istockphoto.com - DPChallenge Forums

05/24/2004 05:49:24 PM · #1

My images on Istock

Right now I have 3 images on the front page of Istock photo. :)

Hope I start making some money!

M

05/24/2004 07:13:32 PM · #2

Have you sold any images there yet? I have been thinking about trying to sell some stock online. I have been doing some research that leads me to believe there is a great opportunity to make a few bucks in that market.

05/24/2004 07:15:51 PM · #3

My first images were actually only approved last night and so far 2 people have contacted me about using the images that are in there and inquiring what else I have. :) I'll let you know when I sell, but I believe there's some money to be made there as well.

M

05/24/2004 08:04:55 PM · #4

I submitted an application over there. I think I'll give it a try.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

05/24/2004 08:07:43 PM · #5

I just submitted my 28th photo there. They have an exactly 50% yes/no ratio on photos but so far I'm 8-3 and waiting on 17. Sounds good for us DPC stock shooters. LOL

M

Message edited by author 2004-05-25 00:08:03.

Neil

Fujifilm X-T20

05/24/2004 08:10:05 PM · #6

Me too. I just passed the "test". What's the purpose of the three sample photos though--that's where I am. Are these just to check my style, or should these be photos I am willing to put for stock distribution?

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

05/24/2004 08:21:10 PM · #7

Quality control, so they don't have people buy a camera one day and upload crap (think webshots) the next. Or so people aren't just going to upload pictures of their drunk friends from their cruise to Aruba just so they have something online. :)

If you got accepted on those 3 images, though, perhaps you should put them up!

M

loz1

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

05/24/2004 08:44:18 PM · #8

Hey cool. What ido they want to use the images for?

Good luck M :)

jrs915

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

05/24/2004 08:46:02 PM · #9

You're practically giving your images away on istock.

I think for a high res download like a rebel or 10d produces, you get $.40

Hardly worth the effort

05/24/2004 08:53:09 PM · #10

Depends what your goal is, jrs. Mine is to make money and pay for my seriously expensive hobby. People get 100s of dollars back off there. $300 dollars in downloads buys my new D300 a lens! I'll take it. I think I'll make more money on istock than I will on DPC Prints in the next year, selling my stuff for 'real' money.

M

05/24/2004 08:58:51 PM · #11

Referral Statistics:
6352 total referrals for this time period (2003-1-1 00:00:00 - 2004-05-25 23:59:59).
4448 unique people were referred.

I have made about 80 dollars on dpc (I didnt look right now). 80 bucks in 6000+ hits. I'll tell ya in a few months what I'm doing at istock.

:)

M

05/24/2004 09:00:42 PM · #12

Originally posted by jrs915:

You're practically giving your images away on istock.

I think for a high res download like a rebel or 10d produces, you get $.40

Hardly worth the effort

I used to think this way also. No one is pushing anyone to sell stock photos, but I think there is money to be made in it. This project is more about volume than one time sales. On iStock, you get paid by the download, whether the buyer actually uses the image or not.

I think it would be relatively easy to sell a couple hundred bucks per month worth of stock images.

Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM

05/24/2004 10:21:54 PM · #13

I got approved two weeks ago and my first images got accepted last week. Immediately the first two were downloaded, just two images of a steam engine, nothing special, which would otherwise just sit on my PC.

here is my link

I now made a few pictures of myself in business suite with phone and pda and am curious how well those will do. Waiting for approval.

You do start to think in another way, put yourself in the position of a customer and think what might be useful in making brochures, websites etc. On DPC you think more about what might be appealing, different, artistic, original.

I have a lot of images from the past which I would not mind submitting, but I won't submit my best ones, the ones people might buy as prints, or might one day buy a license for.

A good experience to do. Maybe I'll make some money towards a new camera, who knows. Whether I will continue ? .... only if it is fun and worth it.

Message edited by author 2004-05-25 02:31:43.

melking

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

05/25/2004 03:40:39 AM · #14

I have been on IstockPhoto since Feb 2004 and I have made $167.00 US so far...Great Extra Money My images are Here on IStocktake a look

TerryGee

Canon EOS-30D

05/25/2004 03:45:33 AM · #15

I'm curious, the images you give them don't need to be exclusive?
I know that other agencies that hold images don't want you submitting them elsewhere.

jodiecoston

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

05/25/2004 05:17:28 AM · #16

I've been on istock for a couple of years now - pretty much since the beginning. I've made $399.45 to date. If you take into account that for about a year of that I took most of my images off of there because I had started selling at Alamy, AcclaimImages and Istockpro, it's not too bad. I've recently just started uploading much smaller versions of my regular images at istockphoto again. They do not require any kind of exclusivity agreement.

For lower-res photos, it's a nice little supplement to my regular paycheck. (Same with Dreamstime.com, which there was a thread on about three weeks ago...)

Oh, and by the way - for those of you who in this thread who have started submitting images there, you should try istockpro, too. You've all got great work. You see far fewer sales at istockpro, but you earn much more per sale. :)

Message edited by author 2004-05-25 09:18:47.

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-80mm 1:4-5.6

05/25/2004 05:31:10 AM · #17

Hi Jodie,

I saw that you have quite a number of quality images at istockpro as well. On istockpro the interface is rather different from istockphoto and it is impossible to obtain some impression on how well istockpro is doing. On istockphoto you can check number of download for images, see which are the most popular ones etc, but on istockpro this is all hidden.

Can you share some of your experience on those two sites ? (I appreciate there can be commercial info you don't want to disclose).

dccloss

Nikon D70

05/25/2004 06:44:38 AM · #18

Do you guys realize that istockphoto is royalty free? You can actually make more with your photos by doing one use rights, and selling photos again and again. If everyone does royalty free, you are undercutting the stock photo business, and making it so everyone gets paid less for their photographs. I have been doing some research on this lately. If you want some more information, try looking here: STOCKPHOTO. This is a forum run by people already in the stock photo industry, and, as of late, this has been a chief complaint of theirs. Just thought that I would let you know! :)

-Danielle

Message edited by author 2004-05-25 10:45:55.

TerryGee

Canon EOS-30D

05/25/2004 06:48:42 AM · #19

Originally posted by dccloss:

Very true!

Canon PowerShot Pro 90 IS

05/25/2004 06:59:01 AM · #20

Originally posted by dccloss:

So ?

If they want to charge big money, they need to make a difference. Simple supply and demand.

That is why I am not offering my best images at istockphoto. If I think I can sell prints of it, or sell a license agreement, because the image does have a special quality, then it does not go on istockphoto. But otherwise, why not try to make some money out of it ?

It might hurt other people's business, but why should I care ? That's competition.

I am in the IT business in Europe and more and more IT gets outsourced to India and China, but can I expect them not to offer their services because it might hurt me ? No, I can't.

coolhar

05/25/2004 07:52:09 AM · #21

Hope someone who is a member there can help me with a question about iStockphoto. If you earn ten to thirty cents every time one of your images is downloaded and you can get paid (cash out) when you have accumulated $100, would that mean you have to make a minimum of 334 sales before you can get paid? Am I understanding this correctly? Seems disproportionate.

Canon PowerShot Pro 90 IS

05/25/2004 08:16:25 AM · #22

Originally posted by jrs915:

You're practically giving your images away on istock.

I think for a high res download like a rebel or 10d produces, you get $.40

Hardly worth the effort

I think it is worth the effort. Its about volume. In today's market, there are a lot more people submitting 'stock photograpy' because more people own high res digital cameras. The supply and demand laws of economics are going to devalue stock images over time. There is no doubt about this.

I am trying to look at it as a market potential that has no overhead for me and a possible income. I'm out shooting photos anyway. If there is an opportunity to sell digitals online, I think it's worth exploring. I also don't believe it will devalue my prints in any way. I'm no longer selling prints online because I can't provide them with a signature, matted, and/or framed. My theory on an unsigned print is that it has not much, if any, more value than a poster. If I get several hundred stock images online and sell them at a profit of $0.40 each, I would have to sell less than 500 to match what I made in my first year of selling prints online. I think it's achievable.

One thing is certain. If they are not available, they won't sell.

e301

05/25/2004 08:21:15 AM · #23

On the under-cutting thing, the argument runs like this: the more people sell stuff for less on one place, the less often the really good people (committment, insight, imagination, time etc.) will submit; thus the overall standard will go down; thus the custoners will go elsewhere. Be careful how you value yourself.

Ed

coolhar

05/25/2004 08:35:56 AM · #24

How do you come up with $.40 per sale? I saw only .10, ,20 or .30 depending on size.