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Adobe Stock / Re: What's Your Lifetime Position on Adboe?
« on: March 01, 2025, 12:38 »
Only 34 people, the forum is broken, can't load, can't save, and what's left is a half dozen people, arguing politics.




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Adobe Stock / Re: What's Your Lifetime Position on Adboe?« on: March 01, 2025, 12:38 »
Only 34 people, the forum is broken, can't load, can't save, and what's left is a half dozen people, arguing politics.
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Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock stock is back to IPO price« on: February 25, 2025, 15:45 »
Yes I hope you are right. Not just editorial. As soon as this merger was announced, Adobe stock went down. SSTK is down, GETY is down. I don't see many people ready to jump into this new plan. Getty just refinanced their debt, which helps a little. SSTK had earnings below expectations and a drop in sold images. They were popular like a fad, when things go up, the advisors sell these stocks to the granny's. SSTK is a dividend stock as well. When the fad slows and the earnings don't reach expectations and people don't see growth in the company or their future, they are pretty fast to abandon and look for something new and better. You can get GETY shares for $2 and change right now. Last 4 months they have been under $3 and treading water. I hate to say it, but this is going to be interesting to watch. We aren't in control we aren't even pawns that are involved in the game or the plans. 28
Adobe Stock / Re: What's your weekly ranking and how many images?« on: February 25, 2025, 15:14 »Good, long Thanks for NOT quoting the short story. ![]() The whole idea, inspired me to create the latest forum poll, and what do you know, people are really doing very well on Adobe, in terms of "Position". Leaf used to do an annual poll, and someone did do one this year, for a general earnings type of thing. In general, and I don't try very hard, I make more from eBay than I do on Microstock. That's just cherrypicking things from the local estate auctions. I'd rather be making photos. You're right, even some of the good and successful people, have other sources of income, that are greater than Microstock. 29
Adobe Stock / Re: What's Your Lifetime Position on Adboe?« on: February 25, 2025, 15:03 »I just recalled that this can be found in the dashboard if you click on lifetime. I had forgotten it was there. I'm pretty sure that it does carry over from Fotolia. And I have to say, WOW I'm impressed with the results so far. Many more people, in the better position than I expected. I should know better. There was a time when the poll results worked and based on what IS reported, the MSG forum was in the top 5% of all IS contributors. 30
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock stock is back to IPO price« on: February 24, 2025, 13:12 »
SSTK reached their 52 week low today $24.30. Seems that something is going on? I'm not "smart money" or some big traders or any of those types.
"Stock photography and footage provider Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) will be reporting earnings tomorrow before market hours." Dividend is going to be 33 on March 6th. Is this low price a lack of confidence? I don't understand how the promise from the merger, which is higher than the current trading price, isn't holding up the value? GETY is at 2.195 right now 31
Shutterstock.com / Re: SS removed the legacy uploader« on: February 24, 2025, 12:44 »I used Chrome instead of Safari today and had no issues with the new uploader. I suppose I could alert SS support about the Safari issues, however often in the past when I have reported bugs the support staff were extremely polite but nothing ever got actioned. Yes, you said that right. It's like, "Thank You, but we're just pretending to care or listen" ![]() Your results could be very helpful to others who use Safari. As I mentioned before, someone I know says her phone doesn't work now. I'm pretty sure she has an iPhone. Next would be, iPhone with something other than Safari, might work. Thanks for the idea. 32
Adobe Stock / What's Your Lifetime Position on Adboe?« on: February 24, 2025, 12:40 »
Hopefully I made these with good limits and definitions to group by the numbers. LIFETIME and you can change your vote, if something changes and you care. I'm not sure how high these go, so I added the 50,000, and also, I know that sometimes people see "- - -" for the lifetime, that comes and goes.
Since it's lifetime, the brackets and position are not likely to have big changes. I expect to move up, as I pass people who quit, and my DL numbers increase over time. I'm fairly sure that these numbers, include Fotolia sales. Someone who was very active there for many years, will hold their position, until we catch up and pass them. 33
Adobe Stock / Re: What's your weekly ranking and how many images?« on: February 24, 2025, 12:26 »Only 1289 people in the world ahead of you. Very small number of people making a living at this while sales and income are dropping. Aside from "where do you live" and all that. And how much is enough to live on. I think the answer to your two part question is both. As an example of the agencies taking too much of a slice for themselves. How would someplace like 123RF or Deposit be able to stay in business, if they paid us a fair share. They are both companies that are staying alive, only because they can still make some sort of profit, from artists who supply images and video for a minuscule earnings reward. Eventually they will fail. I'm surprised they are still in business. Is the cake divided into too small of a slice because of too many contributors? Maybe, but as you pointed out, only the top, the factories and maybe some like Cobalt, who make a serious effort to produce new work, and also study what sells and what's in demand, are making enough to possibly make a living wage from Microstock. Using the more recent number and I still say it's like a cork floating on the waves, the rank/position, goes up and down. What we should be looking at is not the crests and troughs, but the average position. Looking at things daily for a weekly rank is just too many points and too variable. The best view, in my opinion,is at most Monthly, once a month. That number will reflect the income and download, peaks and valleys with the average, in a more sensible form. Looking at daily income from Microstock is just watching too close. Also since there are the obvious trends, Saturday stinks, Sunday isn't very special, Friday people are usually working a short day... weekly average, makes for a smoother viewpoint. Unfortunately the "Position" from Adobe is unreliable in any sense, since it's only downloads, not income. The fact that no one knows how it works and the claim that it's 7 days, including the last 7 days, which is impossible, because it goes back to zero on Sunday night, makes the who idea of watching position, daily, or weekly, even more absurd. Oh yeah, back to the question. Sorry. Yes I think you are right on both points. The agencies don't pay us a fair percentage. Adobe comes the closest, at 33%. The rest that are 15% or the one that includes the silly dime Singles and the reset are a terrible insult. But then, it's a take it or leave it marketplace for many people, as there's no other way to scuffle for nickles and dimes, from making Stock Products. The losers, bottom feeder agencies, don't have enough sales volume to make sense for anyone who's actually trying to make a living from Microstock. The only favorable consideration is, the artist already has all the images, with the data, so it's really not much additional effort to add images to the parasite agencies. On an individual level, that might work and be helpful, but for the entire industry, every time, someone adds images to the parasites that don't pay well and are giving us an insulting low percentage, that undercuts the agencies that do give us a reliable return and volume. So, while we may not be competing directly with our own images, the effect of supporting the parasites is driving the value of the entire market down. And that's where the low paying agencies beat us all into the ground with low pay and low earnings, because too many people are so desperate that they will take fractional cents from places like Freepik or Envato or Miricanvas and so many others. Whether it's 2,000 accounts, or some other debatable number, the point is, there's not enough business, not enough return and not enough money, for someone to make a living wage from Microstock, except for a very small number of people or businesses. That's in the World! Pretty elite business that says, only 1% of the people who are trying to make a living at it, are a success. I will admit, people who try and are serious are more than 1%, it's just that if there are 200,000 people who have something online, the return on that is dismal. Personally, from experience and the past, I'd say it's very possible that 5% of the people who work at Microstock are making a true business profit. For Cobalt as an example, being 2,000 or 3,000 is pretty good and a compliment to her hard work, smart work, paying attention and doing what's right. If I'm usually around 25,000 sometimes higher, sometimes lower, and I represent part time, hobby. That shows something about how few people are serious or making money from this. To be clear, not weeks or months, and I only started when Adobe bought FT, my Lifetime right now is 26,200th. I'm not very good, I don't work hard, I barely have 1,000 images (1,046), I don't do video. 26,200 of all the people on Adobe. What's the message about how successful others are? And Adobe is my best agency right now, but lifetime I've made more on SS or Alamy, since I started in 2008. 34
Off Topic / Re: Still funny? Not anymore?« on: February 24, 2025, 11:44 »This only says that I, unlike you, have been to Spain and know about wine........that says it all! But have you ever been to Milwaukee and had beer from a brewery? How About that? (yes of course I'm kidding, but it makes as much sense as most of the rest of the debate on this topic) ![]() 35
General Stock Discussion / Re: Food Photography Handbook« on: February 24, 2025, 11:31 »
Not my photo, just used for an example. However... Good advice on backgrounds and worth remembering. I also have flooring and counter samples for backgrounds. The further advice on side lighting for food is also always something to remember. Yum, Yum, one of my delicious and attractive food photos. ![]() ![]() 36
Shutterstock.com / Re: SS removed the legacy uploader« on: February 22, 2025, 12:21 »What operating system, computer hardware, browser? We shouldn't have to guess? Honestly no one can give you an accurate, intelligent answer, without knowing what you are using to connect. Oh I see the problem, you're a MAC user. ![]() ![]() Can anyone advise how to use the new version successfully? Can't be answered unless "anyone" knows your OS, computer and browser. And me answering that it works fine for me, doesn't help you at all, even if I tell you my system. Too bad it wasn't easy like, it doesn't work on phones. Good Luck, you aren't the only one with these problems, so maybe all the people who find it isn't working, should get together and share their system configurations and look for the common point of failure. As for the new system, which we didn't ask for and didn't need, I adjusted and adapted and it's better than the old, in many ways, now that I learned how to use it. The catalog manager is not better, it's over complicated and difficult. The sort by "Top Performers" is limited to 25 per page, which is a waste of time, if I'm looking for something. 37
Like this? https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/administrator-zeldin-announces-billions-dollars-worth-gold-bars-have-been-located Just a note. I never said anything about the Ukraine and I have never written anything about the Ukraine on this forum. The government spending and waste isn't limited to Biden, or recent times, just that some of the worst of it and some of the most underhanded, illegal actions, were committed under the Biden administration. There's some concern that he didn't know what was going on, and people under him, were pulling the strings, but in defense, agencies and departments can misuse funds, without the President knowing. ![]() Yes, that's what's going on, these concerns and claims are being investigated. More fraud and illegal activity is being found every day. Stopping the waste is a good project. Just like securing the borders while reducing spending on non-citizens who don't pay taxes and only drain the system. We the people who pay taxes and have, deserve to have that money used for Our Country and our people, first. 38
Like this? https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/administrator-zeldin-announces-billions-dollars-worth-gold-bars-have-been-located
Roughly twenty billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA. This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight, 39
General Stock Discussion / Re: Food Photography Handbook« on: February 21, 2025, 13:02 »wow! Thank you Annie! Amazing! Thanks I don't know if they were awful old blue plates, but eggs for breakfast on a nasty blue plate? At least you guys have some taste in colors. I have generic, kind of white, restaurant and cafeteria plates, so I won't get rejected for the pattern being trademarked. Boring! And I can't defend baked cod dinner, isolated on black. But that's the color of the table top at the hotel. While you wrote the how to book, I could write the how NOT to, from experience and using my own images. I think the positives and how to do things right, is a better approach. This is my kind of blue... ![]() 40
Shutterstock.com / Re: SS removed the legacy uploader« on: February 21, 2025, 12:42 »I tried to use the new one but after I entered my description, keywords, category and Illustration file type and tried to submit, most of what I had entered disappeared!... Same for me, no problems. I will say that someone else told me, laptops and desktops work fine, phones and tablets don't. There could be an answer in that. I'm on a desktop, running windows 10 and using Firefox. Most of the time, on any site that I have problems, it turns out Firefox is the worst and Chrome or Edge work better. So as always, when someone says, some site or software isn't working, the first thing they should include is, the hardware, OS and Browser, otherwise the answers might mean nothing and make no sense. Example: I tried to use the new one but after I entered my description, keywords, category and Illustration file type and tried to submit, most of what I had entered disappeared! I tried doing it in different orders, and saving multiple times during the process but no matter what I did I lost my inputs and couldn't submit. I ended up using the suggestion above about getting to the legacy version via the keywording tool and was able to submit that way. Can anyone advise how to use the new version successfully? What operating system, computer hardware, browser? We shouldn't have to guess? Honestly no one can give you an accurate, intelligent answer, without knowing what you are using to connect. 41
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock is an embarassment« on: February 21, 2025, 12:31 »
Actually one striking reason the stock has fallen is pretty simple. The Merger, makes it a dead corporation. No future, no gains, no potential.
The Merger terms: Shutterstock investors will receive $28.85 per share in cash for each share they own. However, Shutterstock shareholders can elect to receive GETY stock, or a combination of cash and stock as an alternative. I could understand if someone paid the fees for buying the stock and the cost was under $28,85 a share. Small gains, but no point, because the stock is going to be deactivated. Maybe people are dumping their SSTK shares, because they don't want Getty stock? And I didn't find the cash and stock offer. If the value of the Getty stock plus the cash, is $26.11 which is what SSTK is listed at right now, that all makes perfect sense. Should I buy all the SSTK I can afford at $26 and then take the $28.85 a share and pay the short term capitol gains tax? A little help on this: Short-term capital gains tax is a tax on profits from the sale of an asset held for one year or less. Short-term capital gains are taxed according to your ordinary income tax bracket: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% or 37%. So I buy SSTK for $26.11, 1,000 shares @ $26.11 for $26,110 plus the brokerage fees. If there's a merger, I get $28,850 for a profit of $2,740 then I pay 25% income tax, and I made $2000 profit for risking my $26,110 on the bet that the merger will go through, as planned. That's why the stock is at $26.11 right now. Potential investment profit and loss, nothing else. Someone with $27,000 to risk, might not think that $2,000 is enough profit? 42
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock is an embarassment« on: February 21, 2025, 11:53 »@Uncle Pete Guiding strategy is what I was talking about, that is good and knowing the market, the trends an demands. Watching some unreliable, inconsistent, unexplained "Position" that's only relative to others downloads (maybe?) that doesn't match our actual downloads or anything else, is a waste of time. Position is relative and only compares us to, others, where we don't know what they have uploaded or what they sold. The data is just a number. There is no accurate data to analyze. "I believe that all these numbers are useful to guide strategies." If you are looking at what sells, and where and for how much. Yes. The only way to see ahead. Any errors are all mine, and I know I'm the one who made them. ![]() 43
General Stock Discussion / Re: Food Photography Handbook« on: February 21, 2025, 11:39 »wow! Thank you Annie! Amazing! Thanks Everyone who knows anything, knows you never serve food or take food photos, on a BLUE PLATE! ![]() ![]() 44
Off Topic / Re: Still funny? Not anymore?« on: February 21, 2025, 11:27 »What happened to eggs in the US? Why do 10 eggs cost more than $10? Why do people fight over eggs in stores? Are chickens scared of Trump and have they stopped laying eggs? I know this isn't shouting, politics, blaming, or making biased accusations, but... eggs are not 10 eggs for $10. I bought eggs yesterday and they were under $10 for 18 grade A extra large eggs. And now everyone, please go back to blaming Biden for the virus, or Trump for not curing it, when the bird flu didn't ask if the chickens were Democrats, Republican or Independents, before it started to spread. ![]() Bird Flu, 1878 in Italy, first description. 1995 an outbreak in China. "This current outbreak, from a strain that emerged among poultry flocks and wild birds in Europe in the fall of 2020" (USA Today) 2021: H5N1 first detected in North America, in poultry and in a great black-backed gull in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. As I see it, the whole problem is created by free range fowl, allowed to mingle with the wild populations, that have carried the disease, in the wild. Now it is allowed to spread through controlled populations, which mingle with wild disease carrying birds. So much for all the new age food fads people. That's what caused the spread of the deadly virus, and the increased price of eggs. Not politicians. 45
Site Related / Re: Site Speed« on: February 20, 2025, 12:25 »Yep - there was a database error. I got it fixed yesterday morning. ![]() 46
Off Topic / Re: Still funny? Not anymore?« on: February 20, 2025, 12:02 »Sadly, it hasn't really been funny since about 2015. As a citizen of the USA, I apologize to the world for all the damage we are causing and will cause in the future. I have never supported him and am utterly baffled why ~33% of the voters did, but due to our outdated system it was enough to put him back in power. He is causing enough damage legally, not to mention the illegal power grabs underway. It would be slightly funny and interesting to watch if it wasn't happening to my country and the world we all have to live in. Funny how people will try to twist the statistics to fit their personal agenda. Trump won, it wasn't a mandate, but he got the most votes and the most electoral votes. These two facts don't take sides or bending, to understand. The 2024 election was the tenth presidential election in a row in which the margin of victory in the popular vote was in the single digits. If "Did Not Vote" had been a presidential candidate, they would have beaten Donald Trump by 9.1 million votes, and they would have won 21 states, earning 265 electoral college votes to Trump's 175 and Harris's 98. https://www.environmentalvoter.org/updates/2024-was-landslidefor-did-not-vote None of the above would have won? ![]() 47
Shutterstock.com / Re: I didn't notice, since I have stopped uploading« on: February 19, 2025, 15:16 »
What merger? There hasn't been one, so no one knows, not Getty and not SS. I played with the new system today. It felt a bit clunky but that's probably because I'm not used to it. I did an upload and was able access the legacy keyword tool so that was good. Don't really understand the need for change but I guess the IT department has to be seen to be doing something. Seems that way at SSTK, lets change things that are working fine, just to make a change. I'm getting used to the new, it's cumbersome and navigating is a little odd, but with the pop out menus on the left, it's starting to make better sense. The whole, leaving for the keywording tool, actually works better for me, because I leave it open, instead of the way it used to be, jumping in and back out. 48
Adobe Stock / Re: What's your weekly ranking and how many images?« on: February 19, 2025, 14:53 »
Good to know and that explains why the numbers, don't match, the DL numbers. ![]() The seven days makes good sense and resolves that conflict. I guess what you are saying is, when the counter resets on Sunday night, the week, doesn't reset. Although when I have no new DLs on Monday morning, my rank is - - -. As if I have no rank and no downloads. Thank You 49
General Stock Discussion / Re: Food Photography Handbook« on: February 19, 2025, 14:40 »Heavens above. And this has all got to do with food photography, how? Good luck with the book, I second the compliments and the history of your photo and design advice. 50
iStockPhoto.com / January 2025 has been posted« on: February 18, 2025, 14:45 »
Nothing special, but the numbers are up, if anyone was wondering.
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