Eureka : lessons learned in reaching $1000 today.
November 2, 2010
User archive
This is not a boast although naturally I am pleased that today I reached earnings of $1000 and I haven't withdrawn a cent yet. I joined Dreamstime in the Spring of 2009 and it took a while to get the first image accepted. Then I believed wrongly that scenic images would sell well and went on holiday taking loads of pictures many with identifiable people in them, got no model releases and damaged my acceptance ratio until at one point I was only allowed to submit 3 images per day.
After studying the best sellers of other members I gradually realised that concept images were better sellers. Here are some that have done well for me :
Gradually I improved my acceptance ratio but as I got close to $1000 and 977 images my desperation drove my ratio down from 59.7 to 58.0 . Actually to be fair standards are rising and often one gets a criticism ' does not exceed the quality of images already on the data base '.
Some recent images do please me like these on success:
I just looked up examples of what other members did on the subject of success and here are so many different approaches:
To sum up its been hard work and I would never have done it for the money......... but it is a lesson in quality, colour, composition, marketability, and ........... perseverance ! When it comes Happy New Year to members and dreamstime Editors.
If this blog has helped anyone please tick the 'helpful ' box .
 |
| © Rjmiz |
 |
| © Dana |
 |
| © Looby |
Photo credits: Andres Rodriguez, Daniela Spyropoulou, David Watmough, Eti Swinford, Liv Friis Larsen, Anthony Furgison.
35 Comments
You have to be logged in to comment.
Your article must be written in English
PublishGennaro86
Good picture! Good blog! Congratulations!!!
Williamardrey
Thank yo so much for your encouragement and tips. I feel I learn something new every day by reading insightful blogs like yours.
Sammyer
Congratulations, and thank you very much for sharing. I will keep this in mind as i am a noob. lol Great job on your images as well.
Serjedi
very good blog, thanks for the advices! :-)
Anhong
Good article, nice pictures.
Fenghui
thanks for shareing your lessons with us.wish you many more sales.
welcome to my cjinese blog :http://blog.sina.com.cn/fenghuifoto
Davidwatmough
Mimnr1 I really hope you persist and learn and make big money David.
Mimnr1
Congratulations! I remember how hard at the begining was to get my images online, and I hope that soon I will reach my first $1000 :)
Cheers
Seattlephoto
Congrads!! Great job. I find reading things like this very inspirational.
Mommamoon
Thanks for sharing - I found this helpful and encouraging.
Mani33
Congratulations! Great work!
Heathse
Many, many congratulations. I think it takes a lot of technical knowhow to produce conceptual images like yours and more time too.
Well done!
Iwhitwo
Congratulations on your accomplishments and thanks for sharing your learning's in a great blog.
Davidwatmough
Sigal Petersen I love your image entitled ' Girl with flower'. David.
Sigalpetersen
congratulations and thanks for shareing great blog really incourageing for me :)
Gussmann
a good article
Suebmtl
Congratulations,
Well done.
Laurasinelle
Congratulayions!
Sobek85
wow well done
Adeliepenguin
Thanks for sharing your great milestone! You do have a lot to be proud of. I am glad you found the "niche" that works for you and is satisfying.
Trottola
Congratulations! You have done a great work! I had to learn micro stock rules too and I'm still observing and learning, but' I thing it's a nice hobby, so I like it! ;)
Pawanpullarwar
Hi David, congratulations, even I realize that teh conceptual images are better saler after seeing lot of images in microstock. I recently started with dreamstime and for last 2 week, only 2 images out of 12 were accepted. Hope, soon I will get better idea about what the quality and the type of images I should be submitting.
Keki
well done!! :)) hope your next milestone comes easier! thanks for sharing!
Egomezta
Congratulations..... Great blog. I hope in two months to write a blog like this one : )
Davidwatmough
Fultonsphoto ; I only just traded in one D700 for a new one to get a 3 year warranty. People on this site with relatively poor equipment still do much better than I do at making money. David.
Fultonsphoto
Good to know that with a little patience, effort and dedication one can change their own fortunes, per say, around and make a real go of microstock. Congratulations and well deserved...PS, can I have your D700 when you upgrade soon :0)
Davidwatmough
T2tantan I am pleased if it helps you........ for a long time I didn't study what successful contributors did... I didn't understand Editorial images..... or acceptance ratios and their effect............ and I am still learning and know very little about microstock..... so you persevere and you will have a free lesson, actually a course, in photography even if you don't get rich quick. David
T2tantan
Your article is very inspiring to me. I have so far succeeded in getting only 4 images on line and had 5 rejected. After reading your blog, I think I know how I can improve my batting average.
Davidwatmough
No its more than that I will have to try and raise my game whatever the subject is............ but I still love seascapes and landscapes and birds [ I'm tempted to say of both sorts ! ] David.
Unteroffizier
What i meant was maybe you can go back to shooting nature? Who knows with patience your potential might just be at nature photography waiting to be unlocked. Cheers.