Nicolesy » iStockphoto

Casting Call – Preschool & Elementary Children

Nicole — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:35:55 +0000

I’m doing a stock photo-shoot next month and I’m looking for models! I’m trying to get as many children as possible for a VERY big, very simple shoot. The images will be used in my stock portfolio on iStock, so a model release signed by the parent is required. (General information on modeling for me can be found here.)

Here are the details:

Date: Tuesday, July 12 at 9:00 am
Models: Children – Preschool & Elementary age (no modeling experience required—all children are welcome!)
Location: Randy Collier Photography studio (8665 South Sandy Parkway, Sandy, UT) (map)

Special notes and information:

Clothing: Please dress your children in jeans (jean skirts are fine for little girls) and a solid bright colored shirt (no logos, no designs, no patterns, etc.). Colors that work are bright (or light-colored) blue, pink, purple, yellow, green, red or orange. Colors that will not work are any dark-variety (like hunter green, burgundy, etc.) and definitely not any black, gray, brown or white shirts. I will have a few (just a few) extra shirts handy in case your child doesn’t have one that works. Don’t worry about shoes, the children will be barefoot for the photographs.
RSVP: You are welcome to RSVP directly to me via email (nicole@nicolesyphoto.com), or by commenting in this thread. But there’s no requirement to RSVP … you can just show up to the studio at 9:00 am and still be a part of it.
TFCD: This will be a “trade” shoot, meaning I will photograph individual images of your children in exchange for modeling and send you the full-resolution retouched file for your personal use. Individual photos will be done on-site after the “big” shoot.
Model Release: All photos from this session will be for my stock portfolio and will require a signed model release. You can pre-fill the release and bring it to the shoot to save time (click here to download the PDF) or fill one out on-site.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or place your question in the comments.

My 50,000th Download at iStockphoto!

Nicole — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:04:55 +0000

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200 f/4L IS lens, 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Yesterday I hit my 50,000th download over at iStockphoto.com! I’m in my 5th year of being a stock photographer and feel really blessed that I get to do what I love for my full-time job. The flexibility and freedom microstock offers also allows me to spend more time sharing tips and tutorials on my blog, writing books and be a part of the photography community. My craft has grown immensely over the past five years and I owe it to my colleagues, friend and mentors for their support and guidance. And, last but not least, a big thanks to the people who’ve licensed my images! :)

Images in Use: Cardstore.com

Nicole — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:35:35 +0000

A fellow iStock contributor, Maria Pavlova, alerted me to some of my photos (along with several other contributor’s images) being used on Cardstore.com. I found at least five different images of mine in-use … here are the links to all of them:

“Casual Business” Group Photo Shoot

Nicole — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:17:58 +0000

Canon 60D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens, 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Here’s a quick sample from a photo-shoot I did a few weeks ago. From what I’ve looked at so far I’m really happy with how they all turned out, and the models were amazing! We had so much fun and I’m looking forward to do more group shoots in the future.

I did manage to upload a few of them to iStock, but I’ve barely had a chance to look through the rest of the images since I’m currently in the process of writing a book on the Canon 60D (similar to my recent Canon 7D book from Peachpit). Photo-shoots and editing will probably be on-hold for a few weeks while I’m finishing up the book … but I’ll be back full-swing at the end of October.

Click here to view this image on iStockphoto.com

My Thoughts on the Changes at iStockphoto

Nicole — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:13:00 +0000

There have been a lot of changes at iStockphoto in the past week, the biggest one being the royalty structure changes for the contributors. I’ve had some time to really think about this, so instead of posting my thoughts on some random forum I thought I would discuss it openly on my blog.

First of all, here’s a little bit about me: I’m a photographer and I make my living by licensing my images through iStockphoto.com. I currently make 40% royalties on my images as an exclusive photographer with iStock and I sell enough to support myself, pay my bills and even lease a small studio near my home. I work hard at this business and I love my job.

As for the changes … in a nut-shell iStock has determined (and known for some time) that their current royalty structure is unsustainable (info on these changes is detailed here). In order to do so they’ve basically set sales levels that each contributor has to reach in order to maintain a set royalty rate. In the past it was all based off of historical download figures … for example if a photographer sells 25k photos then they will stay at 40% royalties, regardless of how many images they sell from that point forward. However starting next year our royalty rate is based on the previous year’s “redeemed credits” and we are required to sell a certain amount of credits each year to maintain that level.

So what this means for contributors is that those who are not going to meet the credit level for the end of this year will drop to a lower royalty percentage. It is affecting both exclusive and non-exclusive contributors, and even admins and inspectors aren’t immune from the changes. iStock is confident that 76% of its exclusive contributors will see either no change or an increase in royalties (mentioned here), and they’ve done a lot of math and projections to get those results. Kelly Thompson (iStock’s COO) had even stated that they will re-evaluate the target credit levels at the end of the year if their projections are off.

iStock is a business, they need to make money … that’s just the bottom line. They’re not being greedy and trying to screw the contributors over, nor are they blindly following orders from Getty. They don’t want to see people lose money, and this was a difficult decision to implement, trust me. iStock is doing what is necessary in order to run their business—they are addressing a long-term problem to make sure that iStock becomes more profitable as it grows. I get it … even if I end up being one of the unlucky ones, I get it.

So … will these changes affect me? Right now I honestly don’t know what will happen to my royalties next year. Since I don’t know what my numbers will be at the end of the year then I’m bracing myself for dropping to 35%, which would mean a 12.5% drop in earnings … roughly a month-and-a-half’s worth of income. And yes, that’s a lot of money, folks. Am I happy about that possibility? Not really, but I will still be okay if it happens. I’ll have to make changes, but I won’t have to drop everything and find a new job.

In my opinion this new royalty structure makes sense. The artists who are creating new content, selling it and turning a higher profit are more valuable to iStock, and it’s going to encourage all artists to produce higher quality files in order to maintain and increase their sales output. I don’t want my royalties to go down—none of us do—but whatever happens next year one thing is sure: I’m extremely motivated and encouraged to create new content and am now very much accountable to myself to do so if I want to continue at my current 40% royalty rate.

I can appreciate the fact that everyone has their own opinions about this, since everyone’s circumstances are different. I stand to potentially lose several thousand dollars because of this decision … yet I’m staying with iStock and don’t plan on going anywhere. In the long run I anticipate this move to be more profitable to those who keep up their hard work of creating quality content. My success is in my hands alone, and there will always be challenges and disappointments. This is one of those times, but it’s not slowing me down … in fact it’s making me stronger. :)