter how fast the card.
I use Sandisk as well, never had a problem and they are reasonable priced.

112
General Stock Discussion / Re: June 2009 earnings breakdown
« on: July 01, 2009, 11:14 »
This is the first ever I see only red arrows on the right side poll. Interesting...

Sorry, my votes turned 123rf and CanStockPhoto to green...

Hah, I turned 123rf red again  :)

113
General Stock Discussion / Re: June 2009 earnings breakdown
« on: July 01, 2009, 09:19 »
IS 36% almost BME
FT 28%
SS 19% dissapointing was not that bad for many many month
DT 12,5% pretty good month.
StockXpert  less than 4% was expected, gets each month worse

114
General Stock Discussion / Re: June 2009 earnings breakdown
« on: July 01, 2009, 09:14 »
I still find it amazing that fintastique contributes NOTHING to this forum except for one thread a month and people respond to it, especially when it only asks for earnings breakdowns
So whats wrong with that?

115
I can only say what I think but I also think that many top contributors might agree... if you want to attract top contributors, you'll need to invest in them. We need a risk to reward ratio that makes good business sense. We invest our product and uploading time. What will you invest? For me, I would need financial compensation to invest with a new agency. A bit like what Fotolia did when they started.

With many startups falling like flies, our risk to reward ratio is too high to warrant our investment without a financial risk from the new agency.

+1

116
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Considering Exclusivity
« on: June 30, 2009, 13:16 »
Its not a bottleneck if you keyword specifically for iStock, and now all my keywords in lightroom are designed to mimic their system.   But if you do that, you can't keyword for the other sites.  Lose-lose. 

The really big fault I have with your reasoning is that you may experience better growth than you'd expect when going exclusive because of extra exposure and better search results.  But hey, if you enjoy uploading to 7 sites, go for it.  I know I'm enjoying the perks of not having to worry about rejections and processing for the tastes of different sites, but thats me.



I do use some istock specific keywords when I prepare files. But I do not change them for other agencies and it seems to work.

117
New Sites - General / Re: Zoonar.de
« on: June 30, 2009, 13:08 »
I agree that Zoonar has little sales still, but I get about 2-3 sales a month (with over 7000 images online though).
However, I like the attitude that is giving me 80% of each sale (which usually leads to over 10 Euro per sale with me, in the "Premium" price category) and therefore I will keep upload until they can improve their sales.

Bye, Robert

Wow 7000 images online and just above 30 Euros/month?! Thats a return of below 0.005 /image/month. Thats about 0.25% of what you can make per image/month at istock with a reasonable good portfolio. So you need ~ 400 Zoonars to make the equivalent of what you can make at istock with a similar amount of images  :o
Maybe 20% is not so bad after all as much as I dislike this low royalty..
But thanks for sharing!

118
iStockPhoto.com / Re: 5 Days!!
« on: June 30, 2009, 04:43 »
Some people seem to experience similar problems, the reason might be that the search functions are not all working properly http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=90200&page=1

119
General Photography Discussion / Re: Cambodia with Lumix-LX3
« on: June 28, 2009, 12:44 »
Very nice images phildate, the reason might have been the photographer and not the camera why the images turned out so well  ;)

120
Photo Critique / Re: Do I need to adjust my monitor?
« on: June 28, 2009, 11:57 »
Wrong Image attached, here the changed:

121
Photo Critique / Re: Do I need to adjust my monitor?
« on: June 28, 2009, 11:55 »
If you shoot in raw, you can put the exposure quite a bit up, before noise and artefacts become too strong. So you can always get back to the original. However I also discovered that at least with the canons  images are a third to 2/3 stops underexposed. So I always overexpose 1/3 or 2/3 while shooting. Never had problems loosing detail. But you can always look at the histogramm which will show you if you loose detail. I do not know what kind of equipment you have, but if you use a fast lens wide open, these images would become more pleasing, because the background would not distract so much. Attached is my take on the image. The warm tone is ok in my opininion, but the colors are dull and could use a bit more pop. This is overall an unexiting image. If the lighting would be better a reviewer might find another reason to reject it. like the dirt in the sand. Just think of how a buyer want to use that image. I could think of someone working for a hotel wanting to show the sandy beaches or the beautiful playground. The sand is full dirt it would be no good advertisement and I would never want to advertise with such an image.

122
Cameras / Lenses / Re: Sigma DP1 suitable for stock?
« on: June 22, 2009, 04:49 »
Sorry Basti, but I am pretty sure they will not accept any interpolated stuff. Colors are interpolated on a DSLR, but sharpness should be native. I read a discussion about that on istock somewhere that interpolation even if you have these sensors is not allowed.

123
I am not sure why I should be concerned for others? I would rather make a sale at 5c than someone else at 50c

Would you also rather that someone else makes 5c at the loss to yourself of 50c? If so you should be concerned for others.

If JIU/PC were to become successful then potentially it could devalue the entire market for all of us. In my view we should not be supporting them with our content.

Based on the experience of those that have been selling there for several months you'll probably only make about $20 per month per 1000 images you send them. Is that worth the potential loss of sales from IS that could result?

a) No, that wouldn't be in my self interest and lets not kid ourselves that we are doing this for the common good.
b) If the market is to be devalued then if its not JIU/PC then it will be someone else, Flickr or Wikimedia Mayflower or another site
c) I will wait and see, here on MSG you will find different opinions on all the sites some IS is 10th place for some first

And alot of the arguments you make were probably leveled by macro photographers at microstock in the past ....

Using the same arguments as the macrostock photographers are using against microstock does not necessarily make gostwyck's arguments wrong. There should be a price point where you can make maximum profit on your images. So I am pretty sure you would not want to offer your images for a cent/dl, or am I mistaken?

But that is not the main problem I believe which many contributors have with sending images to JIU and Photos.com. It is that Getty lowers the commission for us contributors. Both exclusive and independent. Most obviously seen, when the announcement came, that StockXpert contributors cannot offer the images anymore through StockXpert but should do so through iStockphoto. But this is also the case for exclusives. For on Demand sales you will just receive 20% commission.

124
Cameras / Lenses / Re: Sigma DP1 suitable for stock?
« on: June 19, 2009, 05:43 »
Most microstock agencies accept this size. More is obviously better, but occassionally I still submit a 4 MP image.

125
Looking at my portfolio sorted by "Most popular" at Shutterstock many of my newest uploads show up on the last page. So they have essentially a hard time to be found. There was no download surge of the new images as usual after I uploaded them. Anyone experience the same?

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