Canstockphoto reached 3 million photos and videos this month. If I remember correctly when I joined them at the end of 2008, they had yet to reach 1 million, so it seems they are growing fast. I’ve also noticed them advertising, indicating super fast review times and even giving the current expected review time. I’m not sure if it’s really live or if the advert is on a loop, showing different times. Update: I’ve just been informed by CSP that the ads. “are indeed showing the live review times updated every 15 minutes”. I sent them a photo the other day just to see how fast they were reviewing and my photo was reviewed in less than 20 minutes. Take heed other stock agencies, less than 20 minutes! Bravo CSP. Here is the photo I sent, my lovely feline friend.

This is an announcement made by Duncan the CEO of Canstock in their forum.

• Just thought I’d draw attention to the fact that we just crossed the 3 million mark! Also you’ll notice that this month we have added almost a quarter million new files, with a thousand new files being uploaded every couple of hours. We’re growing more and more every day. Thanks to all of you for helping make this growth possible. We’re all really excited to reach our next milestone of 4 million files hopefully in just a few short months. Also I’d like to give a special thanks to our hard working inspectors for keeping the images moving so quickly. For the past month I know many people have been appreciating the sub-hour inspections. At the time of writing this, our current average review time is just 9 minutes – outstanding!

“a quarter million new files” in one month!

How things have changed.

Related posts:

1. How to maximise your sales on 123rf
2. Microstock Sites Spring Clean

123rf is a microstock agency not to be ignored. No really, I’m not kidding. Ok, sales may not be at the same levels as Shutterstock, iStockphoto or Dreamstime, but for the comparatively small effort required to upload and the steady additional income, it’s definitely worth it. There is a small ‘to do’ list however, if you want to get the most out of your images on 123rf.

• Use the ‘My Fave Images’ tool. 123rf allows you to mark 5% of your portfolio as your favourite. This is not a way to show off what you you think is the best in your portfolio, but an opportunity to increase exposure of certain images. Images which you mark as ‘faved’ are given better positions in search. Therefore you could mark images which are not selling well and hopefully get a few sales out of them. I change my favourite images usually about once a month. Last month from 178 images online at 123rf, I had 12 images downloaded, 8 of those were marked as my favourite images.
• In general I would not recommend giving images away for free as an attempt to gain more exposure. However, 123rf is the only site that I would recommend this, because you can give images for a limited time and at limited resolution. The images can only be downloaded at 400 pixels on the longest side and you can choose to offer them for free anywhere from 1 day to 30 days. As well as this leading people to the rest of your content, the images you offer for free can sometimes be bought. 400 pixels isn’t very large and often buyers need larger sizes. One of the 12 images I sold last month was bought whilst it was being offered for free.
• On 123rf, once you have chosen the keywords for your images and the images are accepted, you don’t have the option of re-editing them. So choose them carefully. I tend to use a lot of keywords and when I re-edit my keywords on other sites, more often or not I reduce the amount. Sometimes less is better. On 123rf, maybe it’s wiser to just put the strongest keywords in, I’m not saying it has to be a small amount, but just concentrate more on relevancy and don’t take chances with keywords which you think might be appropriate. ‘Think as a buyer’ as they say.

One nice time saver on 123rf is that there are no categories to choose from. Maybe I’ve missed the point of categories, but I don’t see how they are necessary, especially for generic categories like ‘people’ or ‘nature’. Surely buyers can find what they want more easily with specific keywords such as ‘people on the beach’, or they could type in ‘people’ if they are just looking for random pictures of people.

Each agency has it’s own character. Some agencies are entertaining, some agencies act as your mentor, other agencies are aloof or even intolerant. Some agencies just make you paranoid, primarily for those who are constantly trying to figure them out. Maybe the agencies should put disclaimers on their sites, something like this, ‘Warning: ‘Those who try to figure us out, do so at their own risk. We are not responsible for any mental anguish incurred.’ Here’s a comment by a contributor which I read on the Microstock Group forum, which put a smile on my face, “I concluded that there’s a really tough reviewer out there and another one who’s really easy on me. So I’ve taken to submitting at specific times of the day in hope that I’ll hit the more forgiving one. Or maybe it’s all a coincidence. Or maybe I’m the victim of a psychological experiment designed to drive me mad.”

123rf I would simply describe as low key, at least on the contributor side. Upload your images with ease and get on with the other things you want to do in life. Out of all the agencies, I probably spend the least amount of time on 123rf. Ok payouts might not be as frequent as in other places, but I didn’t have to jump through as many hoops to get my images there. In fact it’s really simple, even for a simpleton like me. I don’t even have to consider for my keyword ‘cattle’ whether I meant a ‘domestic cattle’, ‘Santa Getruti cattle’ or a ‘Blonde D’ Aquitaine’. Trying to get images online with some agencies, reminds me of the Krypton Factor, a British game show, the title of which “is a reference to Superman’s home planet Krypton, perceiving that the contestants had strong superhuman “powers” for taking part in the challenges they were set.” So if you happen to witness Yuri Arcurs discreetly entering a phone booth, he might just be about to start work.

What more do I want from an agency? A quick upload process with a decent acceptance ratio, 50% of the revenue ( for credit earnings) and tons of sales. Ok, the last point is still work in progress, but I’m happy enough. And with the launch of editorial images earlier this year on 123rf, in the words of a cheesy British election theme song of yesteryear “things can only get better”.

Related posts:

1. Microstock Sites Spring Clean
2. 3 million and counting

I’ve seen this kind of thread a few times in various forums. Newbie photographer (or maybe just new to submitting for stock) submits images to a leading microstock agency. The images are rejected. The person blames the site. The original poster of this thread ends by saying “This place is a joke! Goodbye!” Submitting images to microstock agencies can really bring you back down to earth, I’ve even read about ‘professionals’ entering the industry, struggling and giving up.

Sometimes I hear the words ‘microstock has revolutionised the stock industry’. It’s not microstock, it’s the advent of the digital camera. No more messing around with film rolls and darkrooms. Now I can take a photo and send it anywhere in the world in minutes and so can you and so can everyone else. However, sending them to microstock agencies and getting them accepted is a different matter. With image submissions continuing to increase at pace, agencies can afford to be more picky about what they accept. I actually fear that the microstock agencies will one day have a list of blacklisted cameras, like the more traditional stock agencies often do. Istockphoto are possibly already in that realm. I like telling people that I have a 6 megapixel camera still with its kit lens, getting looked down on and then saying that my photos have been downloaded thousands of times, well ok, over a thousand times (including macrostock sales). Unless of course the person who I’m talking to works for iStock, in which case he or she would continue to smile with a dismissive look.

Lets make this clear. Becoming successful at microstock photography and for that matter any type of photography, IS NOT EASY, but is achievable for anybody who is willing to persevere. What one regards as success though, will vary quite differently from person to person. Microstock photography is not a get rich quick scheme (if you know of any let me know) and for the vast majority of contributors it is and probably will always be, a source of additional income, not your source of income. You are not going to make money with images you have sitting on your hardrive, unless those images were specifically shot with the market in mind. Not these days anyway. If you’re reading this on your way to work or in your office, turn up on time, say yes to your boss and get on with your colleagues, because you need your job and the chances are that this is no escape route. Yes there are those who take to microstock like a duck to water, you remember those kids at school who were always good at everything? Yes, I hated them too . But you still need an awful lot of images online and an even greater amount of downloads to make a living from microstock. Now I am talking thousands and more like tens of thousands of downloads. This requires a lot of time (the day job, the spouse, the kids usually consume that), the technical know-how, knowing what the market wants, knowing how to produce what it wants and being able to produce it differently to everyone else, that is if you really want to get good returns for your images. I know what you’re thinking, it’s been a while since you’ve made some coffee for your colleagues, oh and you haven’t complimented your boss’s ties in a while too.

For most, entering the microstock industry puts you on a sharp learning curve. My first batch of 23 images sent to Dreamstime was rejected too. My reaction? Well lets just say that my Indonesian girlfriend at the time, learnt quite a few English expletives on that day. A few months later when I calmed down, I tried it again and when I have time I keep submitting to Dreamstime and a few others and I’m able to see progress. Learning what images to submit and how the agencies want to see the images is paramount. I find images a little over exposed and a little over saturated works wonders, exactly how I don’t like to see my images, but I’m not the one who is reviewing or buying them. Reviewers seem to love cows, maybe they have never seen them before. If I’m going through a bad patch and getting lots of rejections, I send them a few cows. However, apart from putting a smile on the reviewer’s face, in reality it’s pretty pointless as my cow shots never sell. I’ll have to make sure I look at the top selling livestock images before I go out shooting cows again.

Having images rejected is of course annoying, but our images aren’t rejected for fun. Successful Sites like Dreamstime have already proved themselves. Often contributors have yet to (myself included). I still get my share of rejections. Currently my acceptance ratio on Dreamstime is just 40% and this is an improved figure, also I got accepted at Shutterstock on the 6th time of applying, but now it’s my biggest earner.

Most microstock sites try to allow a contributor community to exist, usually in the form of forums or blogs. These are of course monitored and censored, sometimes to the point where you can only find praise. If you really want to express yourself (within reason), head over to MSG, however be aware, the agencies are watching this too.

Naturally, microstock agencies don’t see their sites as a joke, they see themselves as a business and if we want to succeed, that’s how we should see them too.

Related posts:

1. Poetry for the Struggling Microstocker
2. Is it time to give Crestock another try?

On July 1 2010, Crestock was acquired by Masterfile Corporation. Acquisitions of microstock agencies by more traditional stock agencies have been a common trend over the past few years. Both micro and macro agencies seem poles apart with their price levels and business strategies, but the sensible people at least realise that they now both have a place in the market and can coexist.

I only have experience of Crestock as a contributor and can’t comment on the buyers’ side, which might be a bed of roses for all I know. The contributor side though has been appallingly mismanaged and bitterness felt towards them can be found in abundance in various microstock forums and even on Crestock’s own forum.

Issues of contention include:

• Exceptionally long review times for submitted work. I only submitted images on a couple of occasions, but I waited weeks for them to be reviewed, many contributors have reported waiting for months.

• Exceptionally high rejection rates. Every contributor learns to accept that not all his/her images will be accepted. From memory when I tried to submit to Crestock in 2008, I initially submitted a handful of photos (less than 10), of which 4 were accepted and then I submitted 17 photos of which all were rejected. I was astounded and never submitted again. I have since read on several occasions that this is a common experience. One successful microstocker submitted 1000 images of which 25 were accepted. Not surprisingly he described this as an “insult”.

• Contributing photographers complain about having to wait months for payment once payment has been requested. Again, it is insulting for a contributor to have to wait for months for his/her payment. The agency has already received payment for the sold images and not to regard payment to the copyright holders as a priority is inexcusable.

• No response to emails sent by contributors to support.

The President of Masterfile, has stated in Crestock’s blog and in an email to contributors that these issues will be addressed:

1. Payouts. The first order of business will be to get all unpaid royalties (a.k.a. “commissions”) paid to artists who have previously requested payouts. This process will be completed within two weeks. You can rest assured that payments will be regular and timely from now on.

2. Image backlog. Crestock currently has a considerable backlog of new images in the editing queue. We will get that cleared within two months. In the meantime, we are adding experienced image inspectors and editors to our team to handle larger volumes – so we will welcome your new image submissions and will move them through the process quickly.

3. Quick Response Time. Over the past year, Crestock operated with reduced staff which seriously restricted their ability to respond to questions and problems. Effective immediately, you can expect a response to your e-mail inquiries within 24 hours (weekends not included).

It’s a good start by Masterfile to openly declare the problems that Crestock has had and state that they intend to deal with them. “The first order of business will be to get all unpaid royalties (a.k.a. “commissions”) paid to artists who have previously requested payouts.” Does that include those who gave up waiting to be paid and cancelled their accounts? If they manage to succeed in turning things around they can win back disenchanted contributors, which incidentally as annoying as agencies probably find us sometimes, um we have our uses!

Actually, Crestock has a lot going for it. There are a few neat features on the site, such as seeing your typed keyword history and recently viewed images when you are logged in. Buyers have the option of purchasing subscription packages, credits or they can just buy an individual image. Also aesthetically speaking the site looks great, no need for a revamp in my opinion.

I won’t be submitting images just yet though. I intend to wait a while and look for comments in forums on how the new “experienced image inspectors and editors” are doing, before deciding whether to give Crestock another try.

Related posts:

1. Poetry for the Struggling Microstocker
2. This Microstock Site is a Joke!

The World Cup starts today and I couldn’t resist a blog about another passion I have, and I hope you hear me out even though this passion of mine may be of no interest to you. If you happen to fall asleep whilst reading this, upon awakening, at least skip to the links at the bottom which are related to Photography and the World Cup.

I have always been fascinated by football or soccer as it is known in far off lands which prefer their own sports. The last time I was in the U.S. was more than 20 years ago, I was still a teenager. I distinctly remember being invited by my cousins, to join them and their friends who were playing football in the garden. Music to my ears. Once I reached the garden I saw their friends throwing an oval shaped ball. I turned to my cousins and my words were something like this, “Hey, I thought we were going to be playing football!”.

Pretty much anyone from any nation, can appreciate a good photo. Not so with football. Most Americans that I encounter on my travels, and yes there are some although very few relative to the population of the country, unlike the Irish which are seemingly all out of their country. Anyway, their main complaint about football is that there aren’t enough points (goals for the rest of us) in the game and how can you have a game where nobody wins.

Let me try to explain.

It actually requires an awful lot of skill for 11 players on a 105 x 69 metre pitch to force a ball between a 7.32 metre space at one end of a pitch, especially when 11 other players are trying to prevent them from doing this, whilst at the same time trying to force the same ball into an equivalent space at the other end of the pitch. Remembering of course that only 2 of the players are allowed to handle the ball, three if your name is Thierry, with these two players being the furthest away from their respective target areas. When stalemate is eventually broken and a hardened defence is penetrated, the supporting fans in the stadium and in front of their TVs erupt into an uncontainable display of emotion, as all are aware at just what a difficult feat has been achieved and what a fine line it is between winning and losing. Heads sink on the opposing side as they are aware that despite being only 1 goal down, they too now have to cut through what may now well be an even more resilient defence.

Those who understand the sport, don’t just appreciate the goals, they appreciate the intricate pieces of skill which can be seen on the whole of the pitch. The finger tip saves which edge the ball past or onto the posts or crossbars, the well timed tackles from last defenders, the free kicks from 30 yards out which send the ball purposefully in one direction and then the other. And should the game end up as a draw, which they mostly don’t, for those who regard this as a disappointment, an epic game of chess where two great minds try to outwit each other can end up in stalemate, it doesn’t mean the game wasn’t good.

I’m not sure if things have changed much in the States since I was there, at the time football was primarily regarded as a girls sport. However, since then they have hosted the tournament, known simply throughout the World as the World Cup and of course David Beckam landed.

For dedicated fans though, who regard this event as the pinnacle event of the year and indeed of every 4 years, we now have a month of football. So sit back and enjoy the beautiful game.

Update: Both England and the U.S. played their opening matches against each other yesterday (June 12). It was an exciting game with more than 25 shots on target between them. The game ended up 1-1, largely due to England’s goalkeeper Robert Green’s howler. That aside though, full credit to the U.S. for staying in the game and managing to stop England in their path. Before the game the British newspaper ‘The Sun‘, urged England on, with an attempt at using American dialect (good or bad, I’ll let you decide). “Here’s hopin’ that England United shoot some totally awesome strikes past the goaltender in the soccerball world series today.”


Related links:
http://www.michaeldonald.com/
http://www.football365.com/Gallery_Detail/0,17732,13282_6199246,00.html

No related posts.

In a rare example of competing stock agencies working together, several agencies including Shutterstock and iStockphoto, have created the website Stockphotorights.com. Basically the intention is to provide an informative portal, where both buyers and sellers can easily find accurate information regarding image licensing and copyright.

Some frequently asked questions on the site include:

• Can I use royalty free images for free?
• Why should I worry about copyright infringement?
• What sort of disputes might arise after I have legally licensed an image?
• Which suppliers of imagery offer legal protection?
• I’m using an image I found through a Google image search. If it’s on the internet, doesn’t that mean it’s free?
• Surely no-one will be able to find one image on the whole of the internet?

According to a survey conducted by Deutsche Telekom’s microstock agency Polylooks, more than a third of UK creative professionals, use internet images without consent and 81 percent of those who admitted this, said they used the images without feeling any guilt. The other 19 percent have since given up all worldly possessions and are currently on a Buddhist retreat in Nepal. I’m just kidding. Another discovery from the survey was that nearly half of those surveyed interpreted the term ‘royalty free images’, as being able to use images without paying for them. Well I guess we all have our Homer Simpson moments.

Those who contribute to microstock sites are often active in various microstock forums and contributors often report their findings of images used without permission, or even being sold by people who don’t own the copyright. Also in recent years websites such as TinEye and ImageRights, using crawler technology, are able to find where images are being used.

For more information visit the site StockPhotoRights. You can also ask questions in their forum.

Related posts:

1. Super Gaffes
2. Have you backed up your photos lately?

Some really incredible photos were submitted to Shutterstock’s travel photo contest and it must have been a tough decision for the judges to choose a winner. They eventually chose John Batdorff’s photo of the Taj Mahal, you can see the photo here. It’s a wonderful photo and what surprises me is how deserted the scene is. I have stood in this very area a few times myself, but have always found myself surrounded by…everyone in the world who owns a camera . So congratulations John for capturing a great shot and I’m sure you’ll get many more on your trip in South Africa. (More details of the prize here)

Related posts:

1. Stock agencies form Stockphotorights.com
2. Poetry for the Struggling Microstocker

Recently Shutterstock announced a photo safari contest. To enter the competition, all you have to do is send “what you believe to be is your best travel-related photo”. Anyone can enter whether you are a Shutterstock member or not, well anyone from the US that is, which excludes me from the competition . The prize is great though, for those who are eligible , a six night safari in South Africa.

I’ve always wanted to go to Africa as my parents lived and travelled in the continent for several years, including South Africa. As a child I spent many hours being forced to watch cine films of their travels in Africa, without any sound. Luckily my Mum was always on hand to give a running commentary . Anyway, this is your chance to see and hear what I can only imagine to be an excellent trip. As well as the safari and the accommodation, the prize winner will also receive $2000. I’ve always wanted to win $2000 .

So for any American readers out there with some worthy travel shots, a sense of adventure, some time on their hands and a passport, send what you consider to be your best travel photo to shutterstock before the deadline of May 12, 2010. And I hope the lucky winner has a good time . UPDATE: The winner has been announced.

Related posts:

1. Shutterstock’s Travel Photo Winner

Starting today and for one week, iSyndica the innovative image, video and audio distribution company, is offering free distribution for it’s users, limited to 100,000 new content items per account. Ideal for anyone who has yet to open an account with iSyndica. They are also slashing the already recently reduced prices by 30% for this week on any subscription. Just enter the code HAPPYBDAY, when signing up.

I joined iSyndica not long after they started and find it an invaluable tool for distributing content, tracking what has been uploaded where and sales analytics. You can also promote your photos (watermarked) without using any up any credits, to the social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

iSyndica has come a long way in just one year and is gaining momentum every month. Take advantage of this birthday offer which expires on May 7. Click on the banner below to take the tour or to sign up.

Related posts:

1. Have you backed up your photos lately?
2. iSyndica – Life just got a little easier

Update June 5: Offer extended with an additional 100,000 image uploads. Availability at the time of posting this update is 168,896. (Offer Expired July 19)

The stock agency Zoonar announced earlier this month that they will pay contributors 0.15€ (20 Cents) per image for the first 200,000 images accepted by one of their partners Polylooks, after first being uploaded to Zoonar. If these images are sold through Polylooks, contributors still receive the full Polylooks commission of 35%, which is added to their Zoonar account.

Zoonar’s own commission rate is 50%. They allow contributors to set images at microstock, mid-stock or macrostock prices, as well as royalty free or rights managed licenses. This kind of flexibility allows me to upload all my images to them and not just my microstock images. They have such an easy upload system in comparison to a lot of other sites, which seemingly care little for the time and effort required by their contributors to get images online. It’s not necessary to upload model release forms, just state whether you have one or not and agree to send them if you are ever requested to do so. Time is also saved by not having to sift through and allocate categories for every image as there are none, although lightboxes that photographers create are added to themes by Zoonar. Images go into the review queue straight after being uploaded, so even if you haven’t added the image title, description and keywords, the images are reviewed and not sent to a ‘pending edit’ section. You have 30 days to complete the details once your images are accepted and online. The review times are also very fast, often less than 24, for both Zoonar and Polylooks.

The Good

• 0.15€ (20 Cents) upload bonus per image (limited to first 200,000 images accepted by Polylooks)
• Very simple uploading procedure
• Flexible price structure
• Fast image reviews
• Editorial images accepted on Zoonar

The Not So Good

• No ftp uploading (Update June 5, ftp now available)
• Minimum image size is 3000×2000 pixels (Photographers with 6 megapixel cameras can not send cropped images)

At the time of posting this blog there are still 150,000 images left to be given the upload bonus, which should take a few more weeks to complete, so register now and cash in. Images that you request for approval by Polylooks must be set as royalty free license.

Related posts:

1. Microstock Sites Spring Clean
2. 100 Dollars to Upload Ain’t Bad!