One guy, one year, one thousand dollars in stock

Finally got through the Alamy QC process and I am good to go. Going to start uploading more images this week. I am not thrilled with the keywording process, lots of different levels of keywords which are pretty confusing. Right now I am using PhotoShop to resize the images which seems to work out fine, I just need to automate it a lot.

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I finally finished up my application at iStock. I went through the process earlier this year and one of my images did not pass quality control. After PSC came along I didn’t bother to finish up the application.

After a lot of thought and bickering with myself I decide to complete the application. I was approved really quickly, like 2 hours and I then submitted a batch of microstock’ish images. My current definition of microstockish is images with only objects in them, not people. I am hoping I get through the QC process at Alamy and I can send all my people shots there.

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Here is a quick roundup of the 5D MKII coverage and examples:

Vincent Laforet’s initial thoughts and his stunning movie shot with the 5D MKII

NKBeta analyzes 5D MKII video

DpReview Hands-on Preview

Gizmodo’s 5D MK II hands-on

Ken Rockwell focuses on the auto-focus (I am here all week folks!)

Luminous Landscape takes the 5D MKII out for a 48 hour test drive

And after reading all that you can go pre-order one from B&H Photo!!!

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I am so excited. I knew I was going to get this camera it was only a question of when. So I rearranged a few things, delayed a few other purchases and made it happen. I can’t wait to get it. I can’t wait to shot amazing video with it. If you have not seen Vincent Laforet’s video check it out now.

I shot a lot of video in the beginning of my career, even when I was assisting at weddings 9/10 times I would be the video guy. I love stills AND video and to be able to do both with one piece of gear has me all giddy. Now I have to find someplace to market my great HD footage!

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I have roughly 50 images sitting in the queue at Alamy, One batch is in arrived state (for about 4 days now) and the other has made it to processing state. The batch is processing state says “Processing - can take up to 25 days”.

For everyone that was getting used to PSC’s 9-10 day review cycle this is a little shocking. I think it is a pretty good thing for me at least since I am not continually checking image status to see if they went through, instead I go out and shoot more pictures!

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The day I have been waiting for has finally arrived, the released of the new 5D MKII. Dpreview has a good writeup here.

There are many cool things about this camera. I am really excited to shot some HD video with some L glass or even just convert my 10-22 EF-S lense to mount on the 5D MKII like this guy did. Also shooting on my plastic 50/1.8 should produce some cool footage.

The downside is 21 MP, good god I need to get a lot more storage, but no upsizing for Alamy! I am also a little concerned with the tight clustering of the AF points. I like to shoot wide open when I take kid shots and the focus and recompose method is a bit too slow when you are trying to capture kids running around the yard.

Bottom line though is that I am 99% sure this is my next camera.

They also released the new Canon G10, which looks like a great walk around travel camera.

Looks like I need to start actually selling some images now!

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I sent an initial batch of images to Alamy last night. For one large batch I automated e upsizing in PhotoShop Elements. These may not pass as I can’t choose the sampling method for batch resizing (boo Adobe!!). I then found this post over on the Alamy forum about upsizing directly out of Aperture. I gave this a shot on one additional image. Being able to export straight out of Aperture would dramatically speed up my workflow, I hope it works. I really miss the PSC Aperture plugin, exporting directly out of Aperture into PSC saved me tons of time.

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So I have had a few days to recover from the unexpected closure of the PhotoShelter Collection and collect a few thoughts and plan a course of action. First a few thoughts:

1. For those that think your time was “wasted” keywording and uploading images, it is only wasted if you keyworded on the PSC site directly. If you keyworded locally in the EXIF of each image, that work will be recovered when you upload to your new agencies.

2. Thanks to the PSC team for giving it a go. I have worked at many startups so I know what a tough decision it was to try PSC in the first place then have to pull the plug 1 year later. I am sure the numbers where just not working out. Good call as I have seen far to may companies ride a bad decision all the way into the ground.

OK so now whats next?

1. Diversification is really important. I rode PSC into the ground and failed to upload anywhere else with any regularity. Now I am starting from scratch again.

2. Alamy seems like the next logical choice but man upsizing and uploading big ass image files is going to suck.

3. I need a microstock play. Yeah I said it, it sucks, and I hate it. I have images in my portfolio that are best suited for a RF microstock site. So it looks like iStock here I come for at least a few images.

4. I need to focus on a few niches. I spent most of this year shooting a little bit of everything. Some silos, a lot of kids, some landscape/nature, and a few travel shoots. I live in an area that has great travel and lifestyle photo opportunities, it is silly not to take advantage of them. Plus these types of photos tend to do fairly well in a RM portfolio.

5. My goal is in major jeopardy. I need to have an insane 4th quarter comeback. $1000 is going to be really tough given that I am still at $0. I got lazy waiting for that one big PSC sell instead of focusing on my goal.

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This is a great tutorial on building your own seamless white studio setup. If you shoot stock you know e seamless white look is the de-facto standard for studio shots. With a few gels you can easily make this white background any color you want.

Link

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