Quote from: Difydave on July 14, 2015, 11:59

$150 an hour would be money well spent I reckon.


The OP wanders in here, and asks for opinions on a PF which is from "A team of professional photographers and graphic designers" according to the blurb on the site where the PF is. Also states that he / she / they intend to upload 500 images a month to all agencies.


Now this isn't some newbie trying to make a few dollars, and willing to learn about the game. This is a professional team, who, let's admit it, should understand the business and (particularly in the case of graphic designers) know what sells at the moment.


In short the competition doing their market research.

You are 100% right  but we have been doing freelancing from last 5 years with clients from USA, UK & Canda, this is first time we are trying to dive into the world of stock photos so wanted your opinion about the initial few photos we uploaded.

Fair enough. It's not as if you are trying to hide who you are.
I reckon you already have the answer above, and what to do about it. Use what you have that is unique to you locally.

Anticipate the sales...

If I could do that, I'd already be a stock photo millionaire.  I am consistently amazed at what sells in this business.  What I consider to be one of the worst medical stock photos ever....poor lighting, bad composition, and one of the first med photos I ever attempted....is also my number 1 seller.  Go figure.

dated and gimmicky

I agree with the comments from Jo An Snover.....  but as far as others saying your photos being copycats of millions of others already for sale I'd say no more copycats than the crap that people keep posting on wood backgrounds and such.  And they never stop; you'll find Halloween, Christmas, Mardi Gras, lights, candles and the list goes on and on.... all on various wooden backgrounds of different shades and colors... You can get some of the fake wood (wallpaper samples) from Home Depot online in the wallpaper section and get free shipping to get you started.  Just saying you may as well get your share of that pie too, just like the other 30 million contributors.

.....  but as far as others saying your photos being copycats of millions of others already for sale I'd say no more copycats than the crap that people keep posting on wood backgrounds and such.  And they never stop; you'll find Halloween, Christmas, Mardi Gras, lights, candles and the list goes on and on.... all on various wooden backgrounds of different shades and colors... You can get some of the fake wood (wallpaper samples) from Home Depot online in the wallpaper section and get free shipping to get you started.  Just saying you may as well get your share of that pie too, just like the other 30 million contributors.

the point is you're not going to make $ by copying for what's already an oversaturated market -- yet another reason why it's hopeless to predict what a given few hundred images will earn

Sean,  just frustrated that I don't seem to find a way to make it worth my while money wise to do any stock photography.  You can't hire models these days to produce a decent shoot because it takes too darn long to get the money back to cover the cost of the shoot, and that's IF you are lucky enough to make it all back.  On a better note though, I was finally able to get total control of the language learning company, and looking to go ahead with versions for Iphone, Ipad, Android and Windows, as well as possibly a web based version all done in XOJO.... and a youtube channel with some free video lessons as well, so I may be approaching you for a package deal for a whole bunch of photos.  Figured you'd do a lot better that way than getting the sub sale price on the site where I sell my photos.  Glad you got your several thousand stock shoots with models back in the day when it paid off.  At least newcomers with any brains won't try going after that piece of the pie, unless they feel like losing money

500 images is very ambitious

I think for fotolia that's 2.1 dollars only.

To the OP...Yes your port is dated, so is mine and so is just about everyone here. In My time of selling and doing Images professionally Looooog before microstock I learned one thing.  NO ONE knows what will sell. NO ONE.At least no one i've ever met from the stock world to the fineart world. Your work is very reminiscent of 2003/2004/05 kinda stuff. Hell, Maybe that will come around again but in My honest view your in a uphill Battle.


"Being Unique" Being Unique is quite simple really all it means is try and forget what you think will sell "No one has that answer" concentrate on what turns you on as a artist or creative person, that is what will separate you from the pack and trust me, The buyers will find YOU.


I know for a fact there are 25 things that no one has shot 50 ft from where you are right now. Your job as an Image maker is to see them. anyone can do whats been done. The true talent is being original and unique and trying to escape that "BOX" we got ourselves into and one of the reasons I Paint, ....To escape and do something for me.

Give it a try.Loose the business guys shaking Hands or holding laptops type of work. It's not retro enough yet.
But, Hold on to it....LOL
I search and look at work constantly. I haven't seen anything fresh in a long time. thank goodness the Instagram,Faded Polaroid,Back Lit,bleached out Blurry Look is coming to an End.
Good Luck.

furthermore, take a look at the most seen ads on social medias.  floppy tummy, celulite, wrinkle,.. before and after.  need we say more. most of these i am sure came from microstock.

hey, you must take all these not to nice comments with a grain of salt.
just go to ss forum and look at those "my latest download" threads and you will see that all those
whoopy yea sales images are even more crappy and same old same old.

fact is, there are lots of ppl uploading the same old same old stuff even after having 6 digit numbers to their portfolio . unfortunately, boring is what keep microstock alive.

then again what do you expect for pennies per download.
just don't pay too much for a model or rent a studio, because you will never recover that outlay
unless you also have tons of same old same old. it's all a numbers game, nothing to do with
good photography, these days.

get a chimp , set the PNS to high multiple frame shooting mode,
and then submit them . you probably get past the robot-reviewer.
    ... but seriously... you never can tell with microstock

I know for a fact there are 25 things that no one has shot 50 ft from where you are right now. Your job as an Image maker is to see them. anyone can do whats been done. The true talent is being original and unique and trying to escape that "BOX" we got ourselves into .

You can have any number of unique subjects, but that's no good on the micros unless they attract multiple buyers. The true talent would be to see what is unique and which there is a market for.

To Update you all,
I've now manged to upload 132 vector, photos on my Port so please go through my work again & give me an estimate of sale per day.

The link: https://www.fotolia.com/p/205687351

Thank you!