More to the Big Man, Less to Us.

I'm actually writing this about 2 weeks ahead of time. I just got my notice from StockXpert about the transferring of my images over to the new Getty Images Subscription site. Of course, my commission now drops to $.25. I could opt out, but then I would not get anything at all. The question is, when will it end? When will Microstockers banned together and say no to this exploitation of our work? Most likely never. The more who opt out, the more profits others will make. The only consolation we can hope for is an increase in sales to offset the loss of profits. In my blog last week I discussed how I track how long it takes to make a $1000. I may have to adjust my goal if anybody else follows suit.

Meassuring Your Progress

One of the things that I do is set goals. I set them for example, achieving a new commission level or total sales for a period of time. One of the goals that I have been watching is how much time does it take to make a thousand dollars? That is a good question. Here are my numbers

1st $1000 - 455 Days

2nd $1000 - 300 Days

I'm nearly at my 3rd $1000. My goal was 275 days. My projections have me at 270 days. That should be on or about Jan. 23 2010. Why am I not improving at the same rate as before? I should. I am using more stock companies. I had 5129 opportunities for a sale (includes the same images on multiple sites) when I made my 1st $1000. I had 10155 opportunities for sales when I made my 2nd $1000. Currently I have 12375 potential sales opportunities. By the way, I consider an opportunity an image online. These numbers are the total images I have on all sites combined. Some of these sites are dudes and I no longer contribute to them, but still occasionally get a sell.

Here is my theory on why I am only improving by 30 days where the previous mark was an improvement by 155 days. Subscriptions. Our commissions have been lowered drastically because of the subscription model. When I made my first $1000, I did it with 1165 sales. My second was made with 1034 sales. Currently I'm at 1109. I'm estimating that I need to sell 191 more images to reach the $3000 mark. That number would have been higher had it not been for extended license sales.

At this point most of my commissions are on subscription sales. That means that I should now start seeing my time to reach my next $1000 level decrease with the more images I upload. Because we are still in a recession, my goal to hit $4000 is 250 days. However, my goal to reach $5000 will be 200 days after that.

New Camera!!!!

OK, OK. I know that I have not been keeping up with this blog. I've been very busy trying to manage a business and also taking my skills to the next level. Over the past several years, I have felt hampered by my equipment. I purchased a refurbished Canon Digital Rebel with two lens. I have been struggling ever since. I have nothing against Canon. As a matter of fact, I'm still using Canon. My refurbished camera has been the source of rejection after rejection because of the bad image quality. Not any more. I have now upgraded to a Canon EOS 7D. WOW! What a difference!

The images are sharper. Colors more accurately captured and noise is greatly reduced. I also have a 18-135 mm lens with image stabilization. This means that I will be able to capture wider angles then before.

There are two times of the year when Indiana is just not that photogenic. Ok, I should say worst then usual. Those times are after the leaves fall and before we get any decent snow. And after the snow melts until spring. We are in that first period. I did take my camera to downtown Indianapolis after a rain shower and got some beautiful images. I've been doing some studio work to get a better feel for the camera. Thus far I am very satisfied.

Another thing to note here is this. I paid for the camera, lens, cable release, cleaner and backpack entirely with earnings from my stock photography. Not bad, uh?