Stock photo agencies

[Xander]

I have been thinking about getting some of my photos to a stock photo agency, but know NOTHING about them.
Can any one tell me:
1) a list of them good companies

2) what to "look out for" in terms of scams (used to work as a model photographer and there were more doggy people in the business then not).

3) best way to present your work (leaving this open to interpretation for a reason)

4) do they want Raw if not why not? TIff? or do they go Jpeg?


5) I have several gig (17gig) from my D70s (6.5m pix), will any of the companies accept this or does it have to be 10m+ or 12m+, is going through this back catalog a waste of time.

6) What about my slide negs do they accept these still? or do i have to invest in a hi-res slider scanner.

7) anything else that may be of use?

Sorry but like i said i know nothing.

[Bjorn]

2) what to "look out for" in terms of scams (used to work as a model photographer and there were more doggy people in the business then not).

Personally, I would stay away from so-called "microstock" sites such as iStockPhoto. They sell for cheap, but apparently "the volume makes the money". Well - How would you feel if I told your boss I'll do your job for 10p per hour. They are undermining other photographer's livelidhood.

3) best way to present your work (leaving this open to interpretation for a reason)
I'd start with a good web-page and selected work on there, followed by an email.

4) do they want Raw if not why not? TIff? or do they go Jpeg?
I'd always shoot RAW and submit TIF or JPG, depending on the library's requirements.

5) I have several gig (17gig) from my D70s (6.5m pix), will any of the companies accept this or does it have to be 10m+ or 12m+, is going through this back catalog a waste of time.
Try alamy.com. They accept 6 megapixels. The big ones (Getty, Corbis, Masterfile,...) want 10 if not 12 megapixels.


6) What about my slide negs do they accept these still? or do i have to invest in a hi-res slider scanner.
Some still accept slide, others require you to scan it yourself in hires. Neg is on the way out. Most will only accept digital these days.

Hope this helps.

Alamy is open to anyone, but you have to do your own keywording and scanning & retouching. There are others like Alamy, i.e. Gekkoimages. But I don't know how good or bad they are. They all sell "we are good for you" but not all of them do good marketing, chase up unpaid image usages,... Some (I suspect) say "we're a library" but all they do is re-submit to a distributor which you could have submitted yourself to. Be VERY careful on where to submit, read the contract VERY thoroughly and do some research. Look in some of the travel guides where they got their images from. Alamy is doing OK for travel & editorial and they have a name. But the crux is they have so many images already – and you're gonna compete with those images.

[Xander]

Thanks for that.. Ill have a look at those sites..

(sorry it took me so long to get back to you but went for a tour to the orkneys .. cool place.. )

[spooky]

Originally Posted by Bjorn

2)They are undermining other photographer's livelidhood.

I'd start with a good web-page and selected work on there, followed by an email.

I'd always shoot RAW and submit TIF or JPG, depending on the library's requirements.

Most will only accept digital these days.

Hope this helps.

agree !!!

I'm one of this free lance who lost livelihood regarding cheap and unexperienced youngsters who fall for all this doggy agencies....

well even the big ones rip you off like the big German DPA... they may give you a job, but let you pay for material your self, your time and the rest of it, only pay you 40% YES only 40% of a sold image, if they sale one...

others sale but don't tell you, don't even bother sending a sample publication neither money. It's just there living.... the way they do business like the one who promises pretty young girls to make a Model out of them if they pay for the casting display card...

well coming of the old school... slides are better quality over all ! NON of the digi formats can retch the classic film material... well if you are interested in building up your own archive you can hold in your hands even after 50 years and may use it as a sort of pension if you cant travel any more.
specially if you plan traveling remotely.... using an simple mechanic camera is better than all this bulky digi lot.
you only need a 35mm and 75mm lens anyway to make good pictures... well depending on what you gone to take pictures from

now the idea of making a Web-page is good !
after a journey you have time to use a Slide/Negative scanner like the NIKON Coolscan-IV ED or better....
you can always point people out to do a few clicks and they can see what you done.

digi is like fast foot... well yes agencies go for digi but remember all the batteries you relaying on making the pictures, they not getting better having a electronic device in the 1st place, just cost you.... flashing around with it is no good either, you not saving in a long term. Select the good pix and scan them in if needed.

Ohh yes.. one more... digi lenses are not as good quality compare to the classic ones, they are not as crisp as you would get with an old 2nd hand lens without all that electric gear in it.

spooky

[BMurr]

Beware of agencies who are prepared to accept work rejected by the larger established agencies. There is usually a good reason for the work being rejected. Myself and a few others had a large number of slides lodged with a new agency in early 1990's. Most of us had work which hadn't been taken on by the larger agencies and that led us to the new one. A couple of years later we twigged that we weren't going to be getting money from this agency, they say they had no sales but that's unlikely I guess. The agency folded later but not before we got our work back from what seemed like a chaotic agency( opersonal visits were needed to retrieve the slides). The guy who owned the agency is still out there involved in the business and no doubt there are many more out there like him ready to make a quick buck at your expense. I think that if the established agencies reject your work it might be worth re-evaluating where you are going with current quality of work. It might be a bit gloomy having work rejected but I'd reccomend that people don't just accept the first Ray of light they come across.

[pictish]

fotolibra and photographers direct

fotoLibra: Garry Neilson's Images

havnt done mutch for a while their old ones

Photographers Direct professional stock photography images buy photo stock images

not sure how good they are but both are free to some extent

[FREDO RIDER]

Hi everyone,

Has anybody had experience working with;
photoshelter

I will appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,
Fredo.

[teflon]

Originally Posted by spooky

...well coming of the old school... slides are better quality over all ! NON of the digi formats can retch the classic film material .... using an simple mechanic camera is better than all this bulky digi lot.
you only need a 35mm and 75mm lens anyway to make good pictures... well depending on what you gone to take pictures from spooky

35mm film is dead. Scanning thousands of slides is a sure road to insanity and ending up looking like Gollum.