Happenstance Photography

Guild Jetstar Pickup

2011-11-15T20:12:00.000-06:00

A few photos of the pickup from my Guild Jetstar, from before I de-soldered the existing wires. What a mess!

Hagstrom

2011-02-20T21:47:00.002-06:00

2010-10-04T09:47:00.002-05:00

Null

2010-09-21T08:41:00.002-05:00

Recent Sales, 7/28

2009-07-28T11:12:00.002-05:00

One of my old, and silly, shots had a sale today at Shutterstock. This is a just a simple close up of a lampshade, taken in a hotel room, way back in August 2007:

I was taking shots around the hotel room, decided to try this, and lo and behod, it was accepted!! And has continued to have the occasional sale! This silly little shot is in my Top 20 at SS, in terms of number of sales. I also made a version with the color shifted to blue, and it has some sales also. And those hotel room shots have been strong performers for me overall. Go figure!

Microstock Photography - June 2008 Graphics

2009-07-01T08:59:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm an engineer. And that means I keep statistics. Here's a couple of graphs showing recent microstock performance. Now if I could just figure out what they MEAN.....

Above graph is total $$ sales per month, all sites combined. The red line is the 12-month rolling average trendline. Overall sales are pretty even, which is not too bad considering how little effort I've put into microstock over the past 6 months.

I have 6 sites where I'm "active". One of the things I track is what percent of business comes from the two biggies, compared to all the rest. In a perfect world, I'd like to see somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of my businees coming from the others. Not sure why, but that's what I'd like to see.

Anyway: Sales breakdown for June:
IS: 38.9% of sales
SS: 32.3% of sales
SX: 7.3% of sales (tie)
123RF: 7.3% of sales (tie)
FT: 7.3% of sales (tie)
DT: 6.8% of sales

ShutterStock - Where Do the Dollars Come From?

2009-06-03T09:23:00.002-05:00

I did a quick analysis of earnings from ShutterSTock over the past 2.25 years:

Clearly, the bulk of earnings come in drips and drops, those tiny "25 a Day" sales (which used to be $0.25 per image, but now are $0.33). I've only had a couple of Enhanced sales, but they add up quickly (at $28.00 per). The On Demand sales are kind of new, it will be interesting to see how much they increase in ratio with time...

Not sure how other, more dedicated, microstockers measure up, but I'm going to ask at the Yahoo group...

Microstock Sales - $/image

2009-06-01T14:26:00.004-05:00

All sites, combined:

Just looking at StockXpert:

Microstock Sales

2009-06-01T12:24:00.002-05:00

This is a graph of my overall sales in microstock since I started, I February 2007.

Back In the Game

2008-08-28T15:10:00.003-05:00

Seems I've been too busy lately to upload to the microstock site. Other than sending existing images to StockXpert, I haven't uploaded in 2 months!! I finally sent 4 inages in to my main sites earlier this week. All 4 were accepted at ShutterStock, 123RF and StockXpert. Still waiting on iStock (they're always the slowest to review). So, here's my latest:

Found Photo

2008-08-22T13:32:00.002-05:00

One of the disappointing things about microstock is that we seldom know where are images end up, or what they're being used for. But every once in a while we find one. I was recently doing some poking around, using a little program called Tin-Eye, and I discovered one of my images being used as a book cover!

I don't know for sure, but I think the image was bought from iStockPhotos. Possibly from Shutterstock:, the image is available at both places. Here's the original:

- - -

More of StockXpert

2008-08-07T11:15:00.003-05:00

Well, I've been on StockXpert a bit over a week, and the sales have started!! Nothing to stunning, but pretty respectable given the size of my portfolio. I still only have 107 images there, but got a bit distracted by my daughter's wedding last weekend. Gotta get back to uploading!!

I created my first lightbox at SX today, with power system images:

Stockxpert

2008-07-29T09:17:00.003-05:00

Yep, I recently joined yet another microstock site. Stockxpert was recommended by several folks I know from one of the Yahoo groups I'm in, and I figured to give it a shot. I've been building my portfolio 5 images at a time, starting with images aleadey approved at other sites. No sales yet, but it has only been a couple of days.

This shot is from under the Rt. 19 bridge crossing the New River gorge, in WV. It hasn't been a big seller, but I still like it!

Down The Drain?

2008-07-25T10:07:00.005-05:00

One of the first sites I was with was iStock. Over my 18 months at microstock, it has been a strong overall performer, generally #2. BUT... for a while it was growing great, even challenged to be my top site a few months. Then it seemed to reverse, and lately has been drifting closer towards #3. Dumping monthly sales data into a spreadsheet confirms my perception.

This graph shows $/month, with a 6th order polynomial trendline for reference. Pretty ugly. But why? Well, not to be paranoid, but they've been putting a big push towards getting contributors to become exclusive, to submit only to them. Part of that push includes things like limiting uploads from non-exclusives, different review process for exclusives, and skewing their search engines to show images from exclusives first, giving them more visability.

I'll continue to work with them, they still perform well for me. And I'd still recommend them to anyone looking at microstock (though not with as much enthusiasm). But the tone of the business relationship has certainly changed.

Goin' Racin'

2008-07-18T11:52:00.002-05:00

I'm off to the races this weekend, for the NASCAR Nationwide series race at Gateway Intenational Speedway, here in the STL area. We went to the Craftsman Truck race last year, and had a great time. I even managed to get a photograph for the world of microstock!

This is an "editorial" image, meaning that there's copyrighted / trademarked information, without an associated model / property release. That limits the uses, but this image has still sold. No way was I going to try and clone out all of the logos!!

Latest Downloads @ Shutterstock

2008-07-17T10:28:00.003-05:00

My last 3 at my best site:

- - -

The Clocktower at Riverfront Park, Spokane Washington (this one is "editorial")

- - -

In the woods, in the Inland Northwest (Idaho)

- - -

Just east of Chicago, from one of the interstate "Oasis" rest areas. This is probably my best seller when combining all sites.

Calendar

2007-12-22T18:05:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking (for several years) about putting a calendar of my images. Finally, the other day, I pulled together a dozen shots from my microstock submissions, and sent them off to my favorite processing lab: Mpix. They did a (predictably) wonderful job, it looks great. Much better than the samples I've seen at places like OfficeMax, Kinkos and Wal*Mart.

Here's what I used:

Jan- Feb-

Mar- Apr-

May- Jun-

Jul- Aug-

Sep- Oct-

Nov- Dec-

Locations: January - Charleston Falls, near Dayton, OH. February - Land Between The Lakes, Western KY. March - Pontiac, IL. April - West Alton, Missouri. May - Niles, OH. June - New River Gorge, WV. July - Funk's Grove, IL. August - Bellflower, IL. September - Edwardsville, IL. October - Highland, IL. November - Seattle, WA. December - Land Between The Lakes, Western KY.

Merry Christmas 2007

2007-12-20T09:41:00.000-06:00

Ah, the joys of microstock... This is one of my images (not available through microstock) combined with a tree from 123RF, and some text in Photoshop Elements....

Jackpot!!

2007-12-12T11:39:00.000-06:00

Shutterstock always displays your 3 most recent sales. When you get three in a row, people call it a "jackpot". You know, like a slot machine??

Variations

2007-12-04T10:58:00.000-06:00

It is interesting to see how different versions of the same image perform at microstock. For example, here's two shots, taken (and uploaded) at the same time, different orientation:

Silly little photos, but what the heck, huh?? But back to the question: How have they performed?? The horizontal version has 6 sales (at SS), the vertical has 5. Looking at a more popular photo shows similar results:

In this case, the horizontal version has 13 sales (at SS), the vertical has 15... So it would seem to pay to do both versions. I've not done so well at that, it'll be something I need to remember.

UPDATED: I checked my numbers more closely. I only have 5 sets of images at Shutterstock where I included both Horizontal and Vertical layouts. The sales breakdown remains pretty close. How close????

Horizontal = 51% Vertical - 49%

So, the logical conclusion is that we can double our sales potential by shooting both formats. While I'm sure life doesn't work quite that simply, it is clear that providing more options to our customers is smart!

Top 5 Sellers, All Time

2007-11-29T11:52:00.000-06:00

I've been doing microstock for almost 11 months now, here's my overall top selling images, based on total dollar earnings from all sites combined:

LightShow

2007-11-27T17:31:00.001-06:00

Jackpot!!

2007-11-08T12:56:00.001-06:00

October Retrospect

2007-11-04T16:12:00.000-06:00

October is in the books, and was my best month ever (BME) for image sales in microstock! And, along with good sales, October was my “broadest” month yet, with 19% of sales coming from my second-tier sites (other than SS and IS). On to November!
I didn't have a great month for adding files to my portfolios, but here’s some recently approved files:

Sales Trends

2007-10-22T10:49:00.000-05:00

I keep track of my weekly sales in the world of microstock. The graph above shows my rolling, 4-week sales. That is, each weekly data point represents the sales over the past 4 weeks. This provides some smoothing effect. I graph overall image sales (dark red line), Shutterstock (blue line), iStock (green line) and everybody else combined (ROW = rest of world -orange line). This is just image sales, no referrals or such. As you can see, over the past 16 weeks (1/3 year), my trend lines look pretty good. Overall sales are up about 50%. SS has been remarkably steady, while IS has been more variable (and not soo good the past couple of weeks). The ROW is still pretty mediocre, but at least on the right side of stable. Still not ready to quit my real job, but I do like the direction, and will be ordering a new lens for my camera today, funded through microstock earnings!

Most Popular, Part 2 (iStock)

2007-10-10T15:40:00.000-05:00

Here's my Top 8 "most popular" at iStock, as of today (10/10/2007). They use some secret algorithm, a mix of sales and views with some factor for time on the site....

Most Popular, Through Today

2007-10-03T15:47:00.000-05:00

Here's my Top 10 "most popular" at Shutterstock, as of today (10/3/2007). They use some secret algorithm, a mix of sales and views with some factor for time on the site....

September retrospective:

2007-10-02T15:56:00.001-05:00

September was a new "BME" for me, as in Best Month Ever. Both in terms of photos sold, and total revenue. Income was helped a lot by a buyer-referral, but was a new high even without it. That was my first referral, pretty cool!

Top seller at iS:

This was also the top seller at SS. which is kinda cool. This image had been rejected a couple times at SS, I decided to resubmit it. It was approved, and is doing well!

Show me the money....

2007-09-28T14:35:00.000-05:00

Each mirostock agency has a different pricing structure. Some are a flat rate, and for some, it depends on a variety of factors, from image file size down to when the buyer purchsed their credits.... Here's my real data breakdown, for the sites on which I'm active.

Shutterstock - $0.252 per image
iStock - $0.722 per image
Fotolia - $0.784 per image
Dreamstime - $0.955 per image
Lucky Oliver - $0.700 per image
123RF - $0.523 per image (but they're new)
ImageCatalog - $0.500 per image
SnapVillage - $0.00 (still in beta)

SS has the lowest $/sale, but offsets it with highest volum. They pay $0.25/image, plus $0.05 any time somebody gets a backup CD. They have a commission increase when you reach a certain level of sales.
IS seems to have no rhyme or reason in their pricing, anywhere from $0.20 up. But the average seems pretty consistent.
FT is $0.33 per credit, with files costing 1, 2 or 3 credits based on size.
DT has the highest payout. That's probably why some people do very well with them. But my overall sales are pretty mediocre, and I've had problems building my portfolio with them.
LO has a price structure similar to LO's, but only $0.30 per credit
123RF is still pretty new, not really enough sales to judge..

2007-09-25T10:51:00.000-05:00

My latest images for sale at
Shutterstock:

My most popular images for sale at
Shutterstock:

Editorial or Commercial??

2007-09-24T10:54:00.000-05:00

Most of the micro sites don't accept "editorial" images. Meaning images that include logos or recognizable brands (or people), without a signed model / property release. Editorial shots are considered "newsworthy". Usually, that means cloning out any logos or identifying names, which can be pretty time consuming.

Shutterstock is one exception. They will accept editorial shots. I've often wondered if editorial shots would sell well, since they have limits on thier use. Not too long ago, I took and image of traffic on the interstate, and uploaded it to SS, just to see how "editorial" would do. Then I took some time and cleaned it up for "Rights-free" submission. Both were accepted:

Above: with logos removed

Below: as seen, with logos

SO: 4 months down the line, how have they sold? Surprisingly, the "editorial" version has done pretty well. It is my 13th "most popular" image at SS, and #12 in sales. But not surprisingly, the "RF" version has done much better. It is my 5th most popular , and 4th in sales. The logo-less version has sold more than 2x as many times at SS. Plus the RF version is at my other sites, and doing well (#6 earner at IS, #3 at DT). Strangely, 123RF rejected this one for "Potential Copyright Issues" despite my meticulous cloning.

Sales Dollar Sources

2007-09-21T16:26:00.000-05:00

So where do my microstock sales come from?? In terms of Dollars (the most important thing), since January 2007:

Shutterstock - 54% of total earnings
iStock - 37% of total earnings
Fotolia - 4% of total earnings
Dreamstime - 3% of total earnings
Lucky Oliver - 1% of total earnings
123RF - 0.5% (but they're new)
ImageCatalog - 0.2%
SnapVillage - 0% (still in beta)

So, what does it mean?? Well, it depends, of course.
Clearly, SS and IS are the big winners, at least for me. And while SS has the all-time lead, they're pretty much equal over the past 3-4 months. Most people rank those two at the top. I know some folks who do quite well with FT and DT, but I've had a heck of a time getting images approved at both places, and my numbers reflect that. I've only been with 123RF for 6 weeks or so, they get an incomplete. And SV is still in beta mode, so they don't count at all. LO and IC seem to be the big losers. I don't know anybody that is doing well with IC...

Recently Approved Files

2007-09-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

Some of the images added to my Shutterstock portfolio in the past week. Still more proof that anybody can do microstock. Even you?

iStock

2007-09-12T12:26:00.000-05:00

If Shutterstock is the most popular microstock site, the iStock is a close second. iStock (or simply IS) is my #2 seller overall (7 months), but has been tops over the past 22 weeks. Plus, they have had a pretty steady upward trend. These two make up better than 90% of my total microstock earnings. Sales at IS aren't as broad as SS, but my dollars/sale is almost triple. The uploads aren't quite as easy, and their keywording is a drag. BUT, you just can't argue with the performance!!

My top sellers at IS:

Shutterstock

2007-09-10T11:43:00.000-05:00

It's a close call as to my "favorite" microstock site. But Shutterstock is probably the most popular among the folks I know doing microstock. In the 7 months I've been doing microstock, Shutterstock (or simply SS) is my best performer, accounting for 53% of my total earnings. SS was the hardest to get into of the sites I belong to, but were certainly worth the effort. They have one of the lower dollars-per-image, but make it up in volume. Best part?? Instant gratification. Images uploaded to SS tend to start selling immediately. And 74.3% of my images at SS have at least 1 download, a ratio that has been remarkably consistant over the months.

My best sellers at SS:

Moving On Microstock

2007-09-09T16:51:00.001-05:00

Recent sellers from my world of microstock. These are from Shutterstock, which is my top volume site. Click on the images for more information:

I'm proof that anyone can sell images in the microstock world, why not give it a try?

Under Construction!

2007-09-09T09:07:00.001-05:00

Look for changes soon, Happenstance Photography is coming back!! In the meantime, check out my other blog: Lsquared. Thanks

Sonic

2006-12-29T19:30:00.000-06:00

Larry's Army Navy

2006-12-12T14:39:00.000-06:00

Metered

2006-11-30T14:48:00.000-06:00

Benches

2006-11-27T15:05:00.000-06:00

City Park, Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T10:22:00.000-06:00

Sunset Crosses

2006-11-24T10:18:00.000-06:00

Hotel Still Life #436

2006-11-21T10:50:00.000-06:00

Deadbolt

2006-11-17T14:27:00.000-06:00

Glen Carbon

2006-11-16T16:23:00.000-06:00

LJL Equipment

2006-11-11T15:39:00.000-06:00

Jess

2006-11-10T13:41:00.000-06:00

Rural Route

2006-11-09T09:52:00.000-06:00

propinquity

2006-11-08T17:23:00.000-06:00

Bare Trees

2006-11-05T16:57:00.000-06:00

Drops

2006-11-04T08:16:00.000-06:00

Coast Trading, Pt. 2

2006-11-01T10:25:00.000-06:00

Coast Trading

2006-10-30T16:28:00.000-06:00

Postal

2006-10-28T13:36:00.000-05:00

Sluice

2006-10-27T21:35:00.000-05:00

Cigar

2006-10-23T09:51:00.000-05:00

Comfort World

2006-10-22T19:44:00.000-05:00

Company Town

2006-10-13T12:35:00.000-05:00

Doors

2006-10-12T14:22:00.000-05:00

Untitled #5077

2006-10-11T09:14:00.000-05:00

Upstairs / Downstairs

2006-10-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

Disconnect

2006-10-09T11:30:00.000-05:00

Behind The Facade

2006-10-07T16:43:00.000-05:00

Motor Repair Shop

2006-10-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

Larry's Tires

2006-10-05T15:48:00.000-05:00

Shaw & Newstead

2006-10-04T10:52:00.000-05:00

Marathon Lead Free

2006-10-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

East Illinois Rt. 143

2006-10-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

The Wildey

2006-09-30T14:19:00.000-05:00

On Parade

2006-09-29T08:13:00.000-05:00

Imber's

2006-09-28T19:53:00.000-05:00