Micro Stock Pot Luck

At the risk of getting my feelings hurt, I submitted a couple of photos to a micro-stock website to see if I could get any of my work accepted.

Since I seem to have a lot of photos that are likely never going to see the light of day again, I thought micro-stock photography seemed like something worth exploring.

This morning I went through all the photos I made with my Nikon D70 during the year of 2007 and found that I had very few if any images that I thought might work as stock photography. First I rejected a bunch for technical defects; like noise and chromatic aberration; while some just were not that interesting (what was I thinking). Many of the other photos contained trademarks or recognizable buildings and landmarks that can’t be used without a property release. There were a few shots of people that I could have used but then I would have to go back and get a model release from each person before I can submit those photos. I certainly didn’t want to spend hours editing a pile of images just to have them rejected for one reason or another.

I was hoping I could come up with enough stock images to at least buy a new flash or some other accessory but the truth is I don’t know if I can come up with even a hundred images suitable to use as stock photography that would actually sell. My best guess is that the name of the game is specialization and that a streamlined work-flow is essential to making money in micro-stock.

As usual, I was looking to harvest the low hanging fruit but I don’t think that is going to work very well. I’m not sure the return on investment is worth it unless you get in on a massive scale. I’m thinking that you would need a dedicated workspace to serve as a small studio and then come up with a standard lighting scheme. Everything would have to be done in an assembly line type environment in order to make an average of less than a dollar per image. Is it really worth it?

I don’t have room to keep a tabletop studio set up all the time, let alone a big seamless backdrop for shooting models. What I am going to try to do is to incorporate some stock shots into my regular photography routine and see if I can come up with a few good samples each week. It never hurts to try something new except maybe to bruise the old ego which hates being made to look like a fool.

They ONLY Make It Look Easy

Some things look deceptively easy while others tend to look extremely difficult. It’s often easy to dismiss the difficult ones when you don’t know or understand the effort that went in to it. It’s generally a good idea to try new things and to operate somewhere near the upward edge of your existing skill level, except perhaps at those times when you are doing work for hire and other people are relying on you to produce a finished product within a given time and budget.

Eve Of Destruction

Nikon D300 f/5.6 @ 50 seconds, ISO 200. Tokina 12-24.

Today I took a long ride

With no particular destination in mind

Today I took a solitary journey

In the company of many others

I rode in a car and a plane and on a train

Just to go somewhere and come back again

To the very same place that I began

I found nothing new and less to do

I might just as well have stayed in my room

Nothing ever remains the same

Except for imperceptible change

Under the light of a full moon

The past begins to fade too soon

And I do believe we are on the eve

Of destruction

Old Time Religion

I finally finished scanning the film from my Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera. The back came off the camera before the roll of film was finished and caused some interesting light leaks on about half the frames. Taking photos with fifty year old box cameras always has the potential for adventure (or disaster).

I was just glad to be out taking photos on film which I have not done for a month. It’s a different experience for a number of reasons and I think the best one may be that there is a lack of the usual frantic shutter clicking and more thinking before committing to an exposure. It just seems less hectic to me. The downside is scanning the film, though you can have that done for you fairly inexpensively if you do it at the same time that the film is processed.

I think my favorite film camera may be the Brownie I converted into a pinhole camera by replacing the lens with a scrap of aluminum from a soda can and drilling a very tiny hole in it with a sewing needle. Of course that one requires ridiculously long exposures but you can also use that to your advantage at times.

I do own one Diana plastic toy camera which has it’s own slighty different pleasures and quirks. I guess that is another danger of film cameras, once you start using them on a regular basis you seem to start bringing home a bunch of strays from thrift stores and resale shops. It begins slowly and gets progressively worse until you or someone else finally cuts you off. I never have been big on collections but there are times when you can’t help falling for some small orphaned camera and before you know it you are driving home with it. It especially hard when the little darlings can be had for a couple of wrinkled dollar bills in your pocket that would have just gone for some greasy fast food that isn’t very good for you anyway. The thing about the Brownie Hawkey Flash, is that I use it on a fairly regular basis. That’s not to say it is superior to any of my other junk store finds, I just like the way it looks and they are still fairly easy to come by so I don’t have to worrry about breaking them (well not too much). I guess you could say I have grown accustomed to the camera’s small quirks and it also tolerates most of mine. My Brownies have also started a fair share of interesting conversations when people see me using it.