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Topics - crazychristina
1
« on: March 27, 2013, 20:02 »
My best selling image by far on IS has been [link deleted]. I was surprised when it was accepted on istock in the first place (no dynamic range to speak of). I'm pondering my submission of 10 images to SS at the moment and am wondering if I should include it in the selection. Any other tips on what to choose would be good too, as I believe SS has different standards to IS and I don't want to choose the wrong stuff to submit.
2
« on: February 22, 2013, 17:00 »
...as distinct from no longer istock exclusive, which will take another couple of weeks. I've uploaded an initial four images to Alamy that I intend to sell RM. My main reason is that I've decided to actually make a business of this instead of just a hobby that helps to pay for itself. And that istock rejects a lot of my work. Ultimate aim is to pay my rent from my images - approx $20,000 (AUD) per year ATM. Good as owning a house, which I don't. I do have another job so it will be pretty part-time. Anyway, will I be accepted? A bit of excitement in life again...
3
« on: February 10, 2013, 01:21 »
I know this question has come up before but I've never been able to quite get my head around how to proceed. I live in Australia. I'm a hobbyist who makes a loss on my photography and my turnover is less than $20,000. The Australian Tax Office doesn't want me claiming my hobby losses against my main income so at the moment I don't declare my stock income/losses and everyone's happy.
I'm currently an istock exclusive and they don't issue any forms, don't withhold any tax, and all is simple. However if I go indie I need to deal with SS (and others). They withhold 30% and issue forms and put me in a position I don't want (or need to be in) - dealing with tax as a business when I the ATO would rather I don't. The advice I've seen involves sending my passport off to the US or something and I really don't want to do that.
Are there any Australians here who have found a sensible solution to this state of affairs?
4
« on: January 23, 2013, 17:23 »
I'm currently an istock exclusive thinking of going indie. This is partly due to the current issues, but I do have other considerations. My port is approx 600 photos, but I am trying to diversify into 3D renders and I'm finding that istock rejects most of my work in this area. If you're interested you can check my work on istock. The renders are fairly recent so search by age. Question is do other agencies accept renders more readily than istock does? While I can see the reason for most photo rejects I don't get much useful out of 'the quality of this render is not good enough'. I'm at an impasse with it and want to find a way forward again. I probably will drop the crown due to all these other issues, although I'm not convinced that other agencies are fundamentally better. I've seen some pretty severe criticism of all major agencies on this forum. Being a libran I'll take my time to make my decision. I have already deactivated a few images that I really don't want unrestricted use of out in the wild. Anyway I'm a very small player, and not really at risk with no Agency or Vettas.
5
« on: September 29, 2010, 07:19 »
Does this happen on other sites? New files are not showing up in portfolios or search on istock at the moment. Apparently it's a hardware problem - not the first. I'm trying to get back into it and files approved days ago have vanished into limbo. I'm wondering if it might be worth the trouble to upload to multiple sites after all.
6
« on: September 18, 2010, 15:57 »
I see that Yuri is currently at >990,000 on istock.
7
« on: September 18, 2010, 03:54 »
There are already signs of external search engines that will find images across all microsites. I envisage that this will eventually become the default way that images are searched for - best image at best price. When that day arrives there won't be much point having our images on more than one site. But how far away is it? And which site would be the best, if you choose only one?
8
« on: September 17, 2010, 16:43 »
I'm contemplating upgrading my camera to one with high res (as in MP). I'm currently using a Pentax K20D at approx. 14MP. Currently I'm istock exclusive, but may not remain so if I can thrive better elsewhere. I have heard that some buyers prefer to buy images where larger sizes are available, even if they're not buying the larger size. Something about respecting photographers more who have better equipment. Also, of course, buyers sometimes need larger images. Any thoughts on this? Alamy is also a prospect if I renounce exclusivity.
A related issue - I believe a few contributors don't upload their largest file size to sub sites. Is this general practice?
9
« on: September 11, 2010, 16:53 »
3D is improving all the time. Avatar was pretty impressive. Eventually high quality renders of people and products (and landscapes?) will match photography for content creation. There are already programs that can dial up a person to specification, and changing clothing/hairstyles/accessories will be a breeze. It's only a matter of time. Take a look at
by Olivier Ponsonnet. I think the last example is particularly impressive.
10
« on: September 10, 2010, 22:28 »
With most contributors focusing on the changes to royalties, I believe a much bigger bomb is about to drop on istock. From KTs original post: Vetta Collection Changes
Effective September 27, 2010
Vetta has been more successful than we ever thought possible. It's been a wakeup call to the industry--it's that good. Vetta has far surpassed the definition of microstock and is underpriced when looking at any of its competitors. As such, we will be increasing the prices for Vetta content as well as adjusting Vetta royalties, which will now range from 22, 24, 26, 28, & 30% when sold on iStock. Even with the decrease in royalties, this will be a net gain for contributors, and customers are still getting one of the best collections in the world at a fraction of traditional stock pricing.
The Vetta Collection will now be mirrored at Getty Images under their traditional license model. We've been doing similar content mirroring with iStock Vectors and Videos for several months now, with exceptional results.
The Agency Collection
Effective September 2010
Later this month we will introduce a new collection here at iStock--it will be the first time we've allowed outside agencies on the site. The Agency Collection will feature some of the world's best photographers and agencies, selected by Content teams at Getty Images and iStock. Later in the month, we'll be inviting select iStock photographers to submit to the collection as well.
The Agency Collection will be priced at a premium to Vetta and will be available on iStock, Getty Images, Jupiter and PunchStock.
Exclusive iStock contributors will be invited on an individual basis to add their content to this collection. We will pay a modified royalty for the Agency Collection that fits between traditional stock and current iStock royalties. The royalty range for this collection will be: 22, 24, 26, 28, & 30% when sold on iStock. For content sold off of iStock, all royalties will be 20%. istock is going midstock, with current Getty pros dominating. The micro collections will become the new Dollar Bin. Most current contributors will become irrelevant. Vetta has proved that the market can bear it.
11
« on: September 10, 2010, 01:43 »
The decision to go exclusive with istock or remain independent has always seemed something of a line ball for most people, financially speaking. Surely the significant decrease in royalties for most active istock exclusives (not talking about the bulk of inactive/bronze contributors here) makes this decision much easier. Quite apart from righteous anger as an excuse to jump ship, won't istock see a much smaller growth in new contributors henceforth? Maybe they don't care as the majority of their sales come from just a few top contributors anyway.
12
« on: September 01, 2010, 14:41 »
The qualifying round for the istock Battle Royale has started. First prize $5000 + Wacom Cintiq.
13
« on: June 30, 2010, 17:57 »
I see Yuri is over 920,000 on istock at the moment. Won't be too long before he hits the million. I wonder if there'll be any official recognition?
14
« on: June 15, 2010, 17:59 »
Can't get past the log in window - anyone else having problems? It might be a problem with the network I'm on.
15
« on: April 24, 2010, 18:30 »
We all know that Lise Gagne is on the verge of 1 million downloads on istock. I thought Yuri, at 860,000+ was second, but the i stock contributor charts shows two mystery people above him. One is obviously lise. So who's the other? ETA: After the server problems istock had a little while ago a couple of contributors were reporting that their stats showed millions of downloads. Perhaps one of those has gone unrectified. Or maybe I'm missing someone obvious.
16
« on: April 09, 2010, 23:05 »
I've subscribed to the site's feed with RSSOwl, but it would be nice if each post listed the author without having open the page to find it. There generally is a field in the rss format for post author.
17
« on: April 08, 2010, 19:30 »
The site doesn't seem to be loading at the moment. With all the server problems a couple of weeks ago one has to wonder if they have the worst IT infrastructure in the industry.
18
« on: March 27, 2010, 01:57 »
I have a need to slide a camera in portrait position sideways to take two overlapping portrait shots and stitch to make a square image. I have a manfrotto tripod with standard tilt head (not ball head), but finding some bracket that can attach to it which has a right angle to hold the camera vertically and also allows sliding is problematic. I do have a straight sliding bracket that can fit to tripod and camera, but I need the right angle. Any suggestions would be welcome.
19
« on: March 22, 2010, 15:30 »
Most people are probably aware of istocks new star Elena Viverskaya aka Olena Chernenko. 0 to exclusive in about a month, and all of her port bar one now in Vetta. Helped by Image of the Week last week and an istock HotShot as well. Her work is composited from photographs and hand-drawn elements, very artistic but I don't imagine she'll be producing at a very great rate. There's not much of this sort of work on microstock so it will be interesting to see how viable it is. Almost certainly not in the regular collection, but with Vetta, who knows. ETA There are a few artists in the Steel Cage who could produce this style of work but the rarely do for istock, tending to produce mostly simple illustrations icons, etc.
20
« on: January 02, 2010, 06:49 »
David Revoy is concept artist for the new Blender open movie Sintel (Project Durian).
he demonstrates the use of open source software in his workflow. Alchemy/MyPaint/GIMP.
21
« on: December 18, 2009, 16:31 »
KT has announced exclusives grandfathered to next canister level numbers. Announcement here.
22
« on: December 16, 2009, 16:03 »
It's a long long time since I read Alvin Toffler's Future Shock. I'm pretty sure that's where I first encountered the idea that there is no such thing as a lifelong career anymore. I think he cited that the average person would have five different careers during their lifetime. I'm on my fourth (not counting microstock which isn't at the level of a career yet for me). I must admit I'm pretty surprised at what seems to be the underlying expectation of many microstockers - that they will be still doing this in 10 - 20 years time. Seems unlikely to me.
23
« on: December 12, 2009, 06:44 »
Some time ago istock reduced the requirement for bronze from 500 to 250 because, I believe, it had become a lot harder for newcomers to reach 500, and because that was the level required to go exclusive. Now it's going back to 500 and getting there hasn't got any easier. If the bias against non-exclusives increases or even if it just stays the same it will be very difficult for newcomers, with small portfolios, few upload slots and no promotion on the site to ever reach the point where they can choose to go exclusive and improve their prospects. The effect of this must surely to be to block access to all but the most talented. They can't be saving much money by doubling that particular cannister requirement, and yet it will probably have the most profound effect in the long term.
24
« on: October 25, 2009, 02:56 »
mevans has just reached black diamond status on istock. That's two 3D artists in that rare group now (the other is alexsl). Their styles are totally different, but obviously 3D can take you a long way (if you're good enough of course).
25
« on: September 25, 2009, 19:21 »
For artists who contribute both photos and vectors, what's the breakdown in terms of royalties for those two classes of media? I'm working at becoming a vector contributor on istock, and am wondering what to expect when I succeed.
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