Getty opens the Flickr floodgates

June 19, 2010

Like it or not, Getty are certainly working hard at making the most of Flickr in terms of turning shared photos into stock photos. Last year the Getty-Flickr collection was announced and just as the number of images harvested for it hits 100,000 they announce a free for all Getty link up within the ‘Flickrverse’. [...]

Is content aware fill a friend or foe to photographers?

May 6, 2010

Adobe don’t only produce excellent software, they are also masters at marketing their products. The release of each new version is preceeded by the calculated leaking of info on new features to create the kind of buzz that makes it hard to resist gear lust. With the build up to the release of Photoshop CS5 [...]

A rubik photography conundrum

April 12, 2010

The rubik cube is an iconic piece of design that instantly conjurs up associations that for the stock photographer can translate into a whole host of great keywords; think problem solving, challenge, difficulty, success, skill, etc! It has great potential for creating images that will readily illustrate these concepts for potential image buyers. However, it [...]

What makes a great stock photo?

March 26, 2010

The answer to this question is neither simple nor straightforward, but it is an important one for any stock photographer to ponder. The first thing to realise is it that a great photo doesn’t necessarily make a great stock photo. For a photo to have potential as a stock image it needs to have the [...]

Not quite a supermodel

March 8, 2010

I’ve been a fan of HTML kit for years for both web design work and general ftp chores; I regularly use it for image uploading to stock agencies. Having just relocated back to the UK I needed to do a quick edit of my photography portfolio site homepage and headed over to the HTML Kit [...]

Sales at depositphotos

March 2, 2010

I’ve written about DepositPhotos previously so here’s a quick update to report that I have started to see sales from the modest  one hundred and thirty odd images I currently have on sale. DepositPhotos made an impressive late entry into the microstock market with their contributor incentives so I’d hope their pursuit of buyers will [...]

Shooting Commissioned photography work

February 13, 2010

What will probably be my last photography commission in Tasmania before returning to the UK was a suitably fitting shoot for Grass Roots Magazine on Old School Beef; a real Tassie lifestyle operation. It is always great to see your work in use and getting the cover shot on a magazine is of course especially [...]

How an editor can improve your stock photography portfolio

February 6, 2010

This post has been inspired by some discussion on the Alamy forums and follows on from my previous analysis of the 2009 performance of my portfolios at Alamy and Agefotostock. As Alamy is a non-exclusive agency it is common for contributors to seek out additional outlets for their images and Agefotostock is one of the [...]

2009 RM vs RF earnings at Alamy and Agefotostock

January 10, 2010

While plenty of microstock photography blogs publish earnings reports there is less publicly available information on returns and trends from photographers relating to images with traditional agencies. I don’t intend to start publishing regular earnings updates because I’m too lazy that is between me, the Missus and the tax man. However, looking over some reports [...]

Reflecting and planning for better results

December 30, 2009

The transition from one year to the next is for many a rare time when we pause for thought, taking some time to reflect on what has passed and looking forward to the coming year. In most endeavours consciously stopping to reflect and plan can be a valuable activity in improving performance and achieving better [...]