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Messages - Brightontl
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701
« on: June 12, 2017, 10:15 »
About 35,000 +/- 5000
So, $15-20k a month? What are you shooting?
The good question is "What are you smoking?" (maybe)
There are a handful of people out there doing these kinds of numbers. Why are people surprised when one is on the forum?
I am surprised that someone that makes this kind of money would be on this forum because I would think they would be busy shooting, uploading, making trips to the bank, and enjoying life and wouldnt have time for the nonsense here. I know I would be. 
Someone making this kind of money probably spends zillions of hours in front of a computer post processing, keywording, uploading with a lot of downtime between tasks, ideal for checking forums
702
« on: June 12, 2017, 05:00 »
The only benefit of h.264 is size and download time.
Most editors want to edit ProRes or another less CPU intensive format anyway so they would convert.
Even with the most powerful machines, editing complex projects with 4k h.264 can be a nightmare... Throw in the same clips as ProRes and it's a breeze!
I have been thinking for a while about going ProRes on Windows.
I must admit that I hardly sell any 4k clips at all. I encode in JPEG at 23.976 fps (I am based in the UK), maybe I should also try 30 fps.
But when I check the best selling 4k files in P5 artist'a resource, I notice that only a very small percentage are in ProRes
Yes, of course subject matter always comes first. And who knows what some buyers are thinking...
Why someone would pay $499 for a mediocre and SHAKY clip of clouds is beyond my understanding... (this week's top sellers at P5).
Hmm, maybe it's actually best to shoot a shaky handheld clip of some ducks with clipped highlights, encode it as hard as I can with the worst codec and then set the price to $999... It might just work.  
Yes, I saw that clip and was surprised myself. There are zillions of time lapses of clouds. I think I'll give a try to ProRes and also to a different fps to see if I get more 4k sales
703
« on: June 12, 2017, 04:37 »
The only benefit of h.264 is size and download time.
Most editors want to edit ProRes or another less CPU intensive format anyway so they would convert.
Even with the most powerful machines, editing complex projects with 4k h.264 can be a nightmare... Throw in the same clips as ProRes and it's a breeze!
I have been thinking for a while about going ProRes on Windows. I must admit that I hardly sell any 4k clips at all. I encode in JPEG at 23.976 fps (I am based in the UK), maybe I should also try 30 fps. But when I check the best selling 4k files in P5 artist'a resource, I notice that only a very small percentage are in ProRes
704
« on: June 12, 2017, 04:30 »
I believe pond5 lets you download them, and I do have code42 to backup my stuff but trying to get away from huge downloads in the need of backup. Would rather store local. I do need more hard drives anways as my pictures are also running out of space, but just can't afford it now. soon though as I believe I can get 2tb for about 60 bucks on amazon.
With that though would I take a massive hit in quality only keeping the h.264 format and make photoJPG from that if I need it again?
As far as ProRes 422, can you get that on windows? No apple product is in my near future.
H.264 is not ideal, because if the buyer wants to edit the video (say, color corrections) H.264 is often inferior to PhotoJPEG/ProRes.
I recently found a way to encode with the ProRes codec on Windows, using AfterCodecs you can encode a lossless video format into ProRes using AE.
Very interesting. I have been looking for a way to encode Prores on Windows. I might give AfterCodecs a try
705
« on: June 10, 2017, 12:46 »
Hi Angela,
I have been with VB for about 2 years (2000 files) and didn't even know that they do photo.
I have never heard of anyone selling still images there, so I believe that it is like P5, practically video only
706
« on: June 09, 2017, 07:29 »
It is indeed a very, very strange agency.
In two years I have always had 2 sales per month, every single month, same sales when I had about 50 file as now with over 2000! Actually my best month was the first one: 4 sales with a dozen of files (a sort of welcome agreement). Then 2 sales per month, every month, actually in April I had 3, but one was refunded after a couple of days.
I have never sold a file more than once.
The files I sell at VB are the ones that don't get even a view in other agencies, the really bad ones.
Really dodgy results in my opinion.
As for review times about 2 to 5 weeks
707
« on: June 07, 2017, 11:17 »
I did quite a few hyperlapses from boats on the river Thames in London.
The big problem is when some other boat goes through and makes big waves. It is a nightmare to fix in post, as the whole thing moves in all directions
708
« on: June 07, 2017, 11:09 »
Is anyone having good sales at Dissolve?
709
« on: June 06, 2017, 13:07 »
I don't know if the conference can have an impact, but the last two day have been horrible, after five excellent weeks
710
« on: June 05, 2017, 18:29 »
Okkydokky, this is my experience. If you don't believe it it is your problem, I do not care that much.
I practically do only video, so my experience might be very different from people here doing other kind of funny stuff.
More or less every month on SS I have a sort of cap, based on dollars, not on downloads.
This cap stays the same more or less for 3-4 months, then it goes up a bit (I upload a couple of hundreds of clips every months).
Sometimes the month starts great, and by the 15th of the month I have reached my allocated total, so I think "great, this month is going to be fantastic!".
After that for about ten days not a single sale, so that I end my month to my allocated total, where I am supposed to be.
Other times the month starts without any single sale for about ten days and you start to think "OK, this is the end". But then all of a sudden sales start pouring from everywhere, until I reach my allocated total, sometimes in the very last few days I get some incredibly expensive sales just to make sure that I reach my cap.
This thing keeps going every single month: 10 days without any sale every month and then deluge of sales. I am sorry, but this is not statistically real.
I must add that I am not complaining at all: SS is my best selling agency by a country mile and doing stock video is one of the coolest way you can imagine to earn your living.
Sales are manipulated big way, no doubt about that. But perhaps this is not wrong at all.
SS is the number one agency, maybe they have figured out that keeping everyone happy is the best way to go. They often say that they don't want customers to see the most popular to be the same all the time, so maybe they modify the algorithm for this reason.Maybe they are right and they are doing a good job.
I am happy with that.
Keep on smiling :-)
711
« on: June 05, 2017, 11:27 »
Hyperlapses can be shot very well with drones , as the movement can be planned with intelligent flight modes (especially waypoints).
The problem is the battery life time, especially if shooting in RAW, as they can only take one pic every 6-7 seconds
What drone is that? Just take the pictures manually and you can do 1 per second or at least 1 every 2 seconds.
Phantom 4 pro. If you take jpeg is fine, if you take RAW it takes several seconds to buffer. I have one Phantom 4 and a Phantom 4 Pro
712
« on: June 05, 2017, 09:13 »
Hyperlapses can be shot very well with drones , as the movement can be planned with intelligent flight modes (especially waypoints).
The problem is the battery life time, especially if shooting in RAW, as they can only take one pic every 6-7 seconds
713
« on: June 03, 2017, 09:33 »
I have never uploaded to istock so far.
I would stop while you're ahead.
Could somebody kindly explain me in a simple way how to upload photos to istock
Um, no, that's not possible. Their controlled vocabulary, while good in theory, in practice is a confusing mess that clearly offers no advantage to buyers and wastes the time of sellers.
go through all of this craziness?
Why would you want to?
And is it worth it?
For many years iStock was number one and it was certainly worth all the hassle and craziness. I miss the good old days when iStock could make you some money.
However, I stopped uploading there over 2.5 years ago when the returns were just not worth the effort of uploading. Instead of spending time on the iS disambiguation nonsense, I can process more images that will make much more on SS and other agencies. DeepMeta makes it less onerous but it still takes more time than it is likely worth. If they simplified uploading to something more like the SS system I would have considered uploading again, but now that you can get a couple of pennies per download - or even less - it simply devalues images too much to make it worth uploading at all. If they simplified the system - got rid of the idiot CV and reduced categories - AND if they set a reasonable minimum royalty then I would resume uploads, but without both of those it is not worth the effort. Time is better spent preparing more images for other agencies. I am keeping my account open in the - most likely vain - hope that they will see the light and improve, but will not be holding my breath.
Thanks, this is a very useful reply. I think I will once again give istock a skip. It seems to be too much of a hassle for very little reward. Also, they don't give me good vibes
714
« on: June 03, 2017, 04:47 »
Upload videos through ESP and photos through Qhero. Both are a thousand times better than the old system, and twice as good as deepmeta.
Qhero???!!! What is this? Yet another interface or whatever simply to upload images? Why on hearth someone cannot simply drag and drop files like any other agency? As for uploading video to istock, it has never even remotely crossed my mind, with the shameful commissions they pay. BTW, i have done a few comparative searches for the same topic for video files on is and the other major agencies. It shows that quantity and quality of footage on is has gone down really a lot
715
« on: June 02, 2017, 06:18 »
OK, I carefully went through their website and I am under the impression that I have to reapply and send some images to be accepted, even though I went through this before the ESP thingy. Is that correct?
Obviously they do not specify how many images have to be sent for evaluation. I suppose 3, correct?
I can't help you, as I'm not currently uploading, so haven't used the ESP system.
Still, I'd be wondering why a company which can pay single digit cents per download makes it so difficult to submit. Smacks of a total disregard for contributors.
I certainly agree with you. I also have the feeling that is a company that has lost all self respect. I am sure employees don't give a * anymore about their work and are just looking for a way out
716
« on: June 02, 2017, 05:19 »
OK, I carefully went through their website and I am under the impression that I have to reapply and send some images to be accepted, even though I went through this before the ESP thingy. Is that correct?
Obviously they do not specify how many images have to be sent for evaluation. I suppose 3, correct?
717
« on: June 01, 2017, 19:37 »
Your initial post sounds like you're not really interested in doing this, so I'd say just don't worry about uploading anywhere. It is a business and you do have to work at it a bit to see any result.
As I said I until a few months ago I was doing footage only.
I work a lot on it and I am quite happy with the results.
I have decided to try selling also still images, as I don't have to re shoot them, I can take them from timelapses that I already do anyway.
But I don't have much time for it, so it must be worthwhile. So far I have been uploading photos to 4 agencies and the results are relatively satisfactory.
But I have to spread the effort on several agencies, so I would like to try istock.
As I said I cannot invest too much time on it, so if the uploading is relatively simple (and sales are decent) I am happy to do it. If it is overly complicated I would give a skip
IMO, it's not worth it. I do primarily editorial images and just gave up on them. I was not seeing sales and the editorial guidelines for captions were not consistent. I upload several places and have no trouble complying with guidelines elsewhere. The final straw for me was when they made it more difficult to remove work from their site.
Thank you, this is positive input, although I don't do editorial, so things might be different for me
718
« on: June 01, 2017, 11:57 »
Your initial post sounds like you're not really interested in doing this, so I'd say just don't worry about uploading anywhere. It is a business and you do have to work at it a bit to see any result.
As I said I until a few months ago I was doing footage only. I work a lot on it and I am quite happy with the results. I have decided to try selling also still images, as I don't have to re shoot them, I can take them from timelapses that I already do anyway. But I don't have much time for it, so it must be worthwhile. So far I have been uploading photos to 4 agencies and the results are relatively satisfactory. But I have to spread the effort on several agencies, so I would like to try istock. As I said I cannot invest too much time on it, so if the uploading is relatively simple (and sales are decent) I am happy to do it. If it is overly complicated I would give a skip
719
« on: June 01, 2017, 11:35 »
I think you have answered your own questions. If it takes that much trouble to upload to and then track your earnings, I am going to say no, it is not worth it. And on top of all the hassle, you only make about two cents per image, when they do sell.
These are the reasons why I never uploaded there so far. On the other hand everyone and their dog seem to be on istock and most threads here regard this agency. I decided to give a try to still images and it does take a good amount of time, so I would like to spread the effort towards several agencies (I do mostly video). So any help understanding how this thing works would be extremely helpful
720
« on: June 01, 2017, 10:56 »
I have never uploaded to istock so far.
Certainly not video, because of the extremely low commissions. But I would like to try to upload some images.
I had submitted three photos a few months ago and they were accepted, but I never uploaded any other so far.
Now everything seems to have changed and I cannot log on with my password anymore.
I have seen zillions of thread here with incredibly complex things like EPS, Deep meta, Star Wars and so on. I tried to follow a few, but still I cannot make head and tail of it.
I also read strange words like "disambiguate"... What kind of place is this?
Of course I have emailed them, but I did not understand a word of what they say, beside they sent me a link to a thread in the forum that does not work.
Could somebody kindly explain me in a simple way how to upload photos to istock and go through all of this craziness?
And is it worth it?
Many thanks
721
« on: June 01, 2017, 05:48 »
Somehow managed to become my BME on SS (2 years submitting) - I was lucky to get several big sales there (the biggest was 80$) which makes a difference as I have a small port.
FT was good
10$ on BS which was good for BS
DT - I didn't have a single sale for 2 months, wrote to the support just out of curiosity, they said I should've uploaded more, but then the sales came back
123 was the worst performer of my agencies
I believe I should write an email to DT every day then :-)
722
« on: June 01, 2017, 02:56 »
May was BME for me by a very good margin
723
« on: May 31, 2017, 07:07 »
We noticed strange cap of number of sales too on shutterstock. We had hundred of images for half a year and they were just crushing down our video sales. We will see what the next few months will bring after we deleted them.
This is extremely interesting. I have been in this game a bit more than two years. Until a couple of months ago I was uploading just video, I started to do a bit of photo in the last 2 months, so far just about 500 images. I have not noticed a decrease of video sales. Actually this month is just closing as my BME for video at SS, in spite of the fact that the average price of downloads has gone down in the last 2-3 months. So I assume that my number of video downloads has gone slightly up. Too soon to draw conclusions, but I will definitely keep an eye out for what you are saying
724
« on: May 30, 2017, 06:13 »
and we still seem to be closed today - Tuesday.
Post Bank Hol UK, post Memorial Day US.....
I knew about the bank holiday in the UK, but did not know about memorial day. That explains why I had a horrible day yesterday
725
« on: May 13, 2017, 03:06 »
Nothing new for me.
I do mostly video and every month I have 10 days at SS when the gate are shut and I don't get a single download, while the other 20 days sales are flooding. It has always been like this.
I am not complaining because sales are decent and maybe they have good reasons to do it this way.
Why would they do so? Perhaps they want to keep as many contributor happy as possible, or else they don't want to show up the same images to customers all the time
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