Bill Brooks Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 The boot example is what I am talking about. Do not allow the tools to determine your shooting style when shooting regular stock. Shoot cellphone style with a 5D111 Get in close to the boots with a 5D111 and a 15mm lens. Then go to photoshop to enhance the image. Submit the result as regular stock. In "Manage Images" answer that the image has been computer manipulated. Often new photographers create great new styles, but shoot loose with lower quality. Their style becomes hot. More experienced photographers adopt the same style with higher quality. Why put the client to the trouble of previsualising, and then paying the designer to alter the image? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Why put the client to the trouble of previsualising, and then paying the designer to alter the image? I understand what you're saying Bill and I think switching out lenses for differing points of view is a terrific idea. The trouble is what if the client needs something with a shade of brown instead of a shade of green like my manipulated Stockimo image above? How about blue to symbolize money/wealth instead of green? How about red - boots for a western Valentine promotion? A simple stock image over white is much more versatile to the client and, based on what we've been taught through experience over the years, much more marketable with a higher market value - especially if the image is available under a RF license (because they can use that same design element over and over and over). I think a lot of photographers are realizing this....and one thing I'm noticeabley seeing through the Stockimo 'customer likes' tab on the app is that photographers are doing things like uploading the same image with different filter effects multiple times (admittedly, I am also guilty of this). The result is similars - no different than a regular stock shooter uploading the image first in color, then in black and white, then in a sepia tone.....which gets us back to Martin's point of why we've always been told to minimize the use of filters. Traditionally, that's what we've been taught is the difference between "stock" and hiring a photographer with a particular point of view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotoDogue Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 There must be a need out there for images in Stockimoto style that are of a very high technical quality. With a command of photoshop you should be able to create images that do not have the sameness you get with push button software. Good points. You could either apply iPhone-like filters in PhotoShop or, if you happen to have an iPad, use some of the same apps people have been using for Stockimo. There are a number of presets as well as tutorials for creating your own filters available on the web. Best part is, if you shoot with a standard DSLR or higher quality camera you still have a nice unadulterated raw file to go back to in the future. fD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Any one with an exemplary QC reputation and sin bin free prepared to take the gamble? I am not - I have other business issues (new EU vat rules) to deal with at the moment without adding that stress. I am probably spending the next months rebuilding my web site so I can stay in some sort of business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Ed. I think having a particular point of view, as a stock photographer, is a way of calling attention to your stock work. As to making multiple versions with filters, I think you have to edit down to the filtered image version that you personally like the best. Martin. Here is a filtered standard, not Stockimoto, stock image that did not damage my QC reputation. Gambling is my middle name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 +1 Bill....it's that gambling part.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number Six Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 It's clear that there isn't a 'sin bin' policy for Stockimo rejections, but has anyone seen any mention or indication of a ranking system for image searches on Stockimo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homy Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hi guys! I'm new from Sweden and my 4 pictures just got approved. I tried Stockimo too but havn't had any luck there. Uploaded 8 pictures from my iPhone 4S (B&W, color) but they all got rejected rating 1.3, 1.7, and 2. You can see them here: https://flic.kr/p/nRdATR, https://flic.kr/p/o9ruPe, https://flic.kr/p/nTrJ4z, https://flic.kr/p/oba7B4, https://flic.kr/p/oKj6cD, https://flic.kr/p/p1ojfd. Then I followed your advice, took this one https://flic.kr/p/ograeh, put filter and tilt-shift on in Fotor and Volia! Got 2.7. I think I now know how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks Everyone, Sorry that was my first thread and I couldn't find it! It seems that since I added Snapseed and grunged images i've gone from 1 image to 10, from posting about maybe 20-25 Martin I do know if you search for Stockimo (comma) and a tag that you have created it appears on the general search. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks Everyone, Sorry that was my first thread and I couldn't find it! It seems that since I added Snapseed and grunged images i've gone from 1 image to 10, from posting about maybe 20-25 Martin I do know if you search for Stockimo (comma) and a tag that you have created it appears on the general search. Thanks Thanks, yes I spotted Stockimo in main collection after my post and mentioned it in a subsequent post.. Unlike News, Archive and Reportage there is no mention that the Stockimo quality may be lower than most images in main collection. Technically I would expect most News stuff to be considerably better quality than any Stockimo images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 A lot of people find technically perfect photography to be very dull. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why that might be Me too. That's what I couldn't understand! if i took a photo my phone that was out of focus, or just what I'd class as rubbish, I wouldn't have dreamt of posting initially. So I didn't understand why they weren't accepted, especially when I saw other photos that appear to have no technically quality, appear on the Stockimo liked images. I still don't understand, but it appears if it's processed it has a 50/50 chance otherwise maybe only 1-5%. I like playing with photos on my phone, so I'll add the odd one and see if I ever get a sale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I think they A lot of people find technically perfect photography to be very dull. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why that might be Me too. That's what I couldn't understand! if i took a photo my phone that was out of focus, or just what I'd class as rubbish, I wouldn't have dreamt of posting initially. So I didn't understand why they weren't accepted, especially when I saw other photos that appear to have no technically quality, appear on the Stockimo liked images.I still don't understand, but it appears if it's processed it has a 50/50 chance otherwise maybe only 1-5%. I like playing with photos on my phone, so I'll add the odd one and see if I ever get a sale I suspect they are associating technically perfect and soulless. There is plenty of that around (microstock anyone), arguably technical competence is easier than a great eye for a picture, but the best images are both meaningful and technically adept (McCullin and many others). There are a few great pictures that are technically poor but emotion laden because of the context and conditions under which they were taken - Capa's Spanish soldier, or D-day pictures for example (processing mistake by the lab, not by Capa). However there are millions of technically incompetent and meaningless pictures out there, I have shot my share - sadly I probably still do - the poor quality does not make them great, or even good, pictures. My examples are photojournalists because that is where my mind and interest is at present. But there are landscape and other photographers for whom the same could be said. It is not uncommon for me leave a photographic (or indeed paintings) exhibition with a feeling of: so what? Technically accomplished but nothing more. I guess the difference is "art" in its broadest sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynn Palmer Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 So far I've submitted 42 images and 36 have been accepted for a pass rate of 86%. Most are heavily processed and the 7 rejected were food-related straight shots with little to no filtering. The straight photos taken from the camera are of relatively good quality while the filtered versions do not hold up to close scrutiny (loss of resolution, noisier, etc.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 4 more submitted and all accepted. 11 month old baby girl with beautiful large eyes. Head shot. B&W. Same child, expression looking up in awe. Color, filtered. Keywords, awe, innocence. Senior man with funny expression and heavily filtered. Sundown sky with bare trees and rooftops in silhouette, filtered for color enhancement, taken from my front yard last evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 I have 71 images on Stockimo now. Not many get rejected. I try to stay away from people I can't get a release for, or property that isn't mine. Some shots just jump out and scream to be edited a certain way, others take some work. You can tell the ones that jumped out as they have a higher score than others. I have been watching the customer likes area a lot recently and it's a lot more pics that don't have heavy edits to them, a similar view in the thread of stockimo sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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