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Quality vs Quantity (once again)


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1 hour ago, Jill Morgan said:

 

Let's not forget Jeff's image of the futon.  Took it for some friends to post on Craigslist to sell.  He uploaded the image and sold it for I believe $150 or $180.  That story has kept me motivated to be critical of what I upload, but not overly critical.

 

Jill

 

Did someone think they were buying a real futon and were to embarrassed to ask for a refund when they found out it was a image licence? :)

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It is, obviously, a very relevant question that we all ask ourselves!

 

I believe that income from stock is not only an equation of quality/quantity/diversity but also finding the right agency for your photos. I made more income with 200 images on a certain agency then with 3000 on another... (I do have more by now).

 

Sometimes luck is also an inportant factor, had 15+ publications last month with 2 topics whereas I usually sell 4-6 images a month on Alamy...

 

Quality is either subjective or subject to price... Who choses which picture to publish from which agency...???

 

Quantity is certainly a + only if you have Diversity... I do believe I have to many similars on Alamy...

 

Diversity certainly a +, but also a costly one for photographers

 

Finding the right agency is in imho also an important factor. Some are more RF oriented, some more editorial/news...

 

Talking - directly - with some friends that are also in the photography/stock business, for a long tine, I tend not trust too much the figures that people post on forums... Some very talented photographers that have Q/Q/D don't make such figures... Not saying that others don't...

 

And having rights will certainly help, also an imprtant factor!!!

 

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12 hours ago, andremichel said:

I took a quick look at your alamy port and your website and you clearly fall into the quality over quantity camp. You say you aren't actively selling on alamy but I can see many of the stand out images from your website are also within your alamy collection. 

 

How does the quality of your landscapes compare to your friends?

Is the quality over quantity approach not working for you on alamy?

 

I just started uploading images to Alamy from my site. Literally started doing that last November. Before that it was mostly RF and some very old travel images.

 

> How does the quality of your landscapes compare to your friends?

 

Well... one is doing lifestyle and I'm not shooting it at all. The the one... I guess she is better than me in terms of identifying composition and subject.

 

> Is the quality over quantity approach not working for you on alamy?

 

It's too early. As I just started uploading images I guess I'll have some results (if any) a bit later.

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9 hours ago, andremichel said:

I think the OP is maybe suggesting that it isn't dead, but he is using other photographers, whose images we have no visibility of, to argue quality is king. So the strategy would be not to find under saturated niches to shoot, but instead aim to produce better images than most and it won't matter if the subject is highly saturated.

 

I'm not saying one should concentrate only on quality. Never said that. Quality, Quantity, Diversity. But what I see here is people concentrate on quantity like on microstock. Same approach. Upload tons of photos. What if someone uploads not 4000 average images per year but say 1000 per year, but that will be very good images. 4000 average images per year VS 1000 good images per year. Drop in quantity and increase in quality as right now I see only quantity. Sorry for being this little child who is saying "He hasn't got anything on!"

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2 hours ago, geogphotos said:

 

As in:  

 

' I have a friend who is making $5000 a month selling widgets from his bedroom' 

Well... If a person quits his daily job and starts doing microstock full time... well... Can you do that? You've got 57K images... More than he has on microstock with microsales. Can you do only stock photography? I guess not. He can. Counting he has family and two kids so it's not an income for a single student living in a dorm.

 

PS. Nothing personal...

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48 minutes ago, Ilya Genkin said:

 

I'm not saying one should concentrate only on quality. Never said that. Quality, Quantity, Diversity. But what I see here is people concentrate on quantity like on microstock. Same approach. Upload tons of photos. What if someone uploads not 4000 average images per year but say 1000 per year, but that will be very good images. 4000 average images per year VS 1000 good images per year. Drop in quantity and increase in quality as right now I see only quantity. Sorry for being this little child who is saying "He hasn't got anything on!"

But how do you decide that 1000 images per year is the right amount? Why not 100 then the quality will be even better. Even with your small 1200 image port on alamy there is a dilution of quality compared to your website.

 

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1 minute ago, andremichel said:

But how do you decide that 1000 images per year is the right amount? Why not 100 then the quality will be even better. Even with your small 1200 image port on alamy there is a dilution of quality compared to your website.

 

Fair question. I don't know. I guess there should be some common sense and self criticism. I know that potentially anything can be sold. But for me I cannot (at this time at least) cross some line and upload total garbage. But that's me.

 

And balance is the key. Enough quantity and good quality. And diversity as well. All three. Together. Not sacrifice one for other.

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1 hour ago, Ilya Genkin said:

 

I'm not saying one should concentrate only on quality. Never said that. Quality, Quantity, Diversity. But what I see here is people concentrate on quantity like on microstock. Same approach. Upload tons of photos. What if someone uploads not 4000 average images per year but say 1000 per year, but that will be very good images. 4000 average images per year VS 1000 good images per year. Drop in quantity and increase in quality as right now I see only quantity. Sorry for being this little child who is saying "He hasn't got anything on!"

Stop telling stories already.
If a person leaves work for microstocks for a full day, he will in any case be able to make more than 3 images a day.
It turns out that he is content with the student's income, some live like that.
Complete nonsense! And we discuss it here. And what does qualitative or not quality mean? Quality inspectors, which are not of high quality anywhere, will not miss, another thing is in demand or not needed by anyone. For example, like me, until no one needs.

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@Gennadii Rybalov, you probably never heard about Yuri Arcurs and a few people like him, do you? That's not the person I'm talking about, but you will get the point.

 

"In 2007 he was the top ranked selling contributor at Shutterstock, Fotolia, Crestock and BigStockPhoto. In 2008 Arcurs sold 650,000 images per year through 16 different microstock agencies.

A 2010 vote by readers of PDN Magazine ranked Arcurs among the "30 Most Influential Photographers" of the decade. In 2011 he was considered to be the best selling microstock photographer in the world, selling more than 2 million images in a year and in 2012 it was reported that he sells 450 images per hour."

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@Gennadii Rybalov, @andremichel, you simply forgot how he got to that success. Everyone started with a small amount. The point is - he was uploading not only sellable subjects, but very high quality. Sure over the years he created enormous portfolio...  But he quit his daily job long before that.

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1 minute ago, andremichel said:

But are you selling more with your small portfolio?

First of all it's not a question about me. :) I just happen to have a couple of friends who are doing really good. As I said I started uploading good photos to Alamy last November. Will see how it goes. I've got nice income (could be better, but cannot complain) from my site and I'd like to compare it with Alamy.

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15 minutes ago, Ilya Genkin said:

First of all it's not a question about me. :) I just happen to have a couple of friends who are doing really good. As I said I started uploading good photos to Alamy last November. Will see how it goes. I've got nice income (could be better, but cannot complain) from my site and I'd like to compare it with Alamy.

Why does it show you as joining Alamy in 2006?

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40 minutes ago, Ilya Genkin said:

First of all it's not a question about me. :) I just happen to have a couple of friends who are doing really good. As I said I started uploading good photos to Alamy last November. Will see how it goes. I've got nice income (could be better, but cannot complain) from my site and I'd like to compare it with Alamy.

With me enough, propaganda without me.
If I had enough, I would not be here.

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1 minute ago, Ed Rooney said:

Quality and quantity and a mix of subjects is the way I roll! (Does that sound young and hip? Or more like someone trying to sound young and hip?)

 

You could sing that to yourself like a mantra.

The tune of Ebony and Ivory would work.

;-)

wim

 

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