Discussions from SIF http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:35:16 +0000 30 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1045
The NEX-3 is the plastic body, and it's $100 cheaper than the NEX-5 metal body. The plastic is hard and solid and will without question last longer than I will.

I'm not Darrell, so I won't be doing anything too technical here; this is just what one shooter thinks.

I find working with the viewing screen like using a miniature view camera . . . Mathew Brady in Lilliput. With the move from a SLR to this screen, you wave goodbye to all visual intimacy. It's not a PJ's camera. It's not for capturing a decisive moment. But if you're going for controlled images--and I know a lot of you work that way--this camera will (might) be right for you.

If I were doing a controlled portrait, as I did yesterday, I'd place the subject, frame the picture, and then deal with the subject person-to-person, not through the screen. Yes, you have to keep an eye on the screen, but most of your attention is on the live person. That's the way I used to work with a 6x6 in the studio.

This is not a camera that will do everything, but I think it's going to be a useful tool. I have only the 16mm (24 view) remember. The image results from this little 14MP thing are outstanding . . . and I'm still shooting jpegs. ]]> Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:35:16 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1045 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1044
Read here:

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=251812&page=1]]> Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:26:33 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1044 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1043
Bruce Dickson]]> Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:34:47 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1043 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1042




Professional and semi-professional American photographers might soon face a new set of administrative and accounting requirements that could bury them in tax paperwork – unless they act now. As part of the new healthcare reform legislation approved by the U.S. Congress this year, business owners must now report to the IRS on an income tax return any amount over $600 they paid to a company or individual and also submit a 1099 form to that company/individual as well.

In simple terms this means if you purchased a new lens this year that cost let's say $895, not only will you be reporting that on your income tax return but you'll also have to submit a 1099 form to the company you bought it from. The new tax rule is meant to track cash payments and cut down on businesses that don't report this income – and fortunately it excludes credit card transactions – but what it really does is place a massive burden on small business owners. For commercial photographers that might order catering on their shoots or make other similar payments totaling more than $600 in a year, filing a 1099 with each of these becomes excessively burdensome.

Fortunately, the IRS is asking for the opinion of business owners and the American Society of Media Photographers has organized an e-mail protest campaign to protect the interests of small business owners. All submissions must be sent in before September 29, 2010. If you're an American professional or semi-professional photographer check out the campaign and send in a letter if you'd like to support the ASMP's efforts.]]> Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:03:57 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1042 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1041 http://www.clownfishphoto.co.uk

Seems like something in between Fotolibra and Photographers Direct.
Anyone know anything about this?]]> Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:05:43 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1041 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1040
I found a thing called Pogoplug. You connect it to an external hard drive and your network at home, and you can then access that drive via the internet while travelling. You can also use it to share files. Cost is around $100.

I understand that it uses a secure internet service, to pass through your images. There is no subscription fee, and size is limited only by your hard drive or drives connected to Pogoplug. Some reports say that it is slow, and has a tendency to disconnect. There is a Seagate equivalent product that now includes the Pogoplug subscription for free, but reviews for this product are not as good.

Other options for cloud engine/computing/service stuff include Dropbox, but 2gb for a free account is not enough. On my last 2 week trip I had 47gb of RAW files. To get enough storage I would have to pay at least $120 a year, and that only gets me 50gb of storage. Carbonite is half the price and unlimited storage, but it seems to be solely intended for offsite backup of your computer, not what I am looking for.

The reason I am looking into this is that at the moment I take all images off cards each day, and download them to my laptop and a passport HD, thus providing redundant storage. Issue is, I leave the laptop etc in the hotel room (yes insurance is covered), and in case of theft I would lose all the images unless they somehow forgot to take the passport drive!

Anybody else been looking into Pogoplug and have a report on how well it works (or doesn't work)?

Louise]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:58:05 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1040 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1039
I recently added my Mother to Fine Art America after reading about it here. Much of her work is abstract, and I am having trouble keywording it. I noticed that she got a respectable number of views right after I did an upload (when it shows up as a new work), but then nothing after, and I put it down to keywording (or lack of it).

Can anyone suggest terms I can use beside "abstract""collage" and the predominant colours?

If it is helpful, her stuff is at:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/phil-albone.html

Louise]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:31:53 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1039 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1038
I also used them a couple of times to make Christmas cards, but I was not at all happy with the quality. The prints looked muddy and I didn't like the paper. I did do them in a hurry though, to take advantage of "free" offers, possibly more care with preparation (and color space) might yield a better result. I see they also offer a linen finish. Their pricing is the cheapest of the services I have found.

I thought it would be a good time to check around and see what the competition are offering. I can use a service in either the US or the UK (the stuff gets equally divided between, so there can be savings on shipping costs). VistaPrint appears to have a UK service now, which might have advantages.

Adoramapix are quoting $37.25 for 25 cards. Calendars are out of sight, $36.95 for 10x10!

EZPrint are $34.95 for 25 cards. Calendars are $19.95

Photobox UK work out to $42.67 for 25. Calendars are $27.15.

None of them can match VistaPrint's calendar pricing even before looking for discounts.

Does anybody have a service they can recommend? If I can get better quality than VistaPrint I am willing to pay a little more.

Louise]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:14:40 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1038 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1037

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]]> Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:03:26 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1037 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1036 deleted Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:58:58 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1036 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1035

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/Users/edwardprooney/Desktop/Mulberry.JPG]]> Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:53:52 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1034 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1033
Decide to take some proper action, and discover I can now get a dehumidifying cabinet in NZ, hurrah!
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics-photography/Camera-accessories/Bags-cases/Other/auction-312812960.htm

We have the space (no pokey UK terraces here), the price is okay, and looks like just what I need to avoid the dreaded mould. This post is partly a heads up to watch out for those lenses you rarely use, but also:
1. Anyone got one of these cabinets and, if so, is it all I'm hoping it will be?
2. If I undo those four little screws on the back of the 50 f/1.4 to have a poke around and expose the lens surface for cleaning will I regret it?]]> Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:10:45 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1033 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1030
The one that interests me is the 24-120 f/4G ED VR. It's fairly short, weighs 23.6 oz. and costs $1,299.95 in the States. I've been thinking for a while now that f/4 is a better choice than f/2.8 for the low-noise at high ISO bodies I have--the D700 and D90. Most of the time I shoot at f/8 or f/5.6, so I'm paying extra for f/2.8 without getting much use from it. And having VR II makes this lens even more attractive.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10081914nikon24120mm.asp]]> Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:53:16 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1030 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1028
http://tinyurl.com/29zg5jy

They have four more meetups in the next week alone so I am sure I will be attending another one soon.

Ellen]]> Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:31:23 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1028 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1024
I'm continually procrastinating what to do with my collection of images. The vast majority are still sitting on my HD. In not doing anything with these images I ensure failure. But I can never decide what to do with them. I've uploaded to Alamy a few of the pictures I've taken with my 5D MarkII but most are still on my HD. I don't want to put them on Alamy until I resolve exclusivity issues.

Most of what I have is travel / editorial. There are a few editorial and a growing collection of plants from the botanical gardens and the local fields and mountains.

In the past I've thought about Photo Library but recent stories here about processing times put me off of them completely. mean a year to get images live ? I know stock is a long game but a year from submission to live is a bit too much.

I've thought about Photo Science Library and I have a few pictures that might be of interest but I'm not sure that I'm producing enough science type work to be of interest to them.

Pictures Colour Library is another library I've considered but they require a submission of 800 images. Is PCL worth the trouble to put together a collection of 800 images ?

What should I do with a picture that can be both science and travel, Swiss glaciers for example.

I have uploaded to Alamy a very small percentage of the stuff I've done with my Canon 5D MKII as many of the other libraries want exclusivity.

I've considered opening a PSA account but I think websites are only of use if you can drive traffic to them. I'm not sure I can do that and the $400 is a bit much to pay on a lark.

Getty/Flickr, up until now I've wanted to stay away from this but my most recent sale at Alamy was only $38. Better sales at Getty/Flickr would tromp that quickly.

How about Age, anyone still getting a reasonable return from images on Age?

For the botanicals, should I try GAP or GWI ?

No one can really get me past the hump but your views and wisdom are appreciated.


Charles]]> Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:50:19 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1024 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1023 )

One guess would be that licensed people images would be good.

Any other ideas?

Thanks
Kathleen]]> Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:14:56 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1023 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1022 training stuff and I've found this guy to be really good:

alittlephotoshop

He's a down to earth Scot and has links to all sorts of useful and informative stuff.

Phil]]> Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:54:39 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1022 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1021 Brooklyn's Finest and Get Carter, the remake with Sly Stallone.

Carter began well with Stallone returning to his home in Seattle to look into his brother's death. In the original, Michael Caine goes from London to Newcastle for the same purpose. In Sly's Seattle, it's always raining . . . and after setting the tone in the first few wet scenes everything goes downhill--scene after scene of pointless dialog and inappropriate sentimentality mixed with violence.

But I didn't post this non-picture-taking subject to just say the film was rotten. Here's why the post: the film has many car chases in downtown Seattle, fights in public places, shootings, people being tossed from buildings, and yet at no time in this film do we see one single policeman or police car. The city of Seattle should sue.

The other film was very well made with great acting and a smart script . . . but totally depressing. ]]> Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:42:32 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1021 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1020 !!!!

My link

Phil]]> Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:58:24 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1020 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1019
1. What's the best tool to use to keyword a lot of images (well, about 500 images)? I use Photoshop and Lightroom, but will welcome recommendations of other tools but only at low cost please.
2. Which fields do I put the keywords in, bearing in mind I'm coming from Alamy? So I have a Caption(128), Essential(50), Main(300), Comprehensive(856) and occasionally Description(2000) and a location & date. I am keen to do this once and be able to submit to NOT, so please advise me on that.
3. What formatting to the keywords - commas, quotes, spaces etc. Again, particularly for submission to NOT in the first instance.

Thanks in advance, I hope this will be a useful thread for the future as well as my own selfish needs.



Andy]]> Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:34:15 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1019 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1018
I had desperately needed for a long while to completely redo my website. I've finally completed enough of it that I've made it live.

Given that there are a number of you here that might be interested in the process, I thought I'd share a bit of it with you.

This is a Wordpress driven site - modified with Graph Paper Press theme(s) and then integrated with Photoshelter's e-commerce offering.

It took a great deal of effort on my part to decide to use Photoshelter (many of you know why), but my research pointed to their offering as the richest available in terms of features and integration - even better than Smugmug. They also allowed for a means by which I could circumvent their branding on the archive portion of the site, and point it to my own subdomain which you'll be able to see in your address line when visiting the image archive.

The ability to blog will assist greatly with SEO, and I hope soon to begin to show up on the radar, if I can keep my A.D.D. brain pointed towards significant topics that would actually result in the radar seeing me. Wink

The image archive is sparse, but will be growing daily as I get more content transferred to it, and made live. I also have to redo keywording, so the images will be searchable by keyword(s).

Um - what's also very appealing (to me) is that I will be able to coupon - which I intend to offer for a variety of purposes. You can also self-fulfill items, which means as I venture further into the fine art market, I can make a selected run and then ship from here.

There are glitches still - like I don't have a means by which clicking the logo will take you back to the home page (we're working on it), but we're getting there. I also need to move galleries around, get good stock names for 'em, etc...but each journey starts with a first step, and this is mine. I can't wait for it to be perfect prior to launch, eh?

Oh - if you have issues with the site's size, hold ctrl and scroll your mouse wheel until you can see as much as you'd like.

http://www.KendalLarsonPhotography.com

Questions are welcome - in fact, that was the point of this post. Smiley

Kendal

---and now, back to getting tearsheets in order, and getting 'em up!]]> Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:58:59 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1018 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1017
I just noticed (since I did not log in since some time) that PhotographersDirect has added a "Searchable" flag. Now... it was off for all my images!

SO check yours.

Additionally I noticed that all my images are "broken" and not visible, I don't know why thus I asked.

Riccardo]]> Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:15:53 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1017 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1016
Can one of you wonderful experts tell me whether this sounds right? Should it take that long to send 154 TIFFs at roughly 50mb each by FTP? Or have I got something wrong here?

Louise]]> Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:48:38 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1016 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1014 ]]> Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:28:39 +0000 http://www.stockimagingforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1014