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PhotoRESEARCHER |
PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter for April,Week Five #451E |
KEY WORDS: | Marketing Tool | Stock Industry | Microstock
| Amateurs | Ego-Driven | Stock Clients | Commodity | Government Benefits
| Public Domain Photos | Library of Congress | Copyright | Registration
| Model Release | Editorial Use | Post Office | NEWSWORDS: | A Feel For Life | Paris Occupation | Camera Of Champions | Recycle It! | The Significance Of An Event | The Famous Photo 40 Years Later | Setting Things Right | Innocent Photographer Or Terrorist? | Who Loses? | Unlikely Sailor | Protecting Your Copyright |
Welcome to PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter, a weekly newsletter from
PhotoDaily, PhotoSource International. Want to read back issues of PhotoResearcher Newsletter? http://www.photoresearchn To sign up for our photoRESEARCHER Newsletter, visit us online at: (If you do not wish to receive the PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter, please
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A Photographer Vents His Frustration with Micro Payments.
Microstock – Can It Solve Your Layout Problem?
Advance Notes : “Microstock”, from a photographer’s point of view, is the selling of images for a very, very low price. This article illustrates the professional photographer’s dilemma when the introduction of micostock came along.
“You pays for what you gits…” But very often micro pictures will do the job very well, if you need a generic picture for a low-budget project. But often you ask yourself, “Who else will be using this picture? Does it damage my publication’s reputation to use a non-exclusive illustration?”
By Dale O’Dell
“I’m a professional photographer and I’d like to express one photographer’s view about ‘microstock.’”
Just when you thought royalty-free was just about the dumbest way to earn as little as possible from your stock photography, -- along comes microstock. In the past seven years. microstock websites have sprung up like weeds in the already wild backyard that is the internet. For only a few dollars you can download a royalty-free image for commercial use. This is great for no-budget and low-budget clients as they can obtain “content” nearly for free. Needless to say microstock is not an effective marketing tool for photographers. The microstock model is profoundly bad for photographers, and thus, I predict, it will flourish.
Photographers long ago gave away any control of the stock industry and have instead acquiesced to bad idea (RF) after bad idea (microstock) while rationalizing and hoping that working harder and getting paid less will somehow benefit them in the long run.
Let’s do the micro-math:
According to my research, the average price paid per download of microstock imagery is $1.63 per image. Assuming a fifty percent split with the microstock “agency,” a photographer earns $.82 per image sold. Let’s also assume the micro-photographer has monthly overhead/expenses of $3000. (This figure does not include overhead for a studio, as many microstock contributing photographers are amateurs and hobbyists.) At $.82 per image it would take 3659 microstock sales per month to cover expenses with no profit. Now for some even easier math: A 1 gigabyte compact flash card costs about $15. With sales of $.82 per image it would take 19 microstock sales to buy a single card.
One could probably earn more money collecting bottles for recycling!
Want to read more of this article? Go To http://www.photosource.com/researcher/gen786d.html
Sandra Zelasko |
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Capitalize on some of YOUR GOVERNMENT BENEFITS
Advance Notes: You’ll want to take full advantage of all the benefits offered to you by, yes, your benevolent government. Here are some:
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTOS . These photos from government agencies (NASA, Dept. Of Agriculture, FSA, etc.) are free. You or your parents paid for them with your tax dollars. They can be used for many purposes: in books, articles, when giving lectures, and researching. Most federal and state government offices hold a treasury of public domain photos that are free to be used by the citizenry. For example, the Library of Congress (LOC) holds millions of photos acquired over the last century. “But not all of them are in public domain,” says Craig D’Ooge of the LOC public affairs office. “Patrons need to be aware of the several kinds of rights which might apply: copyright, donor restrictions, privacy rights, publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. “Some photos might have been acquired through a contract photographer, in which case if no ‘work for hire’ agreement was signed, the photo is not in public domain. However, most of the Library of Congress photos on the Internet are public domain,” says D’Ooge. For guidance on what may be in public domain and what may not be, read pamphlet number 195 at the Library of Congress. I searched through some of the popular government sites to find their copyright restriction statements. MODEL RELEASES . For the photos you are researching, have you shackled yourself with the belief that you have to have a ‘model release’ for recognizable people or buildings in public? Not so, -it’s your First Amendment right not to have to get a model release if the picture is used for informing and educating the public. We live in a free society and our constitution recognizes that the free exchange of information is a right we should all enjoy. However, if you are researching for a photo to be used for advertising, promotion, endorsement, etc., or other commercial and trade purposes, then yes, you will need a model release. The only exception for editorial use, is where the picture might be used in a sensitive area such as mental health, sex, or in a compromising, unfair situation which could embarrass someone. In these cases a magazine editor, publisher, or web designer will advise you if these exceptions come into play when the picture is considered for publication. POSTAL SERVICE . Since correspondence lost or mislaid by a fallible postal worker has a way of being remembered and talked about, let’s admit that errors can happen in any industry, and then ask, “What’s good about the Post Office?” There are billions of pieces of mail handled yearly, flawlessly. Our postage system is cheaper than in most other comparable industrialized nations. TAX-FREE E-MAIL.* E-mail purchases in most states are tax-free. Your federal government has not (yet) interfered. Let’s face it, in some countries, e-mail is not only taxed, but it is also censored. * New York State has announced it plans to tax internet commerce. Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and publisher of “PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter,” has provided on-line targeted information for photobuyers, photo researchers and editors for two decades. No other newsletter brings photobuyers such up-to-the minute, practical information from an experienced picture professional intimately familiar with both sides of the stock photo desk. For more info: http://www.photosource.com/photobuyer/. - - - - - - - - - - - - - WHAT ARE YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS? Here’s a report that will answer your questions about how to survive the legal (and avoid the illegal) pitfalls of operating an Internet business. Click here.
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Randy Pomeroy
Watch
for developments in the field of stock photography in
PhotoResearcher's Newsletter Note: If the URL is long, it may extend to two lines. In that case - clicking on it won't work. Instead, "copy and paste" the URL. A FEEL FOR LIFE. Through her photography, Tobia Makover explores the transition between life and death personal loss informs each thoughtful composition. For her latest show, she uses a Hasselblad camera to explore the relationship between presence and absence. http://savannahnow.com/node/482729 PARIS OCCUPATION. Color photos of Paris under Nazis kick up storm Called "Parisians under the Occupation", the 270 color photos depict a wartime Paris with more emphasis on joy than the jackboot -- which Girard says is inappropriate for an occupation still painful in French collective memory. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080421 CAMERA OF CHAMPIONS. Free Pinhole Cameras from Corbis - Building pinhole cameras is not an exact science, and the shots you take with them may not yield the result you expected. But it's that very unpredictability that makes them a refreshing change from the digital world. http://www.creativepro.com/article/ RECYCLE IT! Kodak and Wal-Mart Launch Nationwide Recycling Program - The program is expected to annually recycle 2 million pounds of thermal printer ribbon, spools and cartridges. That amount is equivalent to the weight of approximately six, 250-passenger commercial airliners. http://shutterbug.com/news/041008kodak/ THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AN EVENT. A fleeting magical moment come and gone, then lost forever. The perfect photo? http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/ THE FAMOUS PHOTO 40 YEARS LATER. The kiss of life, 40 years later. The cliché would be to say that moment, the split second captured on one frame of black-and-white film inside Rocco Morabito's Rolleiflex on a morning in 1967, was forever frozen in time. The Kiss of Life won a Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography in 1968. It now is being featured in an exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/042008/woo_270312115.shtml SETTING THINGS RIGHT. Photographers Rights In The UK: A Guide. Despite the law being clear on a citizen’s rights to freely take pictures in public places (with a few restrictions) there is growing evidence of the police, police community support officers (PCSOs), security guards and general jobs worth’s failing to respect the rights of photographers going about their lawful business. http://digital-lifestyles.info/2008/04/17/photographers-rights-in-the-uk-a-gu INNOCENT PHOTOGRAPHER OR TERRORIST? Misplaced fears about terror, privacy and child protection are preventing amateur photographers from enjoying their hobby, say campaigners. http://feoline.blogspot.com/2008/04/innocent- WHO LOSES? Christian Photographers Sued and Lose. Beliefs are trumpeted by political correctness. http://polipundit.com/index.php?p=19727 UNLIKELY SAILOR. With museum-quality photographs, Edward Steichen showed the world what it was like to be a sailor at war. http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/ PROTECTING YOUR COPYRIGHT. Copyright Clearance Center to Hold New Copyright Symposium - What do changes in technology, law and society mean for artists and writers who produce copyrighted content? These critical issues that will be addressed at Copyright Clearance Center's OnCopyright 2008 symposium. http://www.creativepro.com/article/copyright-clear
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Want to Invite Google to Index your Web Page? http://www.google.com/addurl/? TIP: Set up a blog on www.blog ger.com and post to it regularly. Mention various pages on your site from time to time. Create links to them too. Blogger is owned by Google and the links in your blog will get indexed quickly.
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#################### PHOTOBUYERS! Send us your photo need. You’ll find us at www.photosource.com/ On the upper right (white letters, blue background) click and fill out the form. ( No registration, no password needed…only your email address. Other options: FAX (800) PhotoFax (746-8632) E-Mail: eds@photosource.com Phone: (800) 223-3860 Correspondence Attn: PhotoDaily / PhotoLetter Editor, Lela LaBree
Let Google find your stock photos for you. Scanning through dozens of off-target images can be time-consuming and eye-wearying, not to mention frustrating. A better way In the Google search bar, type a phrase or several words that best describes the picture you’re looking for. Then type a space and then the word photosource. And click. You’ll arrive at the PhotoSourceBANK. Your selection will appear (in text) on a page with the name and contact info of a photographer whose files include coverage of the subject matter you request. Contact the photographer to receive a lightbox selection of target images for you to review for consideration. Or, if the photographer is also a member of PhotoSourceGROUP, an icon will appear, that when you click on it will take you to an immediate view of the target photo or photos, ready for downloading.
Larry Hugg PhotoResearcher, get a handle on this easy way to post your photo needs and get fast results, from a select group of professional photographers. Check out our brief video that takes you through three simple and quick steps to locate the photos you need. Finding a hard – to – locate photo using the Internet.
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TRAVELERS ABROAD Photobuyers: Watch this column. For the e-mail address, phone or fax number of the traveling photographer, call the PhotoSource International office and ask for Rohn Engh (1 800 624-0266). For an expansion of this list: www.photosource.com and press the Travelers Abroad button, to learn of past international destinations of our photographers. Robert Fishman Gloria Nedell Michael O'Hollaren
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 Duece Rogney |
 Brian Bartley |
 Steve Raska |
 Cory Western |