# iStock?



## Josh66 (Jun 11, 2009)

Anybody use them?

Kinda seems like a pain in the ass to me...

I applied, passed their little test, and they liked the 3 photos I submitted to see if I'm 'good enough'.

I uploaded two pictures today - I pretty much lost interest after that.  It takes _forever_ to do anything on their website...
It's not 'upload friendly' at all.  You can only do one image at a time, and inputting the keywords & catagories is much more cumbersome than other sites.

I can't even copy the information from one image to another similar image.

All of that combined with the fact that they only pay 20%...  I'm not sure if I'll even bother uploading more pictures...


Anyone else feel the same?

EDIT
I just tried to upload another image...what a pain in the ass.  The keywording interface is the most difficult to use I've seen.


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## Anubis (Jun 11, 2009)

I use them.

There is an app you can download from the site so you can do all the keywording on your machine in your own time then upload as a batch when done.

But they do take ages to approve your images... much longer than fotolia and 123rf.


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## manaheim (Jun 11, 2009)

You'll also have a hard time now putting anything original up.  I put up some fireworks images up there eons ago as an experiment... and even then it was hard to be considered "original" (granted, fireworks shots are common...)


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## SrBiscuit (Jun 11, 2009)

i use them, but i use them for buying stock photos.

i havent gotten around to attempting to sell.


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## Anubis (Jun 11, 2009)

Yeah, it's gonna be tough to sell anything I think. But I'm gonna keep trying 

I'm planning a couple of stock shoots with the purpose of taking sellable shots rather than just submitting random good photos.

Check out School Of Stock | PhotoShelter for some pro hints and tips.

Here is my portfolio so far Royalty free stock images | BryanMansell's Portfolio | iStockphoto.com They have accepted less than half of the images I've posted so far ...so I need to up my game.


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## manaheim (Jun 11, 2009)

Overall, I'd think you would do a LOT better just selling your images directly.

I have one of my images which has been downloaded like some 400 times and I think I've made like $80 off of it or something.


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## Anubis (Jun 11, 2009)

I'm using the stock sites as a test, if I sell any I will make a more concerted effort to start marketing. I've also started reading "Sell and Re-Sell Your Photos" by Rohn Engh.


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## Anubis (Jun 11, 2009)

manaheim said:


> Overall, I'd think you would do a LOT better just selling your images directly.
> 
> I have one of my images which has been downloaded like some 400 times and I think I've made like $80 off of it or something.



Linky?


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## Josh66 (Jun 11, 2009)

Anubis said:


> Here is my portfolio so far Royalty free stock images | BryanMansell's Portfolio | iStockphoto.com They have accepted less than half of the images I've posted so far ...so I need to up my game.



The ones you have up there look pretty good.

That's a lot of saffron...  I don't think I've ever seen that much in one place.
(It _is_ the most expensive spice in the world...)


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## Anubis (Jun 11, 2009)

O|||||||O said:


> The ones you have up there look pretty good.
> 
> That's a lot of saffron...  I don't think I've ever seen that much in one place.
> (It _is_ the most expensive spice in the world...)



Thanks.

That was only half the jar of saffron  My partner's parent's neighbours grow it, so we get it free.


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## Josh66 (Jun 11, 2009)

manaheim said:


> Overall, I'd think you would do a LOT better just selling your images directly.



I agree - but I wouldn't know how to go about doing that...

It's not like you can just e-mail companies and say - "Hey, I have some pictures - do you want to buy them?"

...Or can you?


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## manaheim (Jun 11, 2009)

^^^ just like any other business, you'd have to develop a site and start generating some traffic via advertisements, banners, etc.  There's no question it would be easier doing this via a site like iStock, but look at the cost!  Not to mention you're giving up your rights to that image.


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## Jon_Are (Jun 11, 2009)

> That's a lot of saffron



I'm just mad about saffron.

Jon


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## mwcfarms (Oct 13, 2010)

manaheim said:


> ^^^ just like any other business, you'd have to develop a site and start generating some traffic via advertisements, banners, etc.  There's no question it would be easier doing this via a site like iStock, but look at the cost!  Not to mention you're giving up your rights to that image.



So basically if you upload an image to Istock you kiss your rights to that image goodbye for further reproductions?


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## snichols (Oct 20, 2010)

I am not a great iStockphoto fan. Of about 30 uploaded images they eventually accepted six, which have generated about $3.99 in two months.

Before I get flamed, I have about 700 images (including the ones rejected) with Alamy.com) and regularly sell 3-5 per month. iStockphoto has very strange acceptance rules.

Steve Nichols
Author of "Better PR and Editorial Photography" 
See *Learn how to take editorial and PR images you can be proud of*


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## KmH (Oct 20, 2010)

iStockphoto is an RF house (Royalty-Free licensing), or micro-stock. There is little money to be made in RF and microstock. They have reduced images to a commodity, like buying a bushel of corn. (Corn today is selling at 561.50 cents per bushel, or $5.615 (35.42 liters or 8.8 gallons))

The money for stock images, is in RM (Rights Managed licensing).

Getty Images, Corbis, and Alamy offer both RF and RM licensing.


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## orljustin (Oct 20, 2010)

mwcfarms said:


> manaheim said:
> 
> 
> > ^^^ just like any other business, you'd have to develop a site and start generating some traffic via advertisements, banners, etc.  There's no question it would be easier doing this via a site like iStock, but look at the cost!  Not to mention you're giving up your rights to that image.
> ...



Of course not.  You always hold copyright to your image.  You _license_ your images for others to use when you "sell stock".  Do a little googling to find out more.


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## darkchild (Oct 21, 2010)

does one actually make money off of "selling stock"?


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## KmH (Oct 22, 2010)

darkchild said:


> does one actually make money off of "selling stock"?


Yes, if your images are purchased for use once they have been accepted by a stock photography agency, and above I mentioned there is RF licensing, and RM licensing which pay different rates.

http://www.arcurs.com/legal-abc-for-stock-photographers
http://www.arcurs.com/what-should-i-shoot-and-what-sells-well
http://www.arcurs.com/microstock-agencies-an-overview-for-beginners


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## manaheim (Oct 23, 2010)

^^^ the key is you "can", but is it worth your time.

I know someone who sells stock photography off his OWN site and he does reasonably well with a relatively small number of fairly unexciting images.

To give you an idea I uploaded 4 images to iStockPhoto back when they were just starting.  All 4 were accepted.  I think they have been downloaded some fairly impressive number of times like 400-500.  I think I made a grand total of $75.00 or something.

Some sites are different.


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## akazoly (Oct 27, 2010)

I use them.
Keep the stock photography as a hobby; you can't make high revenues at the beginning.
BTW... Shutterstock doesn't pay as much as istock, but my photos sells faster on it.


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## Moonb007 (Oct 28, 2010)

I sell at iStock, but they are by far not my favorable site and after the whole pricing rule changes coming in 2011 they have pissed off a lot of people.  I personally love Dreamstime and Shutterstock, you can find a full list of sites on my website below in my signature along with tips and things to do for getting into stock phtography.  I am with Akazoly, I do it as a hobby as I enjoy it and the money I make helps buy new toys.  Some people do make a living off of it, but 90% of people do it as a second income.


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## c.cloudwalker (Oct 28, 2010)

manaheim said:


> ^^^ the key is you "can", but is it worth your time.
> 
> I know someone who sells stock photography off his OWN site and he does reasonably well with a relatively small number of fairly unexciting images.
> 
> ...



100% agree.

I used to average $20-25,000 a year in stock with only about five families of shots. It has been slowing down, slowing down, slowing down like crazy for the last few years.

Today, I still get a check but it is getting so small it is ridiculous and I would not think of shooting for stock.

The top seller of micro-stock, according to an article posted on this site a while back, has not yet made a penny off of it. LOL.


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## Moonb007 (Oct 28, 2010)

c.cloudwalker said:


> manaheim said:
> 
> 
> > ^^^ the key is you "can", but is it worth your time.
> ...



Yea, for some reason I notice if you stop uploading your images get pushed back and don't sell as much.  It really boils down to only do it if you really enjoy it.  CloudWalker, are you talking about Yuri Arcurs?


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## c.cloudwalker (Oct 28, 2010)

Moonb007 said:


> CloudWalker, are you talking about Yuri Arcurs?



Sorry I don't remember the guy's name. Just that he was the top seller of micro stock according to an article posted here in the forum.

Which turned out to not mean much when you got down further into the article. The guy was the top seller but had a staff of 10-14 photogs working for him to achieve that and had not made a penny...


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