wow, that is really impressive in this economy!! I am lucky if I make $100/month.
Do you mind sharing with us how large is your portfolio, are you exclusive with all or non exclusive, same portolio? and how long you have been doing stock photography.

thanks

ah, I figured this out.
one of my first files uploaded and approved on 02/14/2007 (exactly 24 months ago) that had remained unsold just showed up under the Unsold file section and I was able to move it to Free section - and my credit went up by 0.50. So basically the unsold files will be listed under the UNSOLD section as they turn 2 years old. I joined Fotolia exactly two years ago.

Just curious how many of you do HDR and what are your sales channels?
micro? midstock? macro? if yes, could be share which sites accept them? I read BigStock takes them but do you indicate as such (HDR imagery)

I recently did some HDRs, like them, they remind of me color quality of Velvia slide film (in some ways). I don't tweak them much but just pull the three bracketed shots together - See them on my blog. (http://socalislandgirl.blogspot.com)

To me, one should indicate it is HDR imagery if it has been tone-mapped, what is your thought on that? In HDR, the line between art and photograhy does get a little blur.

Thanks in advance. JC

A footnote, to all who passionately participated in my "Mac vs PC" debate question, I ended up getting an Acer laptop with 3GB RAM 250 HD, 14.1 screen, for $500 after all that rebates - amazing- 1/5 of what I paid for my old laptop 4 yrs ago and 5x the specs

I have had intermittent problems logging in th te past few days, anyone has the same problem? It is about 3pm US PST and the server seems to having problems, I am having "time out" or 404 http error messages

I am exclusive at Fotolia, and I am 1/4 into silver (a long way still) This is because I opted for higher commission at the expense of #dns, I raised my price as soon as I reached gold, to $2 for most good images and I left my earlier work at $1. I like getting at least 1.04 on the S . 50% of my downloads are at least M or larger, and a couple of ELs so those are nice downloads/sum. I have about 600+ on Fotolia, started about 2 years ago but the later images sell better (isolated background). My earlier images were mostly landscapes, nature and I was still figuring what is good stock photo. Certain images/themes do better on Fotolia.

I submit my best to Fotolia first, everything else they turn down go to three other sites that I submit actively. Now my strategy is just shoot a subject for Fotolia, then change the set up and shoot for the sites where the files will be non-exclusive.

I find that works for me, because I like the higher amount per download I earn at Fotolia, which allows me to have a payout every month or less. I don't like the 0.31-0.32/dn (and that only happened after many kicked and screamed) for non-exclusive which is the lowest in the industry. By comparison, one gets at least 0.50 at BigStock and 0.36 (occasional 0.25) at 123rf. I for one think it is crazy that when so much time/equipment/effort has gone into shooting one stock photo that buyers are able to download for pittance, so I stayed exclusive on Fotolia which allows me to turn off subscription there. For me, it is like "sorry this is what I am willing to sell it for, otherwise no deals"

This is not my main profession (one of my side projectsl) so I have the luxury to go this route. For most pros, being on as many sites as possible will probrably bring them the most bucks per photo/ROI over time that seems to be case from what I gathered. I would say experiment for a while and see what works best in terms of return/your themes.

ok, I can't get beyond Main page if I managed to login, have had trouble since this morning (12 hours ago, I am in US PST). This is not looking good, if the contributors are having trouble, the buyers will surely be equally frustrated if not more

This one is the best "catched my eyes". If I was a looking for a microstock forum I would like the dynamic colors of this one

I like this one best, pleasing to the eyes and sends a clear message, short and sweet 

You are welcome to use mine as well

jc

I just logged into 123rf and it took me a few tries to get in even though the username password are correct (each time it would refreshed to blank and prompting me to sign up) I managed to get in after a few tries typing in the same username/password. When I checked my earnings, everything on the earnings page (all the months Jan, Feb..., type of downloads, where they should be showing my downloads and earnings of the past months) are showing up zero across all rows and columns, is anyone else having the same problem?

jc

jsnover,

Wow, that thread from Fredmiranda was priceless Glad I read this post.
excellent info on studio and lighting techniques shared by many.

jc

Saw your question. in case you are still looking for some answers:

I used GIMP sparingly, it uses a lot of my RAM when I am editing and one has to set it up right so it does not eat up your Ram and freeze up your computer. I find it harder to use than Photoshop

I have bookmarked a link some time back to help me learn GIMP. It has a series of GIMP tutorials which you might find helpful:
http://www.gimpguru.org/Tutorials/

Here you will find the GIMP documentation on its features, in case you don't have the link already: http://www.gimp.org/

Thanks everyone for the very lively discussion indeed. I really appreciate your first hand experience as a user/photographer/designer.

To clarify: Yes,  I already know PC well. My Mac knowledge is skimpy. had  a PowerMac desktop once and played with Illustrator on it. I did not have it long enough though because the persistent humming noise when it is on sleep mode drove me nuts. I sold it after a week. I actually did like the way folders and programs are displayed on Mac, it is design friendly and very intuitive. Although Vista is trying to do the same with its browser screen. My PC's crush a lot since I have too many programs running at the same time and they don't seem to like each other, I am somewhat tired of the hacks and software viruses lurking at PC and having to be on guard all the time, updating the anti virus softwares. For programming work, PC is definitely more suitable, more programs have been written for PCs and that is an important criteria to me.

The dual licenses will be costly. Having given much thoughts to all your advice and comments, I think a good solution is to get a new PC laptop for my normal work (writing/Photoshop,programming stuffs), then try to find a used Mac (a mini) or an old ibook and work with that and see if I can/should make a definitive switch at a later date.

thanks again
jc