We have a small piece of code you can add to the head of any page on your site:

<meta name=”pinterest” content=”nopin” />

When a user tries to pin from your site, they will see this message:
“This site doesn’t allow pinning to Pinterest. Please contact the owner with any questions. Thanks for visiting!”

This might be of note to those that don’t want anything on their personal websites to be pinned on pinterest via the web browser bookmarklet.  Of course, this isn’t going to stop people from right click save as, or screenshotting, and then uploading the images to pinterest directly… but I don’t think Pinterest users are going to want to go through all of that trouble.  The fact of the matter is, if you don’t want images from your blog being pinned, you should use this code on your personal blogs and websites.  Will larger corporations begin using this code?  I guess only time will tell.  I highly doubt many of them are anti-Pinterest, as it drives a lot of new traffic.  It will be interesting to see if a website as large as Flickr or maybe even Twitpic will begin implementing these anti-Pinterest measures.

We’re all for Pinterest – we have nothing against it, and actually love using it as a great promotional tool.  We do think that it’s very fair of them that they are giving webmasters and web content hosts the option of disabling pinterest on a per site basis.

Here’s a slideshow I wanted to share from a recent Spring time engagement session photoshoot with some friends of mine.  The location was a country New England orchard, and made for great scenery.  These images will soon be available for royalty-free stock photo licensing.

One of my favorite selects from the shoot is the photo of the diamond engagement ring wrapped around the wild onion grass.  I love it when you are working with a couple who is willing to add their own creative ideas and suggestions.  It’s easy to get lost in the photo shoot and to forgot certain details that you wanted to capture, so when I’m able to work with people who are also creatively minded, it helps us to push the shoot to an even higher level or variety.  We also were able to hang the ring on some apple flower buds, that was just starting to turn into tiny baby apples.  I really enjoy photographing engagement sessions, because there is a wide variety of things to capture – from the location and environment, the couple doing certain activities (such as tossing a frisbee, or riding a motorcycle), down to the very tiny details.

You can see a few more stills from this shoot here on our facebook page.

Here is a stock photo of a young man wearing thick black framed nerd glasses.  It’s funny (when you really think about it) that the styles from the 70s and 80s are all back, and many people see vintage and retro styles as cool again.  This is just what happens in the world of fashion. Everything has been done under the sun, so trends seem to repeat themselves after some time. Nonetheless, these nerd glasses series images have been licensed hundreds of times within the last few years.

Another example is hair feather extensions.  They are the hottest thing since sliced bread in the hairdressing and beauty world.  They might already even be on their way out.  Easy come, easy go.  Will women be clipping bird feathers in their hair a few years from now?  What about 10 or 20?  We can only wait and find out.

When producing royalty free stock images, we have to realize and acknowledge that images like these may or may not have a lasting shelf life.  While some looks and some models (including their clothing and hairstyles) will be able to hold up to the tests of time, others will fall flat on their face.  Not many graphic designers or art directors are going to approve of using stock images of business people wearing plaid suit jackets from the late 70s or early 80s.  Even photos of kids, or senior citizens with certain hairstyles can be considered.  How long until this royalty free stock photo of a skateboarder becomes obsolete?  There’s no way to tell how long skateboarders might be into wearing plaid shirts.

This is exactly why when you’re in the business of shooting and producing stock imagery, it is a non-stop job.  Images, themes, and subjects will require constant refreshing and updating on a regular, yearly basis.  Some of these stock images are going to have a shelf life (like an expiration date on a milk carton), some much longer than others, depending on how generic we can make them.  Covering stock image subjects with both the “cool factor” and the ability to withstand the tests and trials of time, are always on our minds.  We all know what is considered cool today might be dumb tomorrow.

Yes, I do think momma would be proud.  At least they didn’t use the nose picker stock photo of me, this time.  I can add yet another feature to my jack of all trades resume: “Todd, Professional Gag Gift Model.”

Talk about a cool tear-sheet… Kohls (a United States based clothing department store chain) used an ArenaCreative.com stock photo in a commercial featuring Jennifer Lopez’s clothing line! What an honor, and a surprise.  At 00:03 during the above video, you can see the stock photo of the NYC Uptown / Bronx subway sign that I shot one day while in the city.

J-Lo is really popular again and in the limelight right now; coming off the whirlwind of being an American Idol judge, having the biggest hit single of her life (On the Floor, featuring Pitbull) and recently being in all of the tabloids regarding her recent split with husband and Latin singer/actor Marc Anthony.  He also has a new clothing line at Kohl’s now, as well.  I had seen this JLO commercial a few times before, but hadn’t paid much attention to it.  As I sat there staring at the TV, realizing that was on of “my babies” on national television, I flipped out.  In this business, we never really know where our images are going to end up.  When we stumble upon them, and see them being used in real life applications, it makes up extra glad we were a part of it.Good old “Jenny from the Block”.  At ArenaCreative.com we are proud to be a part of effective marketing and advertising materials, and want to thank the advertising department at Kohl’s for using one of our images.  To learn more about us and other large corporations that have used our royalty-free stock images, click here.

For example… I’m a full time stock photographer.  Still, people are always asking me to shoot events or weddings.  Then I have to explain to them that I only shoot commercial stock photography.  Then they look at me funny, like they still don’t get it.  You know… the types of generic images that you see in newspapers, billboards, advertisements, and on websites. They soon after usually respond with, “but you could do it… right?”; then I have to make another excuse why I can’t, or why I don’t want to, or even have to.  “I don’t have the right equipment for that type of work”, or “No thanks, I don’t want to work nights or weekends.”  I’m being honest.  I don’t even own an on-camera speedlight flash.  What do I need that for?  I use studio strobes for the type of work I do.  They’re just a lot less portable, and definitely not suited for shooting events or weddings.  I did enough of that working nights and weekends baloney when I was working my way through school.  Back when I was exclusively a graphic designer, all I ever got asked was if I could do web development. Remember, that it’s your right to be able to pick and choose the type of work you want to take on.  If I so badly needed the income, then yeah – then I might consider taking on non-residual types of photographic income like events, weddings, etc.

I wonder if medical doctors get asked if they can operate on their friends’ pets, or if pizza restaurant owners get asked if they can make a batch of cupcakes up for their friends’ kids’ party.  In the end, you can’t expect everyone to know exactly what you do for work.  Some of our jobs are a lot more complicated to explain than others. Once in a while I’ll get a certain photography or portrait request, and if I’m able to make it work for stock imagery, I will be able to work with the person.  Usually with signed model releases, my normal shoot rates are deeply discounted, or even nonexistent. It just doesn’t always happen that someone is in need of the type of images that I can make work as commercial stock photography.  I’ve been able to turn engagement shoots, senior portrait sessions into stock image shoots.  Are they the best sellers?  Not usually.  The best selling stock images are those that tell a story, or are generic enough for many purposes.  If the shoot consists of general headshots and portraits of a smiling person, well there are 5 million other images on the stock agencies just like those that you’re going to have to compete with for sales.

Yes, I have shot weddings before.  I borrowed the gear I needed at the time.  Is it my cup of tea?  Definitely not.  Am I going to be a good wedding photographer?  Probably not a great one.  I don’t shoot them enough, and I’m already spoiled with the aspect of control and direction when I produce stock imagery.  Live events are nothing like that.  You have to be ready to capture the action as it happens; just as a bystander.  It’s really tough work, and I give wedding photographers a lot of credit.  When my sister got married about a year ago, I didn’t shoot her wedding.  I did help them out with their engagement portraits, though. Even when I attend a wedding or event and bring along my DSRL, I think to myself, “Goodness the lighting in here is awful. No wonder all the photographers have to rely on flash so much.”  In stock, we don’t run anywhere past the ISO 100-200 range, whereas with weddings you are sometimes rocking out in ISO800-1600 for a large portion of the evening.  So no, there really isn’t much use for me in shooting someone’s wedding with signed model releases, for the purpose of stock.  High ISO images are just not going to cut the quality standards required for stock photography.

So that’s my Monday rant… let me know what irks you guys in the comments section below.

A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. 

The return on investment formula:

I recently analyzed sales from a one hour photo shoot several years ago, during a planned trip. The results were suprising. Here I was thinking that it had been a waste of time with all of the expenses, although after calculating the earnings I was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately not everything you do is going to have a great ROI.

Why is ROI important to the success of your business?  If you don’t crunch the numbers once in a while, you won’t know if you’re barking up the right tree or not.  Be smart about your business analysis methods; try not to get too addicted to analyzing every statistic, to the point where you are wasting your own production time.  Throwing a bunch of spaghetti at the wall is one way to eventually see what sticks, but eventually you also have to use what you’ve learned in order to make wiser business decisions.  You’ll figure out which types of work you do, or specific products you sell, are the most worthwhile; also which types are not as profitable, maybe even a waste of time and money.  This method works whether you sell ipad, iphone, or android apps, microstock imagery, or you are a zazzle pro seller or cafe press store owner.  Everyone has a favorite type of product to produce, or maybe even a photographic subject that’s really enjoyable to shoot.  In the end, you need to take into account the amount of time you’re spending investing in your product, and compare it to the amount of return you’re seeing.  The “long tail effect” also comes into play.

Maybe you’re curious as to whether or not all of the precious time you’ve spent on social media marketing efforts have had a good return on investment?  Well, you can figure that out very similarly.  If you consider all time spent taken to network on sites like twitter or facebook as “straight up work hours” try taking the amount of time you’ve spent, and multiplying it by your normal hourly rate.  Plug that into the ROI formula as the “Cost of Investment”.  On a side note, the Photopreneur Blog interviewed me recently regarding the results I’ve seen from using a facebook business page in my social media marketing efforts.

It’s really fun to hear and share the many different stories how fellow creatives got where they are; how they might have stumbled into their career, or got there on purpose.   I recently had the pleasure of an interview with illustrator Cory Thoman, founder of myStockVectors.com. Cory has an amazing knack for creating some of the coolest cartoons and cliparts, which are being used all over the web and in many other commercial applications.  His artwork covers a wide range of subjects and topics, and all of them are available for royalty-free licensing in vector format.

Hi Cory, tell us a little about yourself.
Yay! My favorite topic, me. Well, I’m an illustrator and designer living in Austin, Texas. I have a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from the Ringling College of Art and Design. Don’t let the fine art part fool you though. I mostly spend my time drawing silly cartoons, but there was an emphasis on figure drawing and painting when I went to school. So, I guess I’m classically trained, but most of my work happens on the computer now.

As far as career, I’ve worked a few graphic design jobs. My favorite was a toy company called Jazwares. I was there for about five years and learned a lot. In 2005, I decided to leave the 9 to 5 world to pursue a freelance career. That’s where I am today.

What kind of images do you produce?
Right now, it is pretty much all digital cartoon style vector illustrations. Most of my illustrations are character based. I draw a lot of animals, kids and people. I love goofy expressions, so I try to make most of their facial expressions as humorous as possible. Other than that, I try to keep everything pretty simple in my work. No complex ideas or hidden messages, just fun colorful cartoons.

I start with pencil sketches, but everything is finished in the computer. I guess I’m a nerd because I’m always on the computer. I’m often jealous of the photographers like yourself that get to go out and photograph people and the world. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in my office/cave making sketches and digital drawings. Illustrators could be the hermits of the art world.
(haha don’t be fooled, Cory – I’m probably at my desk just as much as you are.  Maybe 1 or 2 hours for a photoshoot once every few weeks, but it’s never enough away time from my desk)

Tell us a little about your website myStockVectors.com?
Excellent, the shameless promotion part! I decided last year to open my own store, myStockVectors.com. After several years of selling stock, it felt like the right time to open my own site. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what the customers that bought my files wanted. I didn’t feel most of the major agencies were catering to that. I think I’ve created some unique features at the site that you can’t get anywhere else.

I’ve organized images into a Series and Collections category. The category allows visitors to view all images of a particular character in various poses or costumes. I find that many customers like to buy multiple images from a series, so this allows them to do that easier. I’ve also introduced a category called Design Files. These include several images from the series in one file. It also contains a font and other elements like word bubbles and backgrounds. The idea is that it contains all the elements you need for your design project in one file. The best part is that it is cheaper than buying all the files individually.

Those are some of the things I’m working on with the site. I think the great thing about having my own store is that I can really cater to what the customer wants. So far, I’m excited by the results. It’s one thing to build it, but another for people to show up and purchase images. Hopefully, it will continue and I can learn some SEO tricks.

Do you just sell stock or do you work on other things?
I’m also a full time freelancer. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great clients. I did a few projects with the Cartoon Network which was a lot of fun. Freelancing gigs can occasionally be spread out though, so that leaves a lot of time in between to create stock. Plus, the two are sort of intertwined. Stock brings in new freelance projects and clients. My stock library is like having a giant portfolio that is organized and searchable.

- Anonymous Graphic Designer

This quote was taken from a seasoned graphic designer that I recently spoke with. And that, my friends, is the exact reason why I feel like it’s foolish to post high resolution images on flickr. There are a lot of professionals out there that aren’t completely sure about the proper way of using free images found on the internet.  Even if you aren’t a stock photographer (or don’t license or sell your photos online) you still might get really mad, surprised, or even amazed that other people will find them, and use them in all sorts of ways without paying you one red cent (or any type of credit, for that matter). Flickr has guidelines set, but not many people read them.

Creative Commons
If you want to share your images on Flickr but want to specify that commercial use is only allowed if they credit you, then you can do so via the Creative Commons license.  There are a lot of different options that you can learn about here.  I’m not going to judge you for giving your work away for free, but hey – not everyone out there is trying to make a living with their camera.  Koombayah, holding hands, warm fuzzy teddy bears, and all that lovey dovey stuff.  Sharing is great, and it’s better to give than to receive.  What you give is completely up to you, just don’t get mad if you find people using your images in the wrong way.  Just because you were nice enough to “share” doesn’t mean that the people using the images are going to hold up their end of the bargain.  It’s the same way if someone buys an image for $10 – you just don’t know.  It’s all running on the honor system.  Some abuse the rights while responsible professionals play by the rules.  It is what it is.

What If It Doesn’t Say Anything?
Sometimes you’ll find images on image sharing sites, or even google image search that have no home, no usage or licensing info; then what? You should still contact the original artist for permission. Don’t be stupid. Ignorance is not bliss, in this case.  If you get caught, (and there’s a good chance that you will in this internet age of TinEye and image recognition) you’re going to feel like a huge jerk.  If you’re working for a corporate job, or for someone else, you still could lose your job over one mistake. You could get your pants sued off, and it’s just not a fun ordeal to have to go through.

If You Post To “Flickr”
Like I’ve said in many previous posts, like the example of photographer Noam Galai – be careful about what you post! Ignorance is not bliss. Don’t feel the people online all have the best intentions. It’s like if you had a bunch of chocolate candy bars, and decided to leave them in the lunch boxes of all the kids at fat camp. Do you think those kids are going to ask who put them there, or who’s candy they are? By posting images on sites like flickr, you are basically putting your candy in all the fat kids’ lunch boxes. They’re hungry… and when Camp Counselor Rick isn’t looking, they’re going to dog them before you can finish saying “nougat”. Flickr can be a huge stage that can get your work noticed, if used properly.  You can even apply to get approved to sell RM stock imagery through Getty.  Be sure to watermark your photos, but even that only protects you so far.  Don’t post high resolution images unless you intend on finding people using them all over the internet.  Remember that many out there have very high resolution desktops.  Even if downloading is disabled, a simple screenshot can yield a high resolution image.  My desktop resolution alone is 2.5 megapixels, which is good enough to print a really high quality shot at 4″ x 6″.  Remember, there are still those that just use images illegally off of whatever they find when they use google image search… there’s a good change your flickr images could be found that way, as well.  Be smart, and happy shooting.

Here are a few quick promotional spots we are running on youtube for ArenaCreative.com with samples of some of our featured stock photography and graphics – they show my intense lack of skills with video production (and limited abilities using Windows Movie maker).  Animoto might have been a lot easier and nicer looking, but I totally didn’t even think about that until now.  They basically just show some sample stock images that we have produced at Arena Creative along with some text and our website URL.  You have to be very short and sweet on youtube, because lengthy videos are rarely watched by a lot of people.  I think I remember hearing, “keep it under 2 minutes”.  Even with TV commercials, they keep them 30 seconds or less for a reason.  Sometimes less is more with ads and promos.  Are these very catch, memorable or going to turn viral in any way?  I highly doubt that, but at least it’s something to start some sort of promotional presence on the main video hub site of the internet.  While Vimeo wins for cool and style points,  Google-owned YouTube is still number one.  All of the royalty free stock beats and music loops in these videos were custom made by me, and are also available for licensing on Pond5.

Following up on this previous post (a discovery of how the company Gigabyte computers used my stock image of me with my finger up my nose in an ad campaign for dockable laptop PCs) here are a few more discoveries from that ad campaign that I wanted to share.

Should I Be Proud of This
Am I embarassed by all of this?  Would you be?  I know some people might, but those probably wouldn’t have shot a photo like this in the first place, and then sold it on the internet through a horde of microstock agencies.  I’ve personally don’t have any shame about this.  Don’t get me wrong, I think the whole ad series hilarious!  It’s good I’m a goofball by nature, and have a reallygood sense of humor.  Let this be a lesson to all of you who have at one time modeled or have sold stock images – you never know where these might end up!  This ad campaign hit youtube, international techie trade shows, was plastered in busy marketplaces, and on the side of buildings in Tapiei, Taiwan, and probably was marketed in print and other web campaigns.   I had no clue it would be used like this, because in this business we are rarely told if, when, and where the photos that are sold end up getting used.  Most of them might even end up on someone’s hard drive collecting dust for years before use.  I know back when I bought a lot of stock imagery, I would stock pile images that I knew might be useful in my future upcoming graphic design projects. Because I thought a photo of a person picking their nose might be a niche stock photo subject, I did it anyway.  It turns out that it was, and someone somewhere found a use for it.

Why It Works
Do I think that it was an effective ad campaign?  Honestly, I don’t see the act of nose picking as something that’s oh so enjoyable, where you can compare it to a dockable laptop. I think that there might have been other more tasteful comparisons made, but if they were going simply for shock factor – they got it.  This ad series definitely gets your attention and then draws you in to figure out what the heck they’re advertising.  I’ll admit, the photo quality isn’t great.  This was an image I originally captured about 5 years ago, when I was still learning.  I had mounted my camera on a tripod in my office, with a white shower curtain on the wall behind me.  The lighting actually is pretty bad, but it was good enough to have enough value in the eyes of the buyer.  This was a photo where I had tungsten lighting mixed with natural window light, and so there were way too many color temps going on in the image.  I guess sometimes a buyer just needs a photo of a dude digging for gold, even though this photo might just land itself on awkwardstockphotos.com

Special thanks for the above gigabyte nose picker ad images were courtesy of micgadget.com and onecuckoosnest.com – click to view their take on the ad campaign, and how they felt about it.

What are some other touchy subjects you might want to stay away from, if you model in stock images?  Things like spousal abuse might make for some interesting dinner conversation, if they happened to end up in a major magazine or newspaper article.  What about topics like sexual incompetency or impotence?  Hemroids?  Drug and alcohol abuse?  Criminal themes?  Some people might not be bothered to “act out” touchy themes like this, but if you’re working with models you need to always be upfront and clear about potential image use.  I would also assume that reputable pharmaceutical companies that advertise sensitive topics would also do the same, and that they wouldn’t be using stock images grabbed from an online stock photo agency to use in that field of marketing.

Some quick and simple things you can do to make sure your car can get the best possible fuel economy:

1. Make sure you have plenty of air in your tires.  Underinflated tires don’t roll as easily as normally inflated tires do.  You want your car to coast to the best of its ability, thus saving tons of gas before the next required fill up.

2. Check your air filter and replace if necessary.  An engine that breathes easier is one that can run most efficiently.

3. Keep up with your regular oil changes.  Fresh oil lets your engine work less, with its higher viscosity levels. Once the oil viscosity breaks down over time, the oil sludges up and lubricates to a lesser degree, which in turn kills your engine’s performance and fuel efficiency.

4. Run a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in your car at least every 1-3 months.  This will ensure there are less carbon deposits in your engine internals, causing your car to run even more efficiently.

Certain newsworthy stock photos like this shot of a young man pumping gas seem to sometimes beat the “long tail effect” that many stock images suffer from.  Almost coincidentally, the amounts listed on the sign in the photo above are even pretty close to what the prices are currently. So I guess sometimes old images that are no longer of interest sometimes can have new life blown back into them.  This post is my way of “fanning the sparks.”  If you’re currently writing or blogging about the high gas prices, why not check out some of our great stock images. We have to pimp some images at least once in a while to pay some bills – especially with the brand new launch of our homepage,  http://arenacreative.com Check it out and let us know what you think.

For even more tips on how to improve your gas mileage, check out this great article.

The story of one stolen image here is pretty crazy.  It’s both disturbing, interesting, amazing, scary and infuriating all at the same time.  This type of story always plucks my heart strings, because I can relate to the way he’s feeling.  It just shows the power of the internet in this media age we are living in.  Any image you post online can end up anywhere… period.  Case closed.  I don’t care what you shot it with, how you designed it, digitized it, where you posted it, or what it is.  High res, medium res, or low res.  If the image is something of value to another person, or another person sees the potential value in it, it will be used.  It’s only a matter of time before it ends up all around the world.  Beware of how you share your work online.

Noam seems torn.  One one hand he is thrilled to see his art being embraced by so many people in so many places.  But, at the same time, he seems to get a pit in his stomach when he sees other people dishonestly making profits from his artwork.  When we license stock images, we sometimes get a kick out of where they end up.  Sometimes my head gets on billboards anywhere from Taiwan to Chicago.  Just yesterday an image of ours was featured on the Yahoo homepage.  It’s a really cool feeling.  These are images I know I have sold online, however.  In Noam’s case, the warm fuzzy feeling is short lived by feelings that are not so great.

In the stock photo industry, image theft has been a huge problem.  Newer technologies are helping to combat it, but it will still probably always be around to some degree or another. This is especially the case in illustration.  If you are a vector illustrator, you need to make sure you aren’t tracing photos that you didn’t produce on your own.  Otherwise, you are just as bad as the right clickers that steal images off of image sharing websites like flickr or deviantart.  Don’t think it won’t come back to bite you in the behind; because it will.

Ironically, when Noam thought he might try licensing the image himself through stock agencies, they rejected the image.  I got a chuckle out of this, because it honestly shows how ridiculously high the technical standards are in the business.  This screaming image was used hundreds, maybe even thousands of times all around the world – but no, the agency Noam submitted to didn’t feel it had any commercial value.  Hmm. Take a look at the top 100 on http://sxc.hu and you’ll notice that probably 50-75% of them would not even pass microstock standards… but they’re being downloaded and used all over the world, just like Noam’s screaming images.  It’s just something to think about, which is pretty ironic.  High quality standards are great.  I have them myself for my own stock photo website, as well as the others I submit to.  In this instance, it’s just ironic that poor Noam goes and tries to sell HIS OWN artwork and gets shot down, while hundreds or thousands of others are already using his photo all over.

Watermarked or not, images are still sometimes stolen.  Even still, it’s better than nothing.  Watermarking is the minimum precaution you can take to protect the images you do have online.  Not sharing them on the higher traffic websites like Flickr, is also a pretty good idea.  Be careful out there, because before you realize it your photos could be all over the place.

This stuff isn’t made up.  It’s real, and it happens.  This is just one story.  One person, who thankfully was informed about where his artwork ended up.  Is it his fault all of this happened?  What do you think about this story?  Has something like this ever happened to you?  Feel free to chime in with a comment below.

Learn more about Noam’s story: http://www.thestolenscream.com/ Check out his blog, and the products he’s got in his zazzle store.  Let’s support him – please.  He deserves it.  Helping him promote his story is the least I can do, as a fellow photographer.  You can follow Noam on twitter and facebook.

(video via FStoppers as also posted on the Chase Jarvis blog)

I feel her pain – this happens to me and many of my other colleagues fairly regularly.  Yeah, there is a huge difference between creative inspiration and blatant copying or idea theft.  People really need to stop blatantly copying ideas, especially in the illustration-type-photo department.  It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of gall some might have to do this outright, and expect to fly under the radar forever.  I don’t know how I find these, but most times it’s while I’m keywording, using the keyword tool.  Who has time to spend all day scouring the internet for potential copycats… you just have to basically accept that it’s bound to happen.  For example, I have an image of a man looking like he is thinking, contemplative… doodled words above his head, like the things he is thinking.  There is another VERY close, uploaded after mine.  There is another example of a silhouette shot, with typography added in a way that adds to the subject theme of the image; and yet I stumbled upon another version very close to mine, with same words used and all.  I won’t post links to examples… but I should.  You can see them if you ask me privately.  If you ever have concerns about someone habitually copying you, discuss it with the proper admins at the agency.  It never hurts to be on the same page with them, so they know who to watch out for.  They can’t police everything; so much slips their vision.  There just isn’t enough time in the day.  I’ve had many people banned for outright stealing vector elements from my images.

What it comes down to, is that imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery – but it’s still SO annoying when it comes to stealing the food off of someone else’s plate.  Even if the copycat only gets the crumbs.  Dear copyists: please make a change for the better.  Be original – don’t be a scavenging bottom dweller.  We all get ideas from one another, but make them your own.  Creativity feeds off of other creativity.  People can copy all of the most popular images they want to, but in the end, they’re only just stabbing themselves in the foot.  You have a much better strategy to try and create something original that isn’t there yet, and will have less competition.  You also have to realize that in microstock photography, you sell about 90%-95% of the images in your portfolio at one time or another, so just copying the first page isn’t going to do you any good.  Develop your own ideas, and stop being pathetic losers looking to sponge off of others, for an easy way out.  I’d say that it’s also pretty safe to say that most copycat efforts are never even half as good as the originals.  Don’t return evil for evil, although it can be tempting.  If you copy a copycat back in return, you just might be copying someone else that they stole the idea from.  It really can become a vicious cycle.  In the longrun, copycats get burned.

We sort of have the same issues and drama going on with microstock (the crowdsourcing issue, basically) when you look at it as a whole. How can a dude like me, who sells microstock photography, actually be against one form of crowd sourcing and not the other?  I’m not trying to come off hypocritical.  I just feel there are pretty large differences between the two.  One major difference, is that as a microstock contributor you don’t have to “win” or have your images “be chosen” in order to make money. Once you understand the technical standards and can get images approved, your “contest” is between you and the buyers. It’s your job to know what they need. How? I learned a lot being on the other side of the business, but you can also learn a lot by doing your own research. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if you know what you’re doing it will be easy to create images that stand out enough that they sell more than the rest of the mediocrity in the collections. I’ve been thumbing through stock for years as a designer, and later as an artist. There are lots of traditional stock images (Rights Managed stuff) that are even as crappy as a lot you’ll find on the microstock agencies.  Nevertheless, stock photos that used to be licensed for $5,000 or $10,000 a pop… now similar images sell for $10-20. In the end, I think what microstock has taught us is that maybe a portrait of a woman standing in front of a tree isn’t worth $10,000 anyways.  Some of the original traditional stock photographers are still crying about it. I feel for them, because I wouldn’t be too pleased about the way things changed either, if I were in their shoes.

As I’ve said over and over; nothing is constant in the creative fields except for change.  You have to learn to adapt, and go with the flow; or just get left behind.  Microstock isn’t going away, and neither is graphic design crowd sourcing.  That doesn’t mean either of them will completely ruin the industry, or that we all have to participate in these new forms of crowdsourcing.  To think that crowdsourcing hasn’t greatly effected the creative fields, would be pretty narrow minded.  In the end, things could change for any of us at any moment, no matter what we do for a living.  It’s just business.  Someone cue Donald Trump…

Why is searching for stock photos such a pain in the butt!?  If a survey was held asking designers and image buyers if they find looking for stock photos frustrating, I think that at least 95 percent would agree. What are some of the reasons for that?  Well, first of all, you’re digging through a sea of millions of images, in many of the collections. Credit download and subscription based royalty free stock agencies that used to have 1 million or less are now stocked with anywhere from 10-20 million with some growing as much as 100,000 images each and every week.  That makes the selection even more bountiful, but at the same time, there’s a lot more stuff you don’t need to dig through. Quality is also an issue. You may find overly basic or even poorly edited images mixed in with an assortment of high end, professional ones.  On top of all of this, you’re usually working with some pretty tight deadlines on these marketing materials you are trying to design and finalize.

There are some stock sites that yield even more search results when you use more keywords. How frustrating! It makes so sense, at all.  Those odd ducks need to fix their algorithms.  In my  honest and humble opinion, stock agencies should always automatically optimize their search engines so that more words yield more specific results. Less images, not more. The easiest stock agencies to search on, are the ones that already implemented this simple principle in their websites. Thankfully the majority of stock agencies will yield a smaller amount of images with more specific keyword combinations, or they will at least have the option to “match all keywords” in your query.  Then it just comes down to how well the image you are looking for is keyworded.

That’s the other issue that arises: photographers and image contributors sometimes are too lazy or too sloppy with keywords, using 10-15 generic keywords and leaving out the specifics that designers need to find what they’re looking for quickly (and to weed through the sea of crap they don’t need or want).  Image quality control aren’t going to add more words on their own initiative, and they don’t always catch unrelated or spammed words.  There could be an incredible photo that you would want to use in your company website, print and hang on your wall, show your friends, or even tattoo all over your forehead; but if that image isn’t keyed properly, you’re never going to be able to even find it.  It stinks, but that’s the reality of it.  When you go to a shopping mall or department store, the nicest looking products are usually displayed at a level where they are easy to spot.  Fancily decorated end caps or attractive point of purchase (POP) displays are used.  They don’t hide their best quality items at the top of a shelf in the middle of the store that you can’t even see or reach. Some stores even create paths through the different areas forcing you to have to cut through parts of the store you might not have even intended on browsing.  Sites that include more image search results, with the more keywords you type in, seem like they’re trying to do that.  Only it’s got FAIL written all over it.  Nobody looking for an adjustable torque wrench in SEARS gives a flying crap about buying pink lingerie (maybe a small majority do, but I digress).  If I type in “golfer swinging” I don’t want to even see an image of a monkey hanging on a vine, or a guy playing the sport of frolf (frisbee golf).

Searching for stock imagery is never going to be perfect.  Some sites have much higher standards than others.  There are even sites that regularly audit their collection, removing unnecessary keywords from unrelated images.  These types of things help a bit.  Overall if you are someone who needs to search through stock for their daily or weekly assignments, it’s pretty inevitable that you’re going to have to strategize your execution of “hunting” for stock.  Hopefully you can make it less of a wild goose chase, and more of a quickly executed covert operation.  It can sometimes help to use more advanced adjectives or synonyms in your searches, in order to find different images, if using basic words isn’t cutting it.  It will also narrow down your search results tremendously.  Check out this post to learn some searching tips on finding what you need, so that you can log in,  search, find, download, and get gone; onward with your project.

I’ve already talked about coming up with stock photo concepts accidentally and also how sometimes facial expressions can create an entirely different mood, theme, or idea in a photo. Here are a few of my happy accidents in digital photography.

Hip shots: walking across the street, unaware of my specific camera settings – just snapping as I walk while trekking it through Providence, RI and NYC, New York.

Here are some other random moments caught at the beach in Connecticut (Westbrook Beach) and Rhode Island (Watch Hill Beach in Westerly) that I didn’t exactly “plan” but spotted at a seconds notice.

I’m sure I have many more accidentals, but I can’t think of them at the moment.  You’re not always going to “catch” a masterpiece, but you just might grab something you wouldn’t mind sharing with others.  I don’t care if what kind of camera you own, whether it’s a DSLR or a basic cell phone camera.  The worst image captured is the one that was even never attempted.  Have fun, and don’t forget to screw around with your camera once in a while – you just might be pleasantly surprised with what comes out.  You just have to be ready!

Do you have some of your own examples you would like to share?  By all means, feel free to post them below in the comments section.

Or, you can learn to paint some “happy little clouds” LOL

A stock photo collage of a variety of people from mixed races and ethnicity isolated over white with negative space.