I see so many of the photos at the microstock sites include models, and I wanted to know how you go about finding them (are they all friends and relatives?), how much you pay them (who knows if you'll ever recoup this expense), and do they ever act weird about signing the model release forms?

I feel your pain!!  I was going nuts trying to find models who didn't want to be paid, and also were willing to sign releases.  And my two sons were ready to kill me if I didn't find models other then them.  My son made a suggestion, and it turned out to be a very good one...

Believe it or not, I obtained a site on MySpace.com.  And I have gotten more responses from that than anything else I have tried at this point.  Not only did I get responses to the site itself, but MySpace also offers a free "Classified" section, where you can basically advertise that you need models in exchange for pictures.  And it doesn't cost anything!  Once it was established that a model was interested, I sent them the model releases by email, and they brought it with them, already signed, to the shoot.  That way they could review the release beforehand, and you don't have to worry about getting it signed after the fact, they bring it already signed to the shoot knowing that the signed release is part of the deal.  And all shoots that I do are on location, outdoors, in public places, for everyone's protection.

Since I started with my site with MySpace, I've already done three shoots, one with a family of four, and two other separate shoots with teenage girls for models, and I've had others that have shown interest that have yet to be scheduled.  I've met some really nice people, and gotten some really great shots!  It has really worked out well for me so far.

If you want to check out my site to see how I set it up and the information I included for reference, here's my site url:

http://www.myspace.com/sstevensonphotography

Best of luck!! 

Sue

It sounds a lot like starvedartists.com...they basically provide you with a place to show your work, and they handle the money transaction...you do everything else, like set the price, sell prints or stock, and you are responsible for sending prints directly.  Pretty much they set you up with a store front, and handle money (for a percentage).

Anybody who uploads to CanStock might be interested in this post from Admin Duncan, dated 9/3/06:

"At around 1:00am local time we had a major database failure, affecting our photo information section. This was an unrecoverable fault, in which our database software could not recover. In laymen�s terms � all of the photo information (keywords, titles, photographers, etc) was wiped out.

I was online at the time, and immediately shut down the site, to avoid any further damage. I also immediately put on a diaper. I was able to quickly determine the source of the problem, but the damage was already done.

Working together with our hosting technicians, we were able to painstakingly recover most of the data from our current backup, taken at 8am Sunday morning. Our database is 3GB in size, and has almost 40million records, so this was a fairly slow process.

The failure was totally unpredictable, and impossible to predict. This of course is why we have backups, which luckily run every morning.

If you uploaded photos on Sunday, after 8am Atlantic Time:
- All of your uploads will appear in your �Unfinished Uploads� section. Even if you submitted them for approval, they will now be sent back for re-submission. You will have to re-enter your keyword information.
- Xpress Photographers who had photos uploaded and approved on Sunday will also have to re-submit the files. You will also have to re-enter your keyword information.

Everyone else can take it easy, as nothing else should be affected.

My apologies to everyone who has to re-fill out their keyword information. I know it�s a pain in the butt. But on the bright side, only 700 of out 260,000 images were affected.

If you have any problems, please contact Support.

Duncan"

That's a good idea.  I've also gotten some responses by registering with and posting a classified ad on MySpace.com.

After you type in your email and password to get in, you can still click on the "Control Panel" tab at the top, and get your photo gallery information.� You can also still send emails to them (at least you could a few days ago, when I sent one requesting that my gallery be deleted.� Which it hasn't.)

Maybe they just packed up and left town.

The ability to at least cut and paste groups of keywords, rather than have to enter them one at a time.  VERY time consuming!

Just tried to log onto USPhotoStock site, and got the following message:

"USPHOTOSTOCK.COM temporarily unavailable. We are doing everything possible to resolve this problem in a timely manner. We will update you as soon as we can. It should not take more than 3-5 days.
Thank you for understanding.
 
USPHOTOSTOCK team"

3-5 days?!!!

Uh-oh...

Looks like somebody forgot to pay a bill...

I'm getting really nervous now...just tried to get on the site, and got "This website is temporarily offline."  And a notice alongside to contact knet.com, which is a site for software to set up a site to sell photos online.  Could be it's offline for updating reasons (I'm trying to be optimistic here), but most sites don't do upgrading at this time of day (in the middle of a Friday afternoon).  Not a good sign, I think.

Can anybody give me an idea of how to find models for stock shoots, without spending a fortune?� I've used up available family members, and at this point I'm a little sick of seeing pictures of my children over and over, and probably so is everyone else!� I would like to branch out a little, but don't really know where to begin...�

Thanks for any suggestions.� �

Kind of answered my own question, but I happened on this article at Istock that had some good info about finding models:

http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view?ID=193

The article indicates some sites where you can search model portfolios to find a model in your area, and some are willing to do shoots in exchange for pictures rather than payment.  Worth checking out if you're interested in finding models.

Can anybody give me an idea of how to find models for stock shoots, without spending a fortune?  I've used up available family members, and at this point I'm a little sick of seeing pictures of my children over and over, and probably so is everyone else!  I would like to branch out a little, but don't really know where to begin... 

Thanks for any suggestions.   

I've been with Fotolia now for about a month, and one of the things that I really love above this site is that they let you know who downloaded your photos, by name and sometimes company.  This doesn't always tell you exactly what your photo is being used for, but it at least gives you an idea of where it's going.  It would be nice if some of the other microstock sites took their lead on this and did the same.  It can be done!   

I do it the old-fashioned way...my trusty thesaurus.     Then I use cut and paste for descriptions that I use a lot.

Hi!  I'm new to the Group, and I have to say this forum has been a great find...very imformative and helpful!

Thanks for the info regarding BigWhiteBox...I signed up with them this morning.  Registration was no problem, and I sent an email to the Administrator (Dave Baiiley), regarding possible streamlining such as multiple uploads and alternate ways of obtaining model releases.  He responded almost immediately, and was very helpful.  (He said since they are just starting out, they haven't initiated a multiple upload mode, but that will probably be in the future.  Same with the model release situation.  He is very willing to listen to comments and ideas.)

And it supports good causes!

I highly recommend checking this site out. 

Sue