ken zirkel

Microstock is not a scam; nor is it a sure thing. It is what it appears to be: a marketplace where photographers sell images to buyers. I sell via iStockphoto and Getty, and I do pretty well at it as a lazy part-timer, but not as well as I could if I really put effort [...]

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The furor across the web about microstock has largely died down, but clearly there are still people out there who are (understandably) threatened by it. The argument, most recently expressed by Kenneth Jarecke in The Online Photographer, goes something like this: Time Magazine used to pay $4,000 for a cover photo, but now they only [...]

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Constantly look at the media all around you. Pay close attention to commercial photography; not photojournalism or art. I’m talking about photos that are used in posters and advertisements, magazine articles, travel guides, church newsletters, even (to some extent) magazine feature articles (not news), etc. What kinds of imagery are they using and why? What [...]

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I sell stock photos over the internet for low prices. This is a relatively new phenomenon, called “microstock,” is made possible by the internet. Basically, how it works is that photographers all over the world can apply to sell photos through Web sites, without regard to their experience or status. If they can manage to [...]

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Often newbie iStockphoto contributors ask how they can improve. It amazes me that many of these folks are new not only to shooting stock, they are new to photography in general. They think they can create usable stock by walking around their neighborhood or the local park, looking for photos to happen. They don’t quite [...]

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