New Posts and Members

[dpw-shane]

I've just been looking through the stats for the board and I've noticed that there's been a large drop in the postings and take up of new members but there still seems to be quite a lot of visiters to the site.

Does that mean that we're all here looking for things to read but don't feel like talking to each other?

I know that work is still being done on the site by Ruben and the team (I like the monthly spotlight idea!), and I know that there are still many photographs being uploaded each day/week/month (and there are people visiting and looking at the ones that are already there) so why aren't we on the board discussing ideas and promoting our work.

I assume that this board gets search engine hits so it's a good way to promote the site and our own portfoilios. So come on guys and gals, lets talk!

[xprtshot]

Hi shane, see you are trying this again.  If you review the last time you posted a similiar thread, back in Nov., I was the only one to respond.  Let us see if there are any other brave souls out there to give some input.  I know this site is new and has a relatively small photo base, but getting in on the ground floor so to speak can be a good thing.  Even now I look back at what I submitted when I first joined and wonder why in h@#$ they were accepted.  I still consider myself a relative "newbie" to this photography thing.  I only started seriously photographing in August of 06 so it has been less than a year.  I have recently completed my first "real" shoot for the organization I work for and luckily everything went relatively smoothly, learned a great deal and most importantly the organization was overjoyed with the results and have indicated future assignments.  I have been asked to shoot a relatives wedding (real young couple without a lot of resources) and I will be doing it for the experience.  I have already informed them I am NOT a pro but they really liked the images I took of the christening of their son so they still want me to do it.  I have scheduled a time to sit with them to go over what they want, to scout the church and the reception hall to ensure I will have what I need and where the best places to shoot will be.  Sorry I am a little long winded here, but I agree there is VERY LITTLE input on the forums and what the heck, maybe I can get some others to put in there two cents.  I use a Canon 350D, a 28 - 200mm f3.8 - 5.6, a 50mm f1.8 and the kit 18 - 55mm f3.5 - 5.6mm lenses.  It seems I always return to the 28 - 200 though due to it's versatility.  I will be receiving a 75 - 300mm in the near future for sports and nature shots and am looking at the Canon 28 - 105 USM as my next purchase.  Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[dpw-shane]

I know that I tried this before with very little success but I thought I'd give it another go!!

I'm not a professional either. I'm just an amateur photographer with loads of photos on my hard drive and I thought that I'd take my hobby one step further by uploading to a selection of microstock sites. My portfolio will show you that I'm not great and the photographs that I take are more for my amusement than for any serious attempt at sales (although that could change if my sales pick up a bit).

I've had some slight success on other sites with a total of 126 downloads (although that is spread across 7 different sites with the best having 70 downloads and the lowest having 1 download).

I know that this site is still in its infancy and I know that this business is very cutthroat with sites failing all of the time but I would love to see MicroStockPhoto do well because it seems to be well organised and the owners seem to be trying really hard to make it better. We can all see the changes that have been made to the front end but it would be good to get some feedback on how the marketing is going at the moment.

I know that I'm still getting views on my uploaded pictures and the newest uploads are changing frequently so there must be several photographers still taking an active stance and hopefully many visiters with the intention of buying photos are here as well.

Good luck with your wedding photo's - I've done that for a friend as well (it made it slightly harder because I was best man as well so had to set the self timer for some of the shots!).