Adelaide Microstock

Currently we are working on our own stock site, we believe that

1. There is a lot of opportunity to address some niche markets
2. The standards are actually becoming too high in the microstock market. I believe this to be true based on studying the images which are actually used in local publications, after 18 months of submitting images to microstock I can safely say that a lot of the images would get rejected. What does that mean, who knows, but you could assume that if an photos composition appeals to the end user that they don't care or know about photographic technical issues.
3. Many sites claim to accept editorial but reject anything which does not have international appeal.

So we setup http://www.ctrphotos.net/

If you're looking for a quality stock photo library of Adelaide and South Australian images at microstock prices look no further!

We are still really in beta mode at the moment, while we busily upload our current content and are always doing new shoots to add. Once we have a reasonable amount of photos we are going to launch to the local market.

At this point we are not really sure about inviting other photographers to contribute. Its a catch 22 situation, its hard to attract buyers without a reasonable volume of quality images, hard to keep them if there is not regular increases in volume but its hard to attract photographers without having buyers in place.

In the meantime, all our testing indicates everything is working, so have a look and if you find something you like feel free to purchase it!

Sign up now and we will throw 10 free credits your way (we will manually add this to your initial purchase)

Should you get involved in Microstock or not

Unfortunately many of the sites themselves and many media outlets give people the impression that there is a lot of money to be made from the photos sitting on their hard drive, taken with their compact point and shoot camera.
Maybe 4-5 years ago this may have been the case, but now most of these sites have millions of pictures and much more acceptance in the image licencing industry.
Can you make money? Yes you can but its not going to be a lot and it wont be quick.
If you have very good slr equipment and a thick skin, then give it a go! Some of the rejections you will receive wont make sense and at times you will think its not worth it, but keep persisting, keen learning and a reasonable income is possible.

Photography and Privacy

I’m sure a lot of photographers at some point have been approached in a public place with someone ranting and raving about you breaching their privacy.

While we obviously cant speak with authority on the laws in a lot of countries, many would have very similar laws. Do your research, generally information is not hard to find. I found it quite easily by doing a local search on google for “photography” and “privacy”.

Generally you lose your right to privacy anytime you are in a public place. There are some exceptions of course, but its not up to you to approach the photographer. If you think a photographer is acting suspiciously then you should report it to the nearest police officer or security official and let them handle the situation.

If you do approach the photographer and end up being physical with them or damaging their equipment you will be the one in trouble with the law. Generally the photographer would be taking photographs of the scene and you might be a very small part of that, possibly not even recognisable. Photos of individuals would really be useless (no offense) to the photographer, unless you happen to be a celebrity.

Photographers can generally take photos in public places unless there is signage within the area prohibiting the taking of photographs. Taking photographs specifically of children or topless girls sunbathing on the beach might land a photographer in some trouble as well.

Why would a photographer be taking photos anyway? Well there is a huge market for photographs to illustrate editorial articles. For example a general photo of crowds on a beach might be used to illustrate a tourism article on that location or a news article on the weather. Photos taken in this manner can not be used for commercial purposes, for example in an advertisement for a product.

So taking a wide angle photo where the topless girl is just a small part of the photo/scene would be ok, but to take a photo where the topless girl is the main subject without her permission would not.

Obviously this all applies to public places, you do have a right to privacy when you are on private property. So definitely report someone taking photos of you when youre in your front or back yard.

Image Licensing

Image licencing is a complex issue which could never entirely be explained here. We always suggest seeking your own independent legal advice to ensure the intended use of the image you have purchased wont land you in hot water (or a court).

A brief explanation of some of the common licence types out there.

Free
There are many internet sites offering free images for use. A word of caution, this does not mean they are free to be used for any purpose. These images most likely do not have the required releases. There was a quite well publicized case recently where a major airline used an image from a free site in a major advertising campaign. The people within the photo had not signed model releases and sued the airline in question.

Royalty Free
I came across a discussion where some graphics designers were under the mistaken impression that royalty free meant that the images had all the required releases and were free to be used for any purpose.
This is not the case all that royalty free means is that there is only a once off fee associated with the use of the image. There are no ongoing fees as there would be for the use of music for example where a yearly licence/royalty is payable.
The buyers and use of royalty free images are not generally tracked.

Rights Managed
With rights managed images the usage is tracked and the usage and territories can be controlled and limited. Generally if a company wanted to ensure it had exclusive use of an image for a period of time they would be purchasing an image under this licence.

Editorial
These images are usually taken in public places and do not have the required releases for commercial use. However they still can be used by people to write editorial articles. Editorial articles do not attempt to sell a product or service, they are generally a story written about the event or location. For example a photo taken in a shopping district full of people, stores etc. could be used to illustrate an article on the effect retail spending has on the economy or a travel type article talking about the main shopping districts in that particular area.
Editorial really isnt a licence type is more an image type, searching on the internet you will probably find editorial images being sold as royalty free or rights managed
These images can not be used for commercial purposes.

Introduction

Welcome!!!

I am starting this blog to communicate my journey in the world of Stock Photography. Other the coming months I will be sharing my views on various sites out there, sharing my earnings and general thoughts about the market.