I first started uploading to Shutterstock in early 2008 and this weekend I passed a big milestone: Things have not always been a smooth on Shutterstock with some down years, but adding video to my portfolio has certainly helped maintain some consistency on downloads. Perhaps I will hit the 200,000 download threshold in less than 10 years from now!
I know that many readers of my blog are beyond the beginning stage, but I recently came across this very extensive article aimed at explaining photography for beginners. An Ohio based photographer called Jo has created it, and covers the sort of camera you should look at, how to use a smartphone, what to think about in composition, landscape photography and finally she covers post processing. If you are just starting with photography (or want to improve your skills), it...
I wrote an update about my experiences with my first 12 images on Society6 earlier in the week, and that gave me the impetus to add more images and create more products, but also to learn more about how to increase your chances of sales. I’ve not found any easy ways to edit the pricing of the three items you can modify (the prints), and so I have this picture up on my second monitor to help me as I...
I mentioned back in October that I had uploaded a few images to Society6. I only put 12 shots onto the site and then promptly forgot all about it and never heard any more from them. Then, out of the blue I got a payment from them for $5.70 so I thought I should check! So I was surprised when I visited my page to find that I had 3 sales – one paid and two pending for a total...
I wrote an article last summer about my experience taking fireworks photos in Pittsburgh on Independence Day, and when I saw the latest Dreamstime Blog contest was about photographing events, I thought I would create a more specific “how to plan, take and post process great fireworks photos” article. The article is now online over at the Dreamstime Blog, so if you are interested in my latest thoughts on this, please check it out! One thought for this audience though...
Update: I’ve updated this post with new information and some photo improvements. The new version of the 10 best photo opportunities on Kauai can be found here on BackyardImage.com I’m just back from a trip to Kauai (yes, again) and here are my top ten locations that you must visit and photograph if you are lucky enough to visit the island. Think of it as my top 10 instagrammable spots on an island full of them! Kauai is the oldest...
Making money as a photographer must be one of the harder professions out there. Everyone seems to think that they can do it, and some people are willing to give excellent work away for free. You only need to look at Unsplash to see great images being offered with full commercial and editorial licenses at full resolution and for what? A credit line if you are lucky. As my friend Alex has discovered with his excellent research work on fraudulent...
I always like to see my images chosen to decorate someone’s wall and so I put what I think are my best artistic shots on Fine Art America and Photo4Me (for UK images mainly). This past month gave me just one sale of an image that has proved to be very popular: If you recall, I increased my pricing on FineArtAmerica a month or two back and this is the first sale under the new pricing scheme. Still too early...
As you know, I am a solid believer in Stock Submitter to prepare, upload and submit my images and videos to all the 20 or so sites I support. The ease with which it is able to submit images without me ever visiting the agency saves me a lot of time and effort. I’ve written a series of blogs about it starting with this one. Recently the developer came up with an interesting enhancement to the local app – Microstock...
I create quite a few stock photos and videos in what I laughingly call my home studio, but what does that entail? Do you need a lot of gear to make excellent images and videos? I think the answer is no! Basically, I have a room (at the top of the house which keeps me in shape) that is my computer room, TV room and studio. I’ve moved recently to a stand up desk arrangement with my two monitors and...
