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Messages - mindstorm
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51
« on: June 12, 2019, 17:39 »
I'm thinking that what I can do to somehow give back to the community is to make sure that the images I'm going to use have a link back to the photographer's website or portfolio. Idea?
The best you will be able to do is to link to the photographers' SS portfolio. SS does not provide the link to the original photog's website, for obvious reasons of wanting to keep you locked into buying through SS. A link back to the SS source from which you obtained the image would certainly be appreciated though -- both from SS and from the photographer who provided the media.
52
« on: June 12, 2019, 15:40 »
So if I understand correctly it means that if I for instance decide to sign up for a 750 images monthly plan and only subscribe for 1 month, I can download 750 images and I can keep using them after that? To be honest I thought it meant that you have access to those 750 images for $159, but to keep access you need to pay the fee each month 
Nope. You have it correct now. For that $159, you have 750 images that you can use forever, without paying another dime -- assuming you use it within the limits of the license you paid for. (Each license has some limits -- just read the fine print so you don't use it for situations not licensed) This is why I have not piped in before now. You can get them SO CHEAP from the agencies that I figured you were trying to game the system and really get from us free. That's about the only price you could get that cost you less than the agencies (since buying direct would require the costs of admin of a payment system).
54
« on: June 06, 2019, 08:24 »
Alamy is primarily an editorial agency, although they do accept and sell released images too.
(Are you getting mixed up with Adobe, which I think I've read don't take editorial submissions from most contributors?)
I have not been uploading stuff to them recently, and was thinking it was because they did not accept editorial. Checking now, I see the actual issue is that they don't accept video clips, which is what i have been working on for the last month. And, looking at my past sales through Alamy, I do see that some of my editorial images have sold there (one for $42.50). Interestingly though, the highest dollar sales for me are all commercial (ie, not editorial) images. Highest value $85.75, one at $75.00, and several in the over-$10 range. (I don't get a lot of downloads on Alamy, but when one is made, it pays 100 times a download on SS...)
55
« on: June 05, 2019, 23:33 »
To be fair, there are discussions here, now and again, about stock agencies, not just microstock agencies.
I have never seen one. Not a single one. EVERY discussion that I have read has on this forum has ALWAYS been about MicroStock agencies... which incidentally is the title of the forum...
56
« on: June 05, 2019, 23:30 »
Out of the agencies listed here alemy does have that tick box. You do see these cretited in media.quite often.
But Alamy does not accept editorial media (do they??). I would expect that any breaking news media would be editorial -- it is not likely that you would go on the scene of a fire or car crash and get model releases...
57
« on: June 05, 2019, 15:24 »
Ranking System for Microstock Contributors : https://microstockrank.com
As one other replier noted... interesting, but I don't really see any practical use for it. How can I use this to improve my own performance? Any plans to extend this in a direction that would address that question?
58
« on: June 05, 2019, 15:21 »
Another project by russian internet research agency???
I can only hope that was meant in jest and not Yet-Another-Knee-Jerk reaction from a moron afraid of anyone not born in his country (and where were YOUR great-grandparents born, BTW)? i was born in the US, as was my wife (though my great-grandparents came from Germany, and my wife's parents from China, running from Mao). We have quite a few Russian friends, some of whom have immigrated to the US and are citizens of the US since we first met them in Russia on our trip there in 1988. I went to Iran last month and had lots of pre-conceptions. They were (in my mind) to be ultra-conservative, dour, foreigner-fearing, American-hating people. You know... I was wrong on every count. They were the most open, caring people we have met in a long time (we have visited 82 countries so far). Every time I identified myself as an American, the arms would fling wide, the smile would go from ear to ear, and the shout would be "WELCOME!", usually followed with "You are my first American!". Though a bit less enthusiastic, we were also universally welcomed in Russia in 1988, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Get outside your home town -- or even your parent's basement, and learn to see the world. It ain't what the tRump wants you to believe.
59
« on: June 05, 2019, 15:08 »
I assumed that mindstorm meant 'micro-stock agencies'.
Yes, you are correct. Thx. This is a MICROStock forum, and thus we use "stock agency" to really mean "micro-stock agency." I have no direct knowledge of how the news stock agencies run, only that they do not turn to micro-stock agencies for media on current breaking news. Personally I prefer not to get involved with trolls trying to nitpick language to find a wedge to drive. Language should be used to communicate, not to confuse. I doubt very much that Clair Not-so-Voyant is really so obtuse as to not understand what was being intended in my prior post..
60
« on: June 05, 2019, 13:33 »
Pretty much no, unless something new has been added in the last year. I asked this same question a year ago and was told that news outlets rarely go to stock agencies for breaking news, and that stock agencies do nothing to court them.
61
« on: June 05, 2019, 02:51 »
First tip... don't just point the camera where you are walking and turn it on forever. you have already seen the results. Boring, if not totally nauseating.
So... what do you shoot?
Put that camera in your HAND. not on your head or vest. When you see something interesting developing, STOP WALKING. Now shoot the interesting subject. Don't try to mix your movement with the movement of the subject. You might be able to do that successfully in a few years, but not when starting.
i keep my Osmo Pocket (used to be my GoPro7, but I now only use that in environments likely to destroy the OP) in my... pocket. Yep, just like it says. Keep it in your pocket ready to pull out.
Also, your subject should have some inherent movement that makes it interesting. It is pretty darn hard to scan over a static subject and have the result interesting. Look for action around your tent when setting up or tearing down. Your campfire while cooking dinner, or playing music around it at night, or... well, I think you get the idea.
I travel a lot (82 countries so far). Way less than 1% of my "successful" clips involve me panning over a landscape or cityscape or pile of fish at a market. The "good clips" are always when the subject is moving. Hikers walking under a waterfall. Hikers barely walking over a log to cross a river. A customer buying something from a vendor.
Lots of opportunities of good stock footage everywhere you turn. Just remember to be specific in what you shoot. Just trying to record your life with a helmet cam is the surest way to produce a snooze-fest and get nothing salable.
62
« on: June 04, 2019, 23:36 »
The Web version of StockSubmitter (Microstocker Plus) imports CSV files. Thus, I keyword using ImStocker, store them in Lightroom, then have LR create a CSV. I upload to MicroStocker Pro, and use the CSV to add all title / description / keyword info.
Takes all of 5 seconds to export the CSV and import into MSP.
63
« on: June 03, 2019, 10:23 »
If Pond5 wants to push exclusivity how will this affect Blackbox?
I don't see any effect at all...? Pond5 would love for you to become exclusive, but they don't require it. BB will simply remain non-exclusive, as far as I can tell.
64
« on: June 03, 2019, 10:20 »
Out of roughly 1000 video clips I have online, no more than maybe 10 have audio. In each case, I felt the video was useless without the audio, and in each case I included " - with sound" in the title and description.
All those clips were accepted on all agencies I have submitted to.
If the audio is not really critical to the video, then drop it and export "video only." If it really and truly is needed for the video to be useful, then state so in the title. That seems to carry a lot of weight. (as another example, I have submitted photos with "blurry xxx in background/foreground" and had the photos accepted, where they had been rejected until I adde that to the title)
65
« on: June 02, 2019, 16:31 »
Another great vid! Thx!
Unfortunately, I have a P4P, so I guess this is not available to me? bummer...
66
« on: June 02, 2019, 16:03 »
I am selling for $0,38, it is not so far from free...
If you are getting 38 cents basic per sale on ShutterStock, that means your total sales through that agency are over $10,000 total. A far cry from free... I only get 36 cents basic from SS, since my total sales are still a bit shy of $5,000. HOWEVER, if I look at my overall sales to SS, I discover that my AVERAGE per download is actually 67 cents. And my RPI is $3.89. (both totals since 2010, though the account lay mostly empty until the late 2017, when I got serious again). The alternative is free? Might as well stick to pInterest if that is really what you want...
67
« on: May 31, 2019, 17:44 »
anywyay i suggesst you use a more modern and fascinating template., it will help organize and show your memory better.
Well, I suppose I'd welcome a specific suggestion. However, it needs to be one that integrates well with Lightroom for the galleries (which right now are only slightly more than drag-n-drop to the Publish section of LR)...
68
« on: May 31, 2019, 12:13 »
the content are good but really in 2019 with all the template and word press the graphic is very basic. don't know if it's just an hobby or you wanna make some money with blog, but really will be so easier to make it more interesting and easier to navigate with a smile wordpress template.
This thread seems to be going in an awful lot of side directions, but this story of evolution of how I got into stock might somehow (in some tiny way...) relate, so here goes: In 2010, I was traveling in Cambodia, and writing an email to friends about what we were seeing and doing. Every day, I would get emails from others saying that my prior email had been forwarded to them, and asking to be added to future travel emails, and oh-by-the-way, would I send the prior ones so they could catch up? After a month of this, I decided it was too much, so I slapped up a quick blog page, and dumped my earlier emails into it (we were in Vietnam at the time, so it was a pretty slap-dash job). That allowed me to just point people to the url each time. Solved the problem for that trip. When I got home, I spent a bit more effort and cleaned up the web site a bit. I have since updated the site twice more, the most recent being last year. However, it has zero monetary element to it. I write it for two reasons: 1) My wife and I are both 69. We have visited 82 countries so far, including 20 in the last 6 years, since retiring. It starts to blur together. With the blog, I can go back (and do every year or less) to reread what we did where, and remind myself what the heck we have seen and done. Believe me, it gets harder to remember as you get older, and as the volume increases. 2) For friends and family. Initially just our immediate family. As word has spread, we now have a mailing list of just under 500 people who have asked to get a monthly email summarizing the prior month's posts. Google Analytics tells me there are about 2000 people (plus spiders? not sure if they are counted in GA or not...) following our posts. Frankly, it is a kick when people see the photos and read our commentary, and say they like them. But that is just a bit of an ego boost. No money involved, and none wanted. We are retired and just don't need any more money, so I don't want to do anything that requires chasing dollars. This thread is presumably about selling stock videos vs photos. Yes, I do submit to both. Yes, I do make a small amount of money from both (a couple thousand $ per year from each). Basically a small enough amount of money that it is just a nuisance to gather the docs each year to give to my accountant (which I had to do yet again just last week, since we file in October).
69
« on: May 30, 2019, 11:38 »
Wow, you have a very interesting story. So is your mirror on the moon something that disproves people claiming the moon landing was a hoax?
I don't want this thread to get too sidetracked, but... that is a question that comes up surprisingly often. 1) Do you really believe that a project with thousands of people over a decade of time could be faked? 2) Did you watch MythBusters "back when it was still good"? (jab at current wanna-be crew...). In 2008, they did an episode specifically debunking such nonsense. One of the ways they did that was to go to a telescope and actually saw the mirror I designed that was put on the moon in 1969. They then bounced a laser off that mirror (which is what it was designed for), and saw (on an oscilloscope) the returning photons. That entire episode can be seen here -- https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2m7k1z
70
« on: May 29, 2019, 13:36 »
Mind sharing your blog? I would be interested in seeing more of your travels.
Blog is at www.MindStormPhoto.comThere is a menu at top also. If you choose "Travel" it expands out to year, and then to trips taken that year. If you wish to keep current with the blog, the easiest is to: (1) 'Friend' me on Facebook. The only posts I make on my timeline are to announce when a new blog post is up, or (2) give me your email and ask to be notified. Once a month (except in rare months with no blog activity) I send out a short email summarizing what blog posts were made in the prior month.
71
« on: May 29, 2019, 00:58 »
ensure that your exposure is set to twice your frame rate so you get natural motion blur.
You say "exposure" multiple times. I just want to clarify for anyone not sure what SSF meant... He is referring to "shutter speed." "Exposure" is a combination of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. He is saying to fix shutter speed to 1/<2X frame rate> and let the others float as they must for a properly exposed final result. Lots of theory around why that is best. Google and YouTube can answer those questions if you have them...
73
« on: May 28, 2019, 21:25 »
Oops. Misspoke. That (jbListView) is what creates the CSV file that MicroStock Plus can import to transfer title, keywords, etc. I use jbSearchReplaceTransfer to move the file name to the title, delete the ".mov" (and "ED-" that I use in the file name to indicate editorial clips), to then transfer the title the description, and finally to append a period ('.') to the end of description, so that it no longer matches title (which some agencies will not allow, but are not smart enough to notice if the only difference is a period at the end of one...  )
74
« on: May 28, 2019, 21:22 »
I'm doing much the same process as you are except this one step. Could you tell me which plugin you use for this process?
jbListView
75
« on: May 28, 2019, 20:17 »
Don't burn yourself out bro. I find I might have a mega spell then need a few weeks off (month) to calm the mind and creative soul. Plus key-wording 50 a day is a right bit*h.
You might find it better to drip feed it in to get better results in the algorithms?
After 10 weeks exploring 6 countries, I came back with 3000+ raw clips. I am processing them "one day of shooting in one day of editing." Roughly 1/3 of the raw clips just get trashed. Nothing useful. About 20% have more than one useable stock clip in a single raw clip. The rest are one raw = one final. First pass is just edit and chop into usable pieces. Then a pass for exposure, making sure highlights, shadows and mid-tones are all proper. Third pass is color grading, where needed. Then export from FCPX, using a clip name that will later be the clip title. Import into Lightroom. Using a plugin, transfer & fix the file name into the title and description. Use ImKeyworder to add keywords. Use MicroStocker Plus to send them off to 12 agencies. All that comes out to between 30 and 50 clips most days. It was 62 today -- productive day shooting in Sri Lanka. I need to keep this up, because in three weeks I leave for Galapagos Islands. I will be back from that for only 2 days, then off to Chile for the Solar Eclipse. Then the next day off to Easter Island. The travel and shooting time IS my down time from editing. If I don't keep this up, I will (1) forget what the heck I was shooting, which would make editing / keyboarding a lot harder, (2) see the pile of raw clips get ever larger and feel overwhelmed, and then get nothing done at all... That is the same reason I make sure I edit all out photos every single night we are traveling. Between my wife and I, we shoot 700 - 1000 photos per day. Before the next day's sun rises, we have checked all of those, chosen the best 10% for the blog, edited them, and have the blog photo blocks ready for text. (The text sometimes runs a couple days behind, but never more than that). I came back with 700 stock photos from this same 6-country trip. I am doing title / keyword on those (they have already been edited) at a rate of about 100 per week. I tried hiring and editor / keyworder for the videos. One person was pretty good, but way too slow (one day of shooting took more than a week to process and return). Three others were incompetent amateurs who claimed to have the skill, but actually just wanted to stamp out junk as fast as they could, hoping to make money off the back of a shooter -- any shooter, didn't matter who or what the subject was...  Found I could do it pretty fast myself. Having done keywording for 8 years for photos, it wasn't really all that hard to pick up how to efficiently do it for video too.
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