September News Digest:
Yuri Arcurs posted "What sells in microstock anno 2012 [3]" on his blog. It makes an interesting read; although much of the advice is not exactly new, most of it is well worth re-iterating. The thread in response on microstockgroup [4] kind of sums up my thoughts on it, in particular the sentiments along the lines of "You're dammed if you follow the advice as everyone else will do just the same, and dammed if you don't".
An istockphoto sponsored survey [5] of graphic designers revealed that nothing ground breaking has happened since last year. The designers who are using stock photography (most of them) are using it more often, and 89% of them say that price influences them the most. Noticeably, this year's survey omits to reveal how many designers expressed an istock preference. There is perhaps a slight trend to buyers using more than one agency, but other than that most of the results fall within 3% of each other. Compare with last years survey on mystockphoto [6].
Sean Locke wrote about istockphotos new Checkout process [7] that allows buyers to purchase images instantly without buying credits. Buying credits still offers frequent buyers the quickest and easiest way to purchase multiple images.
Pond5 announced [8] an Adobe Premier Plugin that affords footage and audio users "Seamless integration" of their collection.
Shutterstock announced the pricing of their IPO [9], 4.5 million shares at 13-15 dollars a share.
A few posts from microstockdiaries this month, including a review of picworkflow [10] and some tips for the press covering microstock [11].
Depositphotos [12] announced they were dropping their SMS payment option - more on microstockinfos [13]
Dreamstime [14] published an informative infographic [15] (.pdf) timeline of photography.
It's quiet in here!