Photo forums, blogs and other resources

Forums
MicrostockGroup - the most active microstock photography forum on the Internet with a lot of very insightful posts and information to help you sell your photos.

TalkMicro - This is another photo forum where a lot of microstock contributors will post.

MicrostockForum - one of the few places that you can discuss and promote stock photography no matter what agency or site you are using.

Cutcaster Cooler Forum - Still just a newborn forum but get to know your neighbors and post up interesting information or questions you have over there.


Blogs
Microstock Diaries - I am a huge fan of Lee Torrens and HIGHLY recommend you checking out his site! He is very open about his experience and writes some very insightful commentary on the photo industry.


Dan Heller's Blog- Great source of business questions and answers for selling your images. What I like to call a maverick in the industry and very smart.


Photopreneur - One of my favs and another must read. Dean is very smart and writes highly entertaining and interesting posts.

StockPhotoTalk - Andy Goetze keeps this blog updated and its one of the best ways to track down official announcements, press releases and any relevant news from the stock world world (including job opportunities).

PhotoStockBlog - Not a bad blog. Take a look.

About the Image - Provides some interesting news in the Photo world.

MicroStockHowto - This is a blog for all beginners and advanced photographers. I like it a lot.

MicroStockPhoto - Blog about news and reviews in microstock.

Microstock Insider

NiltoMil.com - a Microstock Journey

Microstock Secrets

Microstock Experiment

Microstock News & Views

SimpleFoto

Selling Your Photos


Resources

PDN Online - Nuff said.

StockPhotoPress - a great place to find and share stories and news from the Microstock market. It looks a lot like Digg if you use that service.


Henrik Lehrner Resource list- Good list of helpful resources.

PhotographyVoter - the community can submit and vote on photography related articles, tutorials and resources. I just found it.

StockPhotoTalk

If you want to be added and have your own blog or microstock business, please let us know so I can add you to the listing.

Cutcaster Write-up at Microstock Diaries

Anyone reading this blog knows how much Lee Torren at Microstock Diaries has taught us at Cutcaster and how good of a writer he is. We have written about him numerous times and directed people to his impressive writing. Lee makes so many astute points and is very open about his experience working in Microstock as a side job that it's starting a trend of Openness in the industry that is better for everyone. I am continually impressed with his insights and how he understands businesses and trends. We were blessed enough to get a write-up from Lee yesterday and I wanted to share it with our audience because I think he really gets what we are trying to do.

And if you want to learn anything about the Microstock industry, his blog is a great place to start.

Here is the article below.

BrightQube...

As this article on Microstock Diaries illustrates, this new online tool from BrightQube is a new way to search for images. It's basically like having Google Maps' scan and zoom functionality for what amounts to a map of royalty free images from a few image agencies. The interface feels like something you'd expect to find in a Mac OS and is generally bug-free even though the site is in beta. What we're interested in is if videos (or thumbnails of videos) can be displayed in the same efficient and effective way -- we see no reason why not. I can see them opening up the platform to selected professionals and amatuers that they know who can support and provide niche photos to their licensing marketplace which is now all photo agencies from the looks of things. I'll be watching Lee Corkran's company over the next few months.

Interested in the Microstock Photography Experience

Lee Torrens, from the land down under, spends a lot of his time taking great photographs but also enlightening us with some very insightful observations on his website about his experience and thoughts on the blossoming Microstock Photography landscape. He has been in the game for a few years and offers us a great glimpse into what it takes to survive and what sites out there are the best for people like him. Cutcaster learned a lot from Microstock Diaries and so will our visitors so check it out when you get a chance.

Microstock Group

If you don't know about this forum it is truly a great find on the Internet for people interested in Microstock and selling their photography online. Microstock is an emerging market, just ask Getty, for selling photos, vectors illustrations and video footage under a Royalty free agreement and at low prices. For a great overview of this market, check out Lee Torrens description from Microstock Diaries here.

The Microstock Group forum is a great place for people selling content online to express their views, get help from one another and spread details about other agencies out there that they are using.