Microstock experiment

Q1/Q2 microstock results

2011-07-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Dear readers, you will see some changes in MicrostockExperiment earning reports: I decided to stop my month to month reporting to go ahead with a quaterly update as it is less time consuming and add more visibility. To make it easier to read, I only include the % earnings from my main photo agencies which are Shutterstock,Fotolia,Dreamstime,Canstockphoto,123RF,Veer and Istock.

Microstock photo results Q1

Microstock photo results Q2

Some interesting conclusions can be drawn from these charts:

Shutterstock confirms its dominant position taking around 40% of the earnings.
Despite regular uploads, Istock % decreased two fold between Q1 and Q2 and accounts now for 10% of the earnings (Istock did lost its leading position early 2010).
Dreamstime seems to benefit from the fall of IS and is now ahead of IS.
Fotolia is quite stable but now barely ahead of DT which a big change compared to 2010.
Amongst the small players, Veer has been dissapointing in Q2.

If these trends are confirmed in Q3, there will be no incentive at all to upload to IS as non exclusive contributor. It will interesting to monitor as low IS can go as it is 4th out of 7th at the moment.

Media distribution Q1

Media distribution Q2

Looking at the split between, photo still accounts for more of 80% of total earnings, video was quite stable between Q1 and Q2 whereas audio had a nice increase from 4 to 7%.

April 2011 earnings

2011-05-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

Highlights

April photo sales were 25% down from last March which follows the trend observed also last year. Audio and video had another BME, both combined taking 30% of total earnings.

Photo

Shutterstock finished number one, very far from its BME, followed by Fotolia and Dreamstime. One good surprise came from Mosphotos with a BME finishing number 6 amongst all agencies.Istock still gloom and doom, 40% down from April 2010.Overall, photo sales are 18% up compare to April 2010.

Video

Another BME with 3 clips sold at Pond5, 2 at Clipcanvas and one (also the first) at CSP.

Audio

Best month ever with Pond5 taking most of the earnings.

Stay tuned for more blog updates in May and in the meantime, you can follow my updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

March 2011 earnings

2011-04-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Highlights

March was a good month with decent photo, video and audio sales with the respective following split between media: 81%, 14% and 5%.

Photo

Shutterstock finished number one once again, only few dollars away from a BME, Fotolia and Istock falling well far behind. 123rf and Veer performed quite well and ended up very close to Istock who is clearly goes downhill for more than a year now. Dreamstime also did not perform very well this month.

Video

Few dollars away from a new a BME. Four clips were sold at Pond5 and one at Shutterstock. No sales to report at Revostock and Clipcanvas this month.

Audio

Another best month ever with Pond5 taking most of the earnings.

Stay tuned for more blog updates in April and in the meantime, you can follow my updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

February 2011 earnings

2011-03-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

Highlights

A slight drop in earnings compared to last month with photo earnings more or less the same than last year at the same period, video seen a slight increase and audio taking for the first time more than 5% of total earnings.

Photo

The big 5 had average earnings this month with SS still leading the pack. A nice surprise came from CSP with a BME. Sales at Istock regained some momentum as IS ranked second, Fotolia being third and Veer fourth.

Video

3 clips were sold this month at Shutterstock with a BME and one at Pond.

Audio

Best month ever overall with the bulk of sales from Pond5 with a portfolio of 143 files.

Stay tuned for more blog updates in March and in the meantime, you can follow my updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

January 2011 earnings

2011-02-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

Highlights

This first month of the year was pretty good with a significant increase of sales in photo, video and audio compared to January 2010.

Photo

No BME to report this month. SS finished first, quite far away from Istock and Fotolia. Sales at Veer and Fotolia were pretty low and Istock was only saved by two EL sales. Compared to january 2010, Shutterstock earnings were up 18%, Fotolia up 3%, Dreamstime up 74% and Istock up 14%.

Video

3 clips were sold this month at Pond5 and Clipcanvas making actually a BME.

Audio

Few sales at Pond5 with only 1% of total multimedia earnings.

Stay tuned for more blog updates in February and in the meantime, you can follow my updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

12 Graphic Food and Drink Background Pictures

2011-01-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

Foods and drinks can made amazing abstracts and backgrounds, even a simple pile of spaghetti or a glass of beer on the counter. I made in this post a compillation of my most interesting food and drink backgrounds in this post, enjoy your visit:).
You can click on each picture to open it a new window and also to order a license for commercial use.

December 2010 earnings

2011-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

Highlights

December earnings were quite stable compared to last month and 9% up compared to December 2009. Distribution between media changed slightly this month with audio (5%) earned more than video (1%), pictures accounted for the remaining 94%.

Reporting by media

Photo

No BME to report this month and Shutterstock is once again leading the pack, with Fotolia a not so distant second. Good performance of Veer which finished number three ahead of Istock.

Video

Dissapointing results this month and with only one clip sold, video took only 1% of total earnings.

Audio

With 5 % of total earnings, audio was close to a new BME.

Looking up to 2011, I wish you a great photographic new year! Stay tuned for more blog updates in January and in the meantime, you can follow my updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

Free High Definition Screensaver

2010-12-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas is at the door, so I decided to put on line for my readers a relaxing and soothing screensaver made from a HD video I recorded this year in a Buddhist temple in Asia. You just have to download the file (71 MB), copy it somewhere on your computer, right click to install et Voila!. Hope you wil enjoy it and I wish you happy holidays!

Visit my special Collection at StockPhotoMotion

Multimedia Tour of Downtown Los Angeles

2010-12-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles, second largest city in the United States stretches on an amazing 80 kilometers from north to south. As a former New Yorker, the first thing that struck me is that everybody has its own car and drive it even within walking distance. It is then not too surprising to learn that the first metro line was built only in 1990. It is good to know that trains do not run on a tight schedule so you have to expect some waiting time at the platform, enough to take pictures:)

Exiting the Metro Rail’s red line at Persching square and you are in the heart of LA’s historic downtown. If you walk west towards the financial district, you will be meet by impressive soaring skyscrapers.

Walking only few block east from Persching square and you will be in narrow streets where you might do feel noticeably less secure. Do not forget to look up, to catch some interesting views on historic buildings.

Going back to Persching square and walking towards the Civic center metro station, the futurist Wall Disney Concert Hall is hard to miss. A visual delight for photographers, this building is the work of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Franck Ghery who also designed the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. Walking along South Grand avenue gives you an always changing perspective on the beautiful facade and at night, the building reveals its golden metallic beauty.

From the top of the stairs on the left side of the building, you can get a good view of the City Hall. And walking to the back of a building will surprise you with a nice touch of nature.

New microstock distribution tools

2010-12-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

Distribution is very important in stock photography and a quite time consuming task. when uploading to multiple agencies. Since the unfortunate closure of Isyndica a month ago, non exclusive contributors have been waiting for some new alternatives and we are fortunate this month to have not only one but three new distribution tools.

Microstocksubmitter

Microstocksubmitter, developed by microstock contributor Yermolayev Konstantin is a standalone application which upload files to every selected agencies. It is not an "upload once "product, however the big advantage is that, you can (for 7 agencies so far) select categories and your attach model releases from the application itself which is a real time saver. Pop up window sale reports are also available and are working for DT,SS,FT,CSP, 123RF,IS, Veer at the moment.

Here is the list of the agencies I tested so far:

No final submission step with model release attached and submitted: Shutterstock,Fotolia,Dreamstime,DepositPhoto,Veer, Canstockphoto,Bigstockphoto,123RF,Istock.

Final submission and upload of model releases necessary: Stockfresh,Scanstockphoto,Yaymicro,Zoonar,

(MR not needed), mostphotos (MR not needed).

With the free version of Microstocksubmitter, you can distribute up to 50 files per channel per month. If needed, you can upgrade your account to submit up to 333 files for $7 a month or choose the unlimited uploads option for $15 a month. A version for unlimited uploads not limited in time can be purchased for $250.

Pros: free account available, automatic final submission (categories, model release) for the main 4 stock agencies.
Cons: Upload many times.

PicWorkflow

The second product released this month as a beta version is picWorkflow (referral link included) by microstock contributor Robert Davies, already behind the development of Picniche. The aim of Picworflow is to provide a replacement of Isyndica to upload once and distribute everywhere. Statistics and promoting tools also are on the development roadmap.

For cost calculation, files are segmented by 22MB blocks so most of pictures will cost 1 credit (1 US cent) to distribute to one channel and a 35MB photo for example will cost 2 credits to distribute. A 500MB movie file would cost 25 credits (25 US cents) to distribute per channel.

Once uploaded using an ftp client like Filezilla, files are stored seven days and subsequently deleted.It is however possible to extend their storage life by paying an additional fee. I am using picWorkflow to syndicate videos to Pond5, Clipcanvas and Revostock and as a former Isyndica user, I am very pleased with the service so far.

Pros: Upload once, multichannel distribution. Footage distribution. Storage option available.
Cons: Login necessary for final submission of pictures. no IPTC reading for footage. No Analytics

LightBurner

LighBurner, like picWorkflow, is another ''upload once'' distribution tool developed by David Mail already behind Prostockmaster and Pixamba. It is hard to believe but Lightburner is free so far to distribute pictures to 13 photo agencies. Like picWorfkflow, you have to send your files by ftp then login into the online platform to distribute your work. Lightburner looks promising as Analytics and promotion tools will be included soon as well as a full integration with Prostockmaster. I expect also the platform to be capable to distribute footage in the near future and it will be interesting then to compare fees with picWorkflow.

Pros: Free. Upload once, multichannel distribution.No upload limits. Automatic final submission fo some agencies.
Cons: No footage distribution. Pictures get erased from the server after 3 days with no option available for permanent storage. Bugs still exist (duplicates).

What are the challenges for distributors?

Challenges are both technical and financial. for distributors. We saw in the past with Isyndica that a great distribution platform alone is not enough, the venture has to be profitable as well. Due to the small amount of contributors willing to pay for this service and the because of the small margins, it has either has to be a one man operation or side activity of an exciting company.
Distributors can also provide promotion, keywording and statistics tools which will add value to their product and increase their margin.

Regarding the technical part, contributors with paid accounts expect a reliable good technical support and frequent updates from the distributor and it is not easy task as agencies do not not really support them.
Due to the storage place, distribution is expected to be a challenge as well especially with heavy contributors who have 1000's of clips ready to upload.

November 2010 earnings

2010-11-30T04:38:00.000-08:00

Highlights

Earnings show a slowdown from previous month although the big4 are still holding with respectable earnings. No video sales to report so royalties are split between photo (97%) and audio (3%).

Reporting by media

Photo

Once again Shutterstock takes the first place with plenty of OD sales. Not too far behind is Fotolia with a new BME and third Dreamstime only few dollars away from a BME thanks to a special 100% royalty day. Although earnings for the big4 photo are growing, Istock is 300% down compared to last year.

Video

No sales this month which is a first for this year.

Audio

Audio sales represent a bit more than 3% of total earnings with most sales coming from Pond5.

As usual, stay tuned for more blog updates in December and in the meantime, you can follow my updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

11 Beautiful Subway Pictures

2010-11-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

As a traveler, it is always a new experience to take public transportation. Subways especially are often a good playground to take candid shots, compose graphic pictures or play with motion blur. Tripod are generally not allowed but small ones like the gorillapod go often unnoticed. Fell free to post your metro/subway pictures on the comment section.

You can click on these pictures to see a bigger size and get the contact details of the artist if you want to license his or her work.

October 2010 earnings

2010-11-24T03:51:00.000-08:00

Highlights

The end of the year slow down did not kick in yet as earnings this month were very close to numbers in September which was my best month of this year. Photo is always the best earning media (89%) followed by video (7.5%) and audio (3.5%).

Reporting by media

Photo

Shutterstock is leading again this month with a new BME (helped by 2 EL) followed by Fotolia with a BME also. Istock is third this month performing a bit better than usual. Dreamstime is not to far off a BME as well.

Video

Two sales this month including one at Pond5 with a $50 commission and one at Istock with $5 commission, no need to comment on this one:) No sales at Revostock and Clipcanvas. Since Isyndica is not around anymore and because of my slow connection speed, I upload my clips to Pond5 only.

Audio

With a bit more than 3% of total earnings, audio had another BME this month with sales at Pond5 and Revostock.

As usual, stay tuned for more blog updates in November and in the meantime, you can follow my updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

Journey in Malaysia: video and photo slideshow

2010-10-27T02:33:00.000-07:00

I am inviting you on a Malaysian journey through the cities of Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang and Cameron Highlands. In this 20 minutes slideshow, you'll be given an opportunity to admire the architectural beauty of the Petronas Towers, witness slices of street life, as well as embark on a thrilling ride on the KL monorail.

You can buy the rights to license these pictures at www.stock-photo-motion.com. Should you want to order a copy of this slideshow (in 1920*1080, 700 MB), please place your request at the following e-mail: ldambies@gmail.com.

Enjoy your journey!

Between Day and Night: Petronas Towers Kuala Lumpur

2010-10-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

Everyday between 6.30 and 7.30 pm, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia indulge us with a magnificent show. If you patient enough, you will see the towers turned from gold to black or even sometime to deep red.

Below are three timelapse videos taken from the same spot on three different days. Enjoy the show and stay tuned for more videos on this page. Click on a thumbnail and video will open in a new window.

September 2010 earnings

2010-10-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Highlights

As expected, sales picked up as often microstock sales reach a peak in September and this month was not exception being a BME in both Photo and Audio. Compared to last year at the same period, microstock photos sales are up 30% which is in line with the increase of my portfolio size.

Photos is still the main earner with 86%, following by video (11%) and audio (3%). A lot of things happened this month: Isyndica distribution platform is closing down:( This service will be greatly missed and I want to thank personally Sebastien and Hugo for their hard work and for having raised new standards in media distribution platform technology.

Another big news this month, is coming from Istock which decided to cut down commission for non exclusives from 20 to 15% . I personally stopped sending pictures to Istock 4 months ago now and I do not plan resuming uploads there. If you are an exclusive contributor and looking to give up your crown I can recommend the following five agencies: Shutterstock, Dreamstime, and Yaymicro (interesting 3rd party program) and Stockfresh (a venture from previous Stockxpert's owners).

Reporting by media

Photo

Shutterstock finished far ahead of all sites with a record number of on demand sales, finishing close to a BME. Second was Fotolia, only few cents from a BME and 3rd was Veer helped by three extended sales. Istock was number 4 with a dramatic decrease in earnings of 100% compared to September 2009.On a positive note I had my first sale at Alamy this month, hope more will follow:)

Isyndica Analytics screenshot

Video

Pond5 had a BME with sales making most of my video earnings this month.However, no sales at Revostock, Shutterstock and Clipcanvas....

Audio

Audio represents only 3% of total earnings but had its BME this month with 4 sales at Pond5 and 1 at Revostock.

As usual, stay tuned for more blog updates in October and in the meantime, you can follow my daily updates on Twitter. You can also join my facebook photo page here.

Subway Ambiences

2010-09-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Click on one of the audio tabs to start your journey........

Petronas Twins Towers Photos and Videos Gallery

2010-09-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia is the home of the Petronas Twin Towers. Completed in 1998 and topping at 451.9 meters, these towers were until 2004 the tallest building in the world before being surpassed by Taipei 101. To this day, they remain the tallest twin towers in the world. By day or by night, the Petronas Twin Towers offer never ending opportunities to aspiring photographers and videographers. You can find below a compilation of my favorite HD videos and photos of the Twin Towers which I will update from time to time with new additions.

By clicking on the respective thumbnails, you can see play the videos. From there, you can also buy royalty-free license to distribute these videos and photos.

August 2010 earnings

2010-09-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

Highlights

After a slow first half, microstock photo earnings ended up being 26% higher than last year. Video sales were dissapointing and audio sales were stable giving the following splits between medias: photo (96%), video (2.6%), audio (1.4%).

Photo

Only few dollars away from March 2010 BME... Veer took the number one spot this month due to their Dash for Cash program. Shutterstock finished second (1EL) and Fotolia third. Istock is 4rd with sales still much lower than last year. Dreamstime (1EL) made a nice recovery from last month only $ 1 away from Istock.

Isyndica Analytics screenshot (click to enlarge)

Video

No sales at Pond5 and Revostock and only one sale to report (and also the first) at Shutterstock.

Audio

2 sales at Pond5 this month.

Stay tuned for more blog updates in September and in the meantime, you can follow my daily updates on Twitter.

July 2010 earnings

2010-08-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Highlights

Photo sales slowed down considerably compared to last month but a BME in video and few audio sales boosted earnings. Video sales this month accounts for 20% of total earnings and audio 1.5%.

Reporting by media

Photos

Microstock earnings were up 12% compared to last year at the same period despite a constant uploading all year. Istock is the agency with the biggest loss with earnings down to 60%. Shutterstock was slow this month but with still enough sale volume to lead the pack, FT and IS lagging not too far behind.

Isyndica screenshot (click to enlarge)

Videos

BME with 5 clips sold at Pond5 (BME) and Revostock. No sales to report at Clipcanvas for the second consecutive month.

Audio

Two sales between Pond5 and Revostock this month.

June 2010 earnings

2010-07-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

Highlights

Earnings for this month of June were very uneven among medias. Photos had a BME and both videos and audio sales were very poor taking as photos alone took 99.2% of total earnings. For microstock photos alone, earnings increased 33% compare to June 2009. To put things into perspective, porfolio size increased by 35 % at Shutterstock, 24% at Istock, 28% at Fotolia during the same period.

Reporting per media

Photos

It was a new BME overall although only one BME was to report at Zoonar due to the uploading bonus. Overall, Shutterstock finished first (with a record of 20 on demand sales) followed by Zoonar, Istock (1EL) and Fotolia (1EL).

Isyndica Analytics screenshot

Video

No sales to report in any of the usual leading agencies i.e Pond5, Revostock and Clipcanvas.

Audio

Only one sale at Pond5.

May 2010 earnings

2010-05-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Highlights

After a slow April, earnings increased sharply for all medias: videos and audio had their BME. Overall , earnings were not higher than March 2010 (DepositPhoto upload bonus skewed the results). Photo is still the largest media in term of earnings (84 %), followed by video (13%) and audio (3%).

You will notice that my Isyndica analytics graph below includes Shutterstock now. To add this channel, simply go your Shutterstock downloads stat page, and save the earnings spreadsheet for a specific period. You can then upload the csv file to your Isyndica Analytics.

Reporting per media

Photo

3 BME this month for Shutterstock, Veer and Yaymicro. Sadly, Istock is still underperforming, very far from its best month in May 2009 ($172.29). No downloads to report at Graphic leftovers, 3DStudio, Cutcaster and Mostphotos and only 1 sub sale at DepositPhoto.

Video

BME this month with three HD clips sold at Pond5 and one at Clipcanvas. No sales at Revostock and I am still waiting (should I?) for my first sale at Shutterstock.

Audio

BME with 6 sales at Pond5. No sales to report this month at Revostock.

Interview with Christopher Tvärne, creative director of PhotoAsia

2010-05-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

In this interview series, I asked few questions to Christopher Tvärne, creative director of PhotoAsia, a Malaysian stock photography agency.

Can you present us a short history of PhotoAsia and how did you came on board?

PhotoAsia was founded in May 1992 by Doreen Lau. At the time, we were the first local image bank to specialize in the marketing of images of Malaysia by Malaysian photographers. We started out with a stable of only ten photographers, which now has grown to over 100 photographers.
I actually got involved with PhotoAsia largely by coincidence when I was in Malaysia last year. It wasn't something I planned for exactly. I was supposed to find out whether it was possible to implement a payment gateway on the existing website. While doing so, I made some suggestions on how to improve the website. Doreen liked what I did and I discovered that the stock photography business is something right up my street and before I knew it I was hired to expand the business by developing the website and finding new photographers.

What type of licenses does PhotoAsia distribute?

PhotoAsia currently market Rights-Managed, Royalty-Free, Low Budget Royalty-Free and Subscriptions on our website.

Did microstock agencies impacted your business or are you somewhat protected in your niche market?

Yes and no. While opinions may vary, I believe that the clients that buy from microstock aren't necessarily the same ones that buy from us. Most of our buyers are advertising and design agencies, who serve clients that can afford and willing to pay good money for images they can't get elsewhere. Specializing in Asian and Malaysian content has obviously helped us a lot and contributed to the success of our business.

What are the main challenges to grow a specialized stock agency? Is recruiting new talents in Malaysia difficult?

Back when we started out, it was difficult to convince photographers of the benefits of banking their images with a photo library. We had to resort to creating our own images sometimes to meet with the clients' requirements. Now, with online photo communities, social media and other mediums, it's much easier to connect with new potential photographers. Finding the talent isn't really the most difficult part for us any more: molding and shaping them into successful stock photographers is. That's why we prefer to work with a small stable of photographers.

Can you share with us few developments you are going to implement in the near future?

The biggest development in the near future will be the redesign and relaunch of our website. We are still at the planning stages, but we want to introduce many features that will help buyers and contributors alike.

What kind of pictures are you looking for at the moment and can you give some advices to aspiring contributors based in Malaysia?

The current market trend is targeting the modern Muslim consumers. In view of this, we are currently looking for photographers that can create and contribute Muslim lifestyle and architectural images for our clients.
The best advice I can give to an aspiring contributor is to shoot consistently. If you want to be a good stock photographer, always keep the client in mind when shooting. Is there enough room for copy space? Would this work for a billboard or a print ad? Don't be afraid to use your creativity. Create images before the art directors ask for them. Anticipating the demand and reading the market trend correctly is the key to being a successful stock photographer.

Thanks Christopher for taking the time to answer my questions and I wish the best of luck for PhotoAsia in the near future.

April 2010 earnings

2010-05-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

Highlights

As you might have noticed, I changed the format of my earnings this month giving up tables for charts. Overall, earnings this month did not increase as they did last year between March and April. It was a slow month with sale commissions 35% down compared to last month and only 1% up compared to April 2009. Royalty percentages for each media are reported below with photo and audio taking 92% and 3% of the total earnings, respectively.

Isyndica analytics screenshot

You can access 2009-2010 monthly earnings from Microstock Charts here.

Photo

No BME to report this month. Shutterstock led the pack, Istock earnings dropped 43% compared to last month lagging behind FT. Among the low earners agencies, it is 123RF who performed the best.

Video

It was a slow month for footage with only one sale at Pond5 despite the addition of new clips.

Audio

Surprisingly, audio did not finish far behind video and even had a best month ever.

If you are not a Isyndica user yet, you can take advantage of their 30% off on subscriptions. They also offer free syndication on new uploaded items until the 7th of May. You can use my link to signup and do not forget to enter the coupon code HAPPYBDAY on the checkout.

Cooliris Express 3D interactive wall review

2010-04-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

Cooliris was founded in 2006 around a simple mission: "Think beyond the browser". They proposed a range of products including:

Cooliris desktop, a browser add-on with which you can browse, search the web and your desktop using a 3D Wall.

Cooliris iPhone to search, discover and share photos, videos with your iphone.

CoolPreviews, a browser add-on to speed up your surfing experience.

In this post, I use a fourth product called Cooliris Express which allow you to embed on your blog a Flash-based 3D interactive wall containing photos and videos. I made up two walls: one with pictures from my Flickr photostream and one containing videos from my youtube channel. Content was originally uploaded to Flickr and Youtube using the Isyndica platform which allows you to control the size of the syndicated media as well as its protection i.e using a custom or standard watermark.

The nice thing is that your wall is updated as soon as you upload new photos or videos to Flickr or Youtube. A share button on the lower right hand side of the wall allow you to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Linkedin and more. The slideshow button button is very convenient as it plays your Youtube videos one after the other.It is not possible however to make a wall with selected photos or videos, it would be a great feature additional feature.

Cooliris Express is a good way to promote your work as a photographer or videographer. You can start your own wall by clicking here. Did I forget to mention, it is free....

Photo interactive wall

Video interactive wall

A multimedia tour of the magnificent Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah

2010-04-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

Entrance of Bryce Canyon National Park

After my visit to Antelope Canyon in Arizona, I took you on a multimedia tour of Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah, a well known spot for photographers. If you click on the pictures you will be redirected to my webpage to see a larger size and have the option also to order prints and licenses. Please hit the back button of your browser to go back to this page. Enjoy your visit!

Bryce Canyon is one of the jewels of United States National Parks and located just North of Zion National Park in Southern Utah. The 18-mile-long park road allows you drive along the plateau rim and stop to up to 14 viewpoints amongst them Sunrise, Sunset, Inspiration, Bryce points which encircle the main Bryce amphitheater.

The first day of this 2 days trip was spent visiting Inspiration, Bryce and Sunset points. Standing on the edge of the rim at Inspiration point, the first thing that came to mind is how Nature could manage to make such complex and beautiful structures? These tall thin spires of rock, also called hoodoos, were not formed by wind but by successives freeze/thaw cycles over the years. As erosion continues inexorably, these spires will be gone in few thousand years.

Inspiration point entrance

Bryce canyon amphitheater from Inspiration point

Panoramic view from Inspiration point (58 megapixels)

Panoramic view from Inspiration point

Powershot G9 set up for infrared shot (see result below)

Infrared panoramic view from Inspiration point

View of the amphitheater from Bryce point is quite spectacular and you can admire its amazing geological features.

Panoramic view from Bryce point

Infrared panoramic view from Bryce point

Sunset point was the last stop of the day, just it time to see the rocks turning to a nice golden color.

Panoramic view from sunset Point

View of Bryce canyon amphitheater from sunset point

22 millions megapixels panoramic view from Sunset point (HD video of the left hand side below)

HD timelapse video of shadow moving on the spires

Bryce canyon amphitheater large hoodoo at sunset point

From there, we went down on the Navajo loop trail, where you can have a spectacular view of the hoodoos from below. Speaking from experience, you have to be careful not to slip on the icy trail especially when carrying photo equipment…

View from the Navajo trail

View from the bottom of the Navajo trail

Second day’s trip started with an early visit to Sunrise point. We arrived just in time to set up the camcorder to record sunrise which was at 5.30 am braving temperature of below zero Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius).

Sunrise over Bryce Canyon from Sunrise point

Sunrise over Bryce Canyon from Sunrise point

HD timelapse video of sunrise over Bryce Canyon amphitheater

Trail to Sunrise point at dawn

Later in the day, the sky was cloudy and we went to Paria viewpoint. In winter, the road is close but easily accessed by cross country skiing. The view was not as spectacular as Inspiration and Bryce points because there are less stone formations.

Panoramic view from Paria viewpoint

Bryce canyon from Paria view

Beside a good workout, you can enjoy there a pure silence and listen to your footsteps in the fresh snow.

Despite freezing temperatures, visiting Bryce canyon in winter is truly an unforgetable experience and a paradise for landcape photographers. Be prepared, in addition to your tripod, to carry additionnal batteries and memory cards, you will probably need them. A cloth tissue can also be useful to clean up condensation which builds over time between the filter and the lens. If you have been there also, feel free to post the link to your pictures in the comments.

March 2010 earnings

2010-04-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

Summary

This month was a BME for microstock (beating September 2009) with combined multimedia royalties reaching over $700. It is also the first month I've sold photos, videos and audio alltogether.Microstock photos alone had a 70% increase in earnings compared to March 2009.

Isyndica Analytics graph

Photos

More than 1000 photos were licensed this month, but no extended sales to report. Shutterstock was once again the best agency followed closely by Istock and Fotolia (first BME since 2 years....). Depositphotos ranked 4th due to their promotion program but I expect to go way down next month. I have also a BME to report at GraphicLeftovers, the easiest agency to contribute if you are an Isyndica user. No sales at all this month at 3DS, Mostphotos and Cutcaster. Taking into account the 17 agencies, cumulative RPI was quite stable at $0.8 compared to last year. The average $ per download went down to $0.58 to the large volume of sales at DepositPhotos.

Thanks to Lee Torrens from Microstockdiaries and Amos Struck, you can see my 2009-2010 earnings history here.

Videos

Videos royalties represent a bit more than 9% of my multimedia sales. No sales yet to report at Shutterstock, Istock and Revostock.

Audio

I had my first 2 sales at Pond5 this month with an average of $3.5 per download, a value between photo and video. My files are distributed to 4 agencies so far. Audio represents however only 1% of my multimedia sales.

For more daily updates, you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Until next month!

You also visit my interactive photo wall made by Cooliris. You can create your own for free also.

Landscape photography, alternate realities

2010-03-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

Landscape photography is a fascinating discipline where you can experiment with a lot of techniques. You can choose to compose your pictures horizontally, vertically or go for a panorama. But with a tripod and few creative filters, new dimensions can be added to the scene, and produce something which can be quite far from the reality.

The scene in question was a metallic waterer standing in a fresh field of grass. It was a cloudy day with some sunshine and a strong wind which is plenty to play with.

As an exercise, I took a series of pictures from the same spot (give or take few meters) using a Canon powershot G9 and the following accessories: tripod, neutral density filter Hoya ND400, infrared filter Hoya R72, circular polarizing filter. Processing was done with Adobe photoshop CS3, Lightroom 2 and Photomatix. Please click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Photo 1: panoramic view (two pictures stiched together)

Photo 2:vertical view

Photo 3: vertical view, HDR processing

Photo 4: long exposure (15 seconds, ND400 neutral density filter + G9 internal ND filter on)

Photo 5: long exposure (6 seconds, ND400 neutral density filter)

Photo 6: long exposure infrared (8 seconds, R72 infrared filter)

Photo 7: long exposure infrared (1 second, R72 infrared filter)

Photo number 4 is my favorite because it depicts the best this windy day of spring but I like also the alternate reality of number 7. These pictures are not very stock oriented, however it will interesting to follow them to see which ones get the most downloads.....

February 2010 earnings

2010-02-28T05:30:00.000-08:00

Summary

No BME to report in any of the big photo agencies but February was quite good considering it had only 17 business days. My total earning including photos, videos and sounds and referrals was just above $500. You will find my detailled earnings per media below:

Isyndica Analytics screenshot

Photos

Microstock photos earnings were up 68% compared to February 2009 with Shutterstock, Istockphoto and Fotolia taking 71% of the total. Midstock agencies did ok with 12% of total photos sales. Stockxpert closed down the 11th of February so I signed up in two new agencies and both accounts are already showing a positive balance offsetting the loss of stockxpert earnings.

The first agency is Depositphotos (DP) which attracted a lot of attention with their shock and awe promotion program by paying contributors up to $100 if they upload 500 pictures. Apparently this program has been closed down March 1st. Uploading is quite fast despite the fact at least one category has to be selected. Ranking determines the commission rate which is 44% (for non exclusive photographers) and increases to 46% after 500 sales.

The second agency, Graphic Leftovers (GLO), primarily sells vectors but do sell pictures as well. Upload

process is a breeze as it is fully integrated in the Isyndica platform via an API : you don't even need to push

your uploads on the site. GLO offers a generous 52% commission to all contributors.

If you want to join these two agencies feel free to use my referral links above:
http://graphicleftovers.com/ref=ldambies/
http://submit.depositphotos.com?ref=1007492

Videos

I had my first sales at AlwaysHD ($25 for one HD1080) and Pond5($10 for one HD720) and I am still waiting for my first sales at Revostock, Shutterstock and Istock. It is not much but enough to represent 7% of my total multimedia earnings.

Audio

No sales to report this month with about 20 files online at Revostock, Pond5 and Audiomicro.

A visit of Antelope Canyon, Arizona

2010-02-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

I had the chance during my last USA trip to visit the famous Upper Antelope Canyon in Northern Arizona. As the story goes, Antelope Canyon was discovered back in 1931 by a Navajo girl who was herding sheep in the area and it soon became a famous spot for landscape photographers. It is a short slot canyon (about 400 meters long) that you can cross in few minutes but the combinaison of light and sandstone texture make you want to wander for hours....

Unfortunately your time inside the Canyon will be limited since it is located on a Navajo reserve and hence has a restricted access. Guided tours are available from the nearby city Page to the entrance of the canyon and the 1h30 tour will cost you $32, not exactly cheap....

Once you arrived, standing in front of the narrow entrance, it is quite difficult to imagine such beauty inside. Antelope Canyon is indeed a magical place and walking on sandy ground add something to the whole sensorial experience. The sandstone of the canyon varies from dark red to light orange, some part of the canyon are well lit and others are very dark . Taking pictures is quite challenging and a tripod with a cable release are paramount since 20, 30 seconds exposure are sometime needed to capture the whole dynamic range of the scene. Add this to the excitement of actually being there and is easy to miss some pictures...

Unfortunately this place is victim if its success: even during low season, several groups of visitors are inside the narrow passages at the same time and people often cross in front of your camera ....

The Navajo guide we had was quite knowledgeable about photography, pointing out good spots to take pictures, but he was way too fast and the time it took to put the tripod in place and shot a 20s-30s exposure he already moved to the next spot....

A big disapointment was that I could not reproduce the most famous shot of the Canyon with the beam of light since it fades out during winter. This place is worth seeing so if you are visiting Lake Powell you should definitely go there. In the meantime, if you have not been there already, here are some of the pictures I took there:

January 2010 earnings

2010-02-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

Summary

All multimedia files included (photo,video,audio), january earnings were just above the $400 mark with not even a BME to record. Detailed earnings by categories are reported below:

Photos

Microstock agencies performed poorly this month, although sales picked up nicely in the last week of the month. Earnings are just 28% higher than those in January 2008 despite having larger portfolios. Shutterstock had a solid month following by Fotolia and Istock, very close to each others. Small agencies and midstock
agencies did not sell as much as they usually do.

Videos

I had my second sale at Clipcanvas (141 clips on line) which netted me 42 euros. I am still waiting for my first sale at Pond5 and Shutterstock. Due to a lengthy review process, I have only 6 videos on line at Istock and no sales to report despite getting a lot of views (as high as 600 per files....).

Audio

Like mentioned on my previous post, I just started submitted sound effects to several agencies so it is bit early to expect sales especially with only 16 files at Pond5.

Isyndica Analytics screenshot

Detailled earnings in US dollars

Experiment 14: Distributing and selling your audio on microstock

2010-01-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

In addition to pictures and HD videos, I started this month distributing audio to different agencies. My goal is more to have recordings to support my pictures and videos than rather to increase my microstock earnings. After looking for a suitable recorder, I ordered a Zoom H2 from Amazon. The zoom H2 has a low price tag ($150) and a great sound quality, capable recording at 360-degree and comes with a 1GB SD card and earplugs. If you are looking for a more advanced recorder you can have a look at the Zoom H4n.

Wav files recorded at 44.1 kHz 16 bits are accepted pretty much by all agencies although some are taking 48 kHz 16-bit as well. As the Zoom H2 can record at 96 kHz 24-bit, I use these settings and downsample files before submission.
Like with pictures, agencies are looking for noise-free high quality files and Istockaudio even specify that the signal should be in the final range of -4db to -6db. I use Audacity, a free and open source software, to remove noise if necessary and amplify my audio files.
Like any submission in microstock, quality is preferred over quantity so sounds with a different twist have more chance to be sold. Keywording is quite different than in video and photo and it is advisable to add words to describe the mood of the file in the metadata.

For information, I put in a table below a list of agencies I upload to, along with some, I hope, useful informations. Being an Isyndica user, I take the advantage of their platform to distribute my audio files in few clicks.

I am far from being a sound expert so please feel to post a comment if you find any mistakes on this post. Thanks and happy recording!
If you want to sign up to start selling your audio, feel free to click on my affiliate banners below:

Experiment 13: Shutterstock versus Istock

2010-01-17T11:09:00.000-08:00

Shutterstock and Istock are often listed by microstock photographers in their top selling agencies. Both marketplaces differ in their history, the way they distribute and sell their products and in their interaction with photographers. After a brief history of both companies, I will take a closer look in this post at my earnings since 2007 and will draw some conclusions.

A bit of history

Istock was founded by Bruce Livingstone in 2000 adopting a credit based based model to distribute royalty-free pictures. It was acquired in 2006 by Getty Images and branched the same year into the new market of video footage. Vetta, a premium collection, open to exclusive photographers only, was launched in 2009 and the same year, Istockaudio opened, allowing contributors to sell basic sounds and more complex music compositions. Istock have now a more diverse product offering than Shutterstock, with illustrations, flash animations, logos in addition to photo and videos.

Shutterstock was founded back in 2003 by Jon Oringer and contrary to Istock, adopted a subscription based model. In 2008, a new on-demand subscription plan was unveiled and Shutterstock started to distribute footage ahead of Istockphoto. In 2009, they acquired Bigstockphoto, a credit based microstock agency.

How did Istock and Shutterstock compare for me ?

Comparative graphs for the 2007-2009 period show that Shutterstock earnings did reach a plateau very fast compared to Istock where earnings are increasing with the portfolio size. For the first time since 2007, IS performed better than SS for few months of 2009, showing more potential than Shutterstock for the foreseeable future.
Shutterstock pays $0.33 per subscription download but with enhanced and on-demand sales, the average RPD increased to 0.51, well under the 1.55 of Istock. However, due to a high volume sale, total earnings at Shutterstock are few dollars above Istock at the end of the year. However, this comparison is not fair because due to a tedious submission system and upload limits, my portfolio at Istock is 2.7 times smaller than the one at Shutterstock.

Sales pattern differs quite a lot between the two agencies: Shutterstock has a tendency to favors new images (even if it is less obvious than few years ago). At Istockphoto at the other hand, only a small fraction of my portfolio is selling and few pictures are generating the bulk of my earnings: the top five best selling images (just over 1% of my portfolio) are responsible of almost 60% of my earnings! Unfortunately, these five pictures can be negatively affected by a change in best match and earnings can drop dramatically. Overall, I consider that my earnings (assuming regular uploads) are more stable at Shutterstock than at Istockphoto even if Shutterstock does not show much progression.

Conclusion

On the light of these observations, my plan is to increase my Istock porfolio to have more best sellers and be less affected to changes in best match. At the same time, I will continue uploading pictures to Shutterstock despite a flat earning curve. I do expect to have a better upcoming year at Istock than at Shutterstock even if I will benefit this month from an increase of commission from $0.33 to $0.36 for subscription downloads.
It will interesting to see in 2010 if Shutterstock will follow Istock on royalty-free audio and how exactly they will manage Bigstockphoto acquisition.

UPDATE

So far this year my SS earnings are showing a nice progression while Istock is downhill since the beginning of year: in May 2010, I registered a 60% decrease in earnings compared to May 2009, which was my best month ever.

In the meantime, my RPD at Shutterstock increased to an average of $0.55 for the first six months of 2010.

Needless to say, I expect a significant difference between Shutterstock and Istock by the end of the year.

Getty owned Istock just annonced that they will decrease commission for their non exclusive contributors from 20 to 15%, arguing that their business model is not sustainable! I decided therefore to stop uploading pictures to Istock and will decide later on if I start pulling out pictures from my portfolio.

If you are a buyer and looking for royalty-free pictures please have a look at Shutterstock which treat their contributors more fairly.

Submit Footage Clips to Shutterstock and make $$$!

December 2009 earnings

2010-01-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

Photos

December was pretty good considering that sales dried up in the last week of the month and that I do not have any christmas related pictures on my portfolio. I had quite a few extended licence sales at SS, DT and Veer and the latter was also my only BME this month. Sales at 3DStudio made a come back this month after a three months drought.Istock sales took a dip with less than $100 but still managed to be my second best earning agency and the one with the highest RPI. If my total RPI was quite low this month at 0.51, it is worth mentioning that 0.95 was my all time highest $/dl since I started microstock.

Overall, including referral and midstock sales, my december earnings were just above the $450 mark which is a 100% increase over December 2008.

Videos

No sales to report this month and I am still building my portfolio, uploading videos to six agencies although their distribution is far from being even. Clipcanvas is my largest library so far with over 100 videos on line, the other five having less than 50. I am getting a lot of views at Istock with only three clips but reviews are painfully slow.

Isyndica screenshot

Earnings table (US dollars)

2009 goals

As far as my 2009 goals, the main one which was to make $500 a month with microstock pictures was reached once in September and the months after that were also close to this number. some of them will be only be reached sometime in January like the commission increase to $0.36 at SS and the silver rank at Fotolia. I also managed to increase my portfolio to more than 1000 pictures on most agencies but missed my 500 portfolio target at Istock. I had 3 more pictures with flames at IStock as expected. Midstock sales are still a bit lower than I was expected although they represented 20% of my total sales in October 2009.

Submit Footage Clips to Shutterstock and make $$$!

Interview with David Negron, CEO of ProductionTrax

2009-12-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

ProductionTrax is an online marketplace for royalty free music, sound effects, pictures and footage. As a photo and video contributor, I asked David Negron, founder and CEO of ProductionTrax, few questions about his company:

MicrostockExp: Can you please introduce yourself and tell us the story behind ProductionTrax inception?

D.N: My name is David Negron. I went to USC as a Jazz Major and after school started a company with the intent of getting into the film music production industry. I set Productiontrax up to sell my own music. After a bit of research I realized that I could have other people sell music on the site as well and Productiontrax as we know it today was born.

MicrostockExp:We know now that ProductionTrax started in the music business, but when did you decide to branch out to video and photos?

D.N: We originally sold Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects. About 2 years ago we launched a complete redesign of the site and decided that we needed to diversify our product offerings to keep up with the bigger microstock sites. We were actually the first site to offer all 4 product categories (Music, SFX, Video and Photos).

MicrostockExp:Can you present us the different products you are offering and more importantly what are the incentives for contributors?
D.N: Other than the 4 main categories, we also recently expanded our offerings to include DJ Elements, which are music tracks and music components that are licensed to be used in derivative works, which most royalty free music does not allow for. This lets DJ's use them for mixing and beat making.

Our biggest incentive for contributors is the independent nature of our site and the ability contributors have in controlling their media. We never ask that a contributor be exclusive to our website, we're musicians here and contribute to our own site and I would never limit myself to selling my work in place, so why would I ask other contributors to do that? We're one of the few websites that allows contributors to set their own prices and our 65% payout is one of the largest non-exclusive payouts in microstock.
We also offer customers 2 license options, one of which is a non-commercial license that gives inexpensive options students and customers who have personal projects, and contributors have the ability to set these options at the same price if they don't want to offer their work to non-commercial projects.
We also offer our contributors the ability to easily market their own product. Every contributor page has a RSS feed that contributors can use to populate their webpage or blog with new content they've uploaded. In fact you can even import this information to your Facebook or Myspace page. Every track and profile has a Tweet Me button that allows contributors an easy way to share new content with their Tweeps. We have a weekly newsletter that gets sent out to a large database of people detailing new products on the site, so contributors that upload often will have their tracks show up in these emails.

Another thing that I feel sets us apart from other sites is our personal relationship with our contributors. We make an effort to communicate with them as much as possible. We send newsletters to our contributors when ever we have info that they need to know and will occasionally reach out to them if we feel the site need specific content. For example the Olympics are coming up and I noticed we didn't have many national anthems, so we sent out an email to our contributors and with in a few weeks we started to have a decent collection of anthems for anyone doing olympic projects. We also try to connect with our contributors through social media to help develop a strong line of communication.

MicrostockExp: What products you are currently have the most and in what sector you want to get more market shares in the future? Can you tell us a bit about your plan in the near future in terms of technical development ? (ftp for example)
D.N: We don't offer FTP, but we do have a nice bulk upload app that is actually easier to use than FTP. It lets users quickly upload large file counts and an excel template lets us populate track info fast so your tracks are up and ready to sell. In terms of product offerings, we have more music and sound effects than anything else, since this is where we started. Stock footage has been quickly catch-up though and we have a good number of video tracks currently. Our photo offerings is where I'd like to focus our content efforts this year. It's the category we have the least content in and it is something we want to improve. Focusing on gaining new photo contributors will be beneficial to all photo contributors, as the more photos we have available for sale, the more we'll sell photos. I'd also like to procure some of the larger music and sound effects libraries that our competitors have and we've already have. As for our technical plans for the upcoming year, they will mainly focus on speeding up the site for a better user experience and building up our infostructure to ensure we are able to grow the way we want to and increase the reliability of the site.

If you want to start uploading your pictures,videos or music to Productiontrax, you can click the banner below !

Clipcanvas HD footage marketplace review

2009-12-11T02:37:00.000-08:00

In this article I review Clipcanvas, a HD footage marketplace I joined two months ago to distribute my clips. Also in this post, an interview with Cato Salter, CEO of Clipcanvas who was kind enough to answer some of my questions about his company.

Presentation

Clipcanvas is a HD footage and animation marketplace based in Norway founded in 2007. The website site with a black and gold design is fairly quick to load. A large window , on the right hand side of the screen displays continously three different footage every week. Video clips previews use the flash based Flowplayer technology with success: preview window is large (420 by 238 pixels) and the image is crisp and clear making it the best previews I have seen so far on any footage agencies.

How to submit?

You can either run the Clipcanvas uploader application from your desktop or normal ftp software like Filezilla.
The Clipcanvas uploader is pretty straightforward to use: Once logged with your credentials, you just have drag and drop your clips onto a window and click the upload button.
Once submitted, your clip will be placed in the ''tag your clips'' section of the site.The last step is to enter keywords (separated by commas) and minimal informations about the clip such as category,dynamic,handling,camera framing.
Based on my experience, once you have your keywords ready, the final submission does not take more than 30 seconds and if you have a group of similar clips, less than 10 seconds using the available fast tagging. Clipcanvas is by far the easiest and fastest site for your final submission. In addition, clip reviews are very fast, mostly done under 24 hours. I found out that if the Clipcanvas uploader was very slow, uploading using ftp was considerably faster so I will recommend the latter.

Video clips requirements

Clipcanvas accepts clips with a minimum duration of 2 seconds and a maximum size of 750MB in the following formats:DV,DVcam,DVCpro 25/50/100,HDV1,HDV2,Xdcam,Xdcam HD,ProResHQ 10bit,ProRes 8bit, AVC intra (must be delivered in ProResHQ),Cineform, 12bit (must be delivered in ProResHQ),Dnx, DnxHD,Photo.jpg/.mjp 75/100%, Digibeta (export to ProRes or photo.jpg before upload).
I did not have so far any rejections by uploading quicktime movies (motionjpeg 95%) rendering from avchd files.

Interview with Cato Cater, CEO of Clipcanvas

Q: Can you present briefly the business in which Clipcanvas operates?

A: ''We are in a competitive industry comprised of so many professionals with high standards, and it is important to us to do our best to meet the requirements and demands that this implies. This goes for our submitters as well as for our buyers. We deliver video footage to our customers in more than 7 different professional codecs and a total of 20 variations thereof, bringing flexibility to our buyers´ digital workflows. Our primary focus is HD. The main bulk of our customers are working in production and post-production houses, and this list is growing by the day, representing companies and buyers from all over the world''.

Q: What can you tell us about your upcoming developments at Clipcanvas?

A: ''With regards to developments in the future, I would like to say we continuously work on making improvements:
- the referral program is in place and will be available from early January - referrers will earn a flat 10% of sales generated by these referrals for a set period of time for each buying user referred
- we will also offer more advanced affiliate solutions for those that want to integrate more closely with Clipcanvas through an API (will also be available in January). For example, the API would make it possible for any of our submitters to display and offer their own clips for sale through their own webpages (if they have one), but it would require some programming skills (with which we might even help out with in certain cases).
- also we are continuously working to improve the service we offer, based on input from all our users, and some of these improvements take more time while others take less, some you notice and some you don´t. We still have a lot of work to do, we are working hard, and I hope our users appreciate this even if some developments take longer time for us to implement than we would wish for''.
''We market our service and the video content offered through Clipcanvas in many different ways, both online and in more traditional media and communication channels. This is something we will intensify in the upcoming year, as we are now at the point where we pack some punch in the market''.

Conclusion

In summary:

Plus for contributors: Euros zone, video previews, referral program (to start in January 2010), ftp, quick final submission, quick reviews, high commission rate (60%), option to set your own prices (from 50 to 500 euros).
Plus for buyers: billing accounts, live support,free H.264 watermarked previews for testing.
Minuses for contributors: did not find any... but feel free to leave a comment if you find some!

Overall, I found Clipcanvas to be a great marketplace to join and I am looking forward to their new developments in 2010. The number of clips doubled in the last 6 months and Clipcanvas has now a library of just over 50,000 clips. For future reference, Clipcanvas is ranked 157,235 in Alexa.com and below is a 6 months trailing of Clipcanvas traffic compare to some of its competitors.

With a bit more than 100 clips on line I already had my first sale and looking forward to have more. Clipcanvas referral program is not ready yet but feel free to join by clicking the banner below. You can also follow Clipcanvas on twitter or join their fan page on facebook.

Browse my HD clips at Clipcanvas !

Experiment 12: setting up your on-line microstock store

2009-12-02T04:31:00.000-08:00

In this article, I will be sharing my experience setting up my online stock photography store on Smugmug. For those of you who never heard about Smugmug, it was founded in 2002 as a family business and a picture and video hosting site. It has rapidly grown and is now hosting more than 700,000,000 pictures. To put it into perspective, Flickr has more than 4 billion now.
Smugmug offers three levels of membership including a Pro account which allows you to license and sell merchandise from your pictures. A lot of pro photographers are using Smugmug as a platform to sell products to their customers after a shooting session or to market their pictures.

Below is my list of the PROS and CONS having a Smugmug Pro account:

Pros

• No domain name or annual hosting fees, no website design fee ($ 149.95 annual fee all included).
• Customers do not need to register before buying your product; they just can pay by credit card.
• Friendly webpage customization (graphic themes, CSS and Javascript).
• Unlimited storage for your photos and videos.
• Password protected galleries and custom watermarks.
• Reactive customer service
• Ability to set your own prices and retain 85% commission on sales.
• No image reviews
• You can sell three sizes of digital prints (1MP, 4MP and original) but also merchandise (T-shirts, mousepads, poscards, mugs, etc….), prints (glossy, matte, metallic) and canvas (rolled, wrapped).
• Display of HD 1920x1080 videos (up to 10 minutes and 600 MB long)

Cons

• Payment only by paper check in US dollars so far … (direct deposit is coming but only for US photographers)
• You are paid monthly if your profit exceeds $500, otherwise you are paid once your balance reaches $200.
• The photo licencing agreement is not as clear as on microstock agencies and extended licences are not available.
• The website is only in English.
• There is no option to sell HD videos yet.
• And of course… you have to do the marketing yourself

Is a Smugmug pro account really for you ?

I think the first thing to consider is that if you are willing or not to promote your portfolio. If you are not ready to do that, the Pro offer is not probably for you as you cannot count to get the same volume sale of Istock for example. Also I believe you would need a quite large portfolio (more than 2000 pictures) to begin with.

How do I use my Smugmug pro account?

I uploaded more about 2500 pictures so far online. Ftp is not available but uploading via the web browser is quite fast and IPTC data are read automatically.
Since sales volume are low, I priced my pictures has the following: $20 for 1MP, $40 for 4MP and $60 for the original (10MP). I have also a macro RF section as well as Macro RM even if I don't have an e-commerce section for the later.
Stock pictures are organized in different galleries: people, food, architecture, transportation, nature landscape, textures and backgrounds.
I have also a special collection of more artsy pictures which would do well on microstock and some pictures I decided to sell at a higher price and are not offered on microstock agencies.
If contacted directly by a client for a special request, I upload the product to a password protected gallery where he or she can proceed to a secure payment. You just receive a confirmation e-mail when the payment is completed.

Some tips

Smugmug provides some stats but those are quite limited. It is however possible to track your visits using Google Analytics. To do that, go to contol panel, advance site customization and copy paste the code into the head tag.
Smugmug has integrated some social network tools: you can easily share a gallery on twitter and facebook for example. Digg, Stumble Upon and MySpace are also available.
You can link your Smugmug pro account to your own domain name and it is done in few clicks when you have already a domain on godaddy.

Conclusion

Smugmug is a friendly and fast platform to share and sell your digital images. It can be a good complement to your microstock activity if you already have a client base and/or are willing to market your site. However payments for European users are not straightforward since only US dollars checks are emitted.
So far, I’ve sold one digital print (by direct contact) and one print (no direct contact) . This wouldn’t sound like much but it was enough to recover more than 50% of my Pro account cost.
More than 4000 galleries of stock images are already on Smugmug. If you want to join, you can save $5 on a Pro account by entering the following coupon during your registration: 5CnHScGMAvPuA.

You can visit my online store following this link.

November 2009 earnings

2009-12-01T03:55:00.000-08:00

Photos

November was on track for a BME until the first half of the month, but the second half was noticeably slower and I ended up finally with a second BME. Only one BME to report at CSP with Istock finishing first, ahead from SS (despite 15 OD sales) and FT. Sales were dissappointing at SXP and DT (with RPD decreasing for the third consecutive month). I am still on the process to upload my entire portfolio at Veer and I am glad to report my first sale there. So overall, my earnings reached almost $600 this month when I include midstock sales and referrals.
A slowdown is expected in December so unless a EL sales spree happens, I will probably keep September in my records as 2009's BME with $508.82.

Video

No sales yet but I managed to increase my portfolio at Pond5 (54) and Clipcanvas (91). I have also 39 clips accepted at Shutterstock, 9 at Revostock, 5 at AlwaysHD and 1 at Istock (this clip was pending for a month in the queue...).One of my clip was on the front page of Clipcanvas for a week but unfortunately it was not sold once :( I noticed that video previews looked much better at Clipcanvas than they do at Pond5...

Update: I just found out that my first HD clip (720p) was sold on Clipcanvas at the end of month. I received for this sale a commission of 30 €. You can see this clip here.

Stay tuned for more blog updates in December and in the meantime, you can read my daily updates on Twitter.

Daily sales graph - Isyndica screenshot

Earnings table (figures in USD)

Submit Footage Clips to Shutterstock and make $$$!

Your microstock strategic plan

2009-11-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

The new year already started and and now is a good time to work on your 2011 microstock strategic plan. SWOT analysis is a very useful tool that can help you with that by identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
In the following paragraphs I will give some examples to illustrate how a SWOT analysis can be applied to a portfolio.

Strengths and weaknesses

These are by definition internal factors that you can impact on. I suggest first to step back and have a critical look at your portfolio to identify its strengths and weaknesses. For this it is very important to collect as much data as possible by for example look at your sale statistics and your ranking (if available) in the different agencies.

You can found out for example that one of your strength is few strong best selling images in your porfolio.

Threats and opportunities

Threats and opportunities are by definition external factors that are not under your control. Threats can arise for example from mergers/acquisition or bankrupcies in the microsock industry that may decrease the value of your portfolio. Opportunities can be new microstock or midtock agencies that you can start contributing to, new microstock tools that can improve your productivity, or submitting videos to footage agencies.

A SWOT analysis alone is not very useful, so once you are done with it , you will have to define actions by applying the following rules:

Capitalize and develop your strengths
Eliminate or limit your weaknesses
Invest in opportunities
Identify threats
But also match strenghts and opportunities and try to offset weaknesses with strengths

A more detailed version (5 pages PDF, $ 5) is available for download in the link above that will help in your SWOT. At this end of this guide you will be able to list a series of actions to increase your productivity and earnings

October 2009 earnings

2009-11-01T02:54:00.000-08:00

Photos

Although I did not have any BME in any of the microstock agencies this month and only one EL (Cutcaster), October ended up being my second BME overall. IS finished ahead of SS and FT was third well behind in term of earnings. SXP did pretty well and BSP quite stable. It looks like that sales finally dried out at 3DS which is a shame because it is my largest portfolio with 1500 + pictures. The review process ended up working against them maybe....
My pictures went live later in the month at Veer so it is a bit too early to predict sales there and where it will rank among my other agencies.
I have now more than 1000 pictures online at Shutterstock and on almost all other agencies except BSP and IS.
My total microstock earnings this month are just below $500 but if I add to this midstock, it pushes my earnings close to $600.

Videos

No sales yet to report but I am still building my portfolio and learning. So far, my largest portofio is at ClipCanvas with 52 videos and my smallest at Revostock with 9 videos which tells you immediately where is the fastest to push pictures. Pushing videos is definitely more time consuming than pictures because there is no IPTC system, yet...

I was dissapointed so far with my experience at SS and IS because of issues with ftp processing and very slow reviews.
Pond5,AlwaysHD, revostock, Clipcanvas are doing a much better job and it is not surprising since they have more experience in this field.
Isyndica platform was very helpful since I had to upload my 5GB of footage only once....
If you want to see the videos I have on sale so far you can have a look here.

I will see if I can push my microstock earnings pass the $600 mark in November before the traditionnal slowdown of December and the slow recovery of January.Stay tuned for daily updates on my twitter!

Submit Footage Clips to Shutterstock and make $$$!

An update on RPI and $/dl

2009-10-27T02:28:00.001-07:00

This an update of my post published last January about the evolution of RPI and $/dl across my microstock agencies.

In 2008, my cumulative RPI was quite high (0.82) but constantly went down the second half of the year. In addition my $/dl was flatlining pretty much all year long.

In 2009, RPI went up again even if the average (0.65) it was significantly lower than in 2008. On the other hand , $/dl gradually increased to reach $0.95 in december. As my sale volume did not change much compared to 2008, my earnings went actually up (+100 % increase between december 2008 and december 2009).

The increase in $/dl can be explained by the following things:

Microstock agencies increased their prices.

A higher ratio of credit to subscription sales (the amount of pictures sold at Shutterstock went down between 2008 and 2009).

More distribution channels: I distribute my pictures to 16 agencies in 2009 compared to only 10 in 2008.

Having a bigger portfolio (1000+ pictures) increases the odds of extended licence sales especially at Shutterstock.

A higher number of best selling pictures (especially on Istock).

24 months evolution of cumulative RPI and $/dl

My microstock Do's and Dont's list

2009-10-24T03:14:00.000-07:00

I put up a non exhaustive list, not in a particular order, of few things that came to my mind about microstock that I organized in a Do's and Dont's list. I wrote this list with pictures I mind but it can be applied as well to a large extent to other medias such videos and illustrations.

Do's

Do keep uploading
Do spend time on keyworking
Do aim to simplify your workflow (by using distribution softwares and platforms)
Do submit to multiples agencies
Do prefer quality over quantity
Do submit small batches of pictures
Do backup your data regularly
Do find multiple thematic niches
Do think about shelf life and seasonality of pictures
Do check your pictures at 200% for spots, chromatic aberration and sharpness
Do adjust contrast and levels
Do shoot horizontal and vertical
Do shoot what you like and sell but not always
Do shoot with the designer in mind
Do learn about new processing techniques and softwares
Do resubmit pictures if you they worth it
Do learn from rejections
Do participate in forums and read blogs
Do research
Do try to make sense of your stats but not too much
Do promote your work on social networks
Do invest in new equipment that potentially can add value
Do branch into new activities (illustration,audio,footage)
Do follow microstock business news

Dont's

Do not spend too much time on forums and Twitter
Do not check your stats every minute
Do not use a compact as a main camera
Do not take rejections personally
Do not take only objects isolated on white
Do not think that microstock is a get-rich-quick scheme
Do not take the same subject over thousand of multiples angles
Do not necessarily submit to every new agencies

2009 microstock commissions, highs and lows

2009-10-10T05:56:00.000-07:00

It is time for an update of my post of last year post regarding microstock commissions. I added 6 new agencies to compare and lower and upper limit commissions.
To sum it up, sales commission will depend on: amongst over on the type of sales (subscription or credit), image size, agency or photo exclusivity, contributor or photo ranking.

Once again these numbers are not universals but are related to my ranking, exclusivity and my photo equipment: I have a 10MP and 12MP cameras, a bronze level at Fotolia with some exclusive photos there, some level 2 images at Dreamstime, sold more than $ 500 worth of pictures at Shutterstock but less than $ 3000.

These are the highs and lows I registered for 2009 (extended licenses are excluded from the list):

Shutterstock : between $0.33 (subscription) and $2.48 (on demand sale). Same numbers than last year.

Stockxpert (subs opt-in) : between $0.3 (stockxpert, photos.com, jupiterimages subscription) and $5 (L size, pay per download stockxpert) . Up limit dropped from $7 last year due to the discontinuation of photos.com credit sales this year, drop from $0.5 on the lower limit because I opted-in for subscription sales.

Istockphoto : between $0.19 (XS size) and $3.36 (L size). Upper limit is up this year from $2.70 last year:)

Fotolia : between $0.31 (subscription) and $4.99 (L size, exclusive). Lower commission dropped from $0.36 last year. I however expect for the upper limit to be lower since my commission for exclusive photos dropped from 52% to 32% in 2009! You have now to be 100% exclusive to get a 49% commission (bronze ranking)...

Dreamstime : between $0.30 (subscription) and $3.75 (panoramic image maximum size, level 1). $3.32 (level 2 image, maximum size). Up from $2.70 last year for the upper limit.

BigStockphoto : between $0.5 (small) and $3 (panoramic image, extra large). Up limit was $2 last year.

Crestock : between $0.25 (subscription) and $1.5 (S size). Up limit up from $1 last year

123RF : between $0.36 (subscription) and $4.94 (Mega High XL TIFF). Up limit up from $4.5 last year

New agencies:

Canstockphoto: $0.3 (Fotosearch subscription) and $19.80 (Fotosearch regular)

Cutcaster: $4.70 (XXLarge)

Yaymicro: $3.69 (S size) - $7.38 (L size)

3DStudio: $2.40 (Small) - $7.20 (large)

Scanstockphoto: unique commission at $1.46

Fotomind: $0.9 (full resolution)

In the light of last year numbers, few conclusions can be made:

Fotolia is the agency with the more disparity between lower and higher commissions ($0.31 to $4.99).

Sales commissions are the highest for the new agencies, unfortunately sales volume is still very small:(

The difference between higher and lower commissions increased compared to last year (from $7.3 to $19.61).

Agencies where my commissions are stable: Shutterstock,bigstockphoto
Agencies where my commissions are raising:) Istock, Dreamstime,crestock,123RF
Agencies where my commissions are dropping :( Fotolia, Stockxpert

Looking at my average monthly sales commission (including extented sales) for the first nine months of the year, it actualy increased this year to $0.74 from $0.58 last year.

See you in a year to see if these numbers are moving up or down......

Compilation of HD Stock footage agencies requirements

2009-10-06T04:07:00.000-07:00

A quick memo about the requirements of the HD stock footage agencies I contribute or plan to contribute to. I will update this table from time to time but feel free to leave a comment if you find that some informations are outdated...Thank you.

Submit Footage Clips to Shutterstock and make $$$!

September 2009 earnings

2009-10-02T03:36:00.000-07:00

September was a new BME and for the first time my microstock earnings (minus referrals) were above $500 which was initially my goal in 2009. SS had a BME this month (with 2EL and 9 OD sales) , the first one since June 2008 but IS is still number one this month (with 1EL sale), beating SS by only $1...

Another BME to report at BSP with a first EL sale and another BME at SCP with just regular sales which is quite encouraging. Amongst the newcomers, 3DS had a noticeable slow down this month with only two sales and Veer earnings graph is desesperatly flat.... No sign of life at YAY and Cutcaster either...

Luckily, sales at Panthermedia and SmugMug brought my monthly earnings just above the $600 mark.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I started contributing to footage agencies in September by sending HD clips to Shutterstock, Pond5, Revostock, Clipcanvas. My application is still pending at Istock and AlwaysHD. I immediatly wrote off Fotolia from my uploading list due to their low price policy. I will start disclosing my footage stats only next month since a lot of my clips are pending approval at the moment.
The Isyndica platform was very useful to upload these huge HD clips and I can still decide to distribute them later on in few clicks to Stockxpert and Canstock if their footage sales are taking off.

Will October will be another BME? I hope so and you will find daily updates on my Twitter account.

Experiment 11: from Still to Motion !

2009-09-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

I recently invested in a HD camcorder (a Legria HF 200, twin of the Vixia HF200 in the USA) to get into stock footage. In this post, I will talk about my first impressions about switching from photo and video and the differences I came across during capture and editing.

Equipment and capture

The HF200 camcorder is surprisingly small and light (340g). However, it lacks a wide angle lens. Luckily, I managed to get down to a 31.6 mm (from 39.5 mm) without any loss of quality by adding a WCON 08B converter. Similarly, the TCON 17B brings the 592.5 mm to a 859.1 mm. When I shoot video, my SLR viewfinder is replaced by a very convenient multi-angle LCD screen. If a 8GB card is more than enough to record 10MP raw pictures, it is not so much for HD videos so I am currently using a 16GB class 4 SD card. The Legria comes short in battery life since I can record only about 1h of footage. Often the battery gives up before the card is full which never happened with my DSLR. Unfortunately, replacement batteries are much more expensive than for my DSLR as well…

Like in photo, I use aperture priority quite a lot and occassionaly speed priority. I almost always use manual focus (which is surprisingly precise on the LCD screen) to avoid changes in focus while recording footage which happen sometimes when focus is set to automatic.

Photo and video are quite similar but also very different. The big difference is that in video you have to predict the action and how it will play. If we take the basic scene of a autumn leaf on the grass; in photo, composition, control of the depth of field, exposure will be the main parameters before pointing and shooting.

In video, these parameters are still there but you have to compose also with external elements like the wind and the light that can sometime make your sequence more powerful.
While I do not really pay attention to the wind while taking pictures, I learned that it can be in video, your best friend or your worse enemy. Wind can give some movement to a static scene but also if you don’t have a steady tripod it can ruin all your footage.
In some ways, I found video more restrictive since you cannot do vertical shooting for example and it is, with the HF200 at least, difficult to change the focus while recording. At the same time, video brings more freedom since you can pan and zoom.

Processing time….

Instead of processing raw files, I work now with AVCHD which is a compressed format developed jointly by Sony and Panasonic.

I found out quickly that if the AVCHD format sounds appealing (you take your SD card from the camcorder and open directly files from it on your computer), its processing can be quite a headache. Few softwares are capable of rendering correctly AVCHD and its conversion can be tricky (files have to be converted to Quicktime, the format accepted by all agencies). I am still working on a standard workflow but I found out that scenes with fast moving subjects are the most difficult to render properly in Quicktime. Apparently it comes to the fact that I record 1080i (i stands for interlaced) and that computer displays are progressive... I am not sure that HF200 progressive mode is really true progressive so following some advices I will shoot interlaced from now on, the customer can easily deinterlace the video if needed.

It comes with no surprise that processing videos takes longer than processing pictures (even when doing HDR or panorama). Process a 20 seconds clip can take anywhere between 4 minutes and 5 minutes depending on what corrections are applied. It can last more than an hour if you speed up your videos to do timelapse.
Process AVCHD files definitely put my laptop (Core2Duo 2GHz, 3GB RAM) to the test….
Storage of raw footages can also be an issue so an 1TB hardrive should come handy especially if you want to store these few GB timelapse videos....

Uploading

When it comes to uploading, there is a huge difference between photo and video: if a 10 MP picture weights between 3 and 5 MB, a 20 seconds HD1080 clip can be between 200 and 250 MB, the equivalent of about 50 pictures.... Uploading 20 HD clips can be a daunting task without a high speed internet access and I would consider that a 1Mbps upload speed is a minimum to have.
As I rather want to upload once, I use picWorkflow (referral link included) platform to distribute my videos across different agencies. Amazingly, once on the platform , my 200 MB clips are redistributed in a matter of seconds......

Final submission

Unfortunately, there is not yet an equivalent to the IPTC system for videos which means extra work: you have to copy paste title, description and keywords in each agency. Until such system comes up, the best option I found is to keep a document with all my metadata and simply copy/paste the different fields from there.

Conclusion

Stock footage has definitely its technical challenges: processing and uploading are both much more time consuming than for photos. On the bright side, it is an opportunity to learn video capturing and editing. Also on the money side, there are much less submitters in footage than in photo, prices are higher so it might be a good time to enter before it is getting too difficult (see my previous post). At the time of writing, Shutterstock have 138,000 clips on line (with more than 8 millions pictures) and Pond5 200,000 clips. In January 2011, Pond5 has more than 510,000 clips, Shutterstock more than 230,000.

If you want start selling your footage online, I would recommend for a start Pond5 and Revostock . My referral links are below!

Is microstock still open to hobbyst photographers ?

2009-09-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Competition is fierce in the microstock industry between agencies but also between photographers. In this article, I will try to answer the following questions : who is responsible of lowering or raising barriers of entry for hobbyst microstockers and is there a scope for them to make some money ?

Camera manufacturers

Camera manufacturers played a big role in the inception of microstock business model giving access to DLSR to a large number of people. As a reminder, back in 2002, the 14MP Kodak DCS Pro14n had a price tag of $ 4,995 ! Today, a entry level DLSR kit or a high end compact is the minimum required to get into the microstock market as a photographer and represents an investment of about $1000.

Few full time microstockers are getting an edge using top end DSLR (Canon EOS5 MarkII 21MP, Nikon D3X 24.5 MP) or digital medium cameras (Hasselbal H3D-II-39 39MP, Phase One P65+ 65MP).

Agencies

Leading agencies as Istockphoto and Shutterstock are doing an initial evaluation, like an entry exam if you prefer and it looks like that this exam got more difficult the past few years.It is quite easy however to get into some of the new agencies as they do not have initial review but sales volume is low.

Knowledge and time

A less obvious barrier of entry is the knowledge that photographers need to acquire about the microstock industry, photography and post-processing techniques. All the information is widely distributed on blogs, forums and social networks but processing this knowledge can be time consuming and time is by definition a scarce resource for hobbyst photographers….

Internet access

Microstock photographers share their time between shooting, research, processing, keywording and uploading pictures. As far uploading concerned, lot of photographers are taking an initial strategy to distribute their pictures to multiple agencies (up to 20 or more) to see which ones are working for them. Beside time, uploading to multiple agencies be an issue with a slow internet access and become a barrier of entry. Some solutions came up recently to get around this issue like the Isyndica platform which allow multichannels distribution by uploading the photo once to their server.

And now, the money side of things……

Even is money is not the main focus of hobbyst photographers, they can rely on it to finance new equipment. If it was possiblle few years back, you should not expect now to make a lot of money with only few hundreds of pictures on line.....

Initially microstock agencies advertised themselves as a quick money scheme: according to them you just have to upload your vacation pictures from your harddrive.

Things are certainly very different now as the quality of pictures increased considerably. Recently, some agencies took the step to promote special collections within their database (Istock Vetta, 123RF EVO, Fotolia Infinite) but getting into these collections is almost impossible for hobbysts. Agencies are usually putting some size restriction on images and we can imagine that in the near future they will list a recommended or required list of cameras like it is done already by Alamy and Getty Images.

Full time microstockers are not only improving the overall quality (technical and creative) of pictures but also producing a large quantity of pictures making it more and more difficult for hobbysts to compete. If a hobbyst can produce up to 100 pictures a month, full time photographers can produce thousands….

With a low volume of production, it looks like that that the only way to make some money is actually to produce pictures in one or more selected niches.

Conclusion

Leading agencies and full time microstockers raised the barriers of entry for hobbysts. Even if photography equipment to get into microstock is affordable and web distributors like Isyndica exist, it appears more and more difficult for hobbyst photographers to get accepted from leading stock agencies and therefore make some money. Time and knowledge are also serious barriers of entry. However microstock is definitively a good learning experience and a chance to interact with an active and diverse community which is priceless:)

Also, every year few hobbysts made it full time and make a living out of their passion so I would say that everything is possible !

This article reflects of course my own opinion and I welcome every constructive comments!

Barriers of entry in microstock

August 2009 earnings

2009-08-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

Highlights

There was a bit of reshuffling in my top 6 this month as 123RF and BSP were forced out by a new player....

1.SS
2.IS
3.DT
4.3DS
5.SXP
6.FT

August was a good month considering the period of the year and it even end up being my BME, beating last May by few dollars. I had 3 EL this month (1 EL at SS and 2 EL at DT). SS claimed back its number one spot from IS, DT made a new BME.

I will write a few words about an agency I started submitting to called the3Dstudio. It is an established marketplace selling 2D and 3D products since 1996 that just opened a stock pictures section. 3DS has been receiving a lot of attention due to the fact that pictures go immediately on-line for sale and because of the generous 60% commission they redistribute to photographers (they also allow you to fix the price of your pictures). More importantly, customers are actually buying stock pictures! Uploading pictures at 3Dstudio is quick and reliable and I was able put online more than 1400 pictures this month, 3DS being my largest collection right now. Stats speak for themselves since on its first month, 3DS made more that FT and SXP, where I have been uploading for 2 years ....
If you want also to join the3Dstudio, you can use my referral link below, they even have a good referral program:)

Veer marketplace was a big dissapointment this month with only 1 view and ... no sales . I do have less than 100 pictures on-line there so I need to send more before drawing some conclusions....
Midstock sales brought my earnings just above the $500 mark this month:)

I am looking forward to September with, maybe, a new BME ?
You can follow me on Twitter for daily updates of my microstock adventures:)
To finish this update, if you want like me make your uploading less painful and see your live stats use Isyndica ! My Isyndica stats for this month can be found below along with a detailed Excel spreadsheet.

July 2009 earnings

2009-08-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Highlights

Here my top 6 agencies this month ranked by decreasing monthly earning:

1.IS
2.SS
3.DT=SXP
4.FT
5.123RF=BSP
6.CSP

No BME to report this month but it was more or less on the same level than the previous one with SS continuing losing ground against IS, DT and SXP. Microstock earnings were 14 % higher compared to July 2008 earnings despite the fact that some of my portfolio doubled in size. With midstock sales this July actually ended up being slightly better than June just above the $ 400 mark.
For the third consecutive month, IS is my strongest agency and if it was not for some OD sales, SS woulld have been very close to DT and SXP this month.
After encouraging early sales reported by some photographers at the new Veer Marketplace I decided to join and started uploading my portfolio.
Hopefully sales will help offset a soon expected drop of earnings at SXP......

Earning figures in USD

Isyndica stats screenshot

June 2009 earnings

2009-07-06T14:24:00.001-07:00

Highlights

My top 6 agencies this month ranked by decreasing monthly earning:

1.IS
2.SS
3.FT
4.CSP
5.DT
6.SXP

A small decrease in earnings was observed compared to May (which was my BME) mainly due to the fact that I did not have any EL. For the second consecutive month IS is ahead of SS and I expect this difference to increase in the coming months. Shutterstock is at an all time low with a RPI of only 0.1 despite six on demand sales this month. Fotolia did better than normal, with just enough earnings to rank number three. With a new BME, Canstockphoto is not far behind followed by Dreamstime.

Stockxpert is on the decline and I do expect this to continue when the subscription scheme Jupiter/Photos cancellation will be kick in. 123RF,SCP and BSP have still low sales and no sales to report on new agencies YAY and Cutcaster:(
I got few sales at Panthermedia though which pushed my earnings very close to $400 this month.

I changed quite a bit my workflow this month using Isyndica platform which I found very useful especially when using a limited broadband access. Although SS and IS are not reported yet, a screenshot below shows respective earnings for the months of June 2008 and June 2009. I found also Deepmeta very useful to submit to IS and I hope to get to 500 pictures online in the near future.
The $ 500 milestone is within reach but I don't see it happening before September.

Figures in USD

June 2009 earnings (Isyndica screenshot)

June 2008 earnings (Isyndica screenshot)

May 2009 earnings

2009-06-01T01:53:00.000-07:00

Highlights

Like last year, May sets up a new high for microstock earnings.The most strinking development is that after 24 months, SS lost its number spot to Istock. Two BME to report at IS and SCP this month and a record of $ 0.77 per dl.
I joined Isyndica this month to make my uploading task easier and spread pictures to more agencies . It will be interesting to see if it will help reach my long expected $ 500 target. I will blog on this subject later on.

Microstock one by one

IS. Put all other agencies in the dust this month and sets the record for the most money made by one agency. Even without the 2 EL, IS would have end up ahead of SS. RPI=0.51

SS. 9 OD's sales and just above $ 100 this month . Earnings down 20% compared to last year with 500 more pictures online ! Growing earnings at SS appear quite limited for the future.... SS represented this month only 25 % of my total earnings compared to 37% last year.

FT. Back to number 3 spot but still on the same flat line despite continuous uploading....

SXP. Down from last month but overall satisfying earnings. It looks like that since Getty got on board some files were desactivated because of IP problems. I noticed that some reviews were not very consistent this month.

DT. Big drop this month , looks like level 2 and level 3 images are not selling anymore.....

BSP and 123RF: quite far from DT in term of earnings with RPI of 0.01......

Less than 1 % of earnings:CSP, CT (got my 1st payout :)

Earnings in USD

April 2009 earnings

2009-05-01T04:08:00.000-07:00

Highlights

This month sets a new high for my microstock earnings just above the $ 400 mark (previous was in May 2008). Several sales contributed to that: 3 extended sales at SS,FT and DT (my first one), a first fotosearch credit sale at CSP. All this translated to 3 best months ever at DT,SXP and CSP and a new record of $ 0.76/dl in average. If 2009 follows the trend of last year sales, I expect May 2009 to be as good or better but we shall see...

Microstock agency ranking by $

Shutterstock: 1 EL and 4 OD's sales this month, 1 zero sale day. It looks very difficult to increase earnings at SS despite a rather large number of new pictures added this month.
Istock: Very similar to last month, but it always slow to growth my portfolio: upload limit combined with slow review and high rejection rate. Should take over SS one of this day if I manage to get more best sellers (my best seller made alone exactly $ 214.97 in one year with 164 dls).
Stockxpert: For the first time in a while, credits sales were largely superior to subscription sales and a single image leads to a BME due to a favorable ranking in the search engine towards the middle of the month. It will interesting to follow up on this one !
Dreamstime: My first EL there and quite a lot of regular downloads made a BME. Working towards a 1000+ pictures portfolio there.
Fotolia: Despite constant uploading my earnings in FT did not really change in over a year: low search engine ranking ??? If it was not for a EL, FT would have been at the bottom...
Canstockphoto: A nice fotosearch sale the last day of the month :) Hope to have 1000 + pictures on line soon.
123rf: An average month at 123rf, it is the first agency where I have 1000+ pictures on line.

Low earners this month with 1% or less of total sales are BSP, SCP and CT (I am 50 cents shy from my first payout there....). No sales to report at YAY and Cutcaster.

Earnings table (figures in US dollars)

Lookstat screenshot

Experiment 10: Infrared photography and Microstock

2009-04-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting lately with infrared photography as I did previously with HDR and see if eventually such pictures are accepted and sold on the main microstock agencies.

How does it works ?

Light is an electomagnetic radiation with visible light made of wavelenghts in the 400-700 nm and infrared light in 700-1200 nm range (near infrared). Longer wavelenghts will fall in the range of mid-infrared and far infrared (used in thermal imagery) just before the microwaves.

The IR filter placed on top of the lens blocks most of the visible light and let near infrared hit the CCD. Unfortunalely, IR sensitivity is decreased quite a lot by the hot mirror placed on top of the CCD sensor which job is to protect it :(

Why infrared photography ?

Mainly because it gives a dramatic, surreal effect to the pictures. Foliage and grass have the property to reflect infrared radiations and appear much brighter in IR giving an ethereal white glow (in some pictures grass can be mistaken with snow). Different foliages have different IR reflectance as well as foliage affected by disease or insect infestation. Blue sky and water will appear dark. Shadows can be interesting in IR with more subtle nuances. Depending on the light, textures can be revealed in more details as well. Skin also can give interesting tones.

Challenges in IR photography

Focusing and depth of field

In IR, focusing is different than in visible so producing sharp images can be tricky. If you are lucky your lens have a IR focus mark on it. If not the technique is to take several shots at different focus distance preferably with a small aperture. An universal technique is to use the hyperfocale distance but once again you will have to experiment before to found the settings for your camera.

Exposure

Because the IR filter is very dark, indications given by the camera cannot be trusted and most of time several seconds exposure are needed. I used typically 2 to 15 seconds exposure time so a tripod is necessary. On the positive side, long exposure can give interesting results on water and clouds for example.

Equipment

You will get variable results with IR photography as it depend to what extent your CCD sensor is IR sensitive: most manufacturers add a IR blocking filter (also called hot mirror) in front of the CCD ! It looks like that few year back the protection was not so high…..

Also it depends on the lens : some lenses are known to cause flares or hotspots in the pictures making them not usuable at all….

My gear

I am pleased with the Canon Powershot G9 so far using a Hoya R72 filter on the 58 mm Lensmate lens adapter. To obtain longer exposures, I select the ND function on (3stops) and/or put a ND4 filter (2 stops) on top of the R72.

As its name suggests, the Hoya filter blocks wavelenghts below 720 nm. The cut-off actually follows a curve a 50% is blocked at 720 nm so the filter let pass through a tiny amount of visible wavelenghts.

As the settings I use the hyperfocale distance and follow mainly this excellent tutorial : http://www.flickr.com/groups/545326@N21/discuss/72157603843667732/. I shot raw at 80 ISO to limit noise as much as possible.

Although quite expensive, a lot of digital cameras can be modified to remove the IR filter in front of the CCD and make it possible to take handheld IR pictures.

10 steps workfow

Here is my workflow using Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom started with the raw file. It tend not go for the usual B&W processing to keep some blue sky.

Open Raw with LR2

Set color temperature 2000, tint -50

Remove noise Luminance 60

Chromatic aberration : all edges

Export as jpeg or tiff

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Microstock and IR photography

Although not popular, IR pictures can be found in most agencies. As the time of writing, a search with ''infrared landscape'' and ''infrared buiding'' as keywords returned 545 and 117 pictures on Shutterstock respectively.Very similar search came up on Dreamstime with 537 and 128 images. Istockphoto is very pickup about IR pictures: ony 137 hits returned for ''infrared landscape'' and 45 for ''infrared building’’ !

The most challenging is to have IR pictures accepted as they tend to be noisier and less sharp and downsizing from 12 to 5 MP can help the picture to pass the inspection.

Despite a high rejection rate, I managed to have some IR pictures accepted at Shutterstock (29), Dreamstime (31), Fotolia (9), 123RF(46). However it seems quite impossible to get those kind of pictures accepted at IS which is reflected by the low amount of IR picture on their database.

As far as sales concerned, two of my IR pictures are in my 10 most popular pictures at SS, I had 9 sales so far on DT but 0 on Fotolia.

IR can be combined with HDR or panoramic stitching to produced spectacular pictures but of course noise has to be kept low somehow. Here is one example below:

Useful links

My IR photos gallery on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldambies/sets/72157616326739659/

Flickr groups dedicated to infrared photography

Digital infrared: http://www.flickr.com/groups/55027594@N00/

Infrared: http://www.flickr.com/groups/infrared/

Canon G9 infrared: http://www.flickr.com/groups/545326@N21/

Infrared UK&Ireland: http://www.flickr.com/groups/infrareduk/

Infrared panoramas : http://www.flickr.com/groups/898089@N25/

Infrared Scotland : http://www.flickr.com/groups/infrared-scotland/

HDR infrared: http://www.flickr.com/groups/92588351@N00/

Converted digital infrared cameras: http://www.flickr.com/groups/lifepixel/

March 2009 earnings

2009-04-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Highlights

A good solid month with a bit more than $ 300 earned with microstock alone, not far from my BME in May 2008. Midstock added another $43 to the total. No BME this month but all big agencies performed well especially IS. Earnings are well up compared to last month and March 2008 with a new record of $ 0.7/dl in average. If it was not for 1 EL and 9 OD's sales, Shutterstock would have lost its number spot to IS this month. I had also one day with no sales.....
DT ranked third this month followed closely by FT and SXP. SXP looks like more and more like SS since most sales are from subscription. So far it looks like that my increase in earnings is coming from IS,DT and SXP. On the other hand, FT, BSP, 123RF earning curves are flat despite regular uploads..... I had my first download at Snapvillage for $ 15, I've completely forgot about this one......

Compared to March 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 325.76 ($ 209.51)
Pictures sold: 445 (402)
Average $/dl: 0.73 (0.52)
Global RPI : 0.82 (0.78)

February 2009 earnings

2009-03-01T04:39:00.000-08:00

Highlights

For the time since I started microstock, my earnings were lower by few dollars compared to the same month last year. On a positive side, I had my first sale and Cutcaster and two new sales at YAY.
A good surprise came this month from midstock agencies taking a bit more than 25 % of total earnings including Panthermedia with 32 euros sales in total. Total earnings with midstock brought this month earnings above the $ 300 mark. I found Panthermedia to be a consistent seller in term of sales and type of pictures sold so I encourage to submit there and see what pictures of your portfolio they accept like I did.

Compared to February 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 238.33 ($ 239.18)
Pictures sold: 435 (379)
Average $/dl: 0.55 (0.63)
Global RPI : 0.46 (1.06)

Microstock one by one

Shutterstock . Less than 30% of microstock earnings this month way down compared to February last year. It is the first time since I joined Shutterstock that I did not reach a payout.... Only 2 OD sales this month

Istockphoto. Earnings slighty better than last month with a RPI of 0.16 the highest of all the microstock agencies

Fotolia.Number 3 only because I sold a bunch of old and ugly pictures for 0.5 credit each

Dreamstime. One of the most consistent agency this past months in term of earnings and very close to a BME. Above average rejection rate this month though.....

Stockxpert. Earnings are in the normal range this range although a lot of sales came from subscriptions.

A lot of action in low earners this month: 4 BME to report at Crestock, Yaymicro,Cutcaster and Scanstockphoto.

123RF and BSP joined the rank of the low earners this month but all of them made a non negligeable 15 % of earnings. . I had my first sale in 7 months in CSP as I uploaded my entire portfolio there after the Fotosearch acquisition.

Lookstat screenshot

January 2009 earnings

2009-01-31T03:11:00.001-08:00

Highlights

A good month in term of earnings considering the slow start of the month and the fact that I did not have any EL and sales in midtock. Among the 10 agencies, I had only one BME at Dreamstime. RPI went up so does volume of sales from last month. However compared to the same period last year, RPI is only half its value and volume of sales about the same despite the fact that I have a larger number of pictures on line.

Compared to January 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 265.08 ($ 179.26)
Pictures sold: 462 (446)
Average $/dl: 0.58 (0.42)
Global RPI : 0.48 (0.89)

Shutterstock. A good month above the $ 100 mark again due a large number of OD sales which represent 15 % of the earnings, up from 5-8 % normally RPI=0.17. I had however my first 0 sale day ever this month.
Istockphoto. Sales are getting better again. IS new price structure certainly boosted my earnings.RPI=0.16
Fotolia. Very close to the second position this month and earnings. RPI=0.05
Dreamstime. A BME by few dollars hope it continues this way. RPI = 0.04
Stockxpert. A lot of sub sales this month since I had a only 6 credit sales on 45 sales. RPI=0.03
Bigstockphoto . Dissapointing month with earnings lower than in december
123RF. Dissapointing month as well, a bit better than last month but still far from past performances....

Less than 1%: SCP (no sales this month),CSP,CT

On the midstock front no sales this like I mentioned earlier. I have 500 pictures on line now on YAY and decided to hold uploads now on. I give a bit more time to Cutcaster but still wait for my first sale there. I hope Zymmetrical and Panthermedia will pick up next month....

Stats

Lookstat screenshot January 2009

The trends of this month are clearly visible on this screenshot from Lookstat. FT should be added shortly to the list of agencies and it worth mentioning that Lookstat implemented a new feature this month to track earnings per picture. I will do a post about this later on but it is definitely a very good tool to analysis strengh and weakness of a portfolio.

Detailled earnings January 2009 (figures in USD)

RPI (Return Per Image) going down down :(

2009-01-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

I recently had a look at my RPI (return per image) from January 2008 till January 2009.
RPI is calculated for each agency by divided total earning by the number on pictures of the portfolio at the end of the month (EL included, referrals excluded).

Cumulative RPI is calculated by adding the RPI of each microstock agency namely SS,IS,FT,123RF,DT,SXP,CSP,SCP,LO,BSP,CT so a total of 10 agencies to which I contributed during the period.

By looking at the graph, it is pretty obvious that despite the increase in commission granted by the main agencies to their contributors, RPI went up and down during the past year band took a hit in October 2008. My RPI was the highest in May 2008 (my BME) with a value of 1.11 and reach its lowest point in December 2008 with only 0.38.

In other words, upload new pictures does not produce any more increase in earnings.....

1 year evolution of cumulative RPI and commission per download (Jan 2008 - Jan 2009)

So how to increase RPI in microstock ???

Join new agencies, a 0.01 bump in RPI is always welcome, but this is debatable.... CSP has contributed 0 to my RPI for a while now....
The first option to increase artificially is deleting the non selling pictures on each agency. Once again you never know when a picture sells especially with a EL, RPI can go up quite a lot in this case.
Produce more sellable pictures by finding a niche for sure will increase RPI over time, might take a while though....
Focus more on quality than quantity....
Another option is to increase the value of some pictures by analyzing past year sales and putting them as exclusives at FT or DT. I just did that for two of my best sellers in DT.
Other way to increase the value of a picture is to upload the high res size but in agencies with sub and credit it is again debatable.

These points made it will be interesting to look at the evolution of the RPI in 2009, hopefully it will stabilize somewhere around 0.5!!

Feel free to comment, I would like to hear about your RPI figures !

Microstock goals for 2009

2009-01-04T04:26:00.001-08:00

2008 is over so it is time to set some goals for 2009. I did not reach my 2008 goal which was to earn $ 500 a month (microstock only minus referrals): my best month of the year was May with $ 344 and the second one was September with $ 334.
Therefore $ 500 a month will be my goal for 2009 with some realistic individual goals for some agencies:

Shutterstock : increase portfolio size up to 1000 pictures and hopefully by the year reach the next commission level of $ 0.36 (above $ 3000 of total earnings).

Fotolia: increase portfolio up to 1000 pictures and reach silver rank (more than 1000 sales)

Istock: increase portfolio size up to 500 and aim at least for three more yellow flames (pictures downloaded more than 100 times each).

Stockxpert, 123rf, Bigstockphoto, Dreamstime: increase portofolio up to 1000 pictures, 123rf will be the first most probably

Misc : Increase my monthly midstock to 20% fo earnings by uploading in priority to Zymmetrical and Panthermedia.
Reach my first payout at Crestock and Scanstockphoto

December 2008 earnings

2009-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Highlights

As expected, a slow month in microstock especially during the second half of the month .Looking at the yearly graph, earnings dropped from September despite adding new pictures which is the opposite of last year. Compared to december 2007 most agencies are down also.
This month is the 2nd worst month of the year for earnings, the lowest RPI and $/dl with just below $ 200 for microstock. Quite unusual month as I did not have BME in the big 6 this month. No help from extended sales but a sale a panthermedia brings total earnings to almost $220. I also had my first payout there. Shutterstock was the only agency not be affected this month. I definitely looking forward to january to see an increase in downloads!

Compared to December 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 192.47 ($ 163.46)
Pictures sold: 383 (446)
Average $/dl: 0.50 (0.37)
Global RPI : 0.38 (0.90)

Shutterstock. A pretty good month considering the slow down at the end of the year, SS takes almost 50% of the earnings this month. As last, I sold less pictures this december than the one last year but because of the higher commission earnings are few dollars up. On demand sales made up for 5 % of the earnings.RPI=0.16.
Istockphoto. Very similar to last mont with RPI of 0.11 hopefully IS will pick up again next month. Got my first sub sale there for $ 0.19.
Fotolia. A big drop compared to the last two months at Fotolia. Very RPI at 0.02
Dreamstime. A bit slower than last month. RPI 0.02.
Stockxpert. A decrease compared to last month despite my first ppd sales of $ 7.5 via photos.com. RPI of 0.02
Bigstockphoto . Not bad considering the performance of other stocks. RPI 0.01

CT had a BME but still under 2 % of total earning. I tried to resume my uploading but got 100% rejection! I think I will just for my first payout there !
Less than 1%: SCP,CSP

Stats

For the first time, I include this month stats provided by Lookstat that I joined recently. At the moment it allows to track the stats of SS,DT and IS. I had Rahul Pathak , CEO of Lookstats,on the phone recently to give him some feedback. Exciting developments are on the way, the ultimate goal being to move away to the classical Excel spreadsheet. Some features like tracking earning by keywords across agencies would a powerful tool since it very difficult or impossible to do that manually . FT will be added next as well as more flexiblity about the date periods selection.

Experiment 9 : find your pictures on line with Amazon.com

2008-12-23T12:44:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, I was talking about several ways to find your pictures in action. I recently found few of my microstock images on Amazon.com, mainly in books published along with their credits.

What you have to do is perform a search on books using your first name and last name as keywords and you might get some relevants hits. If you have a Amazon account, you can take a peek inside the book and do a second search to land on the credits page: putting the page number as keyword will hopefully bring you to the page with your image,. You just have then to do a printscreen et voila!
My published pictures I found so far were purchased from Istock and Dreamstime and it was interesting to see in what context these pictures were used, always unexpected. Copernicus statue was taken in Warsaw Poland in 2007, offices building in battery park Manhattan in 2001 if I remember correctly. Religious mural in the Shrine of Lourdes in 2007. Cat scratching on the wall in 2008.

November 2008 earnings

2008-11-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

Highlights

I was complaining about last month but November was worse for me with less than $ 250 sales for Microstock. However, one sale at Yaymicro (5 euros), one at Panthermedia ($19.3), one at Zymmetrical ($21) plus referrals push this month earnings to $ 285. Global RPI sunk to 0.46 and average $/dl was 0.59.

Compared to November 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 233.57 ($ 143.9)
Pictures sold: 396 (377)
Average $/dl: 0.59 (0.38)
Global RPI : 0.46 (0.93)

Microstock one by one

Shutterstock. By far number 1 again despite a pretty bad 1st half of the month. For the time for a while, just below the $ 100 mark this month Like last month I had four on demand sales taking 8 % of the earnings. A good split between old and new files regarding downloads which is good. My lowest RPI ever this month at 0.16... I sold more pictures than last year at the same time but because of higher commission now I actually earned more.

Fotolia. Similar number than last month with a nice EL

Istockphoto. Lost its solid second place. Earnings went down for the second consecutive month and I am back to money I was making at the beginning of the year.

Stockxpert. I decided finally to opt-in in an attempt to get some pay par dl's sales at photos.com. It did not happened yet, but I had quite a lot of sub from Jupiter image.

Dreamstime. Pretty slow month, a lot of sub sales which explains the low number this month

Bigstockphoto. BME by one dollar this month. I managed to have 500+ photos on line now.

123RF. Very dissapointing month, sales came to a halt. It is actually my year Worst Month !

Less than 1%: Crestock (BME),Scanstockphoto,Canstockphoto (no sales).

October 2008 earnings

2008-10-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

October pictures (collage Picasa 3)

Highlights

An pretty slow October (especially the second half) with 500 pictures sold for a bit less than $300 . Referrals and midstock pushed my earning to $ 320. No extended licences sold this month but one sale at Zymmetrical. Global RPI is only 0.63 down from 0.84 last month. I continue uploading to YAY micro and Cutcaster as a test but no sales so far....
The only got thing is that the dollar regained some strengh against the Euro...
Compared to October 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 296.35 ($ 122.53)
Pictures sold: 501 (275)
Average $/dl: 0.59 (0.45)
Global RPI : 0.63 (0.84)

Microstock one by one

Shutterstock. By far, my best earner this month even if RPI went down to 0.22. I had four on demand sales taking 8 % of the earnings. I noticed that new uploads did not get as many downloads as usual and that the second half of the month was noticibly slower than the first.

Istockphoto. More than 50% down compared to last month probably explained by change in best match : my best seller lost a lot of ground but on the positive side I sold some ''old'' pictures for the first time.

Fotolia. Pretty similar than last month and I still hold my uploads over there, just clear out the queue from time to time...

Dreamstime. Not far from a BME but $/dl decreased compared to last month since I had few level 2 picture sales.

Stockxpert. Up again after two slow months, hope to see this trend continue in the future

123RF. Earnings are in the normal range this month but nothing spectacular. I have now 800 + pictures on line.

Bigstockphoto. BME. I included BSP in the detailled earning this month as I had a big jump in sales (3 % of total earnings). It is probably due to the fact that I cleared my pending queue of pictures.

Less than 1%: Crestock,Scanstockphoto,Canstockphoto (no sales).

Detailed earnings, figures in USD

Microstock sales commission: highs and lows

2008-10-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

Few dollars more to break even :)

This year saw many microstock agencies increased their prices and their contributors' commission. Often articles about microstock are talking about photographers making pennies but overlook that commission for the same picture varies quite a lot....
Sales commission depends on multiple factors : the business model of the agency (subscription and/or credit sales), the resolution of your camera (if you downsize or not as well), being exclusive or non exclusive contributor, your own ranking or the one of your images.

These numbers are not absolute but related to my ranking in some agencies and my gear as well : I have a 10 MP camera, a bronze level at Fotolia with some exclusive photos there, few level 2 images at Dreamstime, sold more than $ 500 worth of pictures at Shutterstock but less than $ 3000.

I had a look at my sales this year at each microstock agencies and these are the highs and lows I registered so far (excluding extended licenses):

Shutterstock : between $ 0.33 (subscription) and $ 2.48 (on demand sale)
Stockxpert (subs opt-out) : between $ 0.5 (XS size) and $ 7.5 (L size, pay per download Photos.com) .
Istockphoto : between $ 0.19 (XS size) and $ 2.70 (L size)
Fotolia : between $ 0.35 (subscription) and $ 4.16 (L size, exclusive)
Dreamstime : between $ 0.30 (subscription) and $ 2.90 (L size, level 2)
BigStockphoto : between $ 0.5 (small) and $ 2 (large)
Crestock : between $ 0.25 (subscription) and $ 1 (S size)
123RF : between $ 0.36 (subscription) and $ 4.5 (Mega High XL TIFF)

In my case I can get as low as $ 0.2 at IS and as high $ 7.5 at SXP for the same picture!
123RF is the agency where the difference is the more important...

However, because of my large volume of sales at Shutterstock my average monthly sales commission fluctuates between $ 0.6 and $ 0.7 per picture....

September 2008 earnings

2008-10-01T02:46:00.000-07:00

Highlights

A 20 % increase compared to last month and a few dollars shy of a BME. The couple (SS + IS ) took 65% of the earnings and I had 2 BME at IS and DT. Cumulative RPI was 0.84 this which is much lower than my BME last May with 1.11.
I sold 548 pictures this month with an average of 0.61 $/dl with no extended license sales to report:(
I continue contributing to YAYmicro and Cutcaster but no sales so far. PS is no longer there so i my RM pictures go to Alamy. I earned $ 10 at Panthermedia , the only midstock with sales to report this month.

Microstock one by one

Shutterstock. 2nd BME with on demand sales taking 4 % of the earnings. I have now close to 500 pictures in my portfolio. RPI pretty stable at 0.27. I still try to gather more referrals so here is my link : Submit Photos to Shutterstock and make $$$!. Thanks !

Istockphoto. BME this month with an increase for the 6th consecutive month now. My best seller took 43 % of the earnings. I have sold now 500 pictures at Istockphoto since the beginning. Highest RPI of 0.38 (same than last month).

Fotolia. Noticeably down compared to last and a poor RPI of 0.05. A big drop in $/dl as well.I still have some files on the queue but did not upload any new pictures there last month

Dreamstime. BME with earnings almost doubled compared to last month. 1.15 $/dl which is a record so far for DT.

123RF. A nice surprise there with a second BME and a very high $/dl at 1.27. I think it will the first agency where I will reach 1000 pictures by the end of the year.

Stockxpert. Like FT, a big drop compared to last month and still the same problems with the views. Hope sales will start again soon because SXP has the highest $/dl at 1.71 this month.

Big six ranking

$ : SS>IS>FT>DT>123RF>SXP (same than last month)

Performance (RPI): IS>SS>DT>FT>123RF>SXP

$/dl: SXP>123RF>FT>IS>DT>SS

Less than 1% of earnings: SCP,CT,CSP (no sales). I got my first payout at BSP !,took more than a year though...

Figures in USD

First flames at Istockphoto :)

2008-09-02T04:21:00.000-07:00

I was talking a while back about my best sellers. Well, I just had today my first picture "on fire" at Istockphoto after 4 months being on line.

I earned more than $ 100 so far on Istock alone and the same image is doing well at Shutterstock as well with a bit more than $20. Interestingly it does not sell as well on other agencies...
Even on IS, I have similar images which do not sell at all.... I guess it is on a good position on IS search engine...

If things stay this way and the picture does not get lost in the search engine ....this picture could earn $ 500 a year spread on all the agencies.
After 500 downloads, flames change to red then blue at 1000 downloads....
Fingers crossed I will keep you posted :)

PS: May 2009, a second photo in my porfolio just caught in fire

Thanks to TinEye, I found two websites using this picture so far

Fourth of July Sizzlers

Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms

August 2008 earnings

2008-09-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Created with Picasa 3

It was the slowest month of this summer with earnings just below the $ 300 mark. It was also my most productive month ever in microstock but it was not apparently enough to overcome the slump :( Numbers are very similar to last month, SS and IS still leading the pack taking close to 70% of earnings. Only SXP took a noticeable dive.

No sales to report this month on the midstock agencies. I continue uploading to Cutcaster and Yaymicro as a test while I stopped uploads to Mostphotos. I was accepted after two attempts at Alamy which will allow me to send some RM pictures there as well are in Photoshelter.

Microstock one by one

SS is just above the $ 100 this month but still number one . RPI went down to 0.24. No EL this month but one on-demand sale for $ 2.48 which is the equivalent of a large size at IS.

IS had a BME and rising for the 5th consecutive now mainly due to ….one picture… which took since May 50-60 % of IS total earnings. RPI of 0.38 and highest $/dl ever at 1.14. Still no sub sales...

FT Nothing much to say expect that I do not upload there anymore, $ figures did not move for a year and review process still does not make sense to me and to a lot of people as well….

DT Stable earnings compared to last month. 500 + on the portfolio but I still would expect more $$$. I did not notice any increase in the $/dl due to the new levels.

123RF after a slump last month went back to its previous levels. I have 700 + images on my portfolio now.

SXP Disappointing month especially following the recent upward trend. I noticed that pictures uploaded since 2 weeks did have any views or few views….I do not know if it explains the lack of sales

Big six ranking

$ : SS>IS>FT>DT>123RF>SXP

Performance (RPI): IS>SS>FT>DT>123RF=SXP

$/dl: FT>SXP>IS>DT>123RF>SS

Figures in USD

July earnings

2008-08-14T03:28:00.000-07:00

Highlights

Despite new uploads, I am still in the $ 300-400 bracket, for three consecutive months now. The same global trend within microstock agencies was observed: SS and IS leading the pack taking more than 60 % of earnings this month. These two agencies have been increasing steadily the past three months and I had a BME for both of them.

On the midstock front, things were still very quiet with no sales for the past two months . I registered at YAY micro last month but nothing happened yet so I gave it a go at Cutcaster, the uploading and approval were very fast, let’s see what happened. I sent my first right managed pictures to Photoshelter which I do not propose to microstock , I will probably expand to Alamy in the near future.

Microstock one by one

SS Above the $ 100 mark again this month but RPI continues to go down at 0.33 despite new uploads and an EL this month
IS (+18 %) BME. IS confirmed its second place this month and the $ gap with SS is closing down. Best RPI this month at 0.37 doing better than SS for the first time. I did not have any sub sales yet.
FT. Normal month for FT stable compared to last month but always under performing with a RPI of 0.06. They still reject almost everything so my pictures are in the queue waiting for better days…..
SXP (+38%) BME. A very good month at SXP with again the highest $/dl at $ 1.94 /dl this month. SXP pictures will be available for sales at www.photos.com in August and this caused a lot of controversy amongst contributors ( low price of EL and the impossibility to opt-out).
DT. Very average month but on the positive side a new price structure is in place now so $/dl should increase, logically ….
123RF. Disappointing month again at 123RF where I did not even made $ 10 this month. Credit package sales did not change anything for me. RPI is 0.02 the lowest of the big six

1% or less of earnings: CT, SCP,CT,BSP. BSP and SCP are the only ones where I continue uploading.

Big six ranking

$ : SS>IS>FT>SXP>DT>123RF

Performance (RPI): IS>SS>SXP>FT>DT>123RF

$/dl: SXP>FT>IS>DT>123RF>SS

Earning figures in USD

June 2008 earnings

2008-07-01T03:04:00.000-07:00

It is being a year already that I am selling my picture on microstock agencies and report my earnings.
This month was pretty good considering I did not have any extended license sales and also no sales on midstock. I am down 13 % compare to last month but still above $ 300 for the total earnings. It was was record month in number of sales with 601. For the first time it is worth noticing that IS is number 2 just after SS.
So far I have significant earnings on 6 sites and if I had to pick 3 of them my choice would be SS,IS and SXP.
I joined YAYmicro this month and will join Image Vortex next month to try to get more value out of my portfolio by selling at higher prices.

SS (+11%). BME. Another good month explained by quite a lot of uploads. Approval rate was 81 %. RPI stable compared to last month with 0.41. May batchRPI dropped from 2.08 to 0.85 taking 27% of the earnings this month.

IS (+56%). BME. Earnings increased for the third consecutive month. Interestingly,one picture took more than 70% of the earnings! I expect to see flames in few weeks on this one :) RPI of 0.35 which is not far at all from SS. I reached the bronze canister in June with more than 250 dl's. The only advantage is that I have a higher upload limit now.

FT. Better than last month but not quite what I would expect from FT. I had few sub sales as well making $/dl the lowest in few months. FT is simply not predictable at all ! RPI very low at 0.06. I noticed that sub sales concerned my last uploaded images.

SXP. Equal my BME of last month there again.Approval times were very fast this month. The highest $/dl of all agencies with $1.85.

DT BME by few dollars. Still at low RPI at 0.06. Earnings might go up next month again due to an upcoming price change and a change in picture levels.

123RF. The last of the pack this month , a big drop compared to May where i had 2 EL. Hope July will get better, earning seems to stalled otherwise... 600 + portfolio.

Low earners (less than 1 % of earnings)
BSP, CT. No sales at SCP this month for the fist time since i started there, pictures at no reviewed as well :(

* Big 6 rankings

$: SS>IS>FT>SXP>DT>123RF
Performance: SS>IS>SXP>DT=>FT>123RF
$/DL: SXP>FT>IS>DT>123RF>SS

Detailed earnings figures in USD.