Making $$ with stock drone footage

GG I think has it right. I think they got caught with huge success in submissions that they are buried in content hence the no new applicants. This is typical of the new gig economy: saturation which dilutes things and forces prices to the bottom. (I’ll get off my soapbox)
 
Yes, it's possible that it's the human factor involved in approving new contributors as well as the process of accepting all of the content they receive. Keep in mind that a ton of editorial news content (photos and video) is posted on Gettyimages, which is timely and requires human review. Humans... they're so inefficient!

My search on the contributor forum returned a single chat thread. Here's the text of the original thread:

[REMOVED because the quoted thread was misleading and perhaps outdated]

I saw another thread on PhantomPilots about the stock agency VideoBlocks. I've bought stuff from them before, but haven't contributed anything. I signed an exclusive with Gettyimages for photos and video and haven't worked with VideoBlocks personally. You might earn better commissions through VideoBlocks 'cause I feel like I'm getting jipped by Gettyimages with their low commission rates. Contributor Portal

Create a thread here on PP about VideoBlocks and see what others have to say.
 
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GG I think has it right. I think they got caught with huge success in submissions that they are buried in content hence the no new applicants. This is typical of the new gig economy: saturation which dilutes things and forces prices to the bottom. (I’ll get off my soapbox)
Gettyimages is the biggest stock agency in the world and have been around a long long time. You'd think they would have figured it out by now. I do remember being VERY frustrated with their submission/approval process many years ago and stopped submitting for a few years. They were always promising updates that would happen (in like a 6 month timeline). They were so behind the curve while they were aggressively buying up all their competitors to accumulate content.
 
Hopefully, you weren't holding your breath for a quick resolution, however I posted on the gettyimages contributor chat and got this encouraging response.

Hi,
The sites that we use to recruit new contributors are having a bit of an upgrade. I've been told that they should be back up and running again in a few days. We will post to announce when that happens. Sorry for any inconvenience caused during the down time.
 
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Yes, it's possible that it's the human factor involved in approving new contributors as well as the process of accepting all of the content they receive. Keep in mind that a ton of editorial news content (photos and video) is posted on Gettyimages, which is timely and requires human review. Humans... they're so inefficient!

My search on the contributor forum returned a single chat thread. Here's the text of the original thread:

[REMOVED because the quoted thread was misleading and perhaps outdated]

I saw another thread on PhantomPilots about the stock agency VideoBlocks. I've bought stuff from them before, but haven't contributed anything. I signed an exclusive with Gettyimages for photos and video and haven't worked with VideoBlocks personally. You might earn better commissions through VideoBlocks 'cause I feel like I'm getting jipped by Gettyimages with their low commission rates. Contributor Portal

Create a thread here on PP about VideoBlocks and see what others have to say.

Getty does not have all of their editorial news photos reviewed by humans. It depends on if you are part of auto-syndication or not. I am a sports photographer by trade and most all of my work is auto syndicated through Getty and takes no time to get up. Photos submitted during game are online within a few minutes while the game is still going on.
 
Thanks Andrew. Very interesting. I didn't know how the editorial process worked. What's the flow from captured image to publishing on Gettyimages? Does it go wirelessly directly to gettyimages and do you have to select images manually to send to their server?
 
Thanks Andrew. Very interesting. I didn't know how the editorial process worked. What's the flow from captured image to publishing on Gettyimages? Does it go wirelessly directly to gettyimages and do you have to select images manually to send to their server?

I work for various agencies. One of the agencies I work for auto syndicates to the Associated Press and Getty. As I shoot, I tag images and then during breaks, I must edit...caption and FTP selected pics. The agency servers relay them to the press wire and to various other agencies including Getty.

As an individual contributor, I have no idea of the workflow and it may indeed be likely that they must be reviewed before going live. I wasn’t considering that scenario when I commented.

Here is a link to my Getty Galleries...

Andrew Dieb Pictures and Photos | Getty Images
 
Your workflow was what I was most interested in. Pretty fascinating. You must be working fast during the commercial breaks!

What do you use for the edit/caption/ftp? Not in-camera?

Man, you have a lot of great pics in your gettyimages gallery. Well shot!

I originated this thread because I've seen a lot of great footage shot by PP pilots that could go to good use. We'd all like to see more aerials used in media. Gettyimages is just another potential revenue stream for pilots. So, mine your clips, shoot compelling visual stock and get noticed.

The beauty of shooting stock is that most commercials/promos use clips of 1-4 seconds max, so you can get a lot of useable clips out of a single flight. Sunrise/Sunset shots of practically anything are always popular.
 
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Your workflow was what I was most interested in. Pretty fascinating. You must be working fast during the commercial breaks!

What do you use for the edit/caption/ftp? Not in-camera?

Not commercial breaks! ;) Between periods/haltime/quarters...

Most everyone (including me) use Photo Mechanic for culling and captioning. From there I use Lightroom to do minor tweaks/cropping/ftp. Tagging images while shooting is the key to speed.
 
Not commercial breaks! ;) Between periods/haltime/quarters...

Most everyone (including me) use Photo Mechanic for culling and captioning. From there I use Lightroom to do minor tweaks/cropping/ftp. Tagging images while shooting is the key to speed.

Ah, yes. When there are players on court/field/rink there are photos to be had.
 
You do have to time it appropriately though depending on where the media room/press box is located. At some venues, I leave my spot a couple of minutes early in order to have time. Also, it depends on if your shooting the event on a deadline (news) or mainly stock. There are some agencies that I shoot for (not Getty) that I am required to send in big moments asap as they are official photo suppliers to the league and/or new agencies with subscriptions.

Pretty much go with the flow and it's almost always different from night to night... :)
 
Andrew,

Thanks so much for your insight into the sports photography arena. I've always wondered how sports photography is distributed. Many channels of distribution.

I don't do editorial work myself, but I do shoot a lot of stock photography and video around DC (Capitol, House/Senate, Monuments, etc). We use it for client print collateral and video, etc. With so much of it, I've been progressively mining my last 8 years of video/photo content and put it up on Gettyimages. It gives me a good excuse to ditch out of the office and walk around the city.
 
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I guess the trick is to find venues with good representation that pay higher royalties to the contributor. I signed exclusive agreements with gettyimages for photos and videos to increase my rates, but they certainly aren't the higher payers.
 
they certainly aren't the higher payers.
Very interesting topic, thanks for starting this one. I don't want to pry into how much money you make, but instead can I ask what 'rate of pay' you consider it works out at please? excluding flying time obviously but considering your time spent managing/uploading etc this process...can you hazard a guess at what you would say the equivalent hourly rate is...thanks
 
I frankly can’t give you an honest answer to these questions. I posted a link in this thread to their royalty commissions, which demonstrates how challenging it is to calculate how much $$ you would make for an individual photo or video clip. Most of the nearly 1,000 images and video clips I have on Gettyimages/iStock are not aerials. I only have a handful of aerial footage and I only put it up as an experiment to see if there was any interest. Some of them have sold, so I guess there’s a market.

If you decide to go through the effort, do the research on stock agencies. My feeling is that because there is not a ton of aerial footage and not much 4k, you may be able to generate some interest and income before a flood of content gets uploaded. I mean, hey if you’re always looking for cool places to fly and film or pack a drone when you travel, you probably have some nice footage. Why not make some $$ from it?

My suggestion to get started is to mine your existing video clips when you have nothing better to do (when you’re not doing paid client work). Sign up for iStock contributor (when they get their application process back up and running), upload some clips and see what happens. Research some other stock agencies and upload some clips to them as well.

I can’t say I’m totally happy with Gettyimages/iStock overall. They just happen to be the biggest in the business, which unfortunately allows them to dictate their own rules and calculate commissions to their own benefit. Video clips pay a lot more than photos. If you were uploading photos alone, I’d say don’t waste your time. Stock is just one way to supplement you’re income as a photographer/videographer and a way make use of the footage sitting on your hard drive.
 
I am studying for my Part 107... Eventually, I’d like to contribute stock and/or editorial drone footage to my agencies. But alas, the darn 107 test! LOL
 
Here's a link to Gettyimage ideas on 'What to Shoot' simple video needs. Sign in | ESP. They aren't specific to video, but gives you an idea as subjects that would also work well as aerial clips. If you have family or friends willing to be models for your aerial submissions, that's half the battle. Gettyimages will require model releases for people in the clips/photos, uploaded along with your submission. Agencies and video editors are always looking for unique shots for commercials or promos and aerials are an easier way to accomplish some shots that may not even be possible with a complicated dolly, slider, DSLR & gimbal, car mount rig, etc. It obviously doesn't have to be a high angle shot.
 
Nice Work!
Thanks. I'm neither a good pilot or a great videographer, but it's a fair substitute for the hang gliding I enjoyed in my youth. It's important to practice combination flight and video maneuvers so you're well practiced when you've got a great subject/locale. I really need a Mavic Pro for travel!
 

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