Author: Amos Struck

I often mention Alexa Rank to make a comparison among microstock agencies, as you can see in Stock Agencies page. In this post I want to show another tool that can be used to follow the trends in the stock photo market, Google Trends, that lets you compare the world’s interest in some particular topics.  You can see how often they’ve been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions people have searched for them most. First comparison, a big traditional stock agency as…

Fotolia launches a strong operation to attract “big” contributors. With the slogan “Gain instantaneous recognition with Fotolia!”, Operation Level Ground gives artists the freedom to upload their existing portfolios to Fotolia and receive equivalent download ranking. Artists have the chance for their achievements to be recognized by increasing earnings while enhancing their global profile. For those who have sold microstock in the past, Fotolia will recognize their download sales from other services. For those who have sold “macrostock” and traditional stock photography, Fotolia will recognize their lifetime sales as equivalent to download sales. Non-microstock Sales to Rank Conversion $15,000+ in…

Press Release – After Vivozoom and iStockphoto…. Shutterstock Announces New Plan to Protect Each Image and Footage Purchase Largest subscription stock image site guarantees its entire library of more than 8.5 million images and 140,000 footage clips. Although claims involving our content are extremely rare, we wanted to give our customers an even higher level of comfort by providing up to $10,000 in indemnification. New York, NY (PRWEB) October 20, 2009 — Shutterstock, the world’s largest subscription-based stock photo agency, announced today that it will legally guarantee every file in its vast library by providing up to $10,000 to cover…

Since 2006 I’ve been collecting a tons of microstock photos rejections. This is a “fake” Top Seven of microstock rejection reasons, hope funny, just a pretext to show a list of some interesting or peculiar or common refusals. As we’ve already said, sometimes a rejection make you say “why, why!?”, sometimes you can learn and try to improve your stock photography style. © Red4 (Steven Lambert) | Dreamstime.com

moodboard is an “hybrid” stock photo agency that works with all photographers from professionals  to hobbyists and newcomers, in both macro and micro stock. With a stylish web interface, here the main features at a glance: moodboard Key Features Royalties increase on sales volume per image An extra 5% royalty is given on exclusive micro images Potential to move from micro to premium collections Images in premium collections return a 20% royalty with a pricing range of $19 – $2125 Batch editing of metadata including keywords Support of IPTC for embedded keywords Upload via FTP/web forms and quick uploader There’s…

© Aelita (Olena Abazid) | Dreamstime.com – — From Dreamstime’s forum, original post by Achilles Dreamstime is going to launch posters and canvases printed products. “Order a Print: Posters and Canvases” “Very soon you’ll be able to order posters and canvases from our site. This is self-explanatory so I will skip the basics. You all have such prints somewhere decorating your home or office walls. All RF images are eligible for this option (Editorial and Free Photos are excluded). Plus, ordering is fast and easy to use. Similar to image download, prints can be purchased in a matter of seconds.…

A little digression from microstock and business… have fun with your photos creating Polaroid-like images with Rollip website. Above an example of a small “vintage” polaroid created from one of my alpine landscapes.

The growth of microstock industry has been producing a variety of related business. Whereas on the one hand, there are some photographers services (for example, we’ve talked about Lookstat’s backoffice services), on the other hand there are new services dedicated to agencies. I’d like to introduce you Microstocksolutions, a company that provides image reviewing, processing and keywording services to microstock agencies looking to reduce their overhead costs while increasing their profit. Microstocksolutions.com is a division of Northfoto Picture Agency. What they offer: Outsourcing services of image reviewing, processing, keywording Dedicated team of professionals Robust infrastructure and multiple locations, top notch…

© corepics – Fotolia.com Corepics is a conglomerate of professional photographers and dedicated photo-enthusiasts aiming at providing stock imagery. Corepics was formed in February 2009 as a joint venture among Hugo de Wolf, Maurits Jager, Bas Gerzon and Laurens Poelhekke. We’ve talked to Hugo de Wolf, an established professional photographer, about this project. << Our company aims to combine the vast network of enthusiast students as models with professional studio facilities, equipment and know-how in photography. This way, we produce a fairly high volume of images, that are not commonly seen in microstock photography, more economical and more efficiently than…

Shutterstock Announces Acquisition of BigStockPhoto Move signals Shutterstock’s expansion into the credit-based stock photo market PRESS RELEASEPRWEB September 23, 2009 — Shutterstock, the world’s largest subscription-based stock photo agency, announced that it has acquired BigStockPhoto, a leading credit-based stock photo agency, headquartered in Davis, California. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. “BigStockPhoto is a leader in the stock photo industry, and an excellent fit for Shutterstock as we expand into thecredit-based market,” said Jon Oringer, founder and CEO of Shutterstock.  “This addition will enable Shutterstock to better satisfy the diverse payment preferences of stock photo buyers worldwide.” According…