In my third month of microstock I am seeing a slight stabilization in earnings (a little above last months results). While Dreamstime continues to be a non-seller for me, Bigstock has yielded my first sale since December 2009! After Stockxpert’s closure, which was a reasonable seller, I have decided to add Can Stock Photo to be my replacement agency. So far I have 30 images approved on CSP and the counter is still going up. My total portfolio unfortunately has not grown a big deal, as sometimes I am either swamped in work or I am just being to lazy to grab my camera. I realize I need to get more active building my portfolio if I ever want to make it to the payout minimum.

At the beginning of February this announcement about Stockxpert hit my (and with me many others) mailbox.

We are sorry to announce that beginning today, Stockxpert will no longer sell new credits or accept new members. On February 11, 2010, searching and downloading at StockXpert will cease. This will be the end of image sales at Stockxpert.

All SXP members have the opportunity to transfer their remaining credits to iStockphoto. iStock offers the highest quality affordable microstock imagery in the industry. Come and see for yourself. SXP credits will be honored 1 for 1 at iStockphoto. If you aren’t already an iStock member, we encourage you to sign up now. Your credits will be transferred on February 11. If you miss that date, you will still be able to transfer your credits anytime over the next 6 months, until August 11, 2010.

It was somewhat expected that after Getty’s purchase of Stockxpert things would change, but total closure of Stockxpert has been the end result. I have mixed feelings about the closure as this was the agency that got me interested in the whole microstock adventure. However things change, so we got to go with the flow.

Stockxpert contributors who opted-in to selling their images on a subscription basis will have their portfolio transferred to Getty’s new subscription site Thinkstock.com (rivaling Shutterstock?). As I have a nearly identical portfolio on Istockphoto and Stockxpert I have decided to totally cancel my account on Stockxpert and have my images transferred to Thinkstock via Istock.

However, now I was down one agency in my list. So after doing some research, I have chosen to go with the up and coming agency Can Stock Photo. With a little over 2.2 million images on offer Can Stock Photo is not one of the biggest players on the market, but I think they hold potential for the future.

So, January… Not what I had expected after having a pretty decent start in december. However, every dollar earned is good! Once again Shutterstock yielded the most sales for me with the images below.

My first sale on Fotolia (also one of the images above) is now a fact. Unfortunately BigStockPhoto and Dreamstime have still not generated any sales for me. Stockxpert is almost the same as last month with all revenue so far comming from Jupiterimages Unlimited Subscription downloads.

All in all as a beginner in microstock I must say I am not disappointed with what I have achieved in just 2 months. I do however realize I still have a lot of work to do as my portfolio only counts 38 images total at the moment. I want to get my portfolio up to at least 100 as soon as I can, as more images means more exposure and more image sales.

Keywording… This is probably the least attractive aspect of the microstock process. However if you want to make a buck, you should better strap in and get typing. If you want people to find and buy your images, picking relevant keywords is vital. There is no way I can make this more fun for you, but I will try to make it easier, so read on!

When keywording, always try to describe your images. For instance, an image of a woman eating an apple will provide you with the following base keywords: woman, eating, apple. From there elaborate on what you have. If the apple is green add “green”. If the woman is smiling add “smile”. Is she a blond, brunette or redhead? What is she wearing? Where is she eating the apple? The apple can also stand for “healthy (lifestyle)” etc. I usually try to incorporate about 50 keywords per image.

You should however also try to avoid keyword spam. For example do not say the woman is eating the apple in Paris and add “Paris” as a keyword, unless you have something like the Eiffel Tower in the background of the image which justifies its use. In essence do not add keywords that have nothing to do with the image. Most agencies will be able to pick up on that and as a result might deactivate your account if you try and spam your way into the results.

Keywording is very time consuming and it can be difficult to come up with 50 keywords for each picture, but have no fear! Top microstock photographer Yuri Arcurs has provided us with a powerful aid. His keywording tool will allow you to search for a specific image like any other potential buyer would do. From the results, select the images most resembling your image. Click proceed and voila, a list of keywords you will be able to use for your images.

Copy and paste the keywords into your IPTC “keywords” data field (all the big agencies will be able to read your IPTC data) in Adobe Bridge, add a title and a description and start uploading!

I just wanted to review what equipment I am using for my product photography shots. Now you can of course build a do-it-yourself light tent and use your own lighting with some daylight bulbs, but I decided to step it up with some nice Falcon Eyes goodies. An investment that has proven its worth!

Lighting
For the lighting I use 2 Falcon Eyes LHD-5250FS fluorescent lights. These lights are powered with 5x 28watt (700 watt total power) bulbs with a color temperature of 5000K (daylight). The lamp head has a 5-step control so you can have 1 to 5 bulbs on at the same time. The LHD-5250FS gets delivered with a 60×60cm softbox with a reflective surface on the inside of the box, so there is a bit of room to vary with your setups.

Photo table
The ST-1020A is my photo table of choice. This is the largest version that Falcon Eyes have to offer. Depending on what you will be using it for you can of course get a smaller version, but I bought this with “expansion” in mind and the general desire to shoot anything bigger then a pocket watch. The plastic background board measures 100×200cm. This thing is absolutely huge when setup so make sure you have some empty space in your room to put it in. The ST-1020A comes in a nice and sturdy travel bag which holds all the supports and joints. The only thing you will need to take seperately (if you are going to travel with it) is the background board, but that can be easily rolled up.

This package (lights & photo table) has set me back a little under $800,- (US). So it is quite an investment, but one worth making if you are into product photography in a “more than average” way.