Jools Elliott

From what I remember of Britain's places where you need to go such as town halls; doctors etc there are a number of leaflets etc in different languages to help people. The UK is very well equipped to deal with ex-pats from other countries. Again, France is pretty diverse with a number of people from a number of countries but you rarely see leaflets etc in any other language apart from at tourist attractions.

Curiosity, have you been an ex-pat? I can absolutely feel the pain that Ed does as living here in France their bureaucracy is a nightmare! The French know it but will do nothing about it. A few years ago I was told by a French worker to read Asterix in Rome. It takes the mickey out of the French administration in the 50s. And it has not changed!!! I'm very sure that the pain and frustration that Ed talks of in Spain is pretty the same as it is here in France. You are often faced with the "it's not my department" line as well as taking a form to an office and it needing about 3 different people to actually get it all signed off. And no, I am not kidding. A couple of years ago I was given a car to use. Great! You go the office in the centre of town to sort out the change of ownership. But it takes one person to make sure you have filled out the form correctly then you are told to wait in another queue to pay the fee. The one good thing the French have is that if you need something like a copy of your birth certificate then it's free unlike the UK.

Maybe some ideas for you Ed: https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/index/europe Or you could just become a digital nomad. There are a number of YouTubers who do this. Go somewhere for three months. Get an AirBnB so you don't have to worry about local taxes; setting up internet etc.

Reading your tales sounds like it is here in France. Bureaucracy. Endless paperwork. They know it but won't do anything about it! Don't you have access to an Irish passport? Wouldn't it be easier to go to there? I know that's probably easier said than done but it's a thought. Outside of that, how about Italy. In my many travels to the country I have found a good number of people speak English and not just in cafés and restaurants but you also find it in some of the bigger cities town halls.

Careful. Hyperzoom has been trade marked: http://www.geofftompkinson.com/hyperzoom/

I concur with this. I've just started down the road of underwater photography having just completed a level 1 scuba diving course in Martinique. It took four lessons before they allowed me to take a Gopro with me. Even then it wasn't simple and is best mounted on a wrist strap so that your hands are free to communicate with your monitor. As CBIMAGES says just jumping in isn't going to work. From the experience I've just had I found it better to start with a baptism to see if it was something I wanted to continue with then went on to do the level 1 course so that I could learn to stabilize myself in the water. A company in Germany lent me a housing for my DSLR but the reality of that particular brand is that it isn't really suited to scuba diving and as such is better to go for a proper housing. The images and footage from the GoPro look good but you certainly need to understand processing to correct the loss of the various channels in Photoshop etc.

As a rule if I’m composing an image in camera it stays as 3:2. If i am stitching images to create a panorama then it gets cropped as follows: 17x6; 4x1 or 2x1. what dictates the pano crop is the resulting pixels. I try and aim for my panos to be at least 5000 pixels high so that any buyer has a massive image to crop into or use as is.

Yes, in a number of places permission was granted. The high elevations especially.

never say never. Especially where additional incomes streams are concerned Time lapse definitely isn't for you. You would do your brains in trying to sort that lot out!!! In any case, as you like submitting non-exclusively and want RM then it would be a challenge!

If you change your mind let me know as it is very very simple

None of the stock agencies has RM? You are correct. It is known as Rights Ready and but it is definitely NOT RF. I can think of two agencies off the top of my head that sells footage as Rights Ready.

Thanks all! Some have sold for stock and for decent prices. Ian, don't discount using your Canon 5D Mark III to do simple lockdown clips. You have Photoshop I believe so you don't additional software and it is VERY easy to process. I know of one agency you're with that takes RM footage so you're sorted in that respect.

Here's a time lapse I did of London. Hours of work!

It doesn't work that way for me because my clips aren't going into the OPs point of sale. With the OPs point of sale you choose your own price. In other libraries it depends on the usual things such as how much buying power etc they have. Time lapse is a different animal to straight forward video clips. Ian has said about not wanting the hassle BUT for straight lockdown clips that for him would be a far more viable route. Those type of clips can be edited in just about the same time as a still if there are no issues with it. The only factor that elongates the process is the rendering. And lastly returns. You know as well as I do that you get various prices for the same thing in library A. What might sell for $5 today can then sell to another client for $1000 the next depending on the various factors. I have sold a straight lockdown clip off a Canon 5D Mark II with nothing fancy done to it apart from trimming the start and end where I pressed the button with a little shake for about $800 net. It can and does happen and the rough always has to be taken with the smooth.

Wait until you get into time lapse proper. Dust spots etc that would have to be cleaned over 700 frames or so. Times by 30 and then let's talk Did 30 time lapse sequences in Budapest last week. 5 days or work to clean; process and stabilize where required.