I finally decided to start with AI Generated images. I read a few articles, watch a few video and so far the process looks simple

1) Generate image with Midjourney. It look like it's the best generator now
2) Upscale with Topaz Gigapixel AI or Topaz Photo AI. Which one is better?
3) Create description, upload
4) Profit!

What I'm missing?

I finally decided to start with AI Generated images. I read a few articles, watch a few video and so far the process looks simple

1) Generate image with Midjourney. It look like it's the best generator now
2) Upscale with Topaz Gigapixel AI or Topaz Photo AI. Which one is better?
3) Create description, upload
4) Profit!

What I'm missing?

if the image is sharp & noise free, use gigapixel, if it needs work, use photo AI and then upsize

5) Practice counting the number of fingers

I plan to avoid fingers

Quote from: Injustice for all on May 07, 2024, 14:24

strange is that now that you have decided to start with AI I have decided to stop with AI!
...
 I am more focused on doubling my "real" video library by the end of the month,and in general I'm more focused on "real" content.

I'm kind of bored with "real" content and want to try something new.

and you are right to do so! 

in any case from what I saw up until December AI content sold more easily,but maybe it's just me.

However I bet you will soon get bored with AI,since you have skills with real content,in my opinion you will soon want to go back to using your skills.

the problems with AI content are review times and rejections,and then they are easily replicable by anyone,you have to produce thousands of them to start earning something acceptable,furthermore they do not maintain the position achieved,real contents are more stable,while AI contents are more volatile.

but these are just my impressions,for others perhaps it is different.

Quote from: Injustice for all on May 07, 2024, 14:24

Quote from: Unamas on May 07, 2024, 11:49

I finally decided to start with AI Generated images. I read a few articles, watch a few video and so far the process looks simple

1) Generate image with Midjourney. It look like it's the best generator now
2) Upscale with Topaz Gigapixel AI or Topaz Photo AI. Which one is better?
3) Create description, upload
4) Profit!

What I'm missing?

strange is that now that you have decided to start with AI I have decided to stop with AI!

I didn't sell even one of the last 115 AI images I made,which have been on sale for about a couple of months,in December instead I had about twenty for sale and I sold 3 of them.

anyway it's ok maybe they will sell later,frankly I'm realizing that this AI content is a flash in the pan.

the fact remains that in any case it is better to try to do everything,at the moment however I am more focused on doubling my "real" video library by the end of the month,and in general I'm more focused on "real" content.

Unfortunately this volume of images would be profitable 15 years back. Today you need put two more digits like 11500 images in order to make some sales conclusions. This days we need volume and quality(and diversity), not just quality like in the golden days. Talking about AI images you even have to multiply it by three.

it's impossible for me to produce 115 "real" content and not sell at least 4-5 of them in a week or two.

from my experience real content sells much easier.

and since I noticed that in the last 115 AI contents that have been approved,I haven't sold a single one,that's enough for me to know that I sell real contents more easily.

as I said in December,however,I noticed that I was able to sell AI content much more easily,so if it has already become more difficult to sell AI content,let alone in a year!

this is why I prefer to produce real content.

A few other things:

a) Remove 'watermarks' (periodically midjourney puts those in). Watermarks = copyright protection measures = meaning content was created based off of stolen content.
b) Look for artifacts, edit/crop/etc those (time consuming, i.e., 7 fingers, three legs, etc)
c) "profit" - depends what you classify as "profit". It seems to be hit/miss - "sometimes" people do get "lucky" and have their portfolio take off - but from what I've seen - in general it seems they need 5,000+ assets ("ai images") to get "1000" downloads, and since a download can be as low as (I think it is $0.25), that means basically you'd "profit" with $250 for 5,000 assets. And - it can take 3-4 months before you get that "1000" download mark (aka $0.05/image), meaning - you are basically getting $50-$60/month for however long it takes you to create, keyword/describe, touchup/correct, upload, categorize, etc 5,000 images... assuming you did 100 images/hour (50 hours), $250/50 hours = means you basically make $5/hr... which - is probably why the majority of new "content creators" are coming from countries like east india, where "$5 USD" could/would be considered "good" money... if you processed LESS than 100 images/hr (more likely the case because of the worked involved) - it's more like $2-$3/hr...

So... Is $2-$3/hr a good rate for you?

Quote from: SuperPhoto on May 12, 2024, 14:04

Is $2-$3/hr a good rate for you?

but I will be getting this money forever

I like a your profile image ( a dime $.10) because that is what what we get from Shutter all the time lol!  Good luck and may the force be with you.

Quote from: Unamas on May 14, 2024, 12:29

Quote from: SuperPhoto on May 12, 2024, 14:04

Is $2-$3/hr a good rate for you?

but I will be getting this money forever

I like a your profile image ( a dime $.10) because that is what what we get from Shutter all the time lol!  Good luck and may the force be with you.

You'll like this one too?

You really miss a couple of crucial things here

1. The fast and easy part
It is not 'create and upload' gig. You will need to post-process them beyond upscaling. Removing artifacts, strange objects that AI adds once in a while, adjusting colours sometimes, etc. Your best bet would be 10-15 mins per image + keywording. You need at least 1k images to start selling consistently (just my estimation), so you are looking into quite a serious time investment.

2. The profit part
a. As with any other field you need to provide content that is on demand and it is good quality and commercially viable. You won't have these images sell just because they are uploaded
b. You still need to pay around $35US (if memory serves me) to Midjourney, so you need to sell at leat twice as that from your AI to be able to justify it

3. The competition
You are facing an uphill battle against tons of images that are already there, you are a bit late to the game. So your best-case scenario is definitely not a quick profit

4. The patience part
Due to the influx of people trying to do the same the review times are excruciatingly painful and slow. The process of building a 1K port might take 6 months.

Quote from: Unamas on May 14, 2024, 12:29

Quote from: SuperPhoto on May 12, 2024, 14:04

Is $2-$3/hr a good rate for you?

but I will be getting this money forever

no you won't. your images are not living alone, they are in a sea of millions of other very similar files you are competing with.

even if you get lucky and you actually have a file that sells well and makes its way to page one of a search term...you will get instant copies by other "inspired" artists.

with ai it is extremely easy to copy not just ideas, but the actual composition, you can choose simlar models, styling, locations.

ai is a great tool, but the easy gold rush is over.

now you need to work with complex prompts to make it less easy to copy.

so when you create content and get something you really like...please check if the exact same image has not already been  uploaded 2000 times...

if you work hard and have a few thousand files you can build a regular income. but it will take 2-3 years to become intersting.

you also need to do normal photos and videos, to get income from the agencies who do not take ai.

Right. I suggest anyone new stick with the idea that many years of hard work, will possibly produce some residual income. After that, don't count the money or spend it, before you have it. Nothing in Microstock is forever. Make AI now, learn and keep the door open to moving past that.

How much AI can you jam onto the market, before there's just too much? Individual and unique, useful images, will always be more valuable than many, many, of the S.O.S. The more I look at AI, the more it looks the same and similar to all the rest of the AI images. It has a look, style and appearance, that's what AI looks like. The look is becoming that's had it's time and will be like all the rest, eventually.

Sorry but drone video is also reaching that same over abundance. While it's much better and more creative, the angles and distinctive look and feel, is becoming, everyday.

...
How much AI can you jam onto the market, before there's just too much? Individual and unique, useful images, will always be more valuable than many, many, of the S.O.S. The more I look at AI, the more it looks the same and similar to all the rest of the AI images. It has a look, style and appearance, that's what AI looks like. The look is becoming that's had it's time and will be like all the rest, eventually.
...

but that applies to other stock as well, with at least an order of magnitude more images to compete against... plus ca change...

I have upload more than 100000 AI files to adobe stock. And I have developed some tools to help me to get it.
Such as
keywording automatically.
upscaling automatically.
remove the background automatically.
Upload automatically.

SO if you have some questions, You can ask me.

Ok, I'll bite.

How do you remove the background automatically to produce good pngs?

I always have to refine every single file, so I find producing pngs quite tedious.

Do you have a good acceptance rate (over 90%)?

Because uploading many files just to have them declined is not very efficient.

Are you having good sales with your port?

50 dollars a week, 500 a week, 5000??? - just a sample range would be interesting for many I am sure.

100k files is what many people dream to have over a lifetime.

You are already there after 18 months.

Everybody has their own process.

For me a 90% acceptance rate is perfectly normal and usually doesn't require any dramatic work. You just need to learn carefully from the declines. Then I don't have to waste the time of the editors.

Also my uploads are designed to support each other. If I lose half, I will get a lot less serial downloads. And the series download client is my favorite

With ai I had to adapt my workflow several times as Adobe evolves their system and suddenly I get mass rejections.

Now I am back to around 80-90%, even on illustrations.

What takes the most work is not file production, whether it is ai or normal photos videos, it is the research that takes up  biggest the bulk of my time. Including learning more about ai.

Although with ai, I still need to produce a large volume of files to get what I want.

Even with Midjourney, I find it really hard to generate the people images I want to produce.

That is where photography has the real advantage. Getting exactly what you want is very, very easy.

But what works for me, does not have to work for others.

I am also curious if uploading 100k files was a group or family effort?

Again nothing wrong with that. Many families who do stock full time as a family business are doing a great job integrating their normal production with ai.

Whatever you do, it has to make money.

Because I can see people who are new to stock, pushing high volume uploads but cannot reach a payout every week.

I guess the market will solve it in the end. They will move on to another online business if it does not work out.