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Messages - Mantis
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 ... 219
51
« on: October 16, 2023, 16:29 »
Bad month for me. P5 i got snake eyes. Very unusual. DP Iusually get $50-60, I got $20. SS way down. Normal is $250 and I managed $125. IS was actually up about $50 over the same month last year.
My pond5 has had 1 sale in 7 weeks. Very unusual as well. My average is 200/month
Here we are half way through October and my P5 sales are still dead. Zip in September and zip in Oct so far. I typically have 8-9 sales in that 6-week span.
Good month here: 5 sales so far: 199,56$.
Awesome. Glad someone is doing good.
52
« on: October 16, 2023, 07:31 »
Bad month for me. P5 i got snake eyes. Very unusual. DP Iusually get $50-60, I got $20. SS way down. Normal is $250 and I managed $125. IS was actually up about $50 over the same month last year.
My pond5 has had 1 sale in 7 weeks. Very unusual as well. My average is 200/month
Here we are half way through October and my P5 sales are still dead. Zip in September and zip in Oct so far. I typically have 8-9 sales in that 6-week span.
53
« on: October 10, 2023, 21:55 »
Ive sold one video in 2 years at DP. About 1200 clips.
54
« on: October 06, 2023, 13:02 »
The final cashout process does not trigger an email confirmation, so it's normal to not get one. We won't start sending payments until the site is closed and sales are finished, to ensure everyone gets paid their final account balance - so no worries if a sale comes in after you submitted your payment request.
Also, thanks to everyone for their support over the years. It's been a fun ride for the last ~20 years!
Hello Duncan, just to clarify... If I did not request a payout before the site closed, I'll still get my funds?
Very sad to see CanStockPhoto shut down.
Thank you
I would say you are out of luck, unless Duncan works some back channels. "For contributors, to request a final payment, contributors must log on to their Convert Earnings page and enter their payment information. Payments of $5 USD or more will be processed for account balances as of October 1st, for eligible accounts, who have submitted a request. Payments may take several months, but we anticipate they will be sent by December 31, 2023. The deadline to submit your payment request is September 30th."
55
« on: October 06, 2023, 07:50 »
Bad month for me. P5 i got snake eyes. Very unusual. DP Iusually get $50-60, I got $20. SS way down. Normal is $250 and I managed $125. IS was actually up about $50 over the same month last year.
56
« on: September 30, 2023, 08:50 »
The final cashout process does not trigger an email confirmation, so it's normal to not get one. We won't start sending payments until the site is closed and sales are finished, to ensure everyone gets paid their final account balance - so no worries if a sale comes in after you submitted your payment request.
Also, thanks to everyone for their support over the years. It's been a fun ride for the last ~20 years!
Duncan, Thanks for all you've done. I think you are the only agency who has not chopped away at our royalties. You've always been fair and I personally appreciate that. While I don't make much at CanStockPhoto, it's an agency I've stuck with because of your fairness. Wishing you the best in your future endeavors.
57
« on: September 29, 2023, 07:16 »
Not a single sale this month against a normal 4-6 per month.
58
« on: September 23, 2023, 15:46 »
@Mantis, anecdotal, but very interesting.
My crystal ball is broken, but my guess is that two things will keep stock agencies in business (though volume might not grow, so investors won't find it "hot" any more).
1] Images where the specifics matter - you mentioned a robin, but I have a collection of genAI bird and animal images from Adobe Stock where they're not even close to the real thing; same with places, machinery, wheelchairs, stairs, ladders, etc.
2] The "Midjourney look" has become so ubiquitous that in a little while it will be overexposed and viewed as tired - been-there-done-that - and the trend will shift to something else. It's not about extra/missing limbs or digits, but I get an overwhelming sense that the photo-realistic people photos are from some vast clone factory and that you're seeing the same few people everywhere.
Back when microstock was a baby, some buyers were happy to see what they viewed as more realistic people and settings than the traditional stock images. That was because by and large the models were friends and family and not professionals. As microstock wanted to grow, it tried to look more like the the stuff they were replacing - and some stock photographers from the earlier generation came to the micros. Midjourney images are a refreshing thing, for a little while (if you ignore the origins of their data training; I'm guessing your company isn't worried about being sued over use of Midjourney images?).
And I have to add, for the bazillionth time, that I keep hearing how much better things are getting with the "oops" images, but that's not what I see looking at new approvals in Adobe Stock's 16.8+ million genAI collection.
If you wanted a saxophone player, neither of these would be "close enough". Nice lighting and engaging look, but the details are effed up. These were new this morning.
 
I wouldn't say completely anecdotal as the company I work for, a $3B company, uses AI almost exclusively....and it's a huge marketing driven company. I was able to pluck the robin image she did for me. It looks pretty good. Here is the link to the full Rez image she built. I mean honestly, nobody can predict what pivots AI will take, but since I'm seeing current state with a pretty big graphically driven company, it's at least an indicator of what's happening, or beginning to happen. I do think much of your post has merit. I'm just seeing someone who is very good with keywords and A.I. create many incredible interior designs, exterior home scapes , etc. I can't believe she'd be the only one doing this as a means to support an annual marketing budget of $20 million. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zylpx3ikxdh3gonmb2p14/MicrosoftTeams-image.png?rlkey=l4mrpfv626ewwsy5sg4t6a1br&dl=0
59
« on: September 23, 2023, 06:59 »
They will tank when buyers realise they don't need to use stock photos or illustrations and they can just whack a prompt in to get something "unique". The rest of our sales will tank along with them.
Right. Ultimately, even having a database of AI, it's going in the direction that the new way to find your image is to create it yourself. Right now you have Midjourney, but those type of AI generators will replace a large part of classic stock photography. Many customers won't need to browse a collection at Adobe or other agencies, they can just create their own. And buyers will become accustomed to the art of keywording to generate content they need. At least that is how I see it going. I think AI in a large sense obsoletes the stock agencies to a large degree.
I hope you're wrong,and we probably all hope you're wrong,including you! 
Instead,in case you are right,I believe that this is why it is important to start creating content that AI can't do now or ever.
Personally,I already started in February to try to create content that AI will never be able to do,and this is also why in my opinion,creating AI content is good now,and maybe it will be good for another couple of years,but I don't think it can be useful for a long time,because AI contents can be copied by everyone.
Then there is always the time factor,not all customers are interested or have time to waste with an AI,and will continue to prefer to browse a library,because buying something already made is always different from creating it yourself.
Indeed, I hope I am wrong. But as I watch our marketing department create their brochure images from Midjourney and rarely use Shutterstock anymore, it's at least a data point of one. A few weeks ago the designer was showing me what and how she creates these beautiful images (architectural) and then pointing them out in our brochures. The resolution Midjourney outputs is enough for their use. The keyboarding was where she was really good. She put in a robin (bird), spring, tree and Nikon 300 MM prime lens. I was stunned at the quality. The first pass was without the lens and the image had some background detail. Then she asked what lens I like to shoot with. I told her Nikon 300 prime. So she then inserted those keywords. The bokeh as amazing. The software seemed to have recognized the lens type and dropped out the background into a smooth, creamy bokeh. I just shrugged in disbelief. Some of my imagery is on the walls there, unbeknownst to me how they acquired them until I asked. We have an Adobe and SS account and they theme name our conference rooms and hang photos of that theme in them. Since they are located in the same area for which I shoot they name their room with locations and animals of local popularity. Her comment was that last time we used SS was to purchase the conference room images, not to produce marketing material. That was maybe six months ago. Take it for what it's worth, but my gut tells me this is where AI is headed, at least in part anyhow. My point is they their use of the stock platforms has eroded significantly.
60
« on: September 22, 2023, 16:47 »
They will tank when buyers realise they don't need to use stock photos or illustrations and they can just whack a prompt in to get something "unique". The rest of our sales will tank along with them.
Right. Ultimately, even having a database of AI, it's going in the direction that the new way to find your image is to create it yourself. Right now you have Midjourney, but those type of AI generators will replace a large part of classic stock photography. Many customers won't need to browse a collection at Adobe or other agencies, they can just create their own. And buyers will become accustomed to the art of keywording to generate content they need. At least that is how I see it going. I think AI in a large sense obsoletes the stock agencies to a large degree.
61
« on: September 03, 2023, 08:10 »
Dumping 123RF.
62
« on: September 03, 2023, 08:08 »
I could never get them to fix anything, so I closed my account. Sales were almost non-existent anyway. Wasn't worth the uploading then fighting with them to try to get the upload to work.
63
« on: September 01, 2023, 19:28 »
Where does it say they are shutting down? Or are they just being 'sold off'?
They sent an email to contributors saying that the are shutting down on Oct 1. The market has changed such that they can no longer stay afloat. Can Stock Photo to Cease Operations Unfortunately, due to a changing business landscape, Can Stock Photo will cease operations on October 1, 2023. After nearly 20 years in business we have been forced to make this very difficult decision and would like to thank our many thousands of talented contributors and customers for making it possible. The industry has changed significantly over this time, with CanStock launched in 2004 during the early mass adoption of digital cameras, and before social media was even a phrase. Today of course everyone has a capable digital camera in their pocket, and the advent of AI means amazing images can be created for free from programs with just a few keywords. Decreased business and increasing costs has made it no longer possible to keep operating, to our great disappointment. Accordingly, notice is given that all membership agreements are terminated on October 1, 2023. Downloads and new orders will be disabled on October 1st. Active customer accounts may use their remaining credits and subscriptions up until then. Credits in accounts that have not been active for one year prior to this notice are cancelled in accordance with the membership agreement, without refund or reimbursement. Customers with unused credits or unfinished subscriptions purchased by credit card in the last 180 days or by check/wire, can request a prorated refund of $5 USD or more by logging into the site and filing a request here. The deadline to request a refund is on or before September 30, 2023. Please allow up to three weeks for refunds to be issued. For contributors, to request a final payment, contributors must log on to their Convert Earnings page and enter their payment information. Payments of $5 USD or more will be processed for account balances as of October 1st, for eligible accounts, who have submitted a request. Payments may take several months, but we anticipate they will be sent by December 31, 2023. The deadline to submit your payment request is September 30th. Thank you for everything, The Can Stock Photo Team www.canstockphoto.com
64
« on: September 01, 2023, 16:35 »
They are closing down Oct 1. If you have more than $5 in sales, request your payment before it closes. They are indeed paying out contributors. I had 32 bucks for the year.
65
« on: August 26, 2023, 08:00 »
All I can tell you is that I had my account hacked, uploaded my I.D. and it was fixed. I then set up two-factor authentication to prevent this from happening again. I get emails all the time with "request to modify account" and it's just hackers trying to steal my account. Two-factor is so essential these days. I have an app on my phone tied to my FB account and it generated a new code every 20 seconds. You have to enter that code within that 20 second period to log in (when you've cleared your cookies). It is very frustrating indeed when you lose control of your account.
66
« on: August 26, 2023, 07:55 »
123rf: from more than $200 sometimes to less than $5 everytime, by month. 
Same here.
That was me two months ago. I then deleted every image and video manually, then closed my account. I might have let the account go just to see what might happen in the future (such as 123 being bought and the content used elsewhere on a platform I'm not on), but since they rewrote their guidelines that they can use any of our assets to train AI with zero compensation to the contributor whose image they used, I said enough. Closed my account, but before I did I had a few very choice email exchanges with them. Yes, I felt better, but man I lost $3 a month. 
67
« on: July 31, 2023, 18:13 »
Can you explain to me in short how my video can be Signature/Signature or
Essentials Video? It was only for exclusive?
Essentials is for non-exclusive, so all non-exclusive are screwed. Signature is exclusive, so it's their way of paying more to exclusives who get their content selected for the Signature collection. The royalty bump will come at the cost of non-exclusives. Basically another pay cut. "Every file on iStock falls into one of two collections. Our Essentials collection gives you the everyday content you need (non-exclusive and exclusive non-signature), while the Signature collection features millions of premium handpicked stock files that you can only get from us (meaning exclusive)
68
« on: July 31, 2023, 12:22 »
iStock Rate Card Update
Given the success of the iStock Premium + Video subscription and in recognition of the investments contributors make to produce great video, we are making changes to more closely align their royalty allocations to credit values.
To enable this, well start to assign all video Downloads more value in our Premium + Video subscription, especially Signature/Signature+. For customers, files will continue to have equal value. However, in our royalty calculations we will assign a relative value to Downloads as follows (similar to how we price files for customers using credits):
Collection & File Type: Relative Value
Essentials Photos/Illustrations: 1
Signature/Signature+ Photos/Illustrations: 3
Essentials Video: 6
Signature/Signature+ Video: 18
Downloads with a higher relative value will receive a higher price per file for royalties. This will help ensure we better reward video files, just like we do when customers make credit purchases. You wont see any change on your statements and your royalty rates are not affected.
Example
A customer has a 10‑downloads Premium Plus Video subscription, costing $200 per month. In a given month, they might download one Signature video, one Essentials video, four Signature images, and four Essentials images. Currently we divide that $200 equally between the 10 files when calculating price per file for royalties. But with this change, well divide the $200 proportionally based on the file type and collection using the relative value. This would result in the prices per file below, which you would receive your regular royalty percentage on:
Signature video: $90.00
Essentials video: $30.00
Signature images: $15.00
Essentials images: $5.00
This is just an example. The actual prices per file will vary depending on each subscription cost and the different mixes of files the customer chooses to download during a particular period.
The best way to take advantage of this change is to shoot the high‑quality video our customers need, plus consider working with us exclusively.
To support this change we're updating the iStock Rate Card, effective September 1.
Please visit the forum if you have additional questions.
69
« on: July 27, 2023, 17:46 »
This is a fast growing port.
Now it has 999 files. 
Looks like some images are already gone, port and 900 files still there.
They will get it done.
Yep, it was 16 pages yesterday and 17 today.
70
« on: July 01, 2023, 07:05 »
Hi Guys,
anyone here who knows the fastest way to delete the entire 123rf portfolio ?
I sent an email but no reply...
Thanks for helping
The fastest way is to contact them and they will close your account. But, that's if you really trust that they will delete your assets. Otherwise you can delete images 20 at a time. Videos only one at a time. I just did that with about 5,000 images and 1300 videos. THEN I requested account closure. But there is no one click and done, unfortunately.
After one week, still no answer to my email asking for cancellation of my account.
And I could not delete my files manually since they are not appearing in their crappy website. No vectors, they show only images in my files list.
123 R(eal) F(xckxng) Losers...
Yea, it's a little challenging to find the port. I no longer have access but it was something on the left side under "portfolio" but when you do that make sure you click on "accepted" AND Images, or Video, Or illustrations). That should bring up your port. Then you can click on an asset and hit the trashcan icon. For me, I just didn't trust them to delete my port so I chose to manually do it.
71
« on: June 30, 2023, 17:03 »
MP has always been a junk organization. I got out years ago because of no sales. When I reached out to them to give me feedback how to optimize sales on their platform, they said, "nothing wrong just keep uploading". So I did the opposite and closed my account.
72
« on: June 24, 2023, 07:35 »
Hi Guys,
anyone here who knows the fastest way to delete the entire 123rf portfolio ?
I sent an email but no reply...
Thanks for helping
The fastest way is to contact them and they will close your account. But, that's if you really trust that they will delete your assets. Otherwise you can delete images 20 at a time. Videos only one at a time. I just did that with about 5,000 images and 1300 videos. THEN I requested account closure. But there is no one click and done, unfortunately.
73
« on: June 23, 2023, 06:57 »
I'm so glad I closed my account last week. Just to be sure they don't have my content after closing, I manually deleted everything, over 6k assets. I was making $2-$5 a month all the while they are forcing me (and whoever is a 123 image contributor) to use their content for AI training. It wasn't worth it to me for that $2-$5 a month. So I gladly closed my account. Good riddance.
74
« on: June 18, 2023, 09:24 »
Curious - do you guys actually make any reasonable $$$ from 123rf? I think I have 1000+ videos there (haven't checked), and only made like $20 3-4 years ago...
I just closed my account there. Manually deleted over 6,000 images and videos because I don't trust them to actually do it. For me it was a combination of no sales and the added black eye of using our assets to train AI without compensation. So I am getting nothing in return (sales) for them likely using at least some of my material for AI training. My monthly balance is $1.34. I have $30 in accumulated money they owe me with a minimum of $50 to get a payment. I told them to keep the $30 and close my account and I did tell them why. Not that that matters. But I'm done with 123. I used to make $250-$300 a month there. Now I'm lucky to make $4 a month.
75
« on: May 27, 2023, 07:02 »
Looks like you can't opt out anymore right now or again until next April?
Correct
incorrect I have just opted out of all. If you click the blue arrow key at the right of the country / area name you can untick any you previously opted in to (just remember to click update before leaving the page.)
Mine is all ghosted, just as they say will happen. Although, you can OPT IN anytime. You just can't opt out except for April. So once you click your locations and submit, you are theoretically hosed until next April from making any opt out changes. It really doesn't matter for me because I will never opt in to any of those revenue options again.
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