http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/index/ Online resources for selling micro stock photography en cyandesign@mac.com Copyright 2008 2008-03-14T16:13:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/stockriotcom/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/stockriotcom/#When:04:48:00Z StockRiot is perhaps one of the newer sites on the block, but is offering photographers (and illustrators) a 50% commission with no sign up fees, or hidden charges. They offer a growing collection of member generated royalty-free stock photographs & vector illustrations. They also have an new affiliate program offering 10% commission (for a full year) on all sales to affiliate members who refer photo buyers. Image price range: $2 --- $15 Commission nonexclusive: 50% www.stockriot.com. Micro Stock 2008-01-03T04:48:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/photo_tips_with_thomas_hawk/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/photo_tips_with_thomas_hawk/#When:16:13:00Z If you’re the proud owner of a new digital SLR camera, then you know that it’s a little more complicated than your average point-and-shoot pocket camera. So it’s a good thing that we have Thomas Hawk, photographer and CEO of the photo community Zooomr, to give us his top tips for using a dSLR! A word of advice though - Thomas’ Tip # 6 states that you can shoot pretty much anything, which is fine for your own photos, but anything that you are selling for commercial purposes… well, it’s not true there.  Tips and Tricks 2008-03-14T16:13:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/noisy_photos/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/noisy_photos/#When:17:16:00Z Higher ISO settings on your camera will make it more sensitive to light, making low light shooting easier, due to shorter shutter times and decreasing the chance of blurring. During daylight shooting this will help you freeze the action. But there are drawbacks. Raising the ISO setting will increase the amount of noise. At low ISO settings (amount will vary according to camera) the noise will be subtle, but at higher settings noise will become distracting—especially in flat areas like blue skies, or smooth skin tones. Here are some steps to avoid noise. ISO Setting - Shoot at the lowest possible ISO setting Shoot at higher shutter speeds - If you do take long exposures, experiment a little with different ISO / shutter speed combinations to see what works best for your camera. Digital Zoom - Turn it off. I have never seen a need to use this feature. Lighting - Can you control the lighting in your setting? If so, add more light to the scene (but avoid using the flash). Equipment - Are you using a point & shoot camera? If so you might want to consider upgrading to a Digital SLR. The main reason (for noise, that is - there are plenty of other reasons) is the sensor size of your typical dSLR is over 8 times the size of many consumer model cameras (Canon D30 22.7mm x 15.1 vs. Nikon Coolpix 7.2 mm x 5.3 mm) Fixing Photos If you have already photographed the perfect shot, but find it has a bit too much noise, there is bit of help available. Programs like Adobe PhotoShop & Adobe Elements have “Despeckle” or “Remove Noise & Dust” filters in them. But be careful with them. Over use of them can result in removal of sharp edges, leading to an overall blurry look to your photo. We’ll look at this in depth in a future tutorial. Another alternative is noise removal software. Programs like Noise Ninja and Neat Image specialize in removing Noise. Below is a detail of our original noisy image. Rollover the photo to view Noise Ninja’s default noise removal settings. It does a nice job at noise removal, while still maintaining sharp areas. Tips and Tricks 2008-02-23T17:16:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/zymmetrical/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/zymmetrical/#When:16:07:00Z Here is a neat site that is not just for Photographers. They offer stock photos, videos as well as illustrations and fonts too! Their site is available fully in English & partially in Dutch, German, French, Italian, Polish and Spanish They also have an new affiliate program offering 10% commission (for a full year). Image price range: Photographer sets price range $3 to $100 Commission nonexclusive: 70% www.zymmetrical.com. Micro Stock 2008-02-23T16:07:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/cleaning_your_dslr/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/cleaning_your_dslr/#When:00:58:00Z On today’s episode of Ask Mahalo, we explain how to clean that (probably) expensive digital SLR! It takes a little bit of patience, but your pictures will thank you. How to Clean Your Digital SLR Digital SLR Camera Digital Cameras Lens Cleaning Kits Digital SLR Cleaning Digital Camera Reviews Micro Stock 2008-02-22T00:58:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/close_cropping_images_using_the_pen_tool/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/close_cropping_images_using_the_pen_tool/#When:03:54:00Z There are a few reasons why you might want to close crop a photograph. You may want to pace an image from one photograph into another, or simply remove unwanted background clutter. If you are a designer, clipping paths are used to bring an image into a page layout program without bringing the background. It is also useful for flowing type around the object. One of the worst things you can do is to simply use your paintbrush tool and paint over the background. Well now that I think about it, the Magic Wand tool is worse. However, paths are vector-based; therefore, they have hard edges. Gradated shadows, transparent clothing, soft focused edges or the dreaded FRIZZY HAIR-- these are not good candidates for close cropping with the pen tool. We will discuss those in a different tutorial. How to Close Crop (using PhotoShop) Using the Pen tool, draw a work path around the area of the image you want to show. When you are finished open the Paths palette, and save the “work path” as a path. From this point if you are creating the path to export it to a page layout program see the note below “Clipping Path”. Now, if you are using the path to copy the cropped image out of this file to paste into another, then highlight the name of the path you are working (in the path pallet) and from the path pallet menu select “Make Selection...”. You can then copy and past this into any other PhotoShop document. Alternatively, if you just wanted to delete the background, us the above method to create a selection. You can then go to the “Select” menu and choose “Select Inverse”. You can now paint, fill or adjust the background without affecting the cropped object. Tip, I’d recommend saving the file without deleting your paths. You never know when you may need to go back into a file and retouch a certain area. Clipping Path Choose Clipping Path from the Paths palette menu, set the following options, and click OK: For Path, choose the path you want to save (If you have more than one). For Flatness, leave the flatness value blank to print the image using the printer’s default value. If you plan to print the file using process colors, be sure to convert the file to CMYK mode. Save the file in either a Tiff or EPS format. Tutorial reprinted with permission. Courtesy of StockRiot.com. Tips and Tricks 2008-02-03T03:54:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/photostockplus/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/photostockplus/#When:05:59:00Z PhotostockPlus is a stock/event sales solution. Unlike most other websites listed here, PhotoStockPlus does not act primarily as a microstock agency, but as an event photo site, with stock photo benefits. Photographers purchase memberships starting as low as $24.95/month or $99 per year. Basic accounts will get you 500 megs of space - higher end accounts have up to 10 Gb.  From the event end of things you get your own private e-commerce web site, with the ability to upload images, set up galleries and even private galleries. You can select what size & price prints are available as well as other gift items (They have quite a selection of items). On the Stock side of the table, all of the images set up in your stock albums are added to the stock database. You set the price for the images. You re also in charge of collecting & maintaining all model & property releases. Image price range: Photographer defined Commission on stock sales: 81.75% (85% minus a 3.25% processing fee). Commission on print/gift sales: 81.75% of marked up price (85% minus a 3.25% processing fee). www.photostockplus.com. Micro Stock 2008-01-10T05:59:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/albumo/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/albumo/#When:08:42:00Z Albumo is Royalty Free Photo Stock powered by the Community of artists. Aside from providing and delivering affordable royalty free images, As of this writing, Albumo is paying for Photographers to upload images $25 for 250 approved images. Image price range: $1 - $2 Commission nonexclusive: 50% www.albumo.com. Micro Stock 2008-01-09T08:42:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/shutterpoint/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/shutterpoint/#When:10:13:00Z Huge collection of digital royalty-free stock photography provided by our members. Allows photographers promote and sell their stock photos and features a photo rating system and subscription-based storage of digital images. Stock photo buyers can find image zoom, search by color, lightboxes, photo requests and buyer rewards. This is a bit of a unique site as the photographer buys a storage package (starting at $12 for 50 megs for 6 months) The photographer then can set the price. Image price range: User Set (minimum $20) or as a preferred options they have set sizes & prices from 99¢ - $4.99 Commission nonexclusive: 85% www.shutterpoint.com. Micro Stock 2008-01-02T10:13:00-08:00 http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/123rf/ http://www.selling-stock-photos.com/index.php/site/123rf/#When:05:45:00Z 123RF.com is your one-stop royalty-free photo library offering stunning, practical stock photos at the most affordable price! Image price range: $1 - $10 (with extended license available) Commission nonexclusive: 50% of purchased photos. 36¢ for each subscription image download. www.123rf.com Micro Stock 2008-01-02T05:45:00-08:00