Carsten Reisinger's Blog

Are you an IP lawyer from Miami?

Carsten Reisinger — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:00:42 +0000

Gavel and sound block on white background

I’m looking for young and ambitious IP lawyers in the Miami area.

Many industries underwent huge changes in the last decade, basically leading to the erosion of prices. With the connection of almost every household to the internet, countless new opportunities have been created. But not just opportunities, also new forms of criminal activities have been on the rise.

New industries and new businesses are now in need of legal representation or assistance.

Unfortunately, I cannot go into further details publicly, so therefore I’d appreciate it if you contact me via email.

If you are not from Miami but still interested, don’t hesitate to contact me as well.

More ways to make money with your images

Carsten Reisinger — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:18:41 +0000

So you’ve done the work once: Creating the image, applying keywords and uploading it to the agencies. It would be a shame not to use the full potential of your artwork. Therefore I recommend to explore more ways how to monetize your images. Here are some ideas how to do that:

1. Create a Zazzle (Cafepress etc.) account and put your images on T-Shirt, Mugs, postcards, posters and more. You set your own commission which is a nice benefit. You will have to market your products also by telling friends, posting on facebook etc. to increase sales.

2. Create a photo book. At www.blurb.com you can create high quality photo books for a reasonable price. You can show off your work with such a book and eventually find buyers this way.

3. Participate in photo contests. Search the web and you will always find some photo contest looking for entries.

4. Sell prints of your images on ebay. Create your own large prints get a frame and let the bidding begin.

5. Set up your own web site from scratch or use www.smugmug.com to give you a head-start so you can showcase your best work. Visitors, models and clients can order prints directly from your site. It’s convenient, professional and a very individual way to market your work.

Feel free to recommend more ways so I can add them to the list.

Recycle your images!

Carsten Reisinger — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:56:20 +0000

Sometimes when we run low on inspiration we can easily keep ourselves busy by “recycling our images”.

Once you have shot, edited, uploaded and sold some files you get an idea what the buyers like and what themes and concepts they prefer. Use that information in order to take existing images and give them a twist.

Easy example:

This can easily lead to double or triple the sales of the same concept.

Always make sure that you are using your RAW files or uncompressed TIFFs in 16-bit when editing!

What is considered copyright infringement?

Carsten Reisinger — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Definition of copyright infringement by the U.S. Copyright Office:

As a general matter, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.

This is pretty clear what it means.

However, to some “artists” it’s a relative term when it comes to using one (or more) of your images for their artwork.

In these instances it is highly recommended to have your images already registered for copyright as an attorney will ask you first if you did so. Registering your copyright will make it a lot easier to find a lawyer who might even take the case on a contingency basis. Furthermore the more severe the infringement is, the more likely it is to receive a settlement down the road.

Additionally it has to be mentioned that a concept or idea can NOT be registered for copyright. Only the image that you created is registered and that’s that.

In very few instances Getty Images won cases where photographers used images from Getty as “inspiration” and re-shot the image. But this isn’t happening too often and furthermore requires litigation in court which is very costly.

As soon as you find one of your images being infringed by someone else do some research and check if you can get an attorney to take the case. The bigger the infringement the higher the chances to receive a settlement out of court.

In small cases where someone “just” violates licensing terms (i.e. used the full resolution image in their blog) either contact the stock image agency that sold the image or contact the administrator/owner directly to ask for a valid license if in doubt. Otherwise prepare a claim for copyright infringement and email it to the web hosting company to have the infringing material removed.

P.S. I’m not an attorney and this information is not intended to be interpreted as legal advice. This article is supposed to be helpful to you in order to protect your copyright. Always consult an attorney to get professional advice!

How to find models?

Carsten Reisinger — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:29:56 +0000

Happy middle aged man © Carsten Reisinger

Microstock allows you to start from (almost) nothing. At some point though you most likely will start shooting models instead of objects or landscapes.

There are several ways to do that.

1. Shoot your friends and family – those will be the “cheapest” models out there!

2. Put a free ad on www.cragislist.com to find local people that want to model. Mention in the ad what your budget is or if you want only models that accept images from the shoot as compensation.

3. Contact local model agencies for professional models.

4. Websites like www.modelmayhem.com where you can find more professional models. Oftentimes these models want to be compensated.

In more rural areas you can also put up notes at your local supermarket etc. with your contact information. A good thing to keep in mind is that in many cases you need your model to “act out” a certain situation or look. This way I recommend to target specifically actors as models as they will be more responsive to your directing.

I know what Microstock is but where do I start…?

Carsten Reisinger — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:08:24 +0000

1. Create a contributor account. Check here for recommended agencies.

2. Initial submissions for application. Click here for more information.

3. Got approved? Shoot as much as you can.

4. Running short on time?

5. Stay informed. Check independent forums for the latest news in the business.

It’s not rocket science and if you follow all my tips you will save a lot of time and get your images online the fastest way possible.

This article will be updated.

Can I make money with 3D rendered images?

Carsten Reisinger — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:28:40 +0000

Yes we can © Carsten Reisinger

Yes you can!

Actually there is a high demand for high quality 3D renders.

If you’re working in the gaming or architectural industry and enjoy creating renders in your spare time you could offer those renders at Microstock agencies and make a nice pocket money on the side. This could help finance you next little piece of gear you were looking for.

The requirements in terms of quality are rising all the time. Great new artists are entering the Microstock community constantly so it’s vital to produce nice, clean and stock-worthy images.

Besides the regular Microstock agencies, there are also web sites where you can offer your models for sale.

Check out The 3D Studio.com for more info.

The concept of Microstock

Carsten Reisinger — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:43:48 +0000

Challenge © Carsten Reisinger

How does it work, this Microstock model?

Here are the facts:

Photographs, 3D and vector illustrations, Flash, footage and audio files are being offered to everyone at extremely low prices.

Credit based purchases can be as low as $1 for an image or audio file while a subscription plan can get you a full high-resolution image for $0.33.

Footage, flash and vector illustrations usually sell for more but are not exempt from the subscription model and can also sell for a very low price.

Naturally you would ask “Why would any artist sell his/her work for such low pices?” – absolutely logic question.

Answer is that the entire Microstock industry is built on the incredibly big demand for good media (images, audio and video) which allows the Microstock agencies to sell each file many, many times.

Now, many contributors continue to join Microstock agencies all the time and lots of contributors who have been working in the industry already gave up the hard struggle with their competition because you’re only going to see profits (that are worth your time…) if you dedicate a good chunk of your time and talent.

It is crucial to produce attractive, popular and high quality content to stay in the game. Just taking a picture of your neighbor’s cat “Buffy” is not going to make you rich.

So the idea is to constantly produce content that meets current quality standards in order to compete with the best that are out there. Now you’re looking at making $300, $600 or $1.000 with one image over the period of 3 years. Not with every picture but with good images and really good images make you more money.

Be aware that you also won’t get these numbers with only one image in your portfolio! You need to built a strong portfolio with hundreds and thousands of images. This will get the ball rolling.

It is hard work but it’s not too complicated either. Microstock allows anyone to start from Zero and to become really successful if you have what it takes.

Copyright infringement – How do I find my stolen images?

Carsten Reisinger — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:08:21 +0000

I recommend to sit down for an hour every month or so to do some research of your own images how much they’ve “spread” on the internet.

There are a couple of ways how you can check for your images online that shouldn’t be there…

First, I use Tineye. Tineye is using a software to index images found online on any given web site. As the web is quite “big” Tineye won’t ever be able to index all images online but there is a chance you will find some of your images.

With their plug-in you can either right-click on your image (or any other image) online or upload a medium resolution image on their homepage and have Tineye perform an online search for duplicates. It will list all the web sites that contain the same image or even slightly manipulated versions of your image. From there you can “investigate” and see if license terms have been violated or your copyright has been infringed.

Worst case scenario is that the same image is on sale at another Microstock agency, uploaded by another contributor!

Secondly you can use any search engine’s image search such as:

http://images.google.com/

http://images.search.yahoo.com/

http://www.bing.com/images?

Use keywords that you included in your IPTC data to find your image. A good thing with Bing is that when one of your images is found (at an agency) then you can hover over that search result and click on “Show similar images”. That way you can receive more targeted results.

Please note, that these image searches don’t indicate “copyright infringement”. It’s up to you or a lawyer to determine if any licensing terms have been violated.

Video tutorial on how to improve image quality

Carsten Reisinger — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:35:21 +0000

Check here my video tutorial for beginners on how to improve image quality. This video gives you a few tips you should consider when taking your photos. Also you will have to do some research on your own as well.

Feel free to leave comments or don’t hesitate to ask any questions related to the video.