Stock photography: How (not) to get rich quickly (video)

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18572804
No, I have not tried video.

In fact, I have never even shot video - not even one second's worth (except with my cell phone).

I have extreme problems trying to use technology and software. . I just don't understand how any of it works.

I have purchased Photoshop Elements and Lightroom and Aperture, but don't use them because I can not figure out how to use them. . So for all of my photo editing needs I have used only iPhoto and the new program that replaced it, Photos. . They are the programs that came already loaded onto my computers when I bought them, and they are the only programs that I could ever figure out how to use.

So now imagine me shooting video. . I would go out and shoot the video and then it would sit on my memory cards forever because I would not be able to figure out how to get it off the card and onto the computer.

Before you say, "it's easy - all you do is ........ "

Well, before you say this, please understand the following:

I bought a flash for my Canon DSLR and couldn't figure out how to make it go off when I take the picture. . I looked at the menu on the back of the camera and couldn't find anything to select that would make the flash work.

Also, a friend gave me an Echo Dot for Christmas. . The Dot sits on my desk, unused, because for the life of me I cannot figure out how to make it work or how to connect to anything.

Another problem I had - when I bought Photoshop, I could not figure out how to get it onto my computer, so I had to call the good folks at Apple Support and have them do it for me. . They have this great thing where they "take over" my computer and can do things for me from wherever they are. . But if I had had to "install" it myself, or "download" it myself, it never would have happened.

Additionally, I have never had an "app" on my smartphone. . Why? . Because the times when I have tried to download an app, I get error messages that say that before I can download the app I need to do this and I need to do that, and it is all so overwhelming and I can't figure out how to do any of the things they say I need to do.

Hence, no apps for Tommy

So please keep my ultra-low aptitude in mind when you think about the idea of me doing video for stock submissions.

The use of ambient light, the composition, "capturing the moment", the backgrounds and the supporting elements and the point of view and the "artistic vision" - these are all the easy things that come to me without me even thinking consciously of them. . But the technology and the software - that is the horrible nightmare that prohibits me from success.


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Tom,

I have read before ... with a mixture of amusement and horror ... of the challenges you have had to contend with in accommodating yourself (almost) to current technology. I've also noted that you are the 'smart guy' who has figured out how to defeat POTN's relentless efforts to cut off and conceal the first few letters of any new post ... and I've slavishly copied your method.

I suspect you are far better at 'technology' than you usually 'let on'.

Anyway, whatever, you are a 'high attention to detail', 'imprecision vigilante' kind of a person. My impression is that you have worked out how to get by and meet your main priorities without involving a huge amount of money. OhLook could be right with her idea that freelance proofreading might be a conducive way to earn a few extra bucks to improve on that.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18572933
Now, for the real question ....... does this Preview program edit videos? . If so, then I may not be as far away from video competence as I think I am.


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Tom, your Mac comes with iMovie (the purple star in the dock) for editing video.

Pippan wrote in post #18572996
Tom, your Mac comes with iMovie (the purple star in the dock) for editing video.

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Hmmmm .... there is no purple star on my dock. . Nor is there anything in the dock named, "iMovie".

Might there be another way to find this program, in the case that it is on my computer, but somehow not included in the "dock items"?


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Finding iMovie may depend on what model Mac and what operating system you have. Mine is a MacBook Pro from 2015. Its OS is Sierra, version 10.12.3. The Dock contains an icon for Launchpad. This icon looks like a rocket pointing up and to the right. Clicking or tapping the Launchpad icon produces a display of all the apps that came with the machine. The purple star for iMovie is among them.

If you don't have Launchpad or you expelled it from the Dock, another way to find an app is to go to the Desktop and use the search function: Command-F.

OhLook wrote in post #18573110
Finding iMovie may depend on what model Mac and what operating system you have. Mine is a MacBook Pro from 2015. Its OS is Sierra, version 10.12.3. The Dock contains an icon for Launchpad. This icon looks like a rocket pointing up and to the right. Clicking or tapping the Launchpad icon produces a display of all the apps that came with the machine. The purple star for iMovie is among them.

If you don't have Launchpad or you expelled it from the Dock, another way to find an app is to go to the Desktop and use the search function: Command-F.

Sorry Tom, I must have put mine in the dock. When you find iMovie in the launchpad (as OhLook described) or under 'Applications' in the Finder, you can click on it and drag it (or any other app) to the dock and it will stay there. Then in future, to open it you just click on the dock icon.

I found it!

It is on my computer! . The step-by-step instructions from Oh Look worked perfectly.

Maybe I will try to shoot some video. . Who knows, it might end up being something that changes my life somewhat.

Thanks!


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18573235
I found it!

It is on my computer! . The step-by-step instructions from Oh Look worked perfectly.

Maybe I will try to shoot some video. . Who knows, it might end up being something that changes my life somewhat.

Thanks!


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Good luck with your videos Tom!

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18572933
I never knew about that before - THANKS!

Now, for the real question ....... does this Preview program edit videos? . If so, then I may not be as far away from video competence as I think I am.


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Tom, to be honest I must say that video in general is very complex and technical,
Much, much harder than photography

Any recommendations on microstock and rights managed sites that I could try to upload photos to?

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18568451
Vic,

I appreciate the video. . It is spot-on accurate. . However, what you say is really nothing new - stock photography has been this way for about 9 or 10 years now, with little change in that time.

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What I hear about stock photography reminds me of websites and "SEO' changing 15 years ago or 20 years ago. When only a few people had sites, it wasn't hard to get in the top 10 or top 2 of the first page. But when 200 people of the same craft get sites, even if they all hired the best of the best, that person can't get them all on top. It's just flooded.

I compare it to the gold rush days. The first people to start mining made some good money. Eventually when 20,000 other people came too late, those made next to nothing.