DIYPhotography.net

Again a small deviation from DIY and photography. Just to tell you about the Photoshelter collection. Photoshelter is an internet based stock agency that gives a great counter balance to the familiar sell-your-image-for-a-buck microstock sites.

There are a couple of thing that I like about Photoshelter, and I am going to talk about them in just a minute. But before that I want to share why I even write about those guys in this site.

The folks at Photoshelter offer stock photographers something that none of the other micro stock sites offers - a solid community. They do meetings, free seminars and give lectures. So opposing the microstock usual slogan "our success is your success", which means, if the site's going well you'll make some dough, they say - "If we can help you to take good pictures, everybody wins". That means that they will actively help amateurs to improve. Best example for this is the talk that Chase Jarvis gave in New York no so long ago. They even put it on the net for us all to watch. If you have the time (and YES - you have the time), click here and sit back; it's a long 55 minutes feature, but worth every minute)

The other thing which I like is the way images are handled there (a clue - with respect) - The photographer sets the price; 70-85% goes to the photographer; The photographer has tools to set the price in the correct range as opposed to will-photo-for-food thing that micro sites do.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not opposing microstock. If you are good and fast you can make decent amounts of money there. This is more about control and having the knowledge that your interests are being served.

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Related links:
- Photoshelter
- Chase Jarvis in New York