Interesting idea if we talk in generalities. No one wants to give away their secrets but I suspect that no idea is �new� in the world of microstock these days. Yes, there are niches but even those are getting harder to define. My bestseller(s) are images I uploaded in 2006, as well as a few unique illustrations that are actually pretty simple. The photos were taken with a Fuji S602 at a US baseball game of the crowds in the stands. They still sell today (160+ downloads, is that a lot?) even with over 65 thousand other similar images in the database when searching for crowds. When I first sold them they were sold as RF, now they are Editorial as rules have tightened. Even though the people in my shots are the size of fly specks someone in charge was worried that there might a recognizable face in the crowd. Reality was that someone copied the shot and was told that it should be submitted as editorial so they complained about mine which were then changed from RF to Editorial. So much for touting best sellers. Yes, they do get copied.

Of my 126 images I have 25 with no downloads, but 13 were added in the past 2 months and the other 12 in the last 6 months so you can see I add when I�m bored, after I've taken a trip, when I run across an old image I think might sell or come up with a new illustration (I now work in Illustrator all day at my day job but mainly technical stuff). Yes, I delete my �stinkers� (defined by me) if they haven�t sold in 3 years even on the slight chance that one �might� sell. I guess that you could call me a hobbyist even though I�ve done this for a paycheck in the past (product photographer for catalogs, nothing artsy). There are tourist landscape photos in my port as well as flowers and objects and yes, some do sell. I don�t shoot people (other than crowds or editorial while traveling).

Yes, I�m exclusive to DT. My RPD is consistently around 3 dollars, my downloads per image is around 12. I make from 25 to 75 dollars a month for an average of 50, same for each year I�ve been doing this. With those numbers I don�t feel like I really belong on MSG because there are those here with more images and with more dedication. I now realize that many have done this for a living but in 2006 when I joined it was just for fun. I didn�t know it was an �industry� that could make one a good sum of money. Hell, I didn�t even really know what Royalty Free was although I had purchased Rights Managed for an ad agency I worked at (from slides or transparencies). Today I�m also a keymaster so that adds to my microstock income each month (I didn�t count that in my totals). I�ve always leaned towards the technical side of my profession (graphic design) so that has worked out well. Plus, I was always a good speller.

I�m anonymous because of the keymaster thing but if anyone wants to see my port send me a message. The admins at DT probably know I�m here but that being said I try and tell it as I see it so I�m not worried. But, after being online since Al Gore invented the internet I have no desire at fame or for strangers to know my every move. I�m not even on Facebook, or interested. I do know that anyone who wants to track me down can and will. No one is invisible these days.

Interesting idea if we talk in generalities. No one wants to give away their secrets but I suspect that no idea is �new� in the world of microstock these days. Yes, there are niches but even those are getting harder to define. My bestseller(s) are images I uploaded in 2006, as well as a few unique illustrations that are actually pretty simple. The photos were taken with a Fuji S602 at a US baseball game of the crowds in the stands. They still sell today (160+ downloads, is that a lot?) even with over 65 thousand other similar images in the database when searching for crowds. When I first sold them they were sold as RF, now they are Editorial as rules have tightened. Even though the people in my shots are the size of fly specks someone in charge was worried that there might a recognizable face in the crowd. Reality was that someone copied the shot and was told that it should be submitted as editorial so they complained about mine which were then changed from RF to Editorial. So much for touting best sellers. Yes, they do get copied.

Of my 126 images I have 25 with no downloads, but 13 were added in the past 2 months and the other 12 in the last 6 months so you can see I add when I�m bored, after I've taken a trip, when I run across an old image I think might sell or come up with a new illustration (I now work in Illustrator all day at my day job but mainly technical stuff). Yes, I delete my �stinkers� (defined by me) if they haven�t sold in 3 years even on the slight chance that one �might� sell. I guess that you could call me a hobbyist even though I�ve done this for a paycheck in the past (product photographer for catalogs, nothing artsy). There are tourist landscape photos in my port as well as flowers and objects and yes, some do sell. I don�t shoot people (other than crowds or editorial while traveling).

Yes, I�m exclusive to DT. My RPD is consistently around 3 dollars, my downloads per image is around 12. I make from 25 to 75 dollars a month for an average of 50, same for each year I�ve been doing this. With those numbers I don�t feel like I really belong on MSG because there are those here with more images and with more dedication. I now realize that many have done this for a living but in 2006 when I joined it was just for fun. I didn�t know it was an �industry� that could make one a good sum of money. Hell, I didn�t even really know what Royalty Free was although I had purchased Rights Managed for an ad agency I worked at (from slides or transparencies). Today I�m also a keymaster so that adds to my microstock income each month (I didn�t count that in my totals). I�ve always leaned towards the technical side of my profession (graphic design) so that has worked out well. Plus, I was always a good speller.

I�m anonymous because of the keymaster thing but if anyone wants to see my port send me a message. The admins at DT probably know I�m here but that being said I try and tell it as I see it so I�m not worried. But, after being online since Al Gore invented the internet I have no desire at fame or for strangers to know my every move. I�m not even on Facebook, or interested. I do know that anyone who wants to track me down can and will. No one is invisible these days.

If You contributed before 8 years as IS exclusive, what do You think would be for fun as well?
I don`t think so.
Ah, good, gold MS times... which I missed.
 

vegetable - I did not expect it to be my best seller - but it is

My best-seller in terms of number of downloads is an abstract background texture that has sold over 300 times, and for which I had an EL for the first time this month on shutterstock. It has only earned me about $150, so RPD is about $.50.

My best-seller in terms of RF earnings is a lighthouse in Maine that has earned me just under $500. I stopped off there for a couple of hours on the way home from a class at Maine Media College and all told the handful of shots that I've taken of that lighthouse have earned me about $800 in stock photo royalties. Several other photos I took while in Maine (of other locations) have also been high earners as RM stock. Next runner up in terms of most $ earned is a lighthouse from Cape Cod. As with the one from Maine, I have a few different versions of the lighthouse, but one particular shot out-earns all the others by a mile. (I have only included sums earned for stock photo licenses of these images, which have earned me additional sums as cards, iPhone cases and fine art prints). Much higher RPD for these images than for the background.

My  top earner is an image of an iceberg I had no idea I was going to see (out of season) when I went on a whalewatching trip.
My top seller was taken with a Canon G9.

           Here it is and you can make 1000 similar images!

mine was when I dumped some dead trout on the table- goofing off and of course it went on to become one of my best sellers! Hated doing the shot because I had fishing fingers on the camera...

My best-selling image is of a businessman shaking hands with a goldfish, that has jumped out of its bowl, whilst a child blows dandelion seeds across a woman in a floral-print dress who expresses 'freedom' with her arms aloft in a sunny field.

I guess that this woman was with a small microphone to the mouth...

My bestseller was taken 10 years ago with a Canon 300D on a vacation trip to New Zealand. It lay around on my harddrive until I entered microstock about three years later. It is still selling....



I'm not too afraid that somebody will now copy it due to this post.... 

My thought behind this topic was assumption that if you have here linked portfolio to SS, you can always go check for popular. So it is not that big secret. Even though mine is just simple coffee, it can help someone produce similar image but not the same. And I dont mind to share it.

Not yet my best-seller but it and others in the same series are rapidly climbing since I uploaded them.  You're welcome to copy it:



Taken standing on my front deck.  Annoyingly (well less so that my house being flooded, but anyway) my DSLR had died two days before and was in the shop for repairs, so all I had was a G12 (and a lot else on my mind!).

Well it can be worse, so that even giraffes are drowning: