I’m in Anchorage for a few days before heading north on the Alaska Railroad. I spent some time wandering around the downtown area yesterday afternoon where I captured these window boxes. The window was located on the second floor and the image had a distinct ‘looking up’ feel to it. To compensate for this, I adjusted the vertical perspective in Photoshop to make it appear to have been shot more straight on.
Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/8, ISO 160
If spending three days last week with famed photographer and teacher Kenneth Linge did one thing, it was to re-invigorate my lookout for great natural light. Kenneth is a master at using existing lighting to create stunning portraits.
I noticed this great afternoon sunlight being deflected through the window of a Salt Lake City hotel on Saturday. The light, combined with the reflection, made a very nice portrait setting. My always willing model Sarah stepped in to pose for the quick capture.
Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 160
On a side note, I am heading out to Alaska today for a week or so to attend my nephew’s wedding. I haven’t been back to Alaska in over 10 years and I am excited to see how things have changed. It is rumored that I will have Internet access where I am staying so I can occasionally post to the site. But in case I don’t – enjoy this pleasant photo of Sarah until my return.
As a follow-up to last friday’s post (read it here) about iStockphoto.com, here is an example of one of my photos in use. When images are sold on iStock, the contributing photographer does not receive any information on the buyer. The only way to know how an image is used is to come across it in the wild.
I received an email last month from an iStock user who recognized my photograph of a gas nozzle when he viewed the news on the Canadian website CBC.ca. He was kind enough to email me and I went to the site and made this screen capture.
Of the over 2,000 photos I have sold so far, this in only the second time I have heard of one in use. If you’re selling images on microstock, have you ever seen yours in use?
If there is one thing the Internet is full of, it is opinions…and in the photography corner of the ‘net there are very strong views both for and against websites specializing in microstock photography. While some photographers view these sites as fantastic ways to monetize their photography, others see them as extremely detrimental to the business of photography.
What makes these sites controversial is they literally pay their contributing photographers pennies for each download. On iStockphoto.com, the largest microstock site with nearly 2,000,000 files available, downloads sell for as little as $1 each with the contributor receiving as little as 20% of this income.
Why would a photographer want to sell their photos for such a low amount? The simple answer is Volume. While a local client might pay a photographer $200 once for an image, a good photo on iStockphoto might sell several hundred times generating much more income over the long run.
With this in mind, I recently decided to concentrate more of my photographic time on shooting for iStockphoto to see what I could earn. Over the past three months I have increased my iStockphoto portfolio from under 100 images to nearly 400. The resulting increase in sales has been dramatic. My June earnings of nearly $500 are over a tenfold increase compared to what I earned in March and July is showing even more growth. While I surely could not support my family on $500 a month, what if I were to increase this amount by another factor of ten? $5,000 a month is a viable salary and iStockphoto is full of stories of photographers earning a living shooting for them.
Todays image is a mosaic of my best selling shots. What strikes me is the diversity in the images. The open bible photo is my top selling image with nearly 200 downloads, yet the mountain road capture has earned more revenue due to its larger average download size.
I look forward to continuing to add images to my portfolio and monitor the growth. Is this a sustainable business long-term? We’ll have to wait and see.
Links
My iStockphoto Portfolio
iStockphoto Registration
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(05/28/2008 – Update: 25,000 images sold. Read about it here.)
I spent the past three days attending The Wedding School taught by renowned international wedding photographer Kenneth Linge. My wife enrolled me in the class as a gift for our recent wedding anniversary.
The one word that I kept hearing repeated from the students (myself included) was “AMAZING”. Kenneth freely shared with his students the techniques he developed over 30+ years as a fashion and wedding photographer in both Europe and the United States. During the class Kenneth co-taught with his wife Marylyn, and together they made a fantastic team. In an industry where so many people are reluctant to show their secrets, it was refreshing to see a photographer willing to share his photographic “recipes” to improve other’s work. Even though the class was primarily aimed at wedding photography, the techniques learned can be applied to any portrait work.
I would definitely recommend the class for any working pro or advanced amateur looking to step up their photography. For more information, check out the Linge’s seminars on the web:
Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/4, ISO 800
A Utah Air National Guard KC-135 captured in the act of a celebratory fly over at an Independence Day event in Riverton, Utah.
Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/5000 second, f/4, ISO 100
Like nearly every other photographer in the free world (or at least it seemed that way), I spent last Saturday photographing a wedding. July 7th (07/07/07) was one of the single biggest days for weddings in recent memory.
The nuptials I shot were in a beautiful rustic setting. The bride and groom are both avid rock climbers, and they had their ceremony at the base of a climbing route in Big Cottonwood Canyon just outside of Salt Lake City. After the ceremony and reception, the couple christened their new life together with a 5.10 climb. It was extremely unique and very cool.
Congrats to Brian & Militia.
Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 100
Today’s capture is another image from the recent photoshoot I did of Dave and his motorcycle in an alleyway near my office. Shooting this with a wide angle lens from a low angle added to the larger-than-life perspective of the biker.
See my earlier post for details on the lighting setup. Other images from the shoot can be seen HERE.
Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens – 1/60 second, f/11, ISO 100
