myrmecos

Biting bugs in the field?

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I use the Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro for the really small ones like punkies, mozzies, and black flies. Larger biting insects such as horse flies are better taken care of with the 100mm f2.8 macro. ;)

Bill,

 

My web site is <a href=

"http://www.myrmecos.net/">myrmecos.net - insect photography</a>. Should be linked through my profile, at any rate.

The landscape print market was well saturated long before the internet even came along. You take beautiful photos, but so do the other 50,000 people who have landscape print sales on their web pages. We are drowning in a sea of pretty landscapes.

 

What you probably should do to get noticed is specialize. Cultivate a particular type of photography, some area where you might already have experience or particular expertise, and make a content-rich website devoted to Just That One Thing. Landscapes are too general. So are beaches, for that matter. Instead, be the guy who does bridges. Or moonrise shots over iconic cityscapes. Or 1950s hood ornaments. Anything but the same thing that everyone else does.

 

Also, don't expect sales from 10 hits/day. After several years' effort and a good amount of luck, my site is the top google hit for a number of search terms. It gets 1,000+ unique hits/day, yet I only make a sale (stock images) once every couple weeks. This means more than 10,000 people view my page before a buyer comes along.

Ask the editor what they'd prefer. In my experience (nature photography), they're all different. Much of the time editors prefer TIF files for the final submission but are happy with smaller, 400-1000 pixel width jpgs sent over email or posted on a website for preliminary screening. For the final image, some editors like the convenience of emailed JPGs, others have ftp sites, some only take TIF files on CD. I've never found a need for a watermark- professional photo editors aren't normally the sort to go hawking your images.

I don't think there's an easy answer to this question. I've sold cropped images off a 3 Megapixel Coolpix digicam to a high-end stock agency, only because the images were of a rather specialized and rarely-photographed subject matter. Now I use a 6MP dSLR. These give me 36 MB TIF files, and I've not had any problems. If you've got nice photos of rare or high-demand subject matter, you'll have plenty of slack with the stock agencies.

 

Interpolating doesn't add anything to your photos- It's actually kind of "cheating." I'd avoid doing it.

A major reason that luna moths and other Saturniid moths are rarely seen in the U.S. is a poorly-conceived biological control program several decades ago. A parasitic tachinid fly was brought in to control the gypsy moth without prior testing for host specificity. The fly arrived and promptly decimated populations of some of our most beautiful native moths.

Hello. I am looking for feedback about <a

href="http://www.visualsunlimited.com">Visuals Unlimited</a>, a stock

agency that specializes in Science/Nature images, preferably from

people who have worked with them in the past. <p>

 

I've been thinking for a while about farming out the marketing of my

images to a stock agency. Photography is only a sideline for me and

I've not got the time or inclination to devote to running a small

business. Nonetheless, I often deal with several requests per week,

usually generated through Google traffic to my web site <a

href="http://www.myrmecos.net">myrmecos.net</a>. The folks at Visuals

Unlimited contacted me out of the blue this morning, as they are

interested in signing me on. I had not heard of them, but a cursory

web search about the company shows that they are relatively high-

profile and well-connected for science photography. What I'd like to

hear from photo.netters are experiences from nature photographers who

have worked with this company regarding whether their experiences

were worthwhile.

<p>

Thanks,

<p>

Alex

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful replies. I do like the idea of finding some experienced part-time help. Being in a big university town, I could well find a student with the right inclination. And putting up some relevant image use/pricing information on my website is an idea that is long overdue by now.

I have accidently provoked a bit of a personal crisis and would like

some advice from the knowledgable photo.netters who have been there.<p>

 

I am discovering- unintentionally- that one can break into what I'm

told is a highly-competitive nature photography business by becoming

overly specialized on a particular subject. In my case, the subject

is ants. This specialization flows naturally from my "day job" as a

graduate student in entomology working on ants. <p>

2 years ago I bought a cute little Nikon Coolpix 995 with the thought

of getting a few of my own macro insect photos to use in presentations

and just for general field research. I had no photographic sense

whatsoever, but what fun! I was hooked. I begin to spend too much

time admiring <a

href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation?presentation_id=188714">Mark

Plonsky's</a> fantastic work on photo.net. I put up a web site (<a

href="http://www.myrmecos.net">www.myrmecos.net</a>) to share photos

with some of my fellow entomophiles.<p>A year later, I'm broke and

holding a Canon d60 with an MPE 65mm 1-5x macro lens. I'm in ant

photography heaven. Google's image search picks me up. Email

starts trickling in. Teachers want to use images for classes. Great!

Perfect use for them. A pest control company wants an image for a

mailing. Ug. I turn them down, not wanting to give the photos away

for commercial purposes, and not wanting to deal with the

legal/financial hassle of selling.

<p>The email flow persists. I hesitatingly sell photos to several

european popular science-type magazines. U.S. magazines begin to

call. Textbook photo editors, too. And a big surprise- a month ago a

major natural history museum decided to feature several dozen of my

images in a public ant exhibit, due to open shortly. I've done no

marketing, the

interest seems to have far more to do with the technical nature of the

photographs I take than with any inherent photographic genius (heck,

at this point I am still learning how to use the darned camera.)

Being a specialist in what I do in entomology, I can put species names

on most of the critters I photograph. Photo editors looking for

images of particular species or behaviors find me in Google. Often

I'm the only source they've found for what they need. Recently I get

10-15 emails a week regarding my photographs, most are educators or

scientists asking permission to use them in presentations, but on

average 1-2 a week of those are interested exchanging money for

images. <p>Here's the problem. I am not a business-minded person.

I'm just a guy who likes bugs and put up a web page. I don't usually

give my photos away- I don't want to establish that precedent- and I

don't want to undercut serious photgraphers. I am also busy with lots

of non-photography work. The requests seem to be accelerating. I

have no intention of going pro (why ruin a perfectly good hobby?), but

I'd like my images to be out there and it'd be nice if my lenses could

pay for themselves. And I'd really, really not like to go into panic

everytime someone starts to negotiate a price for an image. I haven't

even the slightest idea how to make up an invoice.<p>What I am looking

for with this post is advice. Specifically, what books on the

business of photography ought I be reading? On the legal aspects?

Pricing? Is there any simple business software that I can use to get

the logistics under control? Any common pitfalls I should look out

for? And, if any of you have the time to peruse my <a

href="http://www.myrmecos.net">web page</a>, is there anything there

that could use improvement? (keeping in mind that the primary purpose

of the site is NOT commercial)<p>Thanks,<p>Alex