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Messages - DavidK
26
« on: December 31, 2021, 13:12 »
Firn that is very good. Even with all the focus, determination and motivation in the world I would never be able to produce 2500 images in a year. On jobs I safely factor for 4 or 5 unique deliverables per day, and that's if all goes well! Probably why I've never gotten more than my feet wet when it comes to this side of it. Just not worth it to me.
27
« on: December 31, 2021, 12:04 »
But here's a question: How many images have you uploaded to shutterstock this year?
I think I see where you are going with that Wilm, and if I'm right it highlights what to me is probably the most profound change in microstock over the years. A trend which I'm afraid will continue well past 2022. Earnings growth at one time much was more in line with portfolio growth. It was never a direct correlation obviously, but it was as I say, more predictable. I remember when feeding the beast used to be the mantra, and for a while it seemed to work. Now not so much. It's not the new earnings levels, pay cuts, increased competition, accelerated asset attrition, search engine bias, or even free images per se. It's all of the above combined that have greatly diminished the overall earning potential of any asset. Agencies don't rely on the success or failure of individual assets or portfolios but we do. To me this is the single most important factor that makes the whole game ultimately unsustainable. Best to remember though that there's a honeymoon period for all of us and we all need to figure this out in our own time.
28
« on: December 31, 2021, 09:19 »
The biggest negative part of my personal development has shutterstock. Compared to my best year, I have 5,250 fewer downloads there in 2021. Since the RPD there was $0.88 in my best year and now it's 0.61, the financial losses are much higher in percentage terms.
See Wilm, I have always had a bit different approach to this than most people here seem to have. I don't care much about download numbers or RPD. It's a number you use to determine the worth an agency attaches to your photos, but it doesn't really translate well for me in regards of the time/costs - earnings relation and it doesn't pay my bills. You could have a RPD of 10$, but if your shoots are very expensive, because you rent locations and hire models, you could still end up getting less money for your time and costs than someone who just takes photos of his backyard flowers and has an RPD of 0.30$.
What I care about is how much money I get for my work at the end of the month. How much time did I spend to take, keyword and edit the photos? Did I spend time creating props, driving to locations or did I spend money on props for the photos? And these factors are alwys the same on all agencies. I don't soend more time or money on photos I submit to Shutterstock than on Adobe, Alamy or iStock. So why should I care for the RPD? I have a much betrter RPD on Alamy for example than on Shutterstock. What use is the high RPD on Alamy to me? The money I earn from them is pocket money at best. The money I get from Shutterstock pays my rent and has more than doubled within the past year.
And, if I remmeber correctly, you were one of the people who said you hardly submit new content to Shutterstock anymore? Because that's something I see a lot - people who say they rarely submit new images or don't submit new images at all, but then are frustrated that their income declines. Maybe submitting some images and then just watching them make you money without submiting new content is something that used to work on Shutterstock years ago. I don't know. This is only my 4th year doing microstock. But nowadays, at least from my experinece, you have to keep putting effort into it if you want to see a reward. For me that seems to work.
Mostly agree Firn, however for me RPD is very important when factored with RPA in understanding not just how individual agencies are measuring up but also how my portfolio and microstock in general is performing overall. In other words effort in vs reward out. This I find gives much more insight into the relative usefulness/futility of not just continuing to upload or not, but also insight into how much. Like you I am most interested in the bottom line but there are definitely metrics that can be applied to help figure out exactly how much effort you need to put in before you start back pedaling. As you have already stated, simple figures like overall revenue or revenue growth can be very misleading if taken out of context. For example one well known SS forum member often posted sales numbers which to the uninitiated seemed very impressive on the surface, however digging deeper it quickly became apparent that ancillary considerations like time spent, travel expenses, equipment costs and depreciation, etc. were intentionally omitted in order to inflate (for glaringly obvious reasons) his bottom line. The point is that without taking everything into consideration (including RPD) it's pretty easy to fool yourself as well.
29
« on: December 26, 2021, 12:56 »
My highest this year: 72$, 66$, 64$, 48$ and plenty in the 15-25$ range (level 4)
My highest ever: 98$
Highest for video: 120$ (this month, level 2)
What a complete and totally useless topic and response. Share with us Dumc, how much would you have made pre-2018 before the SS slashed commissions? Are you an agent working for the SS? When you cuddle up to them do you thank them each time for being so generous? You have no idea how all of us collectively are delighted to learn your SS story and success. Just goes to show it doesn't matter how much the industry slashes commissions when you're a brilliant photographer and videographer. You'll still make 72$, 66$, 64$, 48$, 15-25$, 98$ and 120$.
I can only guess that you and Dumc have a history? If not that seems a bit over the top. I wasn't going to respond to this thread at all because really it's no ones business but my own. However "all of us collectively" is not accurate and I just want to let you know that you are definitely not speaking for me. First though I want to make clear that I am not an agent of SS or any other agency for that matter. I'm neither a fan nor a hater of any of them. To me they're just a necessary means to an end and my emotional attachment to all or any of them is probably on par with their emotional attachment to me. I don't consider myself "brilliant" at anything, especially photography and video, and like you I'm also not thrilled with what's happening to the market right now. That's why I am actually delighted to hear about Dumc's numbers. It shows that maybe just maybe there's a little more to be eeked out of this industry at least for a little while. That is while we're still in the transitional period of Shutterstock's move to subscription only. For myself all I will say is that my portfolio is tiny (887 images, 137 videos). So far this month on SS I've had 562 downloads for a total of $561.41. You can do the math but it's obviously similar to Dumc in that they are far from .10 downloads. It's also an average RPD which has been more or less consistent for me since the new earnings structure. Some months it's more. Some months it's less. It's actually the overall number of downloads that are down for me. Would I have made more before the cut? Perhaps, but it's impossible to tell for sure. Too many variables and moving parts right now. All I know is that to me the difference between 10 cents and 38 cents is negligible anyway, and always has been. It's the higher value sales that keep me in for now. Once those dry up completely with microstock it's all useless anyway. So yes, good for you Dumc!
30
« on: December 18, 2021, 09:20 »
I don't know, I think that as the market devolves by virtue of attrition there might actually be fewer frustrated contributors. As SS pushes further into Stan's dream of a subscription only model and AS promotes CCE to the detriment of our silent yet critical partners like mom & pop designers and smaller ad agencies, the market for higher value sales will dwindle even further. Couple this with an industry wide adoption of free content libraries and the incomprehensible (to me) embracement of those by many contributors, means there's little if any room for the pendulum to swing back closer to equilibrium at this point. For anyone whose content actually comes at a cost, or even anyone who places a value on their own time for that matter, the situation will be untenable. Leaving only hobbyists and a handful of factory producers with any incentive or motivation to continue.
I think one needs look no further than the engagement on this forum over the past year to see evidence of this already.
31
« on: November 27, 2021, 08:06 »
Same here, and i notice something more... zero sales from US
The 26th was a US holiday. Might explain it.
32
« on: November 21, 2021, 19:22 »
Terry depending on your hosting plan you probably dont need an extension with WP. Maximum file size is typically a server side restriction in your Php configuration or .ini file. Depending on the type of plan you have most hosts allow you to increase this to pretty much anything you might need. If youre not comfortable doing it yourself just reach out to your host and they should be able to do it for you.
33
« on: February 19, 2020, 07:16 »
I can't see how taking the likes of Shutterstock/Adobe Istock head on from zero is remotely feasible.
Exactly. But if the goal is to create something that is a viable alternative for MS contributors then I don't think we or the market need another Stocksy. My point was that a small number of contributors with very limited resources is a non-starter in the first place.
34
« on: February 17, 2020, 11:34 »
Count me in. I have always been a proponent of the cooperative model, but I think you would really be looking at 10,000 contributors and more like $1,000 each to be even close to realistic. Instead of starting from scratch you might want to look at making a play for one of the smaller agencies instead, leveraging their existing infrastructure and client base as a foundation to build on.
Just like Stocksy though I think you would initially need to be very selective in the kind of content and contributors you accept. High quality content and exclusivity would be critical in my mind for such a thing to gain traction, so vetting contributors who understand this and who will abide by it would be just one of the challenges. Some others of course would be pricing, marketing.strategies, curation, organizational structure, key personnel, renumeratiion, etc..Curious to hear your thoughts on those.
35
« on: December 26, 2019, 10:17 »
What is your budget? 
36
« on: December 25, 2019, 14:38 »
Sorry, no pics but way back in the day when I was doing real estate I made a rig from a 32' telescopic ladder cut right down one side so all that was left was basically a single telescopic pole. I coupled this with a modified trailer hitch bicycle rack and drove around town with it on the back of my jeep. It was hard wired with a scavenged servo video head and shutter release but the problem was no live view. I basically had to guess at framing, but with a wide angle lens it did the trick. Very stable too. Nowadays I'm sure it would be relatively easy to cobble something together with all the WiFi bells and whistles.
37
« on: September 17, 2019, 11:33 »
Hi David
Do Edelkrone sell their stuff on Amazon? I've always bought directly from the company. They have a scheme where your purchases are counted against a future discount if you buy something else from them in the future and their shipping has been fast and professional.
Steve
Good to know. I'll have a look at their site now and see what their shipping policy is like. A quick search shows that some Edelkrone components are definitely available on the Canadian Amazon site but I do not see the SliderOne, so who knows.
38
« on: September 17, 2019, 10:05 »
Being a bit cheeky, I worked for some time to be able to set up an affiliate account for Edelkrone and I've written quite a bit about their DollyOne product. If you are happy to do so, please use my affiliate link...
https://www.backyardsilver.com/2019/04/featured-videomakers-on-edelkrone-blog/
Steve
Happy to. Going to hold off for just a bit though to see if Sean comes back with any more info. Will the affiliate link switch to Amazon.ca?
39
« on: September 17, 2019, 10:02 »
Nice video Sean. Am I wrong though or is there some noticeable judder? Could be just the playback on my end.
I sometimes get that feeling, but I don't know whether it's my mind playing tricks, my computer lagging, or something else or nothing at all.
I noticed your uploaded frame rate was 24 fps. If it is still nagging you maybe to eliminate one of the possibilities do a test at 30 fps and see if you can see a difference.
40
« on: September 17, 2019, 06:43 »
Nice video Sean. Am I wrong though or is there some noticeable judder? Could be just the playback on my end.
Never mind...just downloaded the HD preview. That looks fantastic! Off to Amazon I go.
41
« on: September 17, 2019, 06:25 »
Nice video Sean. Am I wrong though or is there some noticeable judder? Could be just the playback on my end.
42
« on: September 17, 2019, 05:47 »
What percentage of the portfolio do you class as "old"? If 90% of it is old and new photos only account for 20% of sales, then new files would still be outselling old ones by 2:1 even though 80% of sales are of old stock.
This is a rather obvious factor that needs taking into account, but I can't recall seeing anybody mention it in the "only old files sell" threads (which, curiously, have been appearing for many, many years now ... I wonder if the new files that didn't sell five years ago have now become old files that do sell)
That is an excellent point. My experience with SS though seems to be similar to the OP's in that it does seem to take a lot longer for files to gain traction there compared to AS or IS. As for the rest it really is only old files that sell for me - meaning that they take even longer to rise through the ranks?
43
« on: September 16, 2019, 17:00 »
I was hoping you would get back to let us know how you made out. Thank you for sharing this.
Sounds encouraging so far. Have you tested it in the macro/telephoto range yet? 75 percent of what I do calls for close up and extreme close up so if it really turns out to be stable and smooth enough for that then I would pick one up tomorrow.
44
« on: September 10, 2019, 17:47 »
Just a note for others, the Rhino ROV Pro Traveler doesn't seem to do what I need. With my 5d4 and 100mm macro, the included plastic ball head, and the way the carriage works with the app, I get an unusable shimmy/wiggle when the carriage hits the end of the run. No matter what the ramp down speed. The app doesn't let you stop anywhere you like, so it runs, slows down and then ka-thunks into the end of the run. If you could stop the carriage an inch away, it would probably be solved.
I'm sure it's great with wider lenses where something like that wouldn't be apparent, or when you aren't concerned with the end and just need the middle of the run.
Sean are you saying that the carriage actually makes physical contact with the end of the slider or is it something else? Could it be backlash or stiction from a stepper motor combined with carriage design? The reason I ask is because I have had my share of headaches with motion control over the years and have yet to find a reasonably priced system which works well for video in the macro and telephoto range without a lot of stabilization in post. Ramps are where problems are usually the most visible, especially slow ramp downs where the stepper motor "settling" combined with friction loss from the carriage and belt can be very pronounced. I don't know what system the Rhyno uses but a popular and inexpensive motor with many manufacturers is the Nema 17. Stay away from it for video IMO. Just something to be wary of no matter what system you decide on and good luck.
45
« on: September 08, 2019, 12:47 »
I don't care about the money, its just about the fun.
How nice for you.
46
« on: July 31, 2019, 05:01 »
My portfolio's return per shot is half what it was three years ago. I don't see anything on the horizon that will stop the overall decline in the "commodity price" of photography. Portfolio size growth helps but in the end... Wanna be retirees and full timers need to factor a steep angle of decline into future plans.
1) Don't quit your day job quite yet?
2) Don't bank on Microstock income having a long term profitable future.
3) When someone is selling a commodity, price is more important than quality. (that's sad, but true, many of us work very hard at this and we are paid insulting low prices)
4) You are correct, the decline hasn't stopped. Things will get much worse, before they go flat. I keep hoping the decline will stop soon. There is no better.
5) More agencies need to drop out, before we see a leveling off of the market and values.
At the risk of starting another argument because people can't read, don't want to understand or whatever I feel that stock photography is not art photography, that to make money you have to be fast and above all you have to produce many images. Now watch a bunch of rubes come along and argue this point.
I can read and your argument ends with, anyone who disagrees is some kind of rube, as you insult any disagreement. Oh you are so wonderful, in your own mind? Trying to put people down, so they won't disagree? Rather insulting for someone of your highest caliber and super intelligence above all the rest of us? Can you write without unnecessary preemptive personal attacks?
Right, stock is not an art, it's stock. Making images that buyers want is the game. Niche market, stand out, different, expressive, I agree, and there are so many other ways to say the same. But yes, this is not art, except for the art of making descriptive, useful, or visual statements in images.
I don't know what your cause is, or why you must attack Grossinger, but your arrogance and attitude is totally self serving. He's doing his "thing" you do yours. You don't get to tell me or anyone else how we should run our own business or what we should be doing. If he finds out that numbers aren't the answer, let him figure that out on his own, just like others who shoot goats or ducks or junk yards and haven't discovered, they don't make any sales, because there's no demand.
It's not your job or privileged to be hounding someone you disagree with, he's doing you no harm.
By the way, you miss that many people here and there, took far more than 10 months, even in the "good old days" to make $500. I seem to recall some that are forum regulars on SS that took years. Your constant picking at Grossinger suggests there's some other motivation, because you don't use the same standards for anyone else.
What's the point of your targeted attack and picking at one specific person?
Funny. The irony here is that is a quote from wonderboy himself, not jonbull. So if you ask me you've already answered your own question. Grossinger deserves it. Hopefully your little hiccup will open your eyes to what Joe is really about.
47
« on: July 29, 2019, 07:22 »
Editorial usage is pretty much everything you can see. If you work at a newspaper or something for instance, you don't need permission from people or about a property to take and use the photos... It's still polite but, fair game.
That's not fully true here in the UK, and I'm sure it's very different in different countries.
I don't believe it is true in the USA either. Try taking a picture of Minnie Mouse at Disney's theme park and post it for editorial use. The images in question in this thread were not newsworthy and were taken on private premises (the plane). Hence the photographer is open to being sued, in my view. But, of course, you can all take whatever risks you want!
Steve
There is a difference between threatening to sue someone and actually suing someone. And of course frivolous lawsuits are thrown out all the time. A big company, like Air Canada or Disney can use their muscle and vast resources to intimidate people to do whatever they want because the threat of being sued by a big company is frankly terrifying. It doesn't mean they would be successful if you actually stood your ground.
At this point in the U.S. and Canada the rights of a corporation to protect it's property does not trump the first amendment, which includes the freedom of the press. If OP had the resources to fight, with or without SS to help, he would likely come out on top but who has the resources to fight such battles even if they're certain they would win the risk is too great which is how these entities get away with pushing people around.
Just to be clear, Canada is a sovereign nation and is not part of the US. We do not defacto enjoy the benfit of broadly interpreted first amendment protections as we do not have a constitution. In my experience the concept of editorial usage is more rigidly interpreted here than in the US. In the OP's case for example were it to be challenged in court I would not be at all surprised if the court took a more conservative view and sided with Air Canada. After all, the story was not about Air Canada specifically but a generalized fluff piece on airline passenger behavior. Furthermore it was published on a commercially incentivized site full of click bait with questionable journalistic merit to say the least. No offense to the OP, but shooting these sorts of subjects without written permission or model releases; and submitting them as editorial simply because they can't be licensed commercially is inherently risky. Without a clearly defined editorial agenda AND some control over the image's final use you as the photographer will always be exposed.
48
« on: July 25, 2019, 05:51 »
Well mystery solved how they got your name.
As a fellow Canuck I am very interested in your story. I wonder if this is just another example of Air Canada flexing their muscles and trying to intimidate you or are they serious.
49
« on: July 16, 2019, 11:24 »
Marketing and business skills are essential in knowing what and how to shoot rather than just shooting something well. The poke and hope approach just won't cut it anymore. Gone are the days of one or two good RM sales covering the cost of a shoot and then some. Nowadays with returns so low it's all about volume, and to maintain volume you need to understand what marketers want today and also be able to anticipate what they might need tomorrow. You have to stay not just on top of trends but also ahead of them. That takes business savvy, not lighting skills.
50
« on: July 15, 2019, 05:55 »
we have reached this level of poor image quality in ss?
why?
how?
can somebody explain?
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/97747-my-quest-for-10000-images-before-the-end-of-2019/
first this puppet who believe to be a master of photography while he doesn't have a clue what is talking abut...7000 of snapshots repetition technically applying images...asomebody who earn probably 20 dollar month and claim to be a super expert...
Grossinger's port is improving and have to admire his work-ethic. He'll realise soon that quality beats quantity any-day...but he's on a mission so there's no stopping this guy!
I doubt he will realise anything as hes made his mind up already.
I don't know. I think I see a chink in the armour in his latest thread. He mentions he's going to assess things in December to see if it's worthwhile to continue. Could it be that 6 months into his marathon of futility sales are not exactly what he was hoping for? I think we all know the answer to that. Alexadersr is right. This guy is not humble. Downright arrogant actually. He thinks he's a rockstar because people treat him like one. He even has groupies who act as surrogates defending his right to post whatever rubbish he wants to about others while not accepting any valid criticism of him or his approach. Most are newbies of course who don't know any better, but there are a handful of old timers claiming to admire his tenacity and maverick devil be damned attitude. Personally I think deep down most of them just want the very entertaining show to continue.
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