Articles by Jim Pickerell

Book Review: Boughn’s ‘Microstock Money Shots’

By Jim Pickerell | 812 Words | Posted 8/20/2010 | Comments (1)
If you have decided you want to enter the microstock world, you can’t get better advice than is contained in Ellen Boughn’s newly release Microstock Money Shots. Boughn doesn’t promise that it’s easy or that you’ll get rich quick, but she will save you a lot of the frustration that comes from learning the hard way by trial and error.

Selling Fine Art

By Jim Pickerell | 2312 Words | Posted 8/19/2010 | Comments (1)

Fine art photographs are an expression of the artist’s creative vision, perceptions and emotions more than a realistic rendering of a subject. Peers may admire such work and judges may occasionally award a dollar prize, but in most cases such images are not deemed to have commercial value. Actually profiting from the creative effort is rare for most photographers who produce such images. They produce them because they feel compelled to do so, not for the money. However, John Math is proving that it is possible to profit from selling fine art images if you take a business approach and develop a marketing strategy.

Going Pro: The Freelance Challenge

By Jim Pickerell | 1949 Words | Posted 8/19/2010 | Comments
On Linkedin’s Photography Industry Professionals discussion group, Brooke Fagel recently asked: “What’s it like to be a freelance photographer?” These select responses provide a comprehensive picture of what a photographer faces.

Going Pro: The Freelance Challenge

By Jim Pickerell | 1923 Words | Posted 8/17/2010 | Comments
On Linkedin’s Photography Industry Professionals discussion group, Brooke Fagel recently asked: “What’s it like to be a freelance photographer?” These select responses provide a comprehensive picture of what a photographer faces.

Pixmac Expands Across Atlantic

By Jim Pickerell | 717 Words | Posted 8/16/2010 | Comments
Two-year-old Pixmac is banking on its “rapid checkout and download” without the necessity for customers to engage in a complex registration process to help the company expand its customer base in North America.

Top Pros Stop Shooting

By Jim Pickerell | 1031 Words | Posted 8/13/2010 | Comments (6)
Many rights-managed and traditional royalty-free production companies are having trouble finding photographers willing to shoot for them. Many of the photographers who were rights-managed and traditional royalty-free stars five to ten years ago have given up shooting stock, or at the very least dramatically cut the number of images they produce and the amount they are willing to spend production.

Revisiting Grill: Revenue as Function of Price Times Volume

By Jim Pickerell | 583 Words | Posted 8/11/2010 | Comments (1)
One of the things rights-managed and traditional royalty-free photographers tend to overlook is the average price per image licensed. Photographers worry when their images are licensed for low prices. They track their average royalty per image in file and the trends of their monthly royalty check, but is a lower royalty check the result of fewer images being licensed, a lower average price per license or both?

Are Low Prices For Image Use Bad?

By Jim Pickerell | 646 Words | Posted 8/9/2010 | Comments
One of the things RM and traditional RF photographers tend to overlook is average price-per-image-licensed. Photographers worry when their images are licensed for low prices. They track their average royalty-per-image-in-file and the trends of their monthly royalty check. But is a lower royalty check the result of fewer images being licensed, a lower average price-per-license or both?.

Going Pro: Are Great Images Enough?

By Jim Pickerell | 960 Words | Posted 8/9/2010 | Comments
When you are a freelance self-employed photographer, getting to the level of earning enough to support yourself and your family is difficult. But you know you can do it, because you are willing to work hard and you produce great, unique images that are better than anything offered by the competition. Here are a few basic principles of the photography business to remember.

Microstock Income Potential - 2010 Figures

By Jim Pickerell | 2783 Words | Posted 8/9/2010 | Comments
This chart is designed to give the reader an understanding of the number of times images belonging to some of the top microstock photographers at iStockphoto are licensed in a given year and what that can mean in terms of gross revenue.