istockphoto « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Double iStock referrals in September

pdtnc — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:48:42 +0000

Double iStock referrals in September
That's right. From September 1-30 there will be double the reward for referrals for all members $20 U.S. instead of $10 U.S.
Sign up now, and spread your links, earn some easy money ;)

Double iStockphoto referrals in September!!!

pdtnc — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:47:29 +0000

Stock Vector: Paper Airplane

pdtnc — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:33:46 +0000

Description:
A step-by-step procedure for making a paper airplane. original artwork from own photography.
Included files:
Paper_Airplane.ai
Paper_Airplane.eps
Paper_Airplane.FH11
Paper_Airplane.FH8
Paper_Airplane.jpg
Paper_Airplane.psd
Paper_Airplane_Splash.jpg

Keywords:
Paper, Mid-Air, Air, Pump, Airplane, Folded, Planning, Toy, Human, Hand, Steps, Instructions, Single, Line, Illustration, Painting, Plan, Flying, Fun, Sketch, Vector, Paper, Airplane

3,000 Uploads on iStock!

nicolesy — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:47:18 +0000

Today I reached upload #3,000 in my iStockphoto portfolio! I've been with iStock for two full years now, and have really come a long way. My photography skills have improved immensely and I couldn't have asked for a better blessing than to find iStock and be part of a great community. :)

First 'On Demand' Sale at Shutterstock

pdtnc — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:45:08 +0000

My first 'On Demand' sale at shutterstock looks promising at $2.48 for 1 sale, much better than the original subscription payout level I'm on of $0.33 per sale :) Lets hope for more of these :)
Shutterstock could claw back some potential buyers that might have been defecting to istockphoto with this, and its going to keep the photographers happy too. :)

Description:
Coffee cup stains, a range of cups and other round things were used to print these stain marks with pigmented black ink, scanned at high res.

Keywords:
background, base, beverage, black, bottle, bottom, caffeine, circle, coaster, coffee, cruddy, cup, design, desk, dirt, drink, drips, element, glass, grunge, grungy, ink, liquid, mark, mess, messy, mono, mug, old, paint, paper, pattern, prints, rings, round, runs, single, spill, splatter, stain, texture, used, water, wet, white

Image Buyers Click below:

Photographers sell your work and make money, Click below:

Stock Photos of Dark Disused Railway Tunnel

pdtnc — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:28:32 +0000

Description:
Stock photos - The Darkness of a Disused Railway Tunnel in North Yorkshire, shots taken with long exposures and a mixture of available light and torch light, light painted to reveal the textures and brickwork of a forgotten age.

Keywords:
arch, architecture, brickwork, dark, darkness, disused, exploration, figure, girl, inside, light, painting, person, railway, stonework, tunnel, urban, urbex, woman

Also available at one or more of the following excellent stock sites:
www.istockphoto.com/pdtnc
www.shutterstock.com/?rid=59135
www.dreamstime.com/resp131585
www.fotolia.co.uk/p/47653/partner/47653
www.stockxpert.com/?ref=pdtnc
www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=jqNKkUDsgl
www.canstockphoto.com/?r=16050
www.123rf.com/src_pdtnc

Überraschungen im Juli

imagestock — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:02:06 +0000

Letzten Monat um diese Zeit habe ich mir schon gedanken gemacht, was ich diesen Monat schreibe, wenn Fotolia und shutterstock weiterhin auf ihren Niveau verkaufen und iStockphoto weiterhin langsam aufholt. Eine wirklich gute Idee hatte ich nicht, brauch ich auch nicht mehr. Denn diesen Monat gab es einige Überraschungen.
Mit Panthermedia.net und imagepoint.biz gibt es nun insgesamt 5 Bildagenturen über die meine Bilder verkauft werden. Spannend war für mich vor allem die Erfahrung, dass 6 Monate bei beiden Agenturen gar nichts passiert ist, es wirklich frustrierend war, dort Bilder hochzuladen und sie nun zu echten Alternativen geworden sind. Warum?
Der letzte Monat hat allein mehr Umsatz gebracht als das gesamte erste Halbjahr 2008. Im Juli 2008 habe ich mit genau 100 verkauften Bildern 258,58 EUR eingenommen. Das lag zum einen daran, dass Panthermeda.net mit 107,35 EUR mit 3 Bildern und imagepoint.biz mit einem Bild 55 EUR eingebgracht haben. Fotolia war diesen Monat mit einem Umsatz von 89,03 EUR auch sehr stark. Die restlichen 7,20 EUR des Umsatzes diesen Monat teilen sich iStockphoto (4,16 EUR) und shutterstock (3,04 EUR).

Hätte ich nach den ersten Halbjahr einen Freund empfehlen sollen, wo er seine Bilder anbieten soll, um ein wenig Geld zu machen, hätte ich ihm Fotolia empfohlen. Über Fotolia verkaufe ich seit Anfang an dieses Experiments und der Umsatz steigt von Monat zu Monat. Nun haben Panthermedia.net und imagepoint.biz ein paar Fragen aufgeworfen. Sind diese Umsätze ein "One-Hit-Wonder" oder lässt sich dies ausbauen? Was ist mit den anderen 8 der 13 Bildagenturliste, die bisher noch keine Umsätze eingebracht haben? Kommt hier ggf. auch bald ein ähnlicher Umsatzausschlag? Fragen, die nur die Zeit beantworten kann.

Ich bin in einem Kommentar gebeten worden, auch einmal die Bilder zu den Umsätzen zu veröffentlichen. Das werde ich demnächst an dieser Stelle einmal nachholen.

Bis bald!

Microstock earnings in July

Erik W. Kolstad — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:24:22 +0000

July is supposed to be a slow month, and that was certainly true for me. I'm one of those that have converted from microstock to midstock (like SnapVillage, where you can set your own pricing) or even macrostock sites (like PhotoShelter). I've deleted all my stuff from Shutterstock. The upshot is that I've just about stopped uploading to microstock sites, but many of the old files are still there.

As you can se from the long-term numbers below (I started uploading in January, 2008), the earnings are pitiful. Anyway, here I'm listing the no. of new uploads, the no. of downloads, and the earnings for each month for the microstock sites that I'm contributing to.

July: iStockphoto: 6 - 14 - $17 | Dreamstime: 0 - 9 - $8.

June: iStockphoto: 5 - 23 - $26 | Dreamstime: 17 - 15 - $11 | Shutterstock: N/A - 57 - $14.

May: iStockphoto: 20 - 19 - $21 | Dreamstime: 22 - 9 - $8 | Shutterstock: 19 - 79 - $22.

April: iStockphoto: 19 - 23 - $29 | Dreamstime: 64 - 5 - $2 | Shutterstock: 14 - 196 - $47.

These are my long-term numbers as of 1 August, 2008 (no. of files, approval rate, downloads, balance):

iStockphoto: 124 - 59 % - 108 - $139 | Dreamstime: 119 - 86 % - 38 - $29 | Shutterstock: peaked around 100 images, now 0 - N/A - 390 - $98.

Total digital – danke Nikolas

redaktion42 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:13:04 +0000

Kennen Sie Nikolas Negroponte? Das ist kein neuer Grieche aus der Innenstadt, sondern der ehemalige Leiter des MIT. Heute ist er vor allem bekannt, weil er den 100 Dollar Computer auf den Markt gebracht hat, um die Dritte Welt IT-mäßig an die erste Welt heranzuholen. Eben dieser NN hat vor über zehn Jahren ein Buch mit dem Titel „Total digital“ geschrieben. Und es hat die digitale Welt verändert. Die Kernaussage: „Don´t move atoms, move bytes!“ Auf gut Deutsch übersetzt: „Alles was du digital vertreiben kannst, wird künftig digital vertrieben.“ Was haben wir damals gelacht und den Kopf geschüttelt: Fotos, Filme, Musik durchs Netz senden und das mit der Geschwindigkeit meines 28.800-Modems. Gerade hatte ich den Akustikkoppler ausgemustert. WOW, Nikolas hatte Recht. Der Computer wurde zum digitalen Hub, wie Steve Jobs von Apple ihn bezeichnet. Rechner stehen heute überall im Hause, der Server kommt in den Keller. Das WLAN reicht in den Garten, um den Kindern im Sandkasten zuzuschauen. Heute kaufe ich meine Musik über Amazon oder gleich über iTunes, in iStockvideo verkaufe ich meine Videos und vertreibe über Fotolia und iStockphoto meine Fotos. Flickr und andere Web 2.0-Plattformen haben mein digitales Leben revolutioniert. Danke Nikolas für deine Idee und deine Inspiration. Du hast mich aus meinem Trott gerissen und wach gerüttelt.

My first 'Urban Exploration or Urbex' photo sale

pdtnc — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:49:14 +0000

My first 'Urban Exploration or Urbex' photo sale :) I'm glad a couple of stock sites had the the forethought to accept 'Dark photos' without branding them as 'Poor lighting', so far the excellent Dreamstime and Stockxpert have accepted my dark railway tunnel shots. I'm hoping that istock will accept once they get re-reviewed by scout! *fingers crossed*

© Photographer: Pdtnc | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Description:
Shadow figure - The Darkness of a Disused Railway Tunnel in North Yorkshire, shots taken with long exposures and a mixture of available light and torch light, light painted to reveal the textures and brickwork of a forgotten age.
Keywords:
arch, architecture, brickwork, dark, darkness, disused, exploration, figure, inside, light, painting, railway, shadow, stonework, tunnel, urban, urbex, light painting, ravenscar, north yorkshire

Istock Photo

centralwarnet — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:29:06 +0000

iStockphoto is the internet’s original member-generated image and design community. Find your inspiration on the world's leading royalty-free stock destination. Search for over 3 million photographs, vector illustrations, video footage and Flash files.

iStockphoto Free Image of the Week

Matthew R. Lee — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:08:32 +0000

I've been using Istockphoto for about three years. Each week they post a free image for registered users. Each image is available in multiple sizes with the same basic licensing agreement that accompanies purchased images.

Below is an image from this past April. A simple design that's just right.

Microstock earnings

Erik W. Kolstad — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:25:07 +0000

I've been contributing to three agencies, starting with iStockphoto in January, and then Shutterstock and Dreamstime after a while. The initial thrill that came when I found out that people were interested in buying my photos has now more or less died. As a consequence, I'm now uploading all my stuff to the PhotoShelter collection, where the royaties are a lot higher. The sales are of course slower there, but I get what I'm really after: review and exposure. The money in microstock is so poor anyway, as you can see from my numbers below.

Here I'm listing the no. of new uploads, the no. of downloads, and the earnings for each month for the three microstock sites:

June: iStockphoto: 5 - 23 - $26 | Dreamstime: 17 - 15 - $11 | Shutterstock: N/A - 57 - $14.

May: iStockphoto: 20 - 19 - $21 | Dreamstime: 22 - 9 - $8 | Shutterstock: 19 - 79 - $22.

April: iStockphoto: 19 - 23 - $29 | Dreamstime: 64 - 5 - $2 | Shutterstock: 14 - 196 - $47.

These are my long-term numbers as of 1 July, 2008 (no. of files, approval rate, downloads, balance):

iStockphoto: 118 - 60 % - 94 - $122 | Dreamstime: 119 - 86 % - 29 - $21 | Shutterstock: around 100, now 0 - N/A - 390 - $98.

I don't mean to discourage anyone from entering this scene, but it's important to be realistic about the prospects for earning money. Some people make a lot of money, but that requires targeting your work towards imagery that will sell. In other words, mostly very boring material. I still have my images online at iStockphoto and Dreamstime, but I doubt that I will upload anything in the future.

Updates...

gurumel — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:49:38 +0000

It's been a while since I posted anything!

This is cause I've been pretty busy doing a new batch of product shots for my favourite customer ;) Your Own Brand Golf. They are a local company and were my first customer when I set up the business, so it's been great to go back and do more work for them, and see how much their company has grown!

I've been looking forward to shooting some All Star Wrestling shows in Blackpool this summer for wrestler Rene Dupree, but it's looking like he might not be back in the UK until the Autumn. Oh well..next time he's around maybe! I might still have to go to Blackpool though :D I was really excited about Fridays at the Pleasure Beach! ;)

Hmm..what else is new? I've made my first sales on Fotolia - odd that it took so long, then I got 2 sales in a week! I've not uploaded as many stock images as I'd have hoped to be honest, so should definately spend a bit of time soon updating the stock sites - and trying to get that elusive 3rd image accepted for IStockPhoto! ;)

Well..much as I've not been posting - I have actually been working quite abit - so back to the golf bag editing for me I suppose! I also have a portrait shoot for a friends kids next week, and I'm currently trying to scan and repair printouts of images that were stolen when a friend had his house burgled recently :( . Today I have to search through old prints and find one from back in college that I think could be a great fit for the Sheffield Forum Photo Competetion this month - I'm pretty inactive on my local forums..and all forums in fact...so thought maybe this could be a good way to get involved with local photographers!

So to summarise - busy busy! I'm trying to be a bit more organised and get a few posts up now - so I don't miss the chance at the end of the month again!

iStockPhoto Sells Your E-mail Address

Jacob — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:19:51 +0000

Yahoo! Mail has this great feature, where you can set up "alias" e-mail addresses that protect your main one. Any mail coming from that address can get redirected to a specific folder. These aliases can be generated and deleted very quickly. Extremely convenient.

Especially when you're dealing with the likes of iStockPhoto. Now, mind you, I didn't have anything against them beforehand. I think they've really got something good going, where independent artists can sell their work online on a professional website.

Unfortunately iStockPhoto's professionalism just dropped a notch. A few years later after signing up for a newsletter with NO third-party involvement whatsoever, and I'm getting spam in that special iStockPhoto folder.

So, whatever you do, don't give your e-mail address to iStockPhoto. If you need real proof I can send a screenshot, or you can test your luck yourself on their mailing lists. (Not that you could tell the difference, of course, with the bucket-loads of spam wasted on spam filters every day...)

Exit Shutterstock

Erik W. Kolstad — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:47:35 +0000

Come July, I decided to delete all my images from Shutterstock. I only had around 100 uploads there, but after having considered for a while, I just couldn't live with being paid $0.25 per download. In just over three months, I made $98 on 390 downloads. This is the comparable to what I would have made on one download of a medium-sized royalty-free image at the PhotoShelter Collection, to where I am slowly moving my portfolio.

There's a lot of discussion on the web about the extremely low royalties being paid from microstock sites. My current earnings at iStockphoto amount to just $122, not a whole lot more than what I made at Shutterstock. I will probably upload my best images to PhotoShelter and delete them from iStock and Dreamstime if they get accepted. This is a strategy that seems to be gaining in popularity.

My experience with PhotoShelter so far is mixed. The review times seem to be roughly two weeks, a bit on the long end of the spectrum. Also, the number of views does not impress me so far compared to many other sites. At Shutterpoint I had 4,000 views for about 30 images in six months before I deleted them (but no sales). Some of my images at iStock have been viewed around 500 times. Still, my best-selling image there has only made me $15 in 17 downloads.

My conclusion is that what I was told before I entered the microstock arena is true: Quantity is what matters. You have to create a large portfolio and maintain it by uploading new stuff all the time. In the end, the economics of it settled it for me. I can spend half a day writing a newspaper article and make more money than I make in half a year of shooting, post-processing, uploading, keywording etc. It just isn't worth it unless you start taking pictures of uninteresting things like smiling businessmen in suits against bright blue skies.

From now on then, I'll be trying out PhotoShelter. Their review process should guarantee that I learn something, although my acceptance rate is dangerously high. Are they sloppy to build their numbers? We'll see, and after a while maybe a sale or two will trickle in to keep me alert...