Beautiful Bahamas

Bahamas Church

copyright (c) Joan Kerrigan

I was fortunate to be able to spend 5 days in Nassau, Bahamas last week and enjoyed a wonderful vacation. I didn't realize how overcast and gray New Jersey is until I saw the clear blue skies, turquoise water and colorful architecture of the Caribbean. I played with my camera, trying different settings and compositions. And when I got home, I uploaded a batch to see how they would fare in the microstock world. Shutterstock actually accepted 5 photos, of which Bahamas Church is one. This picture was not post processed to any extent: the colors are what we saw. I'm hoping to go back this winter and in the meantime, will work on my photography and Photoshop skills.

Taking Stock on Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Pastel Flower

copyright (c) Joan Kerrigan

I've been working on the UF animations and 2 of them have been accepted by Shutterstock as footage. I haven't figured out how to post the picture of it but the link to one of them is here.

Taking Stock on Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Sunburst Alphabet Series: Currency

copyright (c) Joan Kerrigan

I've had a setback in my uploading marathon on Shutterstock. Although my Sunburst Alphabet Series was accepted as jpeg images, the vector versions were rejected en masse for being too simple. This was unexpected!

Shutterstock has a strange system for accepting vectors, in that the vector and the rasterized version are considered separate files. So that means it's common to find one version and not the other in an illustrator's portfolio. Dreamstime, on the other hand, consolidates the 2 versions, which the buyer can choose from, into one portfolio file. This system seems to make more sense to me. But so be it. I haven't spent a lot of time contesting rejections as I'd rather create something new. So onward and upward! My marathon update is posted in the sidebar.

Learning with Lynda

Fiery Flowers

copyright (c) Joan Kerrigan

I've really been applying myself to the Lynda.com library of video courses. Still, I've only completed the Photoshop CS3 Essentials course and have just begun the second in the series. There is so much to learn and I need to practice the techniques as I go. I know enough about my learning style that if I don't actually do it, I won't actually learn it! But it's fun and interesting and the website is worth the $25 a month subscription. It costs less per year than one course at the local community college and offers vastly more. Of course, you have to have self discipline to use a learning method like this (something I struggle with at times). However, I would recommend it to anyone who wants a grounding in the Adobe programs as well as many more.

Taking Stock on Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Rainbow Disk

copyright (c) Joan Kerrigan

On July 2, 2007, I joined Shutterstock as a prospective submitter. I had heard wonderful stories of fractal artists selling their images and since I wasn't selling anything, I thought it might be fun. After a year of submitting and selling, I can attest to the fact that it is fun and rewarding in many ways. Not only am I making a little extra money, but I have learned so much in the realm of digital imagery and learned it rapidly.

One thing I haven't done much of is search out a social side to microstock. I have posted in a few threads on Shutterstock through the year but not often or on a regular basis. I don't expect that to change, but this weekend, I decided to answer an open challenge to anyone who wants to participate in an uploading marathon.

At the time of this writing, about 50 submitters have joined the competition and the original poster has set up a google spreadsheet to track portfolio size. The winner is the "runner" who uploads the most files of any type between now and December 31, 2008. Original portfolio size doesn't matter, only number of new files accepted.

This should prove to be interesting and hopefully will push me to improve my illustration skills. I plan to finally learn how to use the camera that I've owned since Christmas. Oh yes, and I also hope to increase my sales! In case you're wondering, my Shutterstock portfolio is officially starting at 2826 files.

Ready, Set, Go!

Shutterstock Hits 4 Million Images

SunBurst

copyright (c) Joan Kerrigan

Happy 4th of July! As America celebrates her Independence, Shutterstock is celebrating hitting the 4 million mark in its image library. Many people are afraid that the larger these image banks become, the worse for the contributor. I disagree because there seems to be a never ending hunger for new images. Maybe one day it will all come crashing in but not today. And in the meantime, I will ride the wave because microstock is just fun. If you're interested in the details, here is a link to the press release.

Taking Stock on Tuesday, July 1, 2008

White Nautilus

copyright (c) Joan Kerrigan

I admit upfront that I am not a statistician and haven't studied or charted my sales in microstock very closely. I'm just happy to receive a check or two each month. But in looking at my downloaded images at Shutterstock since I began, I was surprised to find the vast majority of them had no more than 0 to 3 downloads each.

Then I heard the term "The Long Tail" in a forum posting. Many things in life and business operate by the Pareto Principle. This is the 80/20 Rule that states 80% of sales comes from selling 20% of the available items. Or 80% of the work is done by 20% of the workers. The long tail refers to the sales of the remaining 80% of the inventory. It sells only a little each, but since there are so many unique items, the sales can be significant. Microstock seems to follow this Pareto Principle well. Most of the images don't get downloaded much but the overall sales can be huge. The portfolio of most individual contributors probably also follows this principle. I know mine does.

There are several lessons here for me as a contributor: First is that I need to keep uploading to maintain my proportional standing within each agency and grow not only the 20% of better selling images, but also the 80% of images that only sell a little. Second is that although it would be nice, not every image has to be a masterpiece. Perhaps not having a masterpiece is actually better for me. My best selling images will never be in the top 50 or 100 on any site but they also won't be imitated or stolen as readily. They are niche sellers and surprisingly, a couple of them sell almost every day. Third is that I shouldn't remove images that don't sell because I never know if they might appeal to a random buyer at some point in time. Fourth and finally, creating my art in my own style and subject matter can be profitable by focusing on niche markets. It is also more personally and artistically rewarding for me and won't lead to boredom any time soon.