So by now most of you know that Bigstock is no longer BigstockPhoto and 123RF has also redesigned.? I’m surprised for a few reasons:

* Shutterstock (who owns Bigstock now) said the redesign proves they want to move forward with BSP.? What’s the idea of that?? Just keep stock photo buyers happy?? I like it but I wish they’d let us submit to one place and distribute on both networks.? I have many images on BSP that aren’t on SS – I’d like them combined.

* Both 123RF and Bigstock went for the black/white/grey look.? Very simple, clean, easy designs. I’ll be honest – I like both.? But they look VERY similar now!

I’m glad stuff is where I’m used to finding it, somewhat.? Bigstock’s bulk tool seems to be gone, replaced with a much better one at a time engine.? Still wish it worked more like Canstock or even SS.? Submissions are so much easier at those places without the “delay” of javascript.? I don’t want smooth transitions – I want SPEED.

Bigstock listed a lot of new changes here.? I want to look at a few more closely.

• A new and enhanced search engine (interesting – will have to search my stuff later)
• Additional search engine optimizations for Google and others
• Improvements to the collection: checking metadata and enhancing the search algorithm

I’m interested to see how their changes play out.? I would love for BSP to kick it up a notch and remain a player, even growing.? We just saw IStock kill StockXpert and the contributor side of that pretty much sucked (told you I’d be honest!)? I would be grateful and glad to see Shutterstock market and push Bigstock for one-off downloads.

As far as 123RF, their official twitter (does Alex run this ship?) says “The redesign of 123RF is NOT the END, it’s only the beginning!”? I sure hope so!? I’d like to see the beginning of shorter wait times for reviews, less of the truly bad “poor lighting” rejects and of course more dollars and cents.? PS: Note to 123RF, fix the “Check FTP uploads” screen – it doesn’t scroll right.? It looks a right mess.

What do you think of the changes?? Good, bad, indifferent?

Ok so the previous record for funniest rejection reason belonged to Dreamstime for an image that had people in it but no visible faces.? I wanted to stay safe and therefore uploaded the model releases for those subjects as I had releases for everyone in the photo.

Rejected: No model release needed.

Now that’s hilarious stuff.? I’m impressed with the high comedy of a rejection for adding an extra release to an image with those people in it.? However, today, all has been surpassed.? In fact, I’m not sure this one from Shutterstock can EVER be topped.

Not approved. Reason: Approved.

Now it only took me a minute or two to realize “OHHHHH I already submitted the same image!”? That’s so rare for me that I make this kind of mistake I was in shock!? I have a very good organizational system and so it never crossed my mind.? But Not Approved: Approved.? That one made me laugh a GREAT BIG laugh!

Ahhhh!? I love this business.? Thank you funny reviewer.

After noticing the lack of roast beef sandwiches on Dreamstime and confirming with iStock the same, I decided to do a sandwich shoot.? I thought it would be my first “easy food” shoot.? I mean..how hard can it be to style a sandwich? 8 toothpicks and 2 frustrating hours later I can honestly say it’s WAY harder than it would appear.

The second part of my foodie weekend was a birthday party / dinner party.? We combined an adult-based dinner party for the family with our 14 year old’s birthday party to come up with a menu of: pizza bites (slice in between each and every pepperoni) and tomato skewer appetizers, one huge tossed salad and saute of chicken and broccoli over penne as the main course.? We followed that with birthday cake of course!? Since we technically had my birthday to celebrate as well and 15 guests, we made two cakes.

Here are some quick images I shot this weekend – not the best of the best but at least a few I have already edited.? I’ll post the recipe for the chicken and broccoli on my MattAntonino.com site later today.

I wanted to document a bit of how we prepare for a new stock shoot.? Unfortunately I’m not shooting hot models a la Chase Jarvis so I’m not going to be live demo’ing anytime soon!

Our thought process on a new photo shoot works something like this:

1. Overall concept/theme/ingredient
2. Specific recipe
3. Lighting/angles/technicals
4. Shop
5. Shoot Day

1. Overall concept/theme/ingredient

We shoot two days a week – Friday and Sunday. If we shoot more that’s fantastic.? If not, oh well.? We plan those two days to have one breakfast or lunch type shoot (Friday) and one dinner/dessert (Sunday).? It’s easier to spend a long time cooking/shooting on Sundays for us and dinner/dessert usually seems to take longer than breakfast/lunch.

I follow some really great foodies on Twitter/Facebook/blogs.? One thing I always look for is a recipe that a) will taste great and b) will LOOK great.? As a bonus I often look to see if I can find a healthy version so nobody gains 10 pounds per recipe I shoot.

2. Specific Recipe

So Friday we need to create a lunch. I bookmarked a delicious looking recipe two weeks ago and decided quickly I’d try that this week.? The recipe will be 3 Cheese Chicken Cacciatore Manicotti.? That was easy.? We also need to figure out dinner for Sunday.? I wanted to find something not as “fancy” as cacciatore manicotti so we looked at several recipe sites, some cookbooks and finally decided on something the Biggest Loser Cookbook called “Mom’s New Beef Stew.”? That fits my requirements: tastes great, looks super yummy and bonus: it’s fairly healthy at 275 cals per serving.

Some weeks I will decide on a recipe by ingredient.? Take Kahlua for instance.? We have leftover Kahlua from the chocolate mousse we made a week ago.? This Chocolate Truffle Pie also uses Kahlua.? If we don’t make that Sunday for dessert I’m certain we’ll make it next week.? Using ingredients you have on hand greatly reduces wastes and product going bad/old.

3. Lighting/angles/technicals

After printing the recipe and making a shopping list we write on the back of the recipe some ideas for the shoot.? Mostly this is just note-form.? Here are some examples from our banana split shoot:

• Yellow/orange
• high key
• OJ – don’t think milk will work
• Balance the color
• Angles: will be propped up?
• Spoonful

Generally meaningless until you get in the shoot.? We did end up using a yellow napkin and orange juice – it balanced the color very well.? We did some shots near the end of the shoot with a spoonful of split in front of the dish.? We tried but didn’t use milk because it did, in fact, look bad.? We ended up propping the bowl with a small bottle cap for a few shots.

4. Shop

Shopping day is Thursday.? That dictates our Friday shoot – if we need something super-fresh we may have to pick that up Friday morning before the shoot.? Sunday’s shopping is done except fresh on Thursday as well.? WE have a local Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings year-round so we do our fresh shopping for Sunday then.

With our recipe and our ideas already in place shopping day is generally pretty straightforward.? Pick the best items you can find.

5. Shoot Day

Well, shoots are shoots.? The only thing we try and do specifically at each shoot is pre-organize our ideas so we don’t cut up the food before we’re done with it.? The further into a shoot we get the more we “mess” the dish and the more we feel free to cut, chop, move, adjust, add to, take from, etc.? We want to get those setup shots first, the meat of the shoot, then start playing with the outer edge of the shoot – closeups, eating, some unusual stuff just to see how it works, etc.? Get the bulk of work done when the food is as fresh and perfect as possible.? Once you get that THEN experiment.

Wrap Up

So that’s the way a typical shoot has been going for us.? We are pro photographers but very amateur food photographers. The combination is sometimes an interesting one.? I can figure out how to light something I’ve never shot before but I may not know how to drizzle syrup “correctly” yet.? We continue to read foodie sites, blogs, watch food stylist tutorials on Youtube and read food photo books.? Many many ways to learn in 2010!

Hope you enjoyed the post!? It’s great to be back and thank you for all the comments and well-wishes recently.

I know a lot of readers were concerned when I said I was going into food photography. Why the change?? I told you then and I will say it again – I’m OBSESSED with food now! I’ve made some healthy recipes, lost a few pounds and will keep shooting food.? I LOVE this job!? These images are all shot in the last week.? This is our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th food shoot.? We’re still learning but hopefully you like em!? Actually, hopefully stock photo buyers like em!

Hi & welcome back! NiltoMil is officially off and running again – I’m keywording, submitting, pushing images and then working on shooting some new today.? I’m going to be pushing some older images even though I know they won’t sell as well as I’d like simply because I want the momentum to begin NOW not in a month when I get new stuff edited.

I’m ready for 2010!? January will be a very poor month since I’m starting so late but February should show some recovery.

In the last 6 months when I was mainly gone:

• Shot weddings – and we have 4 other photographers who shot during that time as well.
• Sold my house/bought a new house – a fixer-upper.? We’ve been working on it almost everyday since Nov 20th for 12+ hours per day.
• Delved into the food styling/preparing/photo world.? I’ve read almost every post on Still Life With, Matt Bites, and many other foodie blogs.? I’ve devoured four entire food photography books including Rinder/Smith’s new book and Lou Manna’s classic.
• Redesigned our business brand
• Traveled to Maine, twice.? Traveled to NYC.

Now that I’m back my goal is to create an income that will pay my mortgage first, other bills later.? Our mortgage is $680.? This is an achievable goal that I do have to reach for. I’ll do a more extensive goals post in the next week or so but that’s the start of it.

Current BME: $575.46, July 2008

Let me quote myself.

I am not going to stick around and pretend to be something I?m not.? Too many people set goals and fail to reach them, yet still continue the journey unfazed.? I often share my experiences and ideas in hopes of helping you.? If I can?t help myself first, I can?t help you.

If I fail to reach both goals (10k images, $25k for the year) by 12/31/09, NiltoMil.com will close for good whether I continue to shoot microstock or not.

At this point in the year it is obvious that I will not reach 10k approved images OR $25,000 this year.

I am modifying what I wrote above.? I am not going to destroy or delete Nil. I am going to stop posting earnings, stop posting ideas until they are working better.? I AM going to keep Nil up for the archives and the posts that often get referenced.? I AM going to continue to put up posts of interest to me – whether that’s of interest to anyone else or not.? My journey will continue.

I need to help myself first.? I need to figure out the steps I should be taking to reach my goal? and when I do, I’ll be back full force with the full effort I can give Nil.? Until then, expect sporadic updates on what I’m doing, how stock is going and what I am trying to do to improve.

I’d like to address something – the time I spend on microstock.? I think some people who read this blog are slightly confused about me slaving away and getting nowhere.

In July, I added 15 new images to my sites.? That means I worked on it for under 1 hour in July.? I made $500 in July.

In June, I added 150 new images.? About 4 hours of work.? I also made $450.? I’ve now in 2 months made $950 on 5 hours of work.

In May, I added 160 new images.? About 4 more hours of work.? Made $400.

Grand total: $1400 while doing 9 hours of work.

What I need to do in order to increase my earnings is actually work on microstock.? I do need to continue improving – I’m just really starting my second year of being a stock photographer.? I need to upload with momentum – that’s proven very successful.? But I’m not sitting here day after day churning out work that isn’t selling.? I’m just simply not putting in the time.

Why?

Our studio has 4 photographers, we’re currently hiring 2 more and we’re going to do between 40 and 50 weddings this year combined.? We’ll likely do another 150 portraits and next year will come close to 70 weddings/250 portraits.? Our wedding and portrait business has brought in over $100k each year for the last 2 and will do so this year and next as well.? I am also in the midst of building a studio management software for photographers that will track clients, billing, orders, calendaring, expenses/taxes, and task management.? It’s a huge project but one I love doing.

All that to say, don’t cry for me, Argentina.? I’m here, I’m going to continue working on micro when I can.? Right now I’m being torn in 3 directions and this one is the least of my issues.

This post is more for my benefit – to look back on and laugh – than it is to educate & inspire you all.? We’ve been doing a LOT of learning & shooting on food lately.? I posted the brownies, we shot some shorter shoots (cupcakes too!) and we are doing another on Saturday (learning pasta I guess!).? I just wanted to get a few things out.

1) I bought two food photo books: Digital Food Photography by Lou Manna and Food Styling for Photographers by Linda Bellingham and Jean Ann Bybee.? Both seem really great!? It’s fun to learn some of the craziness that goes into great food photography.? I would like to get Working the Plate by Christoper Styler and David Lazarus as well as a fun, illustrated cookbook.

2) Blogs & sites are very helpful – as well as styling stores.? Some of my faves are:

StillLifeWith

Foodesigns

The Styling Store

3) Food is tempermental.? The brownie dried out, the ice cream melted and the whipped cream fell FAST.

4) Planning a shoot is both more work and less.? More because we have to come up with ALL the ideas – the model won’t move into a flattering position for us by default.? Less because the model always attends the shoot, doesn’t require emails back at any point, doesn’t cancel the day before, and doesn’t require a lot of attention between shoots.

5) There are some AMAZING food photographers.? Competition will be fierce!

These are just some of my initial thoughts on food.? I have spent a few weeks doing almost nothing but learning and looking.? There’s a LOT to learn.

We shot some brownies today – for THREE HOURS.? Don’t ask.? Lots of testing, lots of learning how to use our tethering, lots of melting ice cream.? lol

Here are some images from one of the first shoots I’ve done ALL YEAR that I organized, shot and edited.? Usually Sarah does 95% of the shooting.? Today she was the most-phenom-food-assistant ever.