|
MicrostockGroup Sponsors
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Topics - bbettina
26
« on: April 30, 2007, 20:27 »
I need to do a bit of an reality check:
I have been on Shutterstock for just over two weeks and the first few days were crazy 14 downloads with 7 pictures - what's not to love about that? I uploaded more and am now at 67 pictures but the downloads have dropped quite a bit I am now seeming mainly single digits (uploads were in small batches of 3 to 8 so I have been uploading pretty regularly). Maybe that's normal and others have experienced that as well - just want to find out whether its me or whether a pretty quick saturation point is reached and new pictures need to be uploaded at a higher rate (and therefore have to be taken at a higher rate ...).
Thanks for your feedback,
Tina
27
« on: April 20, 2007, 13:27 »
Okay, I am going to reveal the full extent of my Photoshop-ignorance but so be it - I need help  My work flow is pretty basic: I used adjustment layers to adjust levels, curves and occasionally color balance and saturation. For isolated objects I sometimes use a brightness layer, crank the brightness way up to get a nice white background, then fill with black and use the brush tool to reveal the brightend areas where desired. At least that's how I did it until this morning when all of a sudden the brush tool won't work to reveal the brightend areas anymore. I must have something stupid (the layer isn't locked) but I have absolutely no idea what it might be. I guess I better invest in a photoshop class but until such time - anybody any ideas what to do? I need to keep uploading on shutterstock - it's just way too much fun to see the sales roll in to stop! Thanks everybody, Tina
28
« on: April 14, 2007, 18:02 »
With my newfound microstock enthusiasm (29 dlds in less than 2 days on SS with a portfolio that averaged maybe 15 pics and all of that on a Fri and Sat) and feel ready to invest a little more in stockphotography.
My still lifes and pics of "stuff" actually sell pretty well and are easy to do so I want to buy a some lighting equipment to go with my shooting table.
What do people use and recommend? I need to keep it reasonable pricewise but my attempt to use the hotlights sold at Home Depot/OSH etc failed miserably - too dark, too yellow, too uneven.
Some people here suggested Alien Bee flash units to a related post I put up a week or so ago and I am looking into that - any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Tina
29
« on: April 13, 2007, 15:15 »
I had to share the news. Just slipped by with 7 of 10 approved yesterday, but who cares, I am in  the whole process was super-quick. I submitted yesterday in the early afternoon and got approved like 3 hours later. Had 8 dls since then, 6 of the 7 photos have already sold. I have to say, that's not bad at all  Thanks to everybody who gave input along the way! Tina
30
« on: April 10, 2007, 17:18 »
It's been a good day! I sold a picture on a German microsite www.panthermedia.net. Netted me Euro 4.95! That's EL type of money - made my day. I guess I'll do a little bit more key word translation tonight Tina
31
« on: April 07, 2007, 22:14 »
I used to rent a fully equipped photo studio part time but had to give it up for a number of reasons. Now I am trying to create a mini version of it in my garage. I am thinking of mainly taking pictures of objects/still lifes (my wedding related still lifes sell quite well) but would also like to do the occasional people shoot later on. I have a shooting table but no lights and was wondering what people recommend in terms of flexible strobe units and slave trigger units which could serve the two purposes and won't cost me an arm and a leg (I am going to worry about backgrounds for model photography etc a little later). Another caveat: I am not a techie and take no joy in fiddling with equipment. Ideally I want to plug stuff in and never have to worry about it, so user-friendly is a definite plus.
Thanks for your input!
Tina
32
« on: March 13, 2007, 01:17 »
I'd love some input. I thought (and still think) this is a good picture (well, its my boy so I officially have to think its good) - little blond blue-eyed boy, attractive black woman, diversity, happiness, not even purple fringing, I believe its sharp, it got accepted at a couple of sites but nobody even looks at it - much less buys it. Any explanations? Thanks, Tina http://www.fotolia.com/id/1518025
33
« on: March 09, 2007, 14:21 »
Thanks again for your advice. So I signed up and uploaded 10 of my better selling ones or highly rated ones from other sites. I kept it diverse - kids to grandmother-age (as requested in the forums), racially divers (an African-American, several Hispanics, a Filipina), a still-life (wedding themed, sells well on Fotolia and iStock) - and, guess what - every single one got rejected. Some without any explanation, just rejected. None mentioned noise so I assume that wasn't the issue. Unfortunately they just list the ID number and I can't find those on the website anymore so I don't even know which one of my pics was rejected for faulty white balance (or whatever) and which were rejected just because. I would understand that they reject some, but all of them??? So now what? Is that just a rite of passage they put everybody through the first time around or is it me? Here are some of the rejects, please let me know what you think! http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/who/emotions/happiness/2263690_always_and_forever.php?id=2263690http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/who/clothing_types/casual_wear/2244186_shopping_success.php?id=2244186http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/who/facial_expressions/loving/2412504_mother_and_daughter_hug.php?id=2412504http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/gender/female/women/2944921_attractive_mature_woman.php?id=2944921http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/gender/female/girls/2522689_stylish_girl.php?id=2522689http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/gender/male/boys/2244155_house_work.php?id=2244155Thanks for your input. A very frustrated Tina
34
« on: March 09, 2007, 12:33 »
I am sure this was asked and answered before or more reasonable people can figure it out themself but I simply don't know how to attach pictures to my post.
Please help!
Thanks so much,
Tina
35
« on: March 07, 2007, 23:32 »
It might seem contra-intuitive to ask you guys whether I should go out and increase competition for you but I'll do it anyway I am on Dreamstime (early favorite, fallen seriously out of favor), Fotolia (best $$ performer overall, very slow recently), IStock (smallest portfolio, best $/uploaded pix ratio), Bigstock (not worth my while) and as of recent Panthermedia (so far no sales and only a handful views) - should I add Shutterstock? A lot of people here say its there best performer in terms of $ but the $0.25 per dld has so far kept me from going there. So, what do you think - is it worth my while uploading and categorizing all over again? Thanks for the input. Tina
36
« on: March 05, 2007, 23:43 »
Since February I am having the hardest time with Fotolia. I used to sell there steadily if not spectacularly a couple or three pics a day making my way up to just under 200 pics sold and then - nothing. A week can go by without a sale. Then they trickle in for a few days, onesies and twosies if I am lucky and then nothing again. Anybody else sharing that experience? What is going on? I haven't been uploading much recently because I a) don't have that much new stuff right now and b) I am a bit disenchanted - but that shouldn't impact sales, right? - and  Thanks for your input, Tina
37
« on: February 27, 2007, 14:19 »
Does anybody have any experience with German microstock sites? Which one do you recommend and which ones aren't worth the effort.
Generally they seem to pay more per download than the US/UK/CA sites but there also seems much less traffic. Is it worth it to go ahead and translate all my keywords (I am German so it won't suck too badly - but still, its a lot of work).
thanks for your input,
Tina
|
Sponsors
Microstock Poll Results
Sponsors
|
Show Posts
