08 Sep, 2010 | Posted by: psnotes



OH SO TRUE. -- Secrets of the Stock Industry Revealed! Would you like to know some of the secrets of the stock industry that will make you stand out amongst the rest? Do you want to have a reputation with the Reviewers? Are you looking for a certain kind of success with your images? Do you want to make a huge impact on your earnings? Well, look no further, this blog will tell you everything you need to know.
http://blog.dreamstime.com/2010/09/02/secrets-of-the-stock-industry-revealed-_art33292
Takeaway: OUCH! “My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world. “
- George Bernard Shaw


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18 Aug, 2010 | Posted by: psnotes



TEAMING UP -- Pixmac overcame the microstock catch-22 very early by including photos from the Fotolia and Dreamstime reseller programs. With this method they reached 10 million available images before any other microstock agency. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/pixmac.html
TAKEAWAY: This is a copycat idea. Actually Fotosearch in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1998 introduced the Fotosearch website, bringing together many multiple image publishers from their catalog to one searchable web site.


NEW MICROSTOCK BOOK -- A new book by microstockphoto person, veteran, industry insider, Ellen Boughn publishes Microstock Moneyshots. Includes secrets for posting microstock images that will get viewed, downloaded and most important, sold.
http://www.fastmediamagazine.com/blog/2010/08/11/stockphoto-veteran-publishes-microstock-moneyshots/
TAKEAWAY: Will the person who is making money from microstock please stand up? (Not gross revenue please -- net revenue only)


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04 Aug, 2010 | Posted by: psnotes



VARIETY -- 5 Ways Microstockers Make Their Images More Salable. (from a microstock company). One of the questions BigStockPhoto gets asked the most from submitters is “What do the buyers want?” The answer is not so simple. We have customers from different parts of the world, all searching for different images, and different types of projects. The most important thing to remember is that variety is key. Try different subjects, and be open. One week you may want to shoot only women, the next you can do farm equipment. It can help you in many ways, but more sales will be one of them. http://www.bigstockphoto.com/blog/theupload/2010/07/5-ways-to-make-your-images-more-salable/
TAKEAWAY: This advice is actually the opposite of what you should do if you want to last in the stock photo industry as an editorial shooter. The photographer-tested marketing system answer is to become known as a certain “brand” --not as someone who shoots any and all photos. Photobuyers will contact you through a search process on the Internet when they are aware of your brand of stock photos. Begin today to build your brand. -RE




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21 Jul, 2010 | Posted by: psnotes



THE FACTS, PLEASE -- -- Has Demand for Microstock Photography Peaked? In May 2009, Jim Pickerell began following the sales of 198 of iStockphoto’s top contributors. According to iStockcharts data, these 198 ranked in the top 250 image sellers among the microstock site’s more than 100,000 total contributors. The term “contributor” is more accurate than “photographer,” because a significant number of iStock’s top sellers are illustrators and graphic designers selling illustration, not photography. In any case, over the past 14 months, some of the 198 have risen to higher positions in the top 250; others have declined as more aggressive producers have moved up.
http://rising.blackstar.com/has-demand-for-microstock-photography-peaked.html
TAKEAWAY: As in any creative profession, and microstock is certainly creative, there are always the top-dogs. They ride high for a while, and others eventually take over. Jim has reconfirmed that maxim. He’s discovered that Istock top-dogs pull in $6.50 to $7.50 for an average gross sale for an image in the standard collection. A significant number of these top photographers are exclusive with iStock and can earn 40 percent of their gross. If you want to be a top dog in microstock, better hire a good accountant to help keep expenses down, or sell hundreds, or thousands of your pictures.
Keep the statistics coming, Jim. -RE


NOT THE SAME ‘OL -- Science Is an Untapped Photography Niche - “Standard images (sunsets, puppies, a guy in a suit holding a briefcase) are plentiful on iStock and contributors face stiff competition,” iStockPhoto has told us. “There still is a tremendous need for specialty shots. For example, shots that convey specific scientific concepts with appropriate props and models.” SOURCE: Photopreneur http://blogs.photopreneur.com/science-is-an-untapped-photography-niche?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhotopreneurBlog+%28Photopreneur+Blog%29


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14 Jul, 2010 | Posted by: psnotes



GETTING PARTICULAR -- Stock photography is a very special market together with ever tightening up principles. A lot of internet sites are already packed with images and do not allow any new photos inside a number of categories. A great many other places have raised their photography requirements just so they acquire significantly less photos.
http://www.fastcashphoto.com/2010/07/ultimate-microstock-photography-education-tutorial/

CREATIVE CHANCES: -- Veer PhotoOp 2010 - Veer produced the PhotoOp shoots internally. It consisted of four separate shoots for each of nine photographers! Each photographer had their own models for the entire day so there was no issue with multiple photographers uploading similar shots. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/veer-photoop-2010.html#comments

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30 Jun, 2010 | Posted by: psnotes



SOMETHING TO ENJOY? Photography Enthusiasts Enjoy the Recession - Microstock firm Shutterstock reports that its site really took off towards the end of 2008, about the time that the downturn began. A number of publications had suggested photography as a way of supplementing income, and submissions grew. SOURCE: Dean http://blogs.photopreneur.com/photography-enthusiasts-enjoy-the-recession?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhotopreneurBlog+%28Photopreneur+Blog%29



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09 Jun, 2010 | Posted by: psn



DECISIONS, DECISIONS… - There Are No Shortcuts to Success in Microstock.
A Russian photographer recently asked me what subjects he should shoot for microstock in order to maximize his earnings. He said: “I’m thinking cosmetics, photos of girls putting on makeup, girls and guys on the beach, girls in business suits with laptops, glamour club shots of girls in glam clothes, sometimes near crystal disco balls, modern dancers…” Source: Jim Pickerell http://rising.blackstar.com/there-are-no-shortcuts-to-success-in-microstock.html

WHAT’S MISSING? -- Choosing For The Future Of Stock Photography. Confusion and lack of clarity make decision-making and choices for the future of one's stock photo career difficult.John Lund: “Increasingly, at least as far as I can see, the micro sites are offering greater choices, and, at least in some cases, better choices as well. It seems logical…hundreds of thousands of shooters contributing photos to an agency as opposed to thousands. So if you are an art director, art buyer, designer or even small businesswoman (or businessman) looking for images, and you can find more and better ones (not to mention less expensive) at micro sites…wouldn’t you go there? Am I missing something here? SOURCE: JOHN LUND http://blog.johnlund.com/2010/06/choosing-for-future-of-stock.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+johnlund%2FUkbR+%28The+Stock+Photo+Guy+-+John+Lund+Stock+Photographer%29


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02 Jun, 2010 | Posted by: psn



THEY PAY YOU -- Return of the Submission Incentives - Veer have launched an aggressive campaign to boost their microstock portfolio ahead of a major site redesign. Titled 'Veer Dash for Cash', the heavily promoted program pays generous cash bonuses for approved files, ranging from $0.35 to $1.40 per image. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/return-of-the-submission-incentives.html


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12 May, 2010 | Posted by: psn



3 BUSINESS MODELS -- The New Business of Microstock – Three Distinct Methods for Success - The ‘New Business of Microstock’ session at iStockalypse Cannes provided insight into three very diverse stock photo production businesses. The three speakers each shoot different subjects, with different objectives, and different business models. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/the-new-business-of-microstock-three-distinct-methods-for-success.html

THOSE DOLLAR PIX -- Jim Pickerell is tired of seeing rights-managed sellers refer to microstock as $1 images. That is not what most people are paying, particularly those personal users who buy very few pictures. Actual prices are substantially higher, even for the smallest, Web-use only file sizes. SOURCE: BlackStar rising ; http://rising.blackstar.com/do-one-dollar-stock-photos-really-exist.html


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28 Apr, 2010 | Posted by: psn



NOT DEAD? -- Web not killing photography. So professional photography is "doomed" and photographers are "in a slough of despond" when faced with free images on Flickr and sophisticated amateur digital cameras? Not quite yet. SOURCE: Neil MacBeth ; http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3625919/Web-not-killing-photography

TRANSFER -- iSyndica Acquires Stock Photography Agency Fotomind's Content Fotomind photographers jump on the opportunity to transfer their stock photography portfolio over to iSyndica's microstock digital distribution platform.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/microstock/isyndica/prweb3899514.htm


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21 Apr, 2010 | Posted by: psn



IF YA CAN’T FIGHT ‘EM - JOIN ‘EM -- Tony Stone Joins Vivozoom - Tony Stone (the person!) announced recently that he has joined Vivozoom to help the innovative new microstock agency “sharpen focus on the most relevant images”. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/tony-stone-joins-vivozoom.html
TAKEAWAY. If it looks like a duck. This all sounds like the improvements here is quality litigation, not quality stock photography. It’s still going to be the same ol’ stockshlock. For more on the warranty, you can read it here: http://www.vivozoom.com/warranty.html

WHY THEY DO IT. Why Microstockers Sell Microstock. It’s not uncommon to hear professional photographers say that they don’t understand why anyone would sell photos in the microstock market when more higher-priced sales are available. Here’s some of the reasons. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/why-microstockers-sell-microstock.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrostockDiaries+%28Microstock+Diaries%29
TAKEAWAY: I couldn’t find any reasons. Is something missing here? -RE

THE EMBRYO -- Interview with Stock Photographer Tom Grill. John: “I bet you have more experience in stock photography than any other photographer alive. You are a founder of Comstock, A founder of Blend Images, the founder and owner of Tetra Images. You have also been truly generous with your knowledge and have spoken to photographers countless times sharing your wealth of experience.
http://siaphoto.com/2010/04/interview-with-stock-photographer-tom-grill.html
TAKEAWAY: He’s the guy that told us back in the last century to shoot microstock but nobody knew what he meant.

FIND THE BUYERS -- Determine A Niche For Your Microstock Photography. You should know what you’re passionate about but how do you find markets with hungry buyers and limited competition? http://photobusinessguide.com/blog/163/determine-niche-microstock-photography/
TAKEAWAY: Good advice! Find a niche . . .


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14 Apr, 2010 | Posted by: psn



WE'RE ALL PROS? If Amateur Photographers Are As Good As Professionals, Then We Can All Be Professional Photographers. Last year, after producing it for 74 years, Kodak retired Kodachrome film. Likewise, microstock photography sites like iStockPhoto have undermined the stock photography business model so much so as to incur comparisons of its business to pollution and drug dealing. The microstock business has been buoyed by a the increase in supply of new photographers -- and as with any market where the supply is increased, price is driven downwards. SOURCE: from the 1000-words dept; http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100330/0343498785.shtml
TAKEAWAY: What's missing here.: -- Customers, any customer, looking for an item will always search the easiest way to find it, with the "cost" being one of the considerations. The Internet is evolving to my earlier (20 years ago) prediction that stock photographers will succeed if they build a deep selection of images in a category that they love photographing.
Both entities win: --the photographer who loves his/her work and the customer who has a deep selection to choose from PLUS the built-in expertise of the photographer who is continuing to gain new knowledge of the subject matter. -RE

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07 Apr, 2010 | Posted by: psn


banner
ALL IN THE FAMILY -- They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this one has a lot to say. It says microstock. It says perfect-people perfect-world lowest-common-denominator cookie-cutter pile-them-high sell-them-cheap image. Why would a reputable company want to be associated with those words? The problem with this image is that it has that.... 'Deja Vu' feeling to it, and for a good reason.
http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/03/microstock-why-would-reputable-company.html
TAKEAWAY We saw it coming. Even a strikingly unique and touching picture of Mother Teresa delivering her goodness to the poor ...if used multiple times in multiple ways for various nonprofit organizations destroys the message of the original picture itself. Less is sometimes more. –RE . For more comments on this subject: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2010/04/the-problem-of-microstock-in-a-nutshell.html

CLICHÉ VILLE -- Iconic Symbols And The Power To Communicate In Stock Photography. There are images that have become so identified with certain concepts that they are not only everywhere but have become clichés as well. These “iconic” symbols are ubiquitous and often banal, but even then retain the power to communicate effectively. SOURCE: John Lund http://blog.johnlund.com/

piggy bank


FOTOLIA SELLING FREE PHOTOS -- I guess photographers are not expected to be writers. But can you figure out what this headline is supposed to mean?: Fotolia Selling Free Photos.
How can ya sell somethin’ that’s F-R-E-E ? . . http://www.microstockdiaries.com/this-month-in-microstock-march-2010.html




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31 Mar, 2010 | Posted by: psn



ARTISAN -- Gordon Ball: “For nearly forty years I have been interested, or should I say obsessed with my camera and photography. For the past twenty five years I have been earning a small amount with my camera, shooting the odd wedding and portraits in my spare time. I have even sold my pictures to magazines. Now that was a confidence booster if you ever need one. Then about three years ago I came across a website called iStockphoto. It was a Microstock Library. http://www.streetsofdublin.com/wp-photo-uk-ireland/2010/03/microstock-photography-the-biggest-growth-market-for-your-photos/
TAKEAWAY: Is this a hobby or a business? Call it a hobby, and it works. If income is $10 and expenses are $14 then it can’t be called a business.

SOMETHING MISSING? -- Inside the Bigstock Redesign - While there were many significant enhancements to the design, structure and layout of the site, there’s still some aspects that photographers have come to expect from microstock agencies that are still missing from Bigstock. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/inside-the-bigstock-redesign.html


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23 Mar, 2010 | Posted by: psn



REFRESHER -- Smudgechris says: I've been going over and over these in the last week, chopping and changing but I think I've narrowed it down to ten. Bearing in mind I'm no pro in this field just yet, these are the steps I took in order to get myself in a position where I feel confident to start taking big steps into the microstock world. SOURCE: smudgechris
http://blog.dreamstime.com/2010/03/16/10-steps-to-getting-started-in-the-microstock-industry_art31850



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17 Mar, 2010 | Posted by: psn



THE JOY OF TOOLS – 10 Essential Microstock Tools. Microstock images can be a lot of work. Lucky for submitters however, there are a number of tools to help you perform the many mundane tasks.
http://blog.microstockgroup.com/10-essential-microstock-tools/

EASY CHARTING -- Introducing Microstock Charts – Earnings Tracking with Benefits – Lee Torrens with Amos Struck, his business partner on various other projects, we are very pleased to finally introduce Microstock Charts. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/introducing-microstock-charts-earnings-tracking-with-benefits.html


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10 Mar, 2010 | Posted by: psn



NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Self-described as a marriage between Flickr and iStockphoto, Snapixel is not your standard microstock agency. The Snapixel mission is "Openstock"-opening a licensing opportunity for photos that don’t look like typical stock photos. www.microstockdiaries.com/snapixel.html

GUIDE -- Lookstat offers free guide on microstock - ”The guide provides an overview of what microstock is and how to get started. It also contains profiles of the top sites, details on their application process, and a submission checklist which covers the latest requirements for creating accounts and uploading and submitting images. http://www.fastmediamagazine.com/?p=4430


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10 Feb, 2010 | Posted by: psn



ONE BIG CATALOG – Microstock is the new Royalty Free - The distinction between microstock and royalty free (RF) is becoming irrelevant. Microstock and RF will be blended seamlessly from the buyer’s perspective and image buyers will be given more choice than ever before. What happens to pricing depends on your point of view. We’ll start to see pricing get tied to how often images are purchased. This form of pricing is fairly common in microstock today; all images start off at the same level and popular images go up in price. http://www.fastmediamagazine.com/?p=3891

NEW YEAR, NEW CHANGES -- New year and lots of changes in the microstock industry. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/this-month-in-microstock-january-2010.html

EXPECT A WIDE VARIETY -- Microstock Photography-From the Australian Buyer’s Perspective. Carl Chapman: “I decided to update some images on one of my commercial websites. As I browsed various microstock sites, I was struck by the variation of image quality and lack of creative content. I started by searching around some of the free microstock sites such as Stock.Xchng, Stock Vault, and Dreamstime Free Stock. www.carlchapman.com/stock-photography/microstock-photography-from-the-buyers-perspective/

CLOSING DOWN -- Royalty free stock photography site StockXpert to close. On February 2, 2010 StockXpert stopped selling credits, accepting new members and uploads and next week on February 11, searching and downloading will be suspended. StockXpert's subscription operations are being migrated over to Getty Images' new subscription site Thinkstock, and individual image purchase operations are moving to iStockphoto.
http://www.macworld.co.uk/procreative/news/index.cfm?newsid=28555


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03 Feb, 2010 | Posted by: psn



MOVING FORWARD – Another model to deal with? Could Google Gag the Microstock Business? Conversations surround talk of Apple`s new "tablet" and how it might save newspapers and magazines. While a disruptive new technology is an opportunity for those who take advantage of it, it might spell disaster for those who don’t. Google proposes a number of images matching the ad content. SOURCE: Jay King. http://jaykinghorn.com/?p=304


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27 Jan, 2010 | Posted by: psn



COMPARE & SHOP -- All About Microstock Comparison Websites - Microstock comparison websites do a simple but useful task. They help buyers search multiple microstock agencies at once. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/all-about-microstock-comparison-websites.html
TAKEAWAY -- Has the gold rush ended already? The digital revolution gave birth to microstock images, but the same phenomenon can easily erode what remains of pricing.


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20 Jan, 2010 | Posted by: psn



BEST WAY -- As a stock photographer, is “microstock” the best way to sell your pictures?

It’s not the best way, but it certainly is one way.

The problem with microstock is traffic.

In the real world, you can sign up to put your photos in a gallery downtown, but if no one comes in the gallery door except the owners, -well, this is not good business. If the owner charges you a fee to exhibit your photos.. guess who the winner is?

The same with microstock. The microstock gallery owner makes money on membership (subscriptions) or splitting any sales with you. The owners' goals are to get more members. Ironically, the more microstock members they get, the less chance you have of being seen.

Business schools tell us to stay out of a marketing module that inherently increases in size and therefore inherently increases your competition. You are forced to either improve your product or select a different marketing method.

Sure, put your photos up on several microstock sites. You can always refer a customer to your section on the microstock site(s). But remember, you are referring that long term potential client to view other photographers who are also on the same site. This is not good business wisdom.

The answer to the “best way” is to establish yourself on the Internet as a specialist in a certain area(s) of photography. You can make several websites or blogs (they’re inexpensive!) -- one specialty could be for your interest in rose gardening, another for model railroads, another for cactus plants, --whatever your interest area is, -but don’t spread yourself too thin, or you’ll be back where you started, a “Jack of all Trades, and Master of None.”.

The web search engines will pick up your key words swiftly, in a week or two, and as long as you keep adding new photos and new key words and alt tags, you’ll consider saying goodbye to microstock galleries.

Best of all, since buyers are coming to you, (not the other way around) it’s natural they NEED your pictures and you can charge a healthy fee, not $1 to $5.

Now that’s good business practice! -RE

PS: And don't forget, because you are a specialist in your area of stock photography, photobuyers will come to you when they're ready to give out assignments.


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06 Jan, 2010 | Posted by: psn



MOVING FORWARD -- Ten Years of Microstock - As 2009 comes to an end, rather than look back on just one year, let's have a look at some of the major developments that have shaped the microstock industry over the past decade.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/10-years-of-microstock.htmlAdobe


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22 Dec, 2009 | Posted by: psn




EDUCATED GUESSING -- Assessing Shoot Profitability with LookStat's New Collections Function - Dreamstime has an extremely useful function where contributors can see the total earnings from all the photos in a lightbox (only their own photos, of course). Now LookStat, has introduced 'collections' which does the same thing across multiple agencies. Lee Torrens created collections at LookStat for 31 of his shoots. As you would expect some show high earnings and others are disappointing.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/assessing-shoot-profitability-with-lookstats-new-collections-function.html


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16 Dec, 2009 | Posted by: psn



THE CUP OVER-FLOW-ETH -- The year in review and a look at the future - We managed to grow significantly in the worst possible economic times. We now sell three times as many files as we did back in 2006. What's amazing is the average number of downloads per contributor has also risen significantly since 2006. http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=151691
TAKEAWAY: With millions of images flowing onto the Internet daily, does that make the photo editor's job easier? It makes it longer to find that right photo. Your answer to circumvent this avalanche of photos is to KEYWORD your specialized photos so that photobuyers come to you first (through a 'search') before going to the microstock warehouse as a last resort.


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02 Dec, 2009 | Posted by: psn



How Microstock is Ripping Photographers Off
by Sidonsphotography.

Background: I hold a few photographs at Microstock agencies, probably around 8 photographs at each of them. Why so few? Well really because I have no intention of making money that way, and mostly what I use them for is getting free images for slide shows and presentations (I make enough off the 8 to pay for my image purchasing appetite). The only stuff I put up there is the photos I'm not too proud of.
The Ripping Off Part: I was searching for my web site's name on the Internet and found one of my images for sale at an agency I'd never heard of for $80 per download. Hmmm...no business relationship....hmmm....Houston we have a problem. I knew they had obtained the image from one of the Microstock sites, but there is no provision in the RF rights for selling the sales rights to the photo. I contacted this company.
The company informed me that they were a re-seller for one of the Microstock sites. In other words, every time they sold that photo for $80, the Microstock site was notified and provided me with my paltry $1. You gotta be kidding me....nope. That is what's happening, and if you read the fine print on your contracts with these devils they are working totally within their rights to do so.
Here's another kicker for you...the photo that they were selling was from an account that I had actually closed with the Microstock site.

Want to read more?
http://www.photosource.com/psn-article/ripping.html



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27 Oct, 2009 | Posted by: psn



Shutterstock has announced that all images and footage licensed from now on is covered by a guarantee that covers all the usual issues (copyright infringement, legal, administrative red tape, etc.) for up to $10,000 per subscriber.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/next-to-guarantee-photos-is-shutterstock.html


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21 Oct, 2009 | Posted by: psn



DETECTIVE -- The PicScout Image IRC and ImageExchange Explained - PicScout has made waves in the stock photo industry this week with the announcement of a collection of new services. Designed to help buyers connect with the owner and license source of images they find online, the system actually has many more wide reaching benefits for the stock photo industry.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/the-picscout-image-irc-and-imageexchange-explained.html


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14 Oct, 2009 | Posted by: psn



SNAPIXEL is a relatively new photo sharing service combined with a straight-forward buying and selling platform for stock photography. It's almost like Flickr got married to iStockphoto and they had a love child! http://bit.ly/4auztM
http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&um=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=microstock+photography


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25 Sep, 2009 | Posted by: psn




YOU’RE PROTECTED – Istockphoto Has Become The First Major Microstock Photography Agency To Legally Guarantee All Imagery. The microstock company has announced an interesting new twist to their stock photography offerings. All all purchases at the microstock agency will be guaranteed up to $10,000 in damages at no additional cost to the image buyer. iStockphoto is a wholly owned subsidiary of Getty Images.
http://thomashawk.com/2009/09/istockphoto-becomes-the-first-major-microstock-photography-agency-to-legally-guarantee-all-imagery.html http://bit.ly/jMxJL
related: http://bit.ly/2RQowX
TAKEAWAY: Getty Images is a long-time user of this appraoch. It removes anxiety on the part of first-time buyers who wonder what kind of legal mess they are going to get into if they use a stock photo from an unknown photographer without a track record. It puts the onus on photographers to submit accurate captions and keywords, plus images with iron-clad releases when required.


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16 Sep, 2009 | Posted by: psn




WHICH ROAD? -- Are You a Quality Microstocker Or a Quantity Microstocker? - Success in microstock requires that you learn how to consistently create high quality (high selling) stock photos before you increase your volume of production. http://www.microstockdiaries.com/are-you-a-quality-microstocker-or-a-quantity-microstocker.html

REAL EDITORIAL PICS -- Getty Images’ iStock Exclusives invited to shoot editorial photos. The iStock shooters will contribute images to Getty’s editorial collection starting this fall. This will be progressive and addressed in several phases. Shooting editorial is a world away from conventional iStock photography. Forget everything you know about the iStockalypses in the past. There will be no props, models, stylists, lighting, and fancy studio locations. He photos, for most part, wil be on location.
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=113501


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16 Sep, 2009 | Posted by: psn



SIGN RIGHT HERE -- From iStockphoto Photography Standards: Model Releases – The two major questions that come up about model releases: . When does a person in an image need to sign a release? . What's the proper way to fill out the release?
http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view.php?ID=648
TAKEAWAY: Quick answer: You’ll most always need a release, if you wish to sell your pictures in the corporate world (ads, endorsements, posters,billboards). Almost never if your photo is used to inform and/or educate in the editorial world (books, newspapers, magazines, and some websites).
http://www.photostocknotes.com/psnbugs/legalstuff.jpg

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09 Sep, 2009 | Posted by: psn



REVENUE IS UP FOR MICROSTOCK -- Microstock Earnings Report August 2009 - August is typically one of the slower months of the microstock calendar.
But this year a lot of microstockers are reporting a very solid month, particularly a few iStockphoto exclusive contributors.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/microstock-earnings-report-august-2009.html


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02 Sep, 2009 | Posted by: psn




ULTIMATE MICROSTOCK UTILITY - When the service, iSyndica first launched, it simply provided a faster way to upload photos to many different microstock agencies. You could upload your photos once to iSyndica and they would then send them to various agencies of your choice. In the short time since their launch, they've built some very appealing functionality on top of that basic service.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/isyndica.html


GETTIN’ DOWN TO BUSINESS -- The Business of Microstock Panel Discussion - As the microstock market moves farther away from its hobbyist origins, the traditional sector of the stock photo market is adapting to microstock as a business. But getting people experienced with both sectors of the market is not easy. Mediabistro and Microstock Diaries are bringing an informal industry festival in New York City this October.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/the-business-of-microstock-panel-discussion.html


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26 Aug, 2009 | Posted by: psn



GOOD DEAL? FOR WHOM? Microstock Is a Great Deal - for Buyers - Recently, I visited the forum of a modeling Web site where a photographer boasted about his microstock image
being used on the cover of Time Magazine. He was proud that Time had
purchased the image - for $30.
http://rising.blackstar.com/microstock-is-a-great-deal-for-buyers.html


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19 Aug, 2009 | Posted by: psn





CHANGES -- Dreamstime adjusts Royalties and Pricing - In a move long expected and with respect to the highly competitive market long, long overdue, Dreamstime has revamped its royalty and pricing structure with some interesting details. http://www.stockphototalk.com/phototalk/2009/08/dreamstime-adjusts-royalties-and-pricing.html



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12 Aug, 2009 | Posted by: psn





SELLING TRAVEL TO ALAMY Traveling the World with Microstock - Lee Torrens caught up with Holger Mette by email and asked him about his lifestyle, photography and microstock:
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/traveling-the-world-with-microstock.html


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04 Aug, 2009 | Posted by: psn






POINT OF VIEW -- From the Diaries: “25 Microstockers I Watch and Why - I keep an eye on the portfolios and progress of lots of microstock photographers. The reasons vary from sales success to liking their style.”
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/25-microstockers-i-watch-and-why.html


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16 Jul, 2009 | Posted by: psn




ALMOST DOWN -- This Month in Microstock - June 2009 - iStockphoto saved June from being a slow microstock news month.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/this-month-in-microstock-june-2009.html


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24 Jun, 2009 | Posted by: psn




GERMAN INVASION -- German Telecom Enters Microstock with Polylooks - There's a new player in the microstock game. Polylooks is the name of the first German microstock agency powered by Deutsche Telekom AG (German Telecom) launched on June 3rd 2009. The agency is working with another German picture agency, Zoonar who have provided over 125.000 images to launch Polylooks.
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/german-telecom-enters-microstock-with-polylooks.html


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17 Jun, 2009 | Posted by: psn



OLD GOLD - The future of photography is under threat from companies relying
on microstock, warns Corbis' CEO Gary Shenk. He's looking for exceptional
editorial shots instead, he tells Olivier Laurent in an exclusive interview.
http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=861664


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