What can I say?

Thank you?  I’ll miss you?  I’ll be around?

It was a very difficult decision but over the next month, I’m going to be starting a new microstock project – geared more toward buyers than my fellow photographers – and I’m going to focus my work on adding good, new stock content, managing my work and focus more on selling than writing.   My wife and I have created a beautiful life – and a beautiful business plan for our future.  My goals have not changed.  I still want to create stock photography, I just see better ways to meet those goals.

NiltoMil.com will redirect for awhile to my new project once it’s done but this blog will be closing and this domain will redirect permanently to my new site.

When this blog started I had:

123RF – 53 images
BigStock – 16 images
Canstock – 73 images
Dreamstime – 118 images
Fotolia – 127 images
IstockPhoto – 68 images
Shutterstock – 202 images

Now I have:

123RF – 3996 images
BigStock – 4001 images
Canstock – 4099 images
Dreamstime – 3247 images
Fotolia – 2715 images
IstockPhoto – 353 images
Shutterstock – 3410 images

I said 2 years ago “I’m not going to hang around pretending to be something I’m not.”   I have hit many milestones ($10k on Shutterstock being a great one!) and I’ve had a lot of fun and made a ton of great friends through this blog.  However, I’m at $28,926.53 right now.  I’m not moving toward my goal fast enough doing things the way I’ve always done them.  So I’m going to shake things up, change my plan and go from here.

You can still find me on MSG – I check in sometimes and try to read as much as possible.  Read my last post on passive income – I don’t think the business is ending.  I want to be part of it, just in a different way.

I was able to focus on getting some great editorial images of world #2 Rafael Nadal, #4 Li Na, and several other top players including Sabine Lisicki, Jo Wilifried Tsonga and others.  The day was a great success!

My question to you, readers, is where do you sell editorial?  I currently sell ALL my editorial at Alamy.  I signed up today for a user-journalism site called Demotix, who sell through Corbis, and I know I can submit editorial to some other micros like Shutterstock – but where do you find image sales are the best for ONLY editorial?

Next year my plan is to shoot from the press box.  I want to know how you can turn these little things into bigger things.

Let me answer those questions with some of my own data.

Every image I submit anywhere goes to 123RF first.  It is my “testing ground” – misspellings, keyword errors, really bad issues I don’t pick up on, copyright, etc.  I send everything I’ve ever submitted through 123RF.com  So that means it’s easy to track all of my submissions thanks to their really great stats on uploads.

In 2008 I submitted 1650 new images.  For the year, I earned $216.40.
In 2009 I submitted 1350 new images.  For the year, I earned $298.19 (+88)
In 2010 I submitted 980 new images.  For the year, I earned $425.00 (+127)
In 2011 I submitted 100 new images.  For the year, I earned $587.78 (+162)

Those submission numbers should be consistent to the major agencies.  Let’s see how the income goes:

Shutterstock 2008: 2548.08
Shutterstock 2009: 2205.29
Shutterstock 2010: 2573.89
Shutterstock 2011: 3037.03

Nope.  Shutterstock actually dropped off quite a lot from 2008 to 2009 despite new content.  This past year was my best year ever despite uploading only 100 images.  Strange indeed!

Total income 2008: 4114.07
Total income 2009: 5530.43
Total income 2010: 6896.38
Total income 2011: 8958.12

So a few simple assumptions can be made there.  First, my images stayed fairly strong despite not uploading as much over time.  In fact, 2012 will be the first year I’ve uploaded MORE than the year before.  Second, microstock income is, indeed, passive income.  With the same images online in 2010 and 2011, I made more in 2011 while doing next to zero work.  All 100 of my 2011 uploads were done in January.  I did *not one second* of microstock uploading, editing, or keywording in 2011.  Everything was actually done in 2010 so I made $9,000 doing “nothing” in 2011.  That’s not “bad money.”

The bad news on this front is that $9000 for 3000+ images online is also not “good money.”   It means to be sustainable at this level, I’d need over 10,000 images online to make even $30,000 in one year.  That means the majority of my images are not selling well.  Why?

Well, a quick search of my Shutterstock portfolio can answer that.  360 of my 3300 images on Shutterstock are fractals.  These sell rarely for me.  If I sort by most popular, I can also see that my last few pages of popular (my non sellers) are fractals, duplicates or model images from our trip.  Our trip had its ups and downs but for the most part, was a giant waste of time.  A few of my not-so-popular models are also on my last few pages.   The vast majority of my non-sellers are in one of those few groups.  That means I need to avoid those going forward and my actual return per image would be much higher.  I used to submit 15-20 of one food.  Now I submit 5-8 total.  It makes a huge difference to sales when you can focus on the few microstock type images that sell.

Someone asked me why I continue to blog, shoot and hopefully begin uploading to microstock agencies again.  My SEO business for photographers has *really* taken off and I always have a waiting list.  My wedding photography business should do very well in Melbourne and I’ll have more clients, business and work to do than I’ll have time for as it is.  I think the answer is that microstock really is passive income.  I know that for every image I upload today, I’ll be setting myself up for more income later.  I know that for every mediocre image I submitted in the past, I can submit at least a few decent ones now to make up for it.

Next on my niltomil agenda is updating this website to be current.  I know I’m behind – sorry!  There really is just too much to do and not enough time.  I’m off to work now!

Shutterstock

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<title>Stock Photos | Shutterstock: Royalty-Free Subscription Stock Photography & Vector Art</title>

<meta name=”description” content=”Search and select from millions of high resolution royalty free images, stock photos, vector art, and stock photography.”>

<meta name=”keywords” content=”stock photos, stock photography, royalty free, stock images, buy pictures, illustration, image library, stock agency, graphic design, web design, high resolution images, royalty free images, stock photo, subscription, buy photos, vector art, photo bank, photo library”>

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Dreamstime

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<title>Royalty Free Stock Photography: Harvest foods</title>

<meta name=”description” content=”Large harvest of fruits and vegetables”>

<meta name=”keywords” content=”agriculture apple background bulk carrot collection corn diet ear food fresh fruit green group harvest harvested health healthy leaf many market mix mixed nutrition orange organic pepper potato red ripe set squash tomato vegetable vegetarian yellow”>

<img style=”cursor:url(/site-img/zoom6.png), pointer;” title=”Harvest Foods” alt=”Harvest Foods” src=”http://www.dreamstime.com/harvest-foods-thumb17895387.jpg” border=”0″ data-zoomsrc=”http://download2.dreamstime.com/dreamstimezoom_17895387.jpg?imageid=17895387&forcepass=0f1f7014515bde34ead3863fe668a652″ id=”myimage” onClick=”document.getElementById(‘zoomload’).innerHTML = ‘(loading …)’; MojoZoom.init();” />

Dreamstime SEO

Fotolia

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<title>Photo: harvest foods © Matthew Antonino #29217690</title>

<meta name=”keywords” content=”harvest, vegetable, fresh, fruit, food, background, green, vegetarian, ripe, tomato, organic, healthy, yellow, pepper, red, set, diet, agriculture, health, leaf, bulk, mixed, mix, squash, harvested, potato, carrot, ear, corn, many, group, nutrition, orange, apple, collection, market” />

<meta name=”description” content=”Royalty Free Stock Photos at Fotolia.com; Matthew Antonino: harvest foods” />

<img src=”http://t1.ftcdn.net/jpg/00/29/21/76/400_F_29217690_GGJYnVQemwJErIxspxA7IdqaMqv0ZsYf.jpg” alt=”harvest foods” title=”harvest foods” width=”400″ height=”236″ zoom_ratio=”1.938991221″ zoom_depth_max=”3″ />

Fotolia SEO

IStock

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<title>Snail’s 100 Yard Dash | Stock Photo | iStockphoto.com</title><meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″ >

<meta name=”title” content=”Snail’s 100 Yard Dash | Stock Photo | iStockphoto.com” >

<meta name=”description” content=”Download a royalty-free stock photo of Snail’s 100 Yard Dash by Matthew Antonino(copyright) from iStockphoto.com.” >

<meta name=”keywords” content=”Road To Nowhere, Rat Race, Snail, Sports Race, Competition, Sayings, Ideas, Shell, Humor, Fun, Bad News, Shock, Sport, Running, Slimy, Personal Perspective, Vanishing Point, Scale, Red, Sprinting, Speed, Relay Race, Marathon, Greeting, Urgency, Angle, Attitude, Candid, mindset, The Future, Viewpoint, relativity, scape, Approaching, Strategy, Planning, stock images, royalty free images, stock photography, stock photos, inexpensive, istockphoto” >

<img id=”ZoomImage” src=”http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/224018/2/stock-photo-224018-snail-s-100-yard-dash.jpg” title=”Click on thumbnail to zoom in.” alt=”Click on thumbnail to zoom in.” style=”width:380px; height:304px; border:1px solid #E5E5E5″ /></div><div id=”ZoomDroppableDiv” style=”display:none; margin-left:10px;”>

Yes, this year sucked for me personally.  I basically lost everything and started completely from scratch.  When I left my business, my family and my life in Syracuse I moved out with $2500, my kitchen gear, a camera bag full of gear and 2 computers…

I normally live on the edge of huge goals.  Not in 2011.

I want to write the post that needs writing.  Right now, that is a post about 2011 and getting ready for the new year.

Most of you already know I’m moving.  In two weeks I am packing up and moving to Melbourne, Australia.  I left Syracuse with nothing and since have gained the only thing I really care about – my amazing wife.  She has been busily setting up shop for us in Melbourne and I cannot wait to get to her.  Two weeks is so short and SO long when you want it to pass.

As I reflect on the past year and the next year to come, I can’t help but think about what a difference the last year has made.  A year ago I was lost.  THAT is the root of my struggle – both in life and microstock.  I struggled because I didn’t know which way to run.  Microstock.  Food. Photography.  Syracuse …

I have to admit now that I seriously thought about quitting and quitting microstock specifically.  Why do it?  Honestly, I’ve made my most microstock income ever this year already (2 months to go.)  I had that done 2 months ago.  In 8 months it was already my best year ever so why quit?  I just didn’t care about anything.  I didn’t care what crap I submitted or what crap sold.  I didn’t care as long as I pushed the button, the number grew and I could delude myself into thinking I was actually trying to hit some fantastical goal.

The darkest hour comes just before dawn?  Maybe.  I just knew I needed a break.  I haven’t submitted one new microstock image in 8 months.  I submitted 100 all year.  I’ve shot – and my backlog is huge – but I haven’t finished.  I didn’t care to finish.

I’ve watched the changes in microstock this year.  Let’s be honest – istock and fotolia giving contributors a bad deal is not new.  It happened in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.  I’m not going to waste time deciding whether to keep submitting there – you either do or you don’t.  Shutterstock has added some great new stuff, Dreamstime is doing well for me.  DepositPhotos and a few other small sites are steadily growing.  I haven’t completely disregarded the idea of dumping all but 6 or 8 stocks but for now I’m happy with making my highest income ever in stock in 2/3 of a year.

When you are at a low point in your life the importance of things changes.  Both advertisers I had earlier in the year have dropped me for good reason (I don’t blog regularly enough – I know this.)  I have over 1100 subscribers to this blog and yet I feel like I really need to get back to writing for me.  That’s when NiltoMil was good.  When you don’t care and you can start over, it’s easy to figure out what you really want.

What does 2012 hold?  I MISS microstock.  I really do.  I will be shooting & submitting starting in December and I really do hope 2012 is a banner year for me.  I plan to blog, I plan to shoot, edit, submit … I plan to do it better than I’ve ever done it.  My life, which has been steadily falling apart for 5 years, is in a MUCH better place.  I’ve never been this happy with my direction, I’ve never been as happy with who I am and what I offer.  Maybe things will change but for now, that is my path.

I know this blog post is long, rambling and neither that informative nor funny/entertaining.  I need to post this for me – that’s what Nil is about: MY journey.  Some of this is news, some is not.  Some is depressing, some is exciting.  If you’ve been with me for the whole trip, I apologize for the delays.  I’m about to reboard and see what I can do.

I understand if my sporadic blogging, overzealous goals and depressing-before-now real life have been a bummer and you don’t want to continue reading.  For those who do, I’ll be here soon. I’m going to do my move and get settled and keep reflecting.  But I’m here.  Ready.

That being said, once this move is done I’m back to stock work.  I miss shooting, I miss doing my food stuff, I miss you all, I miss blogging.  It’s time for Nil to come back from the depths and get back to doing what I do.  It’s been a WILD year + 3 months but after November 20th, no excuses.  All that negative in my life will be gone, done and over.  I’ll be in the best, happiest place I’ve been.  It’s GO time…

Until then – stay well and keep me updated with what’s going on!

Dreamstime Announces New Feature to Report Imagery Copyright Infringement

First in stock photo industry to automate the offender notification process

Nashville, TN – August 17, 2011 – Today Dreamstime, a leading stock photography community, launched Infringement Reporter, which will enable contributors to notify website owners of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violations. Passed more than ten years ago, the DMCA was developed to address copyright challenges that content owners face in an increasingly digital world.

Dreamstime’s new feature is the first in the industry to streamline the DMCA notification process and provide contributors a quick and easy way to notify website owners when they are misusing a photo. This is often an arduous and time-consuming process for photographers and creative professionals to undertake themselves. Dreamstime anticipates this new feature will also educate image-users about copyrights associated with the images they find and download online.

“Though not always intentional, the theft and misuse of images are a constant battle for the photo stock industry,” said Serban Enache, CEO of Dreamstime. “Search engines have made it easier than ever to find and download digital content, but there is very little information about the copyrights associated with images people find online. Dreamstime is committed to helping our contributors identify stolen or misused images so they can focus on taking great photos instead of worrying about the illegal use of their images.”

With Google’s new image-recognition search tool and others, it is easy for photographers to find where their images are being used online. However, these tools fail to provide a way for contributors to notify offenders when they are abusing the license associated with an image. Dreamstime recognized this as an opportunity to help its large and active community protect their images and also educate image-users about image rights and the stock photography industry.

When Dreamstime contributors find an image that is being used without the proper license, they simply populate the form on the Dreamstime website and provide the image identification number and a URL to the website misusing the image. Dedicated to the protection and promotion of images, Dreamstime is taking customer service one step further by making this process more efficient for contributors.

January – 80 images

February – 20 images

March – 0 images

April – 0 images

May – 0 images

June – 0 images

July – 0 images

Now, to be fair, I did “finish” some agencies.  I am completely caught up on Alamy, DepositPhotos, StockFresh, and several other small sites.  My time went mainly to finishing Alamy as that’s where my income has been building fastest.  But let’s not kid anyone – I’ve done *no* stock work other than blogging since early February.

So where does that leave July, 2011?  My microstock earnings were actually good this month.

Total earnings: $962.55

Right – that’s my 2nd best month ever for those keeping track at home.  I have zero momentum (which I know is huge) and I have virtually 0 new images.  That result makes me think I should be doing this job sometimes.  In 2011 I’ve made $5683.01 submitting just 100 new photos.  This is already my 2nd best year of the 5 I have results for.  By October it will be my best year ever, regardless of how things go for the next 2 months.  2011 is my best stock year ever despite 100 new uploads.  This is GOOD.

Who did what?  Well, Shutterstock was solid at $245.48.  That’s in the right range lately.  If I uploaded new images I know I could push them over $300 without much effort.  February (after my 80 January uploads) actually did go over $300.  Upload to SS, make money.  Simple, really.   Dreamstime was down – almost my worst month of the year.  Fotolia was solid as always.  123RF wasn’t perfect but the last few months have been so sky-high there that I may have set expectations too high.

Alamy sold very well – $356.60.  Not my best month at Alamy but very strong.  I’ve already seen an August Alamy download as well … did I mention I love Alamy?   I’ve only had images on Alamy since October and they’ve passed BSP, IS, SXP, CSP and all the small sites in earnings.  Interesting stat – in 8 months, Alamy has made me more money than 11 sites I submit to … combined … all time.  Can you say “waste of time?”  I knew you could.

Bigstock was just short of a BME.  Not bad for no new images.  Thinkstock/SXP had my worst month in 2011 at $21-ish.  iStock was down from April/May but up from June … I’ve started resubmitting there (work is done, just need to push) so hopefully I can start seeing increases there again.  Canstock had a fantastic month – almost BME.  DepositPhotos had another (for them) solid month.  Mostphotos tailed off again, one month after netting a near-BME.

Wow, long post!  Guess the earnings report was interesting this month.  Is now a good time to mention that I’m moving to Australia?  Talk to you all soon!

Let’s learn more about Steve!

Steve, thanks for answering my questions and allowing me to feature you on NiltoMil.

Can you tell us a little about yourself as a photographer? How long have you been shooting, what got you interested, that sort of thing.

I’ve been interested in photography since my teens – 40+ years… I had a Zenith Russian made SLR, and created a darkroom in a spare bedroom, mainly doing black and white, but also some printing from color slides. After a lull, I really got back into it with the first 2M digital cameras and the ability to improve and change the images with Photoshop rather than chemicals blew my mind. I think I sold my enlarger about 10 years ago, and
haven’t looked back since!

What subjects do you mainly photograph?

Mainly landscape and travel images. I love traveling to interesting places and I managed to get around the world quite a bit with my job in International Telecoms – only recently with all my camera gear unfortunately. There are still many places in the US I would like to visit, and so am constantly thinking of good reasons to visit yet another spectacular park!

What’s the craziest place you’ve gone for a photo or what’s your best “photo related” story?

Not sure it is a crazy place, but I really loved my visits to Tallinn in Estonia, just tramping round the streets with my camera, tripod and gear and shooting that ancient city with the red roofs and towers. My feet were sore, but it soared in enjoyment (sorry…). There is a great garlic restaurant where every course is made with garlic – even the ice cream – delicious!

You recently wrote a book on microstock. What prompted that? How do you feel the process of writing and assembling the book went?

I started a blog about 3 years ago – originally I was going to focus on different ways of generating money from home – hence the title “BackyardSilver.” I covered creating sites and trying to make money from Google Ads, my wife makes jewelry and I cover that, but eventually it focused more and more on stock photography. Some friends asked me how to get started in stock and so I set about writing the first of some long posts on “how to do it,” and, after a while, I realized that there was a very valuable resource here – particularly for beginners who probably spend their first year just trying to find out the various quirks of each site. I was in a lull with my consulting work, and so I set about writing the book. I really enjoyed the process, and I’m thrilled when I see some kind reader comments – it makes it all worthwhile.

What is your favorite agency & why (other than income reasons)?

I still look at Shutterstock several times a day! It is fascinating to see the images being bought and the occasional Enhanced Sales are great. I also like Graphic Leftovers – the reviewers contact me personally if they don’t think they can accept a shot because of some copyright issue, and it really feels like a friendly place. Sales have been picking up as well!

Since NiltoMil is based arounda goal, what goals are you trying to accomplish this year with microstock?

Your goal was great – a bit of a stretch, but a fantastic idea. I had a goal last year to add 50 good images a month to the various sites, which I more than achieved, but this year has been a little goal-less so far. I may be a little late in the year to get there, but perhaps to hit the magic $10,000 of income for 2011 and then $20,000 in 2012!

What is the best out of the ordinary piece of gear, equipment, etc. you’ve bought?

I’ve been really impressed by the Promote Remote (review on my blog!), which frees Canon users of the three exposure bracketing restriction and gives you a very flexible timer, multiple shot scheduler and HDR exposure system that all can be combined to make the camera do whatever you want it to do. I didn’t even know it existed a month ago, but I think I have used it on every shoot since!

Thanks again to Steve for allowing us to check into  his world a little bit.  Don’t forget to read his blog at Backyard Silver.