Stock Image: Four young friends having fun at a Berlin Café
Uploaded: June 2012
Collection: Vetta
One of my first images uploaded upon my return from the 2012 Berlin Istockalypse. I don’t know exactly what story the models decided to develop here (I was far away with my long lens during one of the walkabouts and didn’t get to really direct the models until later that morning), but it made this scene work. It looks genuine, candid and fun. One of many during this outing. I put a heavy hand in post processing (I think I had 12 filters in my Nik recipe to do this) as I really wanted to break that Vetta barrier and felt I needed to lay on layers upon layers of special effects to achieve that because the lighting was so drab that day… Well it did land in Vetta, and then sold at both agencies, so I guess I did a proper job.
You can view all of my lifestyle photographs shot in Berlin in this lightbox.
A second one from the Berlin Istockalypse. This one was done in a tie factory, using actors/models in a variety of settings. I loved the interaction between these two models as I’d shot them earlier that day in the fabric section. We brought them to the larger sewing area, got a mannequin, some fabric and staged this in probably 3.5 minutes as I had less than 10 minutes left on my time. I didn’t have time to fiddle with the lighting and so shot at a very small aperture in ambient light, hence the reduced depth of field. I love working with pros, though. They just project that easy-going cheerful confidence on cue, which is extremely time saving. In regards to performance, well it’s another one of those low-selling files on IStock that made most of its money on Getty Images. It turns out there is a lot of these on this list. Hmmm.
You can view all of my Berlin Istockalypse photos in this photoshelter gallery with links to purchase on Istock.
Stock Photograph – Two friends texting in Urban Setting
So November arrives and this is the last whole month for me to reach my sales target, which is within reach, and get a 15% raise of my commissions for 2013. Normally this would be a piece of cake, but with the still unresolved issues at Istock, it will be a close one. December really being only a half month, I’ve got to make a push for it this month, and so I’ve decided part of my campaign will be to feature the first photo to sell on each day with some links to see related shots in Istock lightboxes and at Photoshelter. It will be fun to see what will pop here: some will be good ones and others will be downright embarrassing. I won’t cheat and I won’t censor. So, blog reader, go ahead and visit my portfolio each morning and pick the best or worst shot you see and I’ll have it posted here with comments on how the shot was made. Huge thanks in advance to anyone who buys a license for one of my photographs.
So let’s start today with the photograph above featuring a hip young couple interacting with a smart phone… a very standard subject for stock. This is a brand new shot uploaded in early October as I was packing for Switzerland. It is lifted off my Berlin Istockalypse photos, shot on the last day of the event during the prolific walkabout in Mitte. I was trying the new autofocus off of my Canon 5d Mk III and this was the last of a long series of continuous shots with the models walking towards me at good speed. The camera was still a bit slow, missing a third of the shots, but much faster than the Mk II to autofocus. And so I was glad to see this one, which really doesn’t look like an action shot. I had to reduce it before submission since it was a bit soft.
Stock Photograph – Elderly couple laughing at a newspaper article
I’m back at work on post production for the many, many shots I made at the 2012 Istockalypse in Berlin. This one just made Agency so I’m delighted to share it with you all today. Lovely work from the two models. They look so natural and intimate, it’s hard to think they only met each other a few hours prior. I was fortunate enough to work with them way beyond my allotted 20 minutes since strangely enough they were under-utilized after I did my time. Plus they kept hanging around me so I guess they liked my style. I’ll make a special lightbox for Ingrid once that feature returns on IStock.
It’s been 10 days since the big 2012 update introducing the cash sale on Istock. I’ve had a few of those and so it’s probably a good move on their part. Prices appear to be high, but of course it’s meant to show new buyers that they’d be better off buying credits and in doing so to come back to the site for further purchases. It’s all good marketing.
What’s not so good is the way the update was pushed without proper testing and quite a few unexpected bugs showed up. Reporting for contributors is now dodgy with cash sales and a large chunks of “views” not showing up in the latest sales screen and people have reported concern over bugs preventing people from completing sales. Some have also reported wrong commissions made on cash sales under a foreign (non US$) currency.
My top two ego-driven selfish concerns at the moment are these:
Bring back the Zoom function at once! My sales above medium size have decreased a great deal since this was taken away.
Bring back the lightbox option! Maybe they want to lead buyers to enjoy the new cart function… still, it’s not that practical.
I’m not one to usually use gimmicky post processing, but upon coming back from Berlin, I found myself with hundreds of gray images shot on an overcast day. I started fiddling around with adding flares and discovered a whole array of lighting effects that can be done by using the technique: tweak your colors by using Selective Colors on Neutral in Photoshop (less cyan, less black, more yellow), then add a layer, put it on Screen blending mode, fill it with black and apply your Lens Flares (under Filters – Render) then desaturate the layer and apply a wide gaussian blur to remove the tacky sharp flares and odd color bursts. You can then repeat, adjust opacity and then have fun in Color Efex to get something like the above photograph, which just sold today. It does look much more lively than a flat gray shot I admit. Flares are quite trendy these days… now I get why!
Here’s another one I love from the Berlin Istockaplypse. This was shot during the walkabouts with the models and we were 4 photographers on them at every scene. So it was a real challenge to find angle / lens / timing combo that can set us apart. I think I did a great job here.
I’m taking a pause in post-processing Berlin. Judging by the very slow start at sales, this is not a good period to upload. This trip was a large investment for me, and the worst thing would be to waste the shots by uploading them during the second worst period of the year (the first being between the December 15th and January 2nd) and seeing them get buried before they had a chance to make a mark. I’m strictly doing Vetta submissions and moving on to other shoots. Berlin will be back this fall.
You can review all of my work at the 2012 Berlin Istockalypse on my photoshelter site. Links to purchase the photos are posted below the descriptions on the photo pages. I’ve done about 80 of them so far and they will appear there as they become available.
Gotta start packing boxes for the big move in 3 weeks. Tschuss!
So here is my first sale off of my recent Berlin Istockalypse. It’s an editorial (unreleased) shot too, which is a good sign ’cause I shot many and was really wondering if they’d sell. This was shot in between two touristic photos on my first night in Berlin, where the sun slowly set past 10PM, giving the golden hour a more proper 3 hours span. As in many of my shots in Berlin, I tried to photograph into the sun or with the sun at the edge of the frame to create flare effects, since they appear to be trendy at the moment. It can end up being beautiful, such as here. I wonder how long this trend will last…
My new Berlin stock photo gallery is beefing up on photoshelter and enables everyone to see all the recently available photos days in advance of Istock. So check the new stuff there. Links to purchase are below the photo description on their respective pages.
Stock Photograph – The Berlin Cathedral from the Spree banks
I’m very pleased to see shots that, at the time of shooting, had me doubting the finished product turn out so well. This shot is actually a panoramic done with my 24mm T/S lens. It was the only way I could fit the huge building and a bit of the river in a frame with a minimum of distortion. It was backlit by the sunset and was slightly underexposed, but I ended up applying several filters in Nik software’s color FX to end up with this quite smashing image.
My next entry will be about my first sale from the Berlin photos… hopefully it will be soon. I expected to have at least one by this time, but I guess Summer is a slow period, plus Istock must be flooded with new Berlin photos – just think: 83 photographers unleashed in the same area on the same 4 days = thousands of new photos of similar subjects! It was a real challenge to find ways to stand out. I hope I succeeded. Time will tell.
I’ve been busy uploading editorial and touristic shots from Berlin this week, and so far they have all been accepted. I put together a few lightboxes to feature my photographs of the event. The first lightbox is about Alexanderplatz, the central hub of the Istockalypse. A second one groups together my tourism shots of landmarks and other sightseeing sites in Berlin. The third one regroups the photos shot with models as well as a few unreleased editorial photos and is called Berlin Lifestyle.
So I’m back and heavily into editing mode. I’ve shot over 2300 shots during the ‘Lypse and my present goal is to send 125 of the best over to Istock. There may be more, but since many times I have a dozen versions of the same concept, I think that’s a realistic goal. So what sticks with me today about the event?
* I felt welcome into a positive, caring community. All the art directors, organizers and staff were welcoming, helpful, generous and fun to be around with. Some of the photographers as well were great fun between the shoots.
* I’ve learned a LOT about good stock photography, knowledge that I think will forever change the way I shoot stock. The brainstorming event, the conference titled “think like an inspector” and suggestions from the staff during the shoots were all big, nice eye openers.
* This was well worth the investment, even if I did not sell a single shot, which would be surprising given the high quality of many of the photos I’m bringing back with me. I’m most likely to go to every ‘lypse from now on.
*Berlin, Berlin, Berlin! What a city. So effervescent with the will to become one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Such sights! And the vibe is so great, plus it’s (at the moment) quite affordable.
*Football events are huuuuge there. Hundreds of thousands of people in the streets all watching on screens of various sizes. The roars following a goal shake up the whole city, miles away.
* I totally discovered all I could do with the two lenses that I abused during the event – the 24mm T/S (with which I shot the above photo) and the 200m prime which I used on several of the shoots with models. I was afraid to use the later because of its lack of stabilization, but the quality of the images coming out of my new 5D mark III at high ISOs mean it’s alright to use it hand held at 1/400th, and so I shot comfortably with this little gem of a lens.
And so now I’ll just get back to editing with a big smile. So far, out of a dozen editorial submissions, 3 have been accepted with initial ratings and put in the editorial gems lightbox. Just saying – I only have had a couple of previous initial ratings in 4 years of submissions… Looking good!
McComber Photo 