Ok, we all recognize the technical perfection. The clean, bright, albeit somewhat flat look. The well thought out sets and compositions.

However, I would argue that above all else the secret to Mr. Arcurs success are his models.
He has mentioned on several occasions that he uses agency models and it shows.
I even remember reading on one occasion that he flew in a Russian model for a shoot.
All of his models; male, female, young & old are stunning. Who would not want these people to represent their product or company?

So how is this done? In the Los Angeles region where I am, agency's frown on their models being used for microstock. It dilutes their value.
Not to mention the additional cost of going through an agency to hire models. Ideas? Insights anyone?

http://pdnpulse.com/2010/12/you-thought-conde-nast-was-only-cheap-to-photographers.html

Looks like I could get a top end high fashion model for less than a normal 'day' rate on MM 

Being from Southern California, my port is understandably devoid of much in the way of winter themes.
I have however recently uploaded some winter 'concept' shots that are not getting much attention as of yet.

So, my question is: at what point in the year do people normally see winter/xmas themed images start to move?

The new iPhone App is up & running and available from the App store.

Has anyone tried it out yet?
Thoughts?

Its spring break here in the US.
Should we expect slow sales this week?

For those of us that from time to time do location shoots; do you carry liability insurance?
If so, who is your carrier and are you happy with them?

HI All,

I had the FIOTW on iStock last week.
I was pretty excited to see it featured on the front page and it generated well over 54,000 views over the weeks time.

I also had a few downloads of related images this week (same model), so there has been a small amount of action from it, but not nearly what I was hoping for from the exposure.

Has anyone else here had a similar experience?
Is donating images to be used as traffic generators a waste of time?

Your thoughts please.

I have just had today, my first image ever to pass the $200 mark.
This is with only 50 downloads.

That is the power of Vetta.

I think I feel a 'woo-yay' coming on 

I don't too often shoot outdoors, but I do the occasional beach shoot.

Usually I attempt early AM or late afternoon to avoid the harsh shadows of the sun, but that also means I often wind up with an overcast looking sky.

So how much power is really needed to over-power overhead full daylight?
I currently have two 330 ws and two 660 ws strobes.

The shot below was done using the two 660 ws strobes connected to a Vagabond battery pack. Even with that much power going for me, I had to have an assistant cut the ambient with a diffusion cloth held to the models left.
Shot @ 1/125 f7.1

Has anyone else noticed that this weeks Photographer of the Week also had a Photo of the Week back in April?

Here is the previous discussion: http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/ha-ha-ha-istock-photo-of-the-week/

Well it is late June and school is out here in the US.
My sales have become slow and the downloads that I do get are in the smaller/cheaper sizes as of late.

I know that I am not alone, and others are seeing a similar sales slump.

So the question is; when do we start to pick up again?
Is it as I suspect that around late August/early September when school starts back up and people return from vacation?
Or is there some other dynamic that I am unaware of (besides the present stinking world economy) that affects the yearly cycle?

Also wondering if I should hold off from uploading finished edits at this time and wait until near the end of summer to keep them 'fresh'.

Regards,
Joseph

I have often assumed that microstock buyers were either designers for magazine/print/web advertising and/or buyers for small organizations such as churches and schools that need images for web sites and brochures.

Today I met with a potential client; a cosmetic surgeon who wanted high end glamor 'after' shots of some of his patients for his web site. When I arrived at his sumptuous office I noticed several poster size prints that I recognized as the work of several different microstock photographers.

As the good doctor was gushing (no really he was) over my print portfolio, I casually mentioned that I also was an exclusive on iStock.
To my surprise he was very familiar with IS, and DT but none of the other big six. He did mention several other sites like Crestock and a few that I had never heard of. 

Of major interest to me was the fact that he felt there was a lot of low end garbage on IS and had trouble locating the sort of shots that he wanted on IS. On the other hand he did mention that he thought the prices were good. He even was savvy enough to keep a lightbox on IS. Obviously, he needs training in using search terms to find what he is looking for.

I am beginning to wonder how many sales many of us are missing, not because we don't have good keywording, but because the clients are not full time image  buyers and don't know how to search effectively?