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126
« on: September 13, 2019, 09:45 »
Oh that sucks. That might have happen to me too then, but I'm too lazy to check. Anyway, please reply with what version of DeepMeta you are using and on which operating system. So whenever Franky sees this, he can track down the bug.
127
« on: September 10, 2019, 10:57 »
On the subject of titles and keywords I wonder with the AI software getting better and better is soon it will be better for that to be automated and done by the agency.
Right now you have people who are new at this and just learning and might get thousands of video or photo files tagged wrong or you have the spammers doing it on purpose and at the end of the day no one can find anything. Not everyone is an expert at thi but this is a library and if stuff is not filed properly it won't be found.
AI is still rubbish. See Adobe thread above.
For now at keywording stock photos. Though it already beats the best human players on chess, checkers, go, etc.
128
« on: September 09, 2019, 12:29 »
129
« on: September 08, 2019, 13:59 »
Stock photography is not over just changing in the wind. Some really smart person will change the rules again in a few years for stock and be ready.
I actually suspect stock photos is going to change massively in 3-5 years time. There is a lot of amazing photos on stock sites with high production costs that were created some years ago when the earnings made sense. Right now the earnings generally don't make sense for most high production shoots AFAIK. But in the coming years that is going to change again. A software named Unreal Engine that is for video games can now create photo realistic scenery on the fly. That kind of technology is going to creep into photography software at some point. Some apps now already can morph your face pretty convincingly into someone else or just a different age for you, or add facial features that look real. There already are software that can pretty convincingly isolate people, animals, objects off complex backgrounds. At some point computer vision is going to get good enough to auto tag photos with a very high degree of confidence. The internet once disrupted the stock photo industry by bringing photos online and allowing new types of stock business models to evolve. I suspect artificial intelligence will soon disrupt the stock business and everyone will be evolving how they produce content.
130
« on: September 07, 2019, 23:23 »
As for me saying I look for low prices, I meant every day items I use in real life. I saw a smart plug for $30 in Lowes hardware store today. I've bought 4 for $20 on Amazon before. I do a lot of shopping on Amazon, and most of the time I look for the cheapest price with a high number of reviews. Sometimes I will scroll through several pages of near identical products just to save an extra buck. Probably because bargain hunting is pleasurable.
131
« on: September 07, 2019, 21:34 »
Here's a very lengthy article on the stock photo industry. https://medium.com/storiusmag/fixing-photography-593e97aa2417So long that it was hard to read. There were some parts that were quite interesting, a lot that I found quite boring and so I skimmed over those parts. But for sure he makes a good argument about some of the problems that micro stock has evolved into. Namely there is too much crap content that has suppressed prices. Low prices make it difficult for pro photographers to want to contribute, the low prices don't justify their time. Thus just ensuring more crap content that fits the low prices on offer. I don't think he mentioned this or that I skipped over that part, is that, there is so much amazing content already on micro stock sites, it's very difficult to raise prices for new amazing photos. Because few people want to pay more if they don't need to. In my personal life I often look for the cheapest prices for items I purchase.
132
« on: September 06, 2019, 14:35 »
I want to point out that as far as I know, the search engines on the stock sites have a bias towards newer files. How much bias, I don't know? At some point, your current images will get demoted in ranking by the search engine. That pretty much means there is an incentive to reshoot similar things that have sold well in the past but don't sell anymore. Obviously old images still sell, I still sell old images, and I also sell new images but I do have a lot of best sellers from past years that no longer sell at all. Those images haven't changed, they are not dated. They don't sell because the search engine no longer ranks them well. One of my best sellers ever was on the the first page of a popular search result for at least a year, maybe two, it no longer sells.
133
« on: September 05, 2019, 21:50 »
PLEASE, let us not speak ill of him. I didn't bring his name up for that purpose. I was just curious about how his business was doing with its high production costs, given the collapse of pricing.
134
« on: September 04, 2019, 13:59 »
Just wondering if anyone knows what is happening with Yuri Acrus's business? For the longest time he was THE mega selling photographer. He shoots great stuff. He had a huge staff. I can only imagine his earnings has collapsed like everyone else's. In the era of low prices, I can only imagine his high production costs no longer works. I know some of you are not a fan of him. Let's not say negative things about him. Thanks!
135
« on: September 04, 2019, 13:50 »
Not only lazy for not doing new things. For me at my 46 or so is kind of hard to learn from scratch eg 3D. And even when i get in the mood there is no spare time..
:/
If it is important enough to you, you will do it. You don't do it because it isn't important enough to you. The same applies to me. I'd be interested in learning 3D but it isn't important to me. I'm more interested in streamlining my photography workflow. There is much more to gain there in the short term, so that is where I spend my time.
136
« on: September 04, 2019, 13:44 »
IMHO, low prices are here to stay. There are so much amazing content already on all the big platforms, why would customers go anywhere else?
Basically you all need to learn to be more productive. Get more done in the same amount of time or less time. This is sort of how most business in any industry survive, get more done in less time. Most industries all deal with the pressures of low pricing. Since stock is mostly a digital product, most of the gains from being more efficient will come from software automation.
137
« on: September 03, 2019, 11:29 »
On iStock search excitement - 601,966 results https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/excitment?license=rf&phrase=excitment&assettype=image&sort=bestexcited - 766,167 results https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/excited?license=rf&phrase=excited&assettype=image&sort=bestJust wondering why the search results are different? When you upload via the ESP, excited is not even an option in their CV, excitement is the only available option. I 'assume' their CV understands excitement and excited are exactly the same thing, so I would have also assumed their search results for the two words would have been identical, but they are not. Normally this isn't something I care about or would spend anytime thinking about, but recently I've been quite curious about how their algorithm work. A while back I read a comment from them saying titles and descriptions are just for SEO and don't mean anything on the site, but from random searches I've done on their site, I am forming a hunch that isn't entirely accurate. I 'think' their algorithm does take titles and descriptions into account for search results, to what degree I'm not sure. But I don't think they ignore it entirely for search.
138
« on: August 31, 2019, 19:33 »
I don't sell on Canva, and from having read a bunch of posts on this website over a number of months, I'd get the impression that Canva is of the devil. The curious part is that I've heard the founder of Canva on a bunch of popular entrepreneur type podcasts on number of times over the last few years, including pretty recently. The impression I get from the podcasts are that Canva is seemingly a pretty well run business. For a private company they have already achieve unicorn status, ie worth over a billion dollars. https://mashable.com/2018/01/09/canva-unicorn-status/. Clearly all your sales have dropped on that platform because they no longer value your work and no longer need it. They have other suppliers now.
139
« on: August 28, 2019, 21:22 »
I can only comment personally - I wouldn't do it, it's just too much work for so little in return. I'd keep it at simple and effective ideas, something that's quick to complete but effective and creative. Other than that, I'd rather invest time in 3D, takes about the same time, for simple things even less and you can derive more images from one scene or model. Not to mention animated scenes sold as videos on stock. You can be just as creative. Just an idea.
Thanks for the input, doing 3D is smart. The only 3D I know is in Tinkercad, which is very basic. I'm not keen to learn more 3D right now but your logic about 3D makes a lot of sense. It definitely sounds much more efficient than doing illustrations.
140
« on: August 28, 2019, 20:54 »
Just thought I'd ask a question that I already know the answer to. While I still upload photos, I mostly haven't uploaded any vector illustrations in 3 years. I stopped when I was getting $0.25 sales. I used to upload very detailed illustrations. Clearly that is no longer going to make any sense with $0.25 sales. As I look into the idea of resuming vector illustrations, I'm slowly looking into seeing how I can dumb down the illustration by a lot and figuring if that even makes any sense with $0.25 downloads. It isn't obvious to me that any effort makes any sense at $0.25 downloads. Vector work is very labor intensive, whereas photos, takes only a fraction of the effort per image. Once upon a time, in my best year, my vector sales was twice my photos sales for that year. Now photos are almost 3 times my vector sales. My sales of both formats have fallen a lot over the years, though of the two formats, vector has been the most, this year it is trending to end the year 87% down from my best year. I'm mostly posting on this forum now because I'm wondering out loud why anyone would bother creating new vector images in the age of $0.25 downloads.
141
« on: August 25, 2019, 08:32 »
Those are all great ideas, thanks for sharing. I use to just take a photo of my phone with google maps loaded up to see where I was. Then at some point I switched to not bringing my big DSLR with me and just using my iPhone and have since gotten used to just looking at the GPS data. Now that I'm used to looking at the GPS data, I'm not keen to go back. So maybe I'll look around to see who else sells a compact camera with GPS built in.
Also I'll check out geotag photos that Groucho mentioned. Thanks.
Edit: I just downloaded geotag photos, it is failing to find me on the GPS for some reason, that is disappointing but not a huge big deal at the moment. What I don't like is that I have to remember to turn it on, as oppose to it being persistently on and tracking (I don't mind being tracked 24/7). If it is possible for me to forget to turn it on, then I will at some point forget to turn it on, and it will tick me off when I realize that later on. Same thing with writing it down where I was or even taking a photo of google maps as I go, if I can forget, I will forget some of the times. I really do cover very large distances when I travel, so it does really get hard to remember all the random locations I might take photos at. So maybe I'll just wait till the new iPhone get released this year and see what the photo quality looks like and see if I want to upgrade my 2 year old phone. I do like the 200 zoom on the Sony I was looking at.
142
« on: August 24, 2019, 17:31 »
I've decided "maybe" I want a compact camera that sort of fits in my pocket. Right now I'm looking at the Sony RX100 VII https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VPQV7BY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1I'm not concerned about costs. I just want high quality and fit in my pocket and I definitely like the 200 zoom. Thoughts on this or another camera? This camera would become a travel camera. I'm allergic to carrying around my big DSLR with the huge lens. Edit:I just saw that this camera does not have GPS. Given how often I travel and the wide distance that I often cover, I have a hard time keep track of locations. With the iPhone all photos have GPS built in. So far it seems the lack of GPS might be a deal breaker.
143
« on: August 24, 2019, 10:52 »
I could be wrong, and I'm often wrong.... it would seem to me that with how advance the big agencies are at this point, the only way a new method could work is if it is a superior product. Developing your own site is not a superior product to accessing 300 million images on Shutterstock. A superior product is having a very large amount of highly coveted exclusive images, think Stocksy. I still remember the days before Shutterstock and iStock got big, there were more traditional stock agencies all with a lot of their own exclusive images, and customers (me) would go search from site to site to find the images I needed for my work as a graphic designer. Now I assume there is not much difference between any of the large micro stock sites, iStock being an exception with how ever many exclusive images they have.
144
« on: August 23, 2019, 16:27 »
A few more thoughts...
A) Are you solving a problem that you have? Is it an itch that you NEED to scratch?
B) Think in terms what is in it for the various stake holders, contributors, customers. What do they get out of it that they can't get somewhere else with less effort?
C) There are always nay sayers, the college professor once told a college student that over night delivery of packages across the country was a stupid idea, that college student eventually launched Fedex.
D) Sometimes it is just being at the right place at the right time. That is what a lot of very successful entrepreneurs say about their success.
E) If it is a superior product, it is never too late to launch it.
I'm not saying you should go ahead and built this thing out, more just giving you thoughts to think about.
All good points. Part of the reason I thought I'd ask. If the majority of people here just complained/whined, then might not be worth the time/effort... (so far that seems to be the case).
Funny thing - not one person has yet asked any of my original questions, which were:
a) Images? Video?
b) $29/month? $59/month? $99/month? More? Less?
c) Features you'd want?
d) What would you pay for 'marketing' of your content?
e) What is your portfolio size? (100 items? 1000? 10000?)
Got a lot of poo-pooing...
The only really constructive comments so far have been by you & one other person...
I think no one directly answered your question because it has been done before. Obviously it worked out poorly. Having an individual site to sell is a flawed idea because it requires too much work for the customer. A platform is where the customer wants to go, it is the most efficient place to get what they want in the least amount of time. An individual site only works when it is superior to the platform in some other way, be it niche, breath of unique content, and superior(lower) pricing.
145
« on: August 23, 2019, 10:43 »
Since it reads like you know how to code, here's some random thoughts of the top of my head...
Setup it up a bit like Squarespace.com have a bunch of different beautiful templates that people can choose from. Then do sales in 2 different methods.
1st method - allow sales via individual accounts, individuals keep all profits.
2nd method - build out a platform that shows all files from all individual sites. Have some pre-defined rules about how the search algorithm will work, and make that public. Ask all the files that are submitted here are exclusive. A large amount of exclusive files will draw traffic, for example like Stocksy.
Make this site a co-op, spell out how revenue would be shared from the platform sales. Give yourself a very nice unreasonably big payment in the future for doing work for nothing in the beginning. Spell this part out upfront. After that just pay yourself a reasonable salary moving forward from the sales.
Re: #2, was thinking of something like that... BUT... then it becomes
a) essentially a new agency
b) which, of course is a LOT more overhead than an individual sites. (An individual would be fully responsible for their content, whereas in an agency you need staff to review assets, staff for customer/sales assistance, staff for other items, etc, etc).
So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.
I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...
Virtually no stock buyer is going to go to an individual's own website unless it is amazing work and they can't find something similar on one of the big agencies' website. It is all about what would be the least amount of effort for the buyer. A big stock site is most often where the buyer finds what they want with the least amount of effort. Similar to shopping on Amazon.com, 50% of all US online shopping happens on that website because it is where people go to buy stuff with the least amount of effort. Anyway, the only way for you to launch something new is that you have to have contributors that commit to giving high quality exclusive files, otherwise buyers already have existing stock websites to go to.
Regarding staff, just find volunteers who will work for nothing, just like you will work for nothing. Then one day if and when the site actually becomes profitable, then pay all these people an unreasonably large amount of money out of the sales for all the free work they gave. Then figure out what the new pay will be moving forward.
Situation here though is - it's been my experience when looking for volunteers, in most cases you get what you pay for. In some cases, you might find a gem - but then they will have limited availability. Others - the quality of work varies widely, and then they may promise something will get done, but it doesn't. Unless you have a highly motivated volunteer - which if you have an insight as to how to find those, I'm open to hearing - it would be easier to hire someone. In which case - the 2nd option is like creating a brand new agency.
Might be a good idea though (creating a new agency), simply because the attitude of the larger ones is 'we are the king, do as we say, otherwise too bad'...
A few more thoughts... A) Are you solving a problem that you have? Is it an itch that you NEED to scratch? B) Think in terms what is in it for the various stake holders, contributors, customers. What do they get out of it that they can't get somewhere else with less effort? C) There are always nay sayers, the college professor once told a college student that over night delivery of packages across the country was a stupid idea, that college student eventually launched Fedex. D) Sometimes it is just being at the right place at the right time. That is what a lot of very successful entrepreneurs say about their success. E) If it is a superior product, it is never too late to launch it. I'm not saying you should go ahead and built this thing out, more just giving you thoughts to think about.
146
« on: August 23, 2019, 00:32 »
Since it reads like you know how to code, here's some random thoughts of the top of my head...
Setup it up a bit like Squarespace.com have a bunch of different beautiful templates that people can choose from. Then do sales in 2 different methods.
1st method - allow sales via individual accounts, individuals keep all profits.
2nd method - build out a platform that shows all files from all individual sites. Have some pre-defined rules about how the search algorithm will work, and make that public. Ask all the files that are submitted here are exclusive. A large amount of exclusive files will draw traffic, for example like Stocksy.
Make this site a co-op, spell out how revenue would be shared from the platform sales. Give yourself a very nice unreasonably big payment in the future for doing work for nothing in the beginning. Spell this part out upfront. After that just pay yourself a reasonable salary moving forward from the sales.
Re: #2, was thinking of something like that... BUT... then it becomes
a) essentially a new agency
b) which, of course is a LOT more overhead than an individual sites. (An individual would be fully responsible for their content, whereas in an agency you need staff to review assets, staff for customer/sales assistance, staff for other items, etc, etc).
So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.
I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...
Virtually no stock buyer is going to go to an individual's own website unless it is amazing work and they can't find something similar on one of the big agencies' website. It is all about what would be the least amount of effort for the buyer. A big stock site is most often where the buyer finds what they want with the least amount of effort. Similar to shopping on Amazon.com, 50% of all US online shopping happens on that website because it is where people go to buy stuff with the least amount of effort. Anyway, the only way for you to launch something new is that you have to have contributors that commit to giving high quality exclusive files, otherwise buyers already have existing stock websites to go to. Regarding staff, just find volunteers who will work for nothing, just like you will work for nothing. Then one day if and when the site actually becomes profitable, then pay all these people an unreasonably large amount of money out of the sales for all the free work they gave. Then figure out what the new pay will be moving forward.
147
« on: August 22, 2019, 20:28 »
Since it reads like you know how to code, here's some random thoughts of the top of my head...
Setup it up a bit like Squarespace.com have a bunch of different beautiful templates that people can choose from. Then do sales in 2 different methods.
1st method - allow sales via individual accounts, individuals keep all profits.
2nd method - build out a platform that shows all files from all individual sites. Have some pre-defined rules about how the search algorithm will work, and make that public. Ask all the files that are submitted here are exclusive. A large amount of exclusive files will draw traffic, for example like Stocksy.
Make this site a co-op, spell out how revenue would be shared from the platform sales. Give yourself a very nice unreasonably big payment in the future for doing work for nothing in the beginning. Spell this part out upfront. After that just pay yourself a reasonable salary moving forward from the sales.
148
« on: August 21, 2019, 02:00 »
A lot you have shared your thoughts and I appreciate it.
I wanted to respond to a few questions in particular
Yes perhaps $5 sub is too low, but who knows. Im not a marketplace with hundreds of million of images, whereas Shutterstock and others are. Yes a two buck site for each download would also work. Though the initial thought was looking for a way to draw traffic/customers to me.
Regarding selling myself short at $5 sub plan. Obviously that amount is silly, BUT unfortunately the entire industry is forever moving downwards in price. We all understand the only way to compete now is by price. There is no reason for a graphic designer to come to my site if it isnt a lot cheaper. Otherwise their time is better spent going to Shutterstock or wherever.
I use to be a graphic designer. Ive worked for 3 different very large advertising firms in New York City. I used to buy stock photos while I was a graphic designer. I have a good understanding what graphic designers are thinking when they buy images. Given how busy I used to be as a graphic designer, I would never go to someones personal site to find images, it would be a waste of my time. I was very busy and I worked on multiple accounts. Thus I already understand the bar to get busy graphic designers to go to a non-mega big stock site is quite high. Hence the thought of $5 sub plan. Plus look at the math, 4,000 accounts at $5 per month is $20,000. Which is more than I make now.
Regarding cold calling Ad agencies. I use to work for large agencies. For the biggest agencies, I could just stand outside on the road with a sign and business cards to give out. For the smaller agencies, it would be easy to just walk in and talk to front desk and drop of some cards. I can also reach out to very old contacts from the past. Though the most time effective way to market is to get on design blogs.
Anyway, I started this thread to sound off thoughts in my head and to see what others opinion might be. It is fairly obvious to me that the odds me trying it out are close to zero at the moment. Mostly because Id have to cancel the exclusive contract to try it out and the drop in income would be too much for me to bare. Though perhaps in 2 years time I might be in a better position to test it out. That is when an unrelated investment (non-stock photo) that Ive made in might bare fruit, and if so, it should pay out quite nicely.
149
« on: August 16, 2019, 18:06 »
Housing 50000 high res images will take a lot of server space plus the traffic. You'd need a private server and an admin to maintain it. It only seems like the web is automated.
Private servers can go for $1000/month plus an IT guy (at least one to start but more if you grow).
You'd need a CSR to handle customer questions and complaints. Full time job even if you out source that's a chunk of change.
Insurance and security since you'll be dealing with user's financial info. Expensive.
Accounting. Do you want to shoot more photos or deal with the bookkeeping on 4000 subscriptions?
I'm pretty sure with just the above your $20000/month is gone. Of course you'd need working capital to keep you going at least 2 years unless you can get 4000 to sign up and pay on the first day.
You would need at least a quarter to half a million dollars in start up money. Good luck.
That's a lot of money. Ouch.
150
« on: August 16, 2019, 16:51 »
I've learned enough the I could by myself pump out several hundred thousand new images each year if I want to.
How excruciatingly mind numbing that sounds. You'd burn out in no time. But seriously, how many "funny poses on white" or "guy in prisoner outfit" does the world need?
People seem to buy the same stuff over and over again. So I just shoot the same thing over and over again with different models. And yes burn out is a real problem. I go though it quite often, then I stop and go do something else with my time for a while.
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