Lessons

Lesson Info

General Q&A

so a couple of questions Snappy Gourmet asked. And C. J. Dawson about rejection. So I'm just going to throw a few at you. You know, you talked to us about resubmitting because that that's that's doable. You do have a time period for that, at least with Istock photo. Okay, so they're going to say you got like when you get the rejection noticed that when you get thin, they give you X number of days to resubmit that image, and you do need to follow that. Okay, Perfect. And do they give you any feedback? A little bit? It's pretty cryptic. Pretty clips, because you thinking about it. They're really just kind of filling out a form. You don't get a form, you get an email, but it's very form like so there's no niceties. There are no pleasantries. Hey, idea. This is, you know, this is really beautiful, but all the noise that it's a very to the point and clipped, and so don't infer until don't don't take the tone personally because everybody gets their notices like that. They're not mean. They'r...

e just very clipped into the point. You know this this this is this. It's kind of like a candy male high. We got your image. Thank you. It was rejected due to these reasons. Bullet point, bullet point, bullet point bullet point. And then you have a time period in which to resubmit it. If you pass that time, period, then they're gonna tell you that you can't recent with that file, so you probably have to wait 34 months toe. That sounds pretty good. It sounds like they actually go over the entire image, give you all the problems with it instead of just hitting one and then rejecting your correct. They tell you everything that's wrong with it. Yeah, So they're looking for, you know, subpar lighting, subpar composition, an artifact like we talked about. Don't ever up sample do ever up sample? I mean, not even just a tiny, But even with photo Shop CC's new enlargement magic with the image size dialog box So upset playing this means you're making the image physically larger than it was originally shot. So let's say you shot in image in its 1200 pixels wide. You can't increase its size and Photoshopped to make it 1600 pixels, hoping that they'll be able to sell it at a larger size so you can make more money on that one download. You can't do that. Okay, Perfect. And then one more question. When you're a new person doing this and you're submitting those 1st 3 do you recommend them having a very similar style and photographer than builds their sort of their look or going to be like nature? Uh, landscape and a product? That's a great question. All of your photos are gonna have your style embedded in them anyway. But do show diversity in your portfolio with your three sample images that you're submitting with your contributor application. Yes, best to show some diversity because they want some people that you know can shoot several things. But they've got so many contributors now that could be changing a little bit. What I would say show a little diversity, but it's OK if the stylist similar cause you want the inspector to get an idea of what your particular I is. You know, your look as it were, and they'll tell you that those images don't have to be great stock images. They just say, Submit your three best images, you know whether or not there really good for stock or nine, I would disagree with that statement completely. I'd submit my three best stock images. So it's your being accepted for an account first, and then you start submitting. Yeah, you have to be real estas a contributor First. Blessed, Yes, and that takes three images. They make you read a bunch of information, which is really helpful. And it'll teaching many things about what they're looking for, things to watch out for and helpful hints in your for Tyra fee. So it's like a free little 15 minute class. There's not. I think there's, like six pages that you page in a through, and I saw a photo and you read all this stuff. Then you take a multiple choice quiz, and it's very easy. There's about 12 questions on their If I remember right, and basically you're doing the quiz to prove that you read what they ask you to read. You know, it's just like college, right? It's jumping through whose Aiken jump through hoops. Look at me, I'm champing, so you have to jump through those hoops once you complete the multiple choice quiz and then you submit your three sample images any weight, and then you start getting the you get the notice back about whether they were rejected or accepted. And then you just keep submitting until you finally get three. Accepted. I think it took me three rounds the first time one got in to got rejected. The second time I sent to one. Got in one got rejected the next time I sent one or two or whatever and it got in. And then if I wanted those three images to go in my portfolio, I had to re submit them for second inspection. So I did that and I was a bit naughty, and I included the images that got rejected by the because the inspectors that air handling the contributor applications are different than the ones that are inspecting the images. And I think they're more strict. So I slid under under the radar. They're still inspected, but the ones that got rejected got in very sneaky, ineffective, exactly. Eso meta Pompa is asking. This is a very hip question. I think I like it. Our agencies accepting photos that have been shot or edited using mobile devices like the IPhone. I pads android devices. And, um well, there are more parts to this question, but can you talk about that a little bit? Maybe at the top. The day we decided that the are we learned that the minimum pixel dimensions was 1600 by 1200. So if it's that big and it, you know, follows all the criteria and no logos, well, it not blurred. No noise, you know, processed appropriately. Then perhaps those could get in. I don't know of any images specifically that were shot on him. He'll devices that are in the I stopped PhotoDatabase. But that's not not to say that there are any if they follow all the requirements that we've been talking about today. Okay? Yeah. And then kind of just the follow up to that. And you sort of talked about that already was. Do you have to have a big DSLR? Can you shoot with something like a smaller crop sensor? Absolutely. Can Yeah. I think all of the images in my portfolio an hour shot with a D can and 40 days. So that's definitely not a full frame sensor. So, and there are some point and shoot pictures up there, and it's fine to start with that. If you want to bet with a point and shoot, you're not going to get the clarity that you can get with the DSL, ours and the interchangeable lenses. So you just really need to scrutinize is because what you don't want to do is it was still not that big a deal. And if you do this, but you don't wanna just shoot a whole bunch with a point and shoot and you know, you submit your five images a week and then two months later you still haven't had one accepted. So that's not really great for your approval rating. That doesn't mean that they'll block you from submitting. They won't do that because you, if you've been blessed, is a contributor. You get to submit, but it can kind of hinder your fast track up the up the micro stock ladder, so to speak. So if you're really great with your point and shoot, you've got a really nice one. You know, cannons gotta What is it in G 11 now or something like that? That's just a fantastic camera, and it's got some amazing settings that you can do nice shout at the field effects with, so you know, that's what you've got. Try. But you really need Teoh. Pay attention to all the criteria that we talked about today in. And, um, look at those images at 100%. If you see noise in there or if you see you know, color noise picks, elation or anything like that, it's not really nice and crisp and clear. Then it's not gonna make it in great cool, thank you. Different subject matter. So Charlie J. Asks. Do you think it would be a good idea to shoot clothing styles from previous eras like the 19 eighties, or even the 19 seventies, or even the 18 seventies? Absolutely no, because things come back in style. I saw leg warmers in Italy. I couldn't believe it. Is it 1980? So, sure, Why not? Yeah, if you can envision it in an ad, shoot it, or if you can envision it as part of an ad like the IPhone ad that we looked at at the top of the class. You know, we had we had three different stock images in that ad. You know, you could shoot, shoot a frying pan, and it could be used in who knows what. You know. There's there is no end to how your images we're gonna get you. So if you could envision it, add if you can imagine some designer needing that you know that absolutely. Shoot it as faras is vintage photos, they're not sure how you would do that. I mean clothing styles from from way back. Then maybe, in my opinion, there wouldn't be quite as much of a call for, you know, 18 seventies wardrobe is as 19 seventies wardrobe, but you never know. Heck, we saw that medieval canon earlier. It was very strange. So, um, beats for 35 says suppose you go exclusive with one agency. Do you then have to remove your images from any other agencies you may have images on? Yes. Yep, yeah, just for royalty. Free, though. So if you're doing rights managed or editorial with somebody else, that's fine. It's just the world's He free license for that matters cool and various design asks from Connecticut. Have you found that mawr landscape or location photos sell over portrait related photos? Gosh, I'm not really sure about that. That would be great research for that. That special area and I stopped photo that I showed you all earlier. Were you to participate? Link and then contributor Lounge trends. And then you can see popularity of files. I'm really not sure the statistics on that exact thing. I will tell you that in so far as shooting landscape orientation versus portrait orientation in my own uses, I always go for horizontal or landscape because the screens and I'm presenting on our landscape in their nature. So I go for those. But there is, ah, a set of radio buttons that you can use when you're searching for images on on mostly sex. I know I stopped photo info Tolia. Both have this in their search engines is you can specify landscape or portrait orientation, and so faras aspect ratio so people can narrow down. Their search is there's a lot of tools to narrow down. Their search is because they're just so meaning images in the database. You know, so many incidents. So, you know, as ah, designer with my designer had on, you know, I don't want to spend. While it would be fun to spend hours and hours on Istock photo. I don't have that kind of time. So I need those powerful search tools to kind of tunnel down to the images that match my specific criteria in aspect ratio is one of them as his copy space as his color. So if you're looking for an image that you know needs to be predominantly blue, you can dial that in when you're hunting for images on most of these stocks. Sites as well. Pretty awesome. All right, so s s Fredericks asks. Do Microsoft stock services require you to send them the releases or just to certify that you have them, especially for Children? I stopped photo makes you send them. So you have to scan it or take a picture of it. And you submit that along with the image, it gets attached to it. And that's another thing the inspector will look for. If you send the portrait and you don't have a model release projected, I want to make a good impression. So send those releases. Yeah. You need to send those releases. Yeah, send them in picture form, you know, or pdf. Cool. Uh, zero Nass. Who decides the prices of your photos in the stock sites. And then I'm gonna ask another question. Who handles the water market? All the companies set the prices, and they're all according to pixel dimensions. So there's no variance in the micro Stock room. Now, writes Managed is a different kind of animal, So the stock company sets the prices according to pixel dimensions on photos according to format. If you're submitting videos according to complexity of files, if you're submitting audio or vector illustrations or flash components, so complexity matters in those three format matters, and video and size pixel dimensions matter in the images, and they all handled the water marking. You don't do any of that. They manage all of that. So I was just thinking back Teoh some things that I saw in the chat rooms earlier. Everybody was talking about micro stock on, and this was before we really started into the content today, and a lot of people had concerns about Oh, this market is really saturated. So what would you say to a person now if if they were toe express concern about that, it's harder. You got to be on top of your game you're here. Yeah, that's why we're doing glasses because it is saturated. But that doesn't mean you can't make beer money or a mortgage payment A month or six figures? No, I make more in the realm of beer money. Only because I don't I don't take the time to submit. I've got folders and folders of images just sitting there vibrating, ready to be processed and submitted. I just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I won't One of these days. Absolutely. I'm glad I got into the contributor position and I stopped photo when I did, because that's much harder to do now, just simply because there are so many. But that doesn't mean you can't get in. And you know who said it was gonna be easy? It's a lot of fun. There is a science to. Hopefully we've demystified a lot of that today, but it is hard and the competition is stiff, but also with all with all these other companies, you know, there's there so many of them now that used to be really just I stock for for a long time until their business model that copied by everybody so it might be easier to get into. Some of those other services I stopped may prove the biggest challenge, and that's fine. But it is difficult for us to grow and expand and evolve is humans if we don't challenge ourselves, So I think it's a good thing. But it is. I agree There's probably one or two wedding photographers out there as well, right? Oh, yeah, just a couple right? There are others got there's competition, probably uniqueness, probably with their photographs, trying to find things that are unique but the everyday objects that's going to be a lot of where your bread and butter is in. So faras designers what they're needing to download another great tip for you that I that I, um, can share with you is to try to shoot Siri's. So, let's say, is a designer. I've got a new client and I have to build them website. I have to do business card for them, and I need to do a trifle brochure, and then maybe I need to do a direct mail postcard when I'm hunting for stock photography. If I can find a photographer on, I stop. If I find an image that I like, and then I go into their portfolio and I see other similar images, maybe from the same shoot. So a Siri's from the same shoot. That is perfect, because then I've got a range of imagery to use across all of my promotional pieces that is consistent. So shooting in Siris is also really, really great for micro stock. Cool. And is it the same for illustrators as well? This process that you've discussed it is but in illustrations. So we're talking vector art may with illustrator or CorelDraw all hell freehand and it's dead self. Anyway, there's organization. There's like this whole Web thing going on to bring back FREEHAND or free free hand from whatever company that owns it. It's not do anything with It gets so much better than illustrator anyway. So for illustrations there, the inspectors were looking for, you know, so victors are made from points and path, so what they do is they look at the complexity of your file and they go. They actually open an illustrator and they select your artwork and they see how many points have used. And if you've had an anchor point party, then your final might get rejected, so they're really looking for clean artwork that's, you know, well executed. So there's a If you're an illustrator, a graphic designer, and you're really good an illustrator. Go onto Istock Photo and just troll around to the Vector database and use those tools that we looked at to see what's popular, what files were moving. And you just won't believe what you'll find all kinds of little handy shakes. And in Icons and Navid, things used for navigation bars, backgrounds, complicated illustrations. There's just a huge variety of things that you can find. So yeah, if you're an illustrator wizard, if you're a videographer, if you're a sound guy, then you know in an a photographer. So there's there's room for all those people. And on I stopped. They even accept flash content so you can upload blocks of flash So say like, you know, drop down menus for websites, or there was one that I found that it's like a a bundle of post it notes that kind of unfurls itself and frequently used animations in navigation bars that you can download and pop right into your your client's website on your website. It's all about saving time, so Heck yeah. Um, all right. So a couple more questions about model releases, Laura asks, What if you shoot photos of famous people like the president or musicians or other icons and can't exactly go up to them and ask them to sign a model release, Then you can't use those photos for micro stock. But in rights managed, you can do celebrity photos like that. So you would need to try toe become a Getty or Corvis and contributor for that kind of thing and then following up. Do you need releases for pets? No. You don't need releases for pets. Other. They can't sue you, but other people's pets that their properties. Okay, no pets. Not gonna. Yeah, you don't need model releases, but you ought not sneak a photo of the neighbor's dog. It's a bit for stock photography, you know, more civilized way to approach. That would be to offer to do a free pet sitting photo shoot for the neighbor and then ask them if they might, you know, in exchange for providing them with these beautiful photos. Maybe a nice framed one from in picks dot com and then use their photos. The photos? That's nice. Yeah. Hey, interesting question here from beats for 35. You had mentioned earlier that you can potentially get more money with a path. Does J pig support path? And it's not How would you submit it? I want to say it goes along with somehow. It's included in the metadata. I mean, they've got to be doing it some way because it is a J peg that you download and it does have a path when you pop it open and Photoshopped okay, we'll just set out home, you guys. Duke is asking kind of a question. That may seem obvious, but it's a good question for everybody out there. What does the micro refer to in micro stock? And how is it different from any other kind of royalty? Free stock photography, So micro refers to small kind, like penny stocks. You know, penny stocks you could purchase for a penny. You know, the stock market. So penny stocks are really, really affordable stocks, and you're not gonna make a lot of money off of one of them. But if you had a slew of penny stocks, then you could get a national income. So micro stock is kind of the same way is it's It's a micro payment situation. So the people are paying relatively small sums of money for the photo, and that's how it got its name. Micro stock. So micro payment affordable? I won't say cheap because that has a negative connotation, but more affordable Thank you. And another one from Snappy Gourmet. I love that name. Uh, do photos expire after a certain amount of time? Or are they there forever? That's a really great question. They do not expire, however, if you have a photo up there for years and years and years and years and years and it doesn't sell ever, then sometimes at least, what I stopped photo will do is they'll put it into a dollar been situation on their website, and then if it doesn't move when it moves into the dollar bin, then it will get removed from the site. But that's just to help the people who are searching for images not have toe, you know, trot through so many, perhaps subpart images. Cool. Alright, Least I think we got time for one last question. Charlie Js are their sites or resource is that you use from ideas for micro stop me print arrest or other social media stuff, or just any things that you use for inspiration. That's a great question. Pinchers will be a great one because it's a visual. There's a lot of beautiful imagery because people were pinning adds. So that's kind of like digging through a bunch of magazines, so Pinterest will be a great place to go for inspiration. Istock photo, I think, is the best place to go for inspiration because of all those articles. And you know all the beautiful imagery that's there when I get a little feeling less than happy e. I can't tell you how much my spirits were lifted despite cruising around on I stopped. There's something about looking at all those beautiful images and all this. I'll put it. I'll type in Italy, or I'll type in, you know, Prague or whatever, the beach, O'Malley or whatever is going to make me happy for the moment and within, you know, a few minutes 10 15 20 minutes of trawling through all those beautiful pictures than my spirits were lifted, and I I feel like I can take on whatever task it was that got me down. So it's a great for inspiration. Another great thing on Istock photo is that they they do these spotlights. So designers who were down in these images will upload their projects. It's for the public, and they'll ride a little bit about their process. So often times you will see the start. Photographer gets to see how their imagery was used in these, you know, beautiful layout. So that's another thing that you can use for inspiration. But Pinterest is great going to the bookstore because every book cover just about is a stock image. And even if you don't subscribe to magazines for your research, don't take a pair of scissors with you. But you couldn't go to the big store and have a nice cafe mocha and just sit down there with those nice leather chairs and just looked through the ads there. And you might, you know, if you find one that really moves, you might, you know, be a little bit discreet about it and taken IPhone picture of of the ad if you want to kind of save it. But you could do that instead of you know, buying a bunch of subscriptions. But just choose the magazines that you like to read. You know, my husband and I subscribed to a bunch of magazines. You know, I'm a member of the BMW Motorcycle owners of America. So I get that magazine that has very different ads than you know, Playboy. Should we choose to subscribe to it? And not to say, if we do or not In other magazines that we subscribe to Conde Nast Traveler and National Geographic and Italian Italian Cucina think is when Italian cooking magazine that I love and they all have a very different style of ads. Real simple magazine. That's one of my favorites. So they're all gonna have different types of visuals in there and pay attention to the direct mail that you get in any kinds of posters that you see event fires but covers all of it