Quote from: cthoman on May 25, 2013, 10:15

Calculate your RPI (royalty per image) for each agency per month by dividing your income by the number of images online. You might want to take an average over several months to get a more accurate number. Add all the agencies together, then divide that by your financial goal. That will be the number of images you need. That number may change along the way, so reevaluate occasionally.

And try to have some fun too. 

unfortunately, such calculations rely on the completely unsupported assumption that all the images in your current portfolios produce the same income and all the images you later submit produce the same RPI -- instead, say, your portfolio at SS is 1000 but 20 of those images produce 50% (or 70, or 90%) of your income.  so any predictions based on volume alone are meaningless - you could double your income with just another 50 images, and might not double it with another 2000

Quote from: Mantis on May 25, 2013, 08:07

Quote from: stockmarketer on May 25, 2013, 06:45

Unfortunately, your living situation in a national park is tempting you to focus on wildlife shots.  Think like a buyer.  How often will those tree or animal shots be needed?  Doubling your challenge is the matter of over saturation.  What will make yours stand out from the thousands of others just like them.  The demand is not there and the supply is too overabundant for you to hit your target in wildlife photography.

My top 10 wildlife earners are giving me a RPI of $10.29. and my best is giving me an RPI of $21.69.  Most of them have been selling for a few years now. I do not know whether this is good or bad for 1 specific genre but I do know that what I am uploading now is of better quality than what is on my portfolio so I am hoping to get more images giving these returns

400 images at an RPI of $5.00 will give me my target. Rather that than 2000 with RPI of $1.00 - well that's the dream anyway

My thought process so far has been that I should build a high quality portfolio of wildlife images while living in this unique environment and then when I move to a town (which will be soon) I will branch into other subject matters. I do agree that I would not be able to earn a living on a wildlife portfolio but it is an area where i am an expert (and passionate) at so i wanted to take advantage of that.

Interesting thought, Jasmine.  I've said for seven or eight years now that at some point the falling returns and the rising standards must result in microstock becoming completely unattractive to new entrants. Maybe that time has arrived.  The last person I referred to SS was a retired studio photographer who gave me useful lessons in lighting glassware - and he failed the entrance test. Without SS, a newbie is pretty much scuppered. In any case, in every area of stock today you are competing with some people who are expert at the genre and you need to be able to match their skills (often acquired over several years) in order to have a chance of selling.

I know I've felt a lack of incentive to keep going in the last couple of months. I'm pushing myself to get back into it now.

Quote from: Donvanstaden on May 26, 2013, 00:56

Quote from: Mantis on May 25, 2013, 08:07

Quote from: stockmarketer on May 25, 2013, 06:45

Unfortunately, your living situation in a national park is tempting you to focus on wildlife shots.  Think like a buyer.  How often will those tree or animal shots be needed?  Doubling your challenge is the matter of over saturation.  What will make yours stand out from the thousands of others just like them.  The demand is not there and the supply is too overabundant for you to hit your target in wildlife photography.

My top 10 wildlife earners are giving me a RPI of $10.29. and my best is giving me an RPI of $21.69.  Most of them have been selling for a few years now. I do not know whether this is good or bad for 1 specific genre but I do know that what I am uploading now is of better quality than what is on my portfolio so I am hoping to get more images giving these returns

400 images at an RPI of $5.00 will give me my target. Rather that than 2000 with RPI of $1.00 - well that's the dream anyway

My thought process so far has been that I should build a high quality portfolio of wildlife images while living in this unique environment and then when I move to a town (which will be soon) I will branch into other subject matters. I do agree that I would not be able to earn a living on a wildlife portfolio but it is an area where i am an expert (and passionate) at so i wanted to take advantage of that.

Will you be a beginner in the other genres? Moving from wildlife to studio 'lifestyle' is an enormous change, and you'll be up against all the established experts. Do you even know if you'd enjoy doing it? And it's a considerable outlay.
If it's any consolation, the vice is also versa and I've seen a couple of high diamonds (lifestyle) at iStock go on safari and produce 'OK' photos, often wrongly identified.
For serious wildlife, particuarly unusual species that you have regular access to in a national park, a macro agency would be worth investigating, as serious wildlife buyers don't buy from general sites.

Quote from: Donvanstaden on May 26, 2013, 11:47

I also do food photography but have been saving all my food shots for a different project which will require exclusive use. As soon is that project is complete I will start uploading f & b images as well. I hope this will help give my earning a boost. The project was a cook book for a group of hotels and also involved candid portraits of staff and property and I had had the time of my life working on it.

You should definitely try to stay in with the people you have met whilst shooting food professionally and see if you cannot shoot some more with them for stock. Perhaps in exchange for doing free work for them if necessary. If you have been working in a bigger kitchen then maybe the line chefs or the commis would be willing to work with you. Even the kitchen assistants if, say, they are great at chopping. Micro stock has a lack of content shot in professional kitchens. If you can get a foot in the door in those sorts of places it could be a good opportunity.