Tag Archives | stock photos

Photo Walk – Veluwezoom Posbank

By Jan on October 31, 2011

The Google Map above shows the GPS track of my photo walk with model Cissy at Veluwezoom, the Netherlands. This track covers the so called “black route“, starting at Bezoekerscentrum Veluwezoom leading to Posbank Paviljoen and then going back to the Bezoekerscentrum (but we did walk back straight to the train station Rheden – our starting point). Detailed trip info at my Everytrail account (including some pics shot by my model Cissy Schouren).

Autumn Lifestyle Images

Our goal was to do an autumn lifestyle shoot with a lot of yellow and red autumn leaves as our background. When we arrived at the train station in Rheden it appeared to be a really lovely day with great autumn weather :) And off we went …up to the autumn leaves !!

But I think I chose the wrong area because we did not see those leaves, at least not the typical autumn scenics that we were looking for. The first and last part of this route is leading you through very beautiful forest but the main part of this route is along heathland. Still this is a great hiking route and when coming back in August – when the heath is beautifully colored – it will probably be a very great hiking route. Mind you the first part of this route is quite steeply rising terrain !!!

Images of this photowalking trip will come soon !!

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My Stock Photo Archive

By Jan on October 11, 2011

Since 2009 I am shooting stock images. I have some images at microstock sites but my main focus is on building a macro stock photo collection. Most of my images are exclusively represented by stock photo libraries – Moodboard and Tetra Images. Although I experiment with direct selling I have not big expectations about that. In this post some words about my “stock photo archive”. Why I chose to invest in a stock photo archive – even if direct selling of my stock images is not my main objective – and what solution to chose for ? Photoshelter or Photodeck ?

Some good reasons for a stock photo archive

I intend to put all my stock images in my online stock photo archive: my images represented by stock photo libraries and of course also the images I want to sell myself. What reasons do I have for investing all this time and money in maintaining an online archive ?

First, I want a bulletproof back-up of my stock collection. Yes, I use RAID solutions and back-up my work at home. But I want my images also protected against fire, theft and other catastrophes. Putting them online in a bulletproof archive makes me sleep well :)

Second reason for investing in an online archive is “getting seen”. This requires investing time in SEO, blogging, linking my blog to my archive and many more actions required to get my images seen. But I believe walking the extra mile will result in a better chance of getting seen – both by clients and models. And I need both as a stock shooter !! And although I cannot sell most of my images directly I trust image buyers will find it easy to find my images at the referenced photo libraries. I really think that getting seen will lead to some additional sales and more models willing to work with me.

Third reason, direct selling of non-exclusive images. Since I also intend to build a non-exclusive collection – why not submit some images to Alamy and others and also try to sell these images directly ? Most archive solutions – Photoshelter, Photodeck – have E-commerce and also marketing tools (including automatic updates to social networks, 1-click sharing of galleries and images) for direct selling your images. In a near future I might decide to start selling prints but for the moment let’s start with direct selling of images (btw … archiving solutions like Photoshelter and Photodeck have real good support for doing doing that).

Fourth reason, delivery of images. Although I submit my stock images to photo libraries I still have to deliver images. I work with models and most of the time the models get the retouched images for their portfolios. And instead of burning DVD’s I find it convenient to use the archive software for delivering the images.

Investing in an online archive – using the best available solutions – will give you the possibility to not online create a secure online backup and having an online platform for proofing and delivering your images but also helps you your images getting seen and using e-commerce / marketing tools you can even sell images and prints yourself !!

Photoshelter or Photodeck ?

To my knowledge Photoshelter and Photodeck offer the most complete solutions for archiving and selling your images. I have had a Photoshelter website for more than a year and I tested the Photodeck solution for some months. In the end I opted for Photodeck.

Photoshelter or Photodeck ? Both offer very professional solutions and when you would make a detailed analysis you will probably find that both solutions are pretty cool. This is what they both offer:

  • secure online backup
  • powerful websites with ready-to-use themes
  • e-commerce functionality
  • online proofing and delivery of your images
  • marketing tools
  • social media integration

Pricing is about the same, archiving storage idem. Photodeck is the new kid on the block and Photoshelter already has an immense client base. This for some time withheld me for leaving Photoshelter and subscribing to Photodeck. So why Photodeck ?

I think both solutions will give you fine archiving possibilities and also the uploading of images is OK on both sites. I feel the Photoshelter themes are not really state-of-the-art, they feel a bit outdated. Also my main website is Aphotofolio website and the Photoshelter themes are just not compatible. Photodeck offers an out-of-the-box theme 100% compatible with my main website. The Photodeck websites/themes just are really cool.

Looking at e-commerce (sales and marketing) functionality the Photoshelter solution is OK, but in many details the Photodeck solution is better supporting the stock photographer. I think most Photoshelter clients are not stock shooters but event and wedding shooters. They use Photoshelter for archiving and delivering their images. Photoshelter does a great job in doing that. But the Photodeck solution is designed with the world of the stock shooter as a the main target audience. If you compare the “example websites” you will find Photodeck showcases only stock shooters websites (and even websites of stock agencies) and the Photoshelter examples showcase a wide spread of customers. Also Photoshelter is taking a 10% commission of your sales and Photodeck isnot taking any commission at all.

Using Photoshelter websites all your webpages will have the url “clientname.photoshelter.com” (ok, except the homepage) and I really never did like that. Now having a Photodeck website all my page URLs start with http://archive.janscherders.nl/…. – just as I wanted. One plus of Photoshelter I will miss …Photoshelter invests a lot in free guides for the photographers. Guides about SEO, marketing, selling prints, starting up your own business, ….really a lot of free stuff that the Photoshelter guys reach out to you. But sometimes they behave like schoolmasters and think they can tell you how to be successful as a photographer :)

OK, I think bottomline the Photodeck solution is a better solution when you are a stock photographer, with cleaner themes and better e-commerce functionality (and no commission). Looking at the clients showcased by both solution providers I think my analysis is supported. Anyway, I have chosen for Photodeck – also because of the nice integration with my main website- and I trust to have now a fine solution for archiving, delivering and selling my images :)

Where to find my photo stock archive ?

You will find my archive here. I chose for a subdomain of my main websites, so the url is archive.janscherders.nl.  As I said before, it is my intention to have all my stock images online – not only the images that are available for direct licensing. I want my complete collection getting seen – by clients but also by models. Clients can decide to buy my Tetra and Moodboard images at other websites and models can decide if they feel that working with me will benefit their portfolio.

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