Dreamstime goes mobile

Dreamstime is now officially accepting content photographed with mobile phones and digitally signed MRs (only via approved Apps). They have also added a new image category, "Mobile". The latest additions come just in time for US Elections and their new assignment, "Going mobile" destined mainly to fervent phone-graphers. Read more on Dreamstime blog here and here.

Dreamstime Launches Timelineimages.com

New website provides Facebook users a variety of high-quality images to personalize cover photos

Nashville, TN – May 31, 2012 – Today Dreamstime, the leading stock photography community, launched Timeline Images, an online image database for businesses and consumers interested in updating their social media profiles with high-quality, fresh content for an extremely low price of onedollar.

As Facebook transitions its more than 901 million active users to the timeline format, the demand for unique cover photos will increase. The cover photo is becoming increasinglyimportant as it provides users and businesses the opportunity to personalize profiles and connect with important communities on a deeper level. TimelineImages currently offers a diverse collection, giving full access to Dreamstime's entire commercial collection of 14 million images, including alarge range of images specifically formatted to use as Facebook cover photos. Unlike content “found” on the Internet these images are safe to download and legal to use.

Since the inception of social networks, the importance of profile imagery has evolved from a single profile photo to the introduction of Facebook’s Timeline that allows people to visually represent events and activities that matter most to them, such as their interests, photos and work history. With more than 300 million photos uploaded to Facebook daily, Timeline Images will provide a wide range of legal images to meet the growing demand for compelling content and diverse user needs.

“Social media has forever changed the way that people share and use images. Gone are the days when agencies monopolized access to content -- intoday’s world anyone with a camera and Internet connection can publish their images and whether or not they are successful is left to those viewing it,” said Serban Enache, CEO of Dreamstime. “The challenge with this new model comes when people start distributing these images socially without understanding the potential repercussions of copyright infringement. With the introduction of Timeline Images, Dreamstime is not only serving the appetite that both businesses and consumers have for interesting content, but also addressing the need for legitimate and safe to use images.”

Timeline Images is available to the public starting today. The cost to download content is one dollar per image, with no additional fees. For a limited time new users of Timeline Images will also receive three free imagedownloads on Dreamstime.com

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high qualitydigital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with almost 14 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with more than 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 447,825 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 134,500-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

Dreamstime Offers Advice on Shooting A+ Graduation Photos

Stock Photo Site Makes Sure Mom and Dad Don't Miss a Thing During Graduation Day Camera Duty

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - May 10, 2012) - For high school and college seniors across the nation, this time of year means one thing: graduation. In an effort to ensure parents and students alike do not miss a memorable moment, Dreamstime, an online community and leader in stock photography, has tapped its photo contributors to share helpful tips and advice.

Building a collection of high-quality photos is the best way to keep your graduation memories vibrant and fresh. Photos also allow you to share the event with relatives and anyone else who couldn't make it in person. Below are a few tips to help you capture and share these important moments, no matter what obstacles or distractions the day may bring.

• Shooting Like a Pro: Most graduation day photographers aren't pros and are snapping photos solely for personal use. This means they are probably shooting with a standard digital camera and could use a few sneaky tricks for capturing photos of their favorite grad. For example, "If your camera has a pop-up flash or you have an on-camera flash, use a rubber band and one layer of a white handkerchief to cover your flash head," suggests Dreamstime contributor Lostarts. "This will diffuse the light, add life to your shot and sparkle to your subject's eyes." Another recommendation is to keep your elbows tight to your ribs and trip the shutter at the bottom of your breath, which helps reduce shakiness when working without a tripod. For more tips on getting good results without pricey equipment, click here.
• Getting Cousin Lucy to Stand Still: Nothing brings friends and family members together like celebrating a graduate's accomplishments, and that means lots of group photos. While we can't offer tips to ensure smiles and open eyes, there are a few steps you can take to improve group shots. When assembling individuals of varying heights, arrange them in a triangular shape to make the composition dynamic and eye pleasing, suggests Parkinsonsniper, a regular Dreamstime contributor. In terms of lighting, it's important that each member of the shot is exposed to equal light, so be sure to have enough distance between your models and your lighting source. For more tips on group photos, click here.
• Social Snapshots: Whether you are using a point and shoot digital camera or your smartphone to capture graduation events, today's technology makes it easier than ever to share your images with friends and family. Mobile applications like Instagram allow users to use their cell phones to transform the look and feel of a photo through filters and quickly share photos to social channels such as Facebook and Twitter. To avoid compatibility issues, users should consider the photo dimensions and file types used by mobile apps and sharing sites. Lastly, for shutterbugs storing images on sites like Flickr or Shutterfly that are also interested in framing or scrapbooking out a few shots, it's important to know the difference between printing and web view. For more tips on ensuring successful photo sharing, click here.

Dreamstime would like to congratulate the graduates of 2012 and thank its contributors for sharing their tips for great graduation day photos! With wedding season nearly upon us, next month's campaign will focus on tips and tricks for capturing those "big day" moments.

For more photo advice, check out our previous Field of View campaigns, on event and model photography and nature photography.

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 13.7 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with more than 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 447,825 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 134,500-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

Dreamstime release new price structure

From Dreamstime website:

The new price structure distributes our collection in a more uniform way, giving a better chance to new files. They seem to get better and better, thanks to our talented contributors. Due to the high volume of submissions we felt that too many great files sell at a lower price point than elsewhere and this update will address that. The higher level files have seen a more modest increase, so we don't expect too many negative effects for buyers.

In short terms, what happened is that new files will be automatically allocated to level 1, instead of level 0. All existent files that have downloads will shift with one level up. New files (or existent files) that didn't sell for more than 24 months will be level 0.

In order to keep the royalties the same, we had to decrease them one per level. Because files went up one level they will actually bring you the same royalties, with the only drawback being that level 5 files have seen a cut. I hope this to be minimal though, thanks to the decrease in the number of downloads required (25 from 50d.). We have decided to keep the same royalties structure for subscriptions, as well as for exclusive contributors ( you can apply for exclusivity here ;) ).

This change expects to bring an average of 15-20% increase in contributors revenue, with higher values for new or lower sized portfolios.

Dreamstime Brings Inside Photo Tips to the Masses

Stock photo site taps contributor community to provide photo hobbyists with tips and tricks of the trade

Nashville, TN – March 26, 2012 – Photography is an art form filled with nuances and techniques that can be challenging to grasp and even harder to master. Recognizing theobstacles that the industry presents, Dreamstime, a leading stock photography community, called upon its talented contributors to share their collective depth of knowledge. The result is Dreamstime’s “Field of View,” an initiative to provide photo hobbyists with advice ranging from shooting techniques to selling strategies.

This is the first in an ongoing series of tip collections designed to help developing photographers hone their skills. This month, Dreamstime is focusing on model work and event shots as a follow-up to the awards show season.

• Secret to Success: One of the keys to getting great shots is having the right equipment, and knowing how to use it. So what tools are necessary for success? “Lights, meaning a flash with tilt/swivel are something I would be unable to work without,” said contributor Bradcalkins. “In terms of critical camera functionality, the hot shoe is key to using the flash or other lights.” Other popular answers included editing software, a variety of lenses, good light and tripods.
• Working the Camera: We’ve all heard the photo shoot clichés: “Work it! Work it! Love the camera!” Expressing emotion in photo shoots is critical, so how can photographers help evoke passion from their models? “Before the shoot, explain what story you will be telling,” says Wysiwygfoto. “Engage the models in conversation during the shoot – make them feel comfortable. Tell them what you are doing and why.” More tips on model photography can be found here.
• Standing out in a Crowd: Taking event photos may seem simple on the surface, butthere are a number of factors to consider. Location is key, so arrive early to scope out the grounds and get a good seat. Prime seating can produce images that bleacher seats would never get you. It’s also important to understand the point of the event and who the main players are, so you know where to be looking. In terms of equipment, Birksphotography recommends investing in a monopod and high-quality zoom. “Fast glass is needed for stadium arenas because the lighting isn’t bright enough for fast shutter speeds, and only a wide aperture is going to increase that without noise.” For more tips on event photography, click here.
• Words to Sell By: “After about three years at Dreamstime (and only at Dreamstime) I think that this business is 90 percent about photography and 110 percent about keywording,” says Alvera. The right keywords can have a significant impact on sales, so what are the secrets to picking them well? LOstarts recommends limiting your keywords to 20 or less, using as many as possible in your description (without using atrocious grammar), and revisiting and updating your keywords periodically. Get all the opinions on this topic here.

Dreamstime would like to thank its contributors for sharing their knowledge and tips! Next month, in honor of Earth Day, Dreamstime will help you take that perfect nature shot.

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 13.4 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with more than 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 391,478 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second withphotos from the site's 132,500-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

Dreamstime Extends Language Capabilities to Serve Growing Global Community

Global Stock Photography Community Introduces Five New Language Options to Improve Accessibility for Expanding International User Groups  

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - February, 2012) - Dreamstime, a leading stock photography community, announced today that its site is now accessible in an additional five new languages: Chinese, Greek, Polish, Russian and Swedish. Building on its already extensive language options, these expanded capabilities will allow Dreamstime to more effectively serve its ever-growing international community.

Chinese, Greek, Polish, Russian and Swedish were chosen in response to designer interest in the associated regions, as well as the desire to improve existing services and grow communities in those language areas. Dreamstime expects to see its international user base grow in 2012 and plans to continue rolling out additional language services to meet users' needs.

First launched in 2004, Dreamstime was initially available in English and served a community of approximately 350,000 users. As the site's popularity increased, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish language capabilities were introduced.

Today, with Dreamstime's global user base recently topping 4.2 million, the additional five languages were necessary to support the growing community. The site is now available in a total of 12 different languages.

"Dreamstime prides itself in its ability to effectively cater to a diverse global audience and offer users with varied backgrounds access to the revenue potential and extensive high quality image collection that the site offers," said Serban Enache, CEO of Dreamstime. "This recent language functionality innovation allows us to reach new segments of the global audience, giving them access to one of the largest international communities of stock photographers, as well as introducing new international perspectives to the community and its vast image collection."

About Dreamstime 

Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 13 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with more than 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 330,000 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 130,000-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

Dreamstime Reports Record Year with More Than 4.2 Million Customers

Nashville, TN – December, 2011 – Dreamstime, a leading stock photography community, announced today that it saw consistently strong growth throughout 2011, solidifying its place as a global leader in the stock photography market. Since 2007, Dreamstime’s customer base has grown from 350,000 to the more than 4.2 million customers it boasts today. With this rapid growth, Dreamstime has positioned itself as a major supplier of high quality digital images at incredibly low prices with the second largest community of registered stock image users.

Dreamstime celebrated another milestone this year: the website’s 12 millionth photo uploaded by a contributor. Since its inception in 2004, Dreamstime’s collection of images has grown more than 400 times. This means community members have access to one of the largest stock image collections in the world, including more than 300,000 free images. Unlike other websites, Dreamstime editors carefully review and approve all images submitted by the community’s photographers to ensure every image is risk free for customers to download. With image downloads occurring once every three seconds, it is clear that the variety of images is driving customers to purchase from the website.

“Above all else, Dreamstime respects and supports its members, making a point to be engaged, listen and communicate directly with us. Their customer service is always professional and friendly, and they go the extra mile to ensure any issues or questions are solved quickly,” says Mandy Godbehear, a Dreamstime photographer. “Because of Dreamstime’s dedication to its community, I know, as a photographer, that my portfolio and my interests are in good hands.”

Always looking to leverage new technology for the benefit of its artist contributors, Dreamstime implemented a variety of features dedicated to meeting customer needs and enhancing value over the last year. Recognizing an opportunity to help its large and active community protect their images and also educate customers about image copyright, Dreamstime introduced Infringement Reporter. An industry first, this tool streamlines the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notification process and provides contributors a quick and easy way to notify website owners when they are misusing a photo.

Focusing on the needs of its global customers, Dreamstime also started offering geo-tagged images using Google Maps and Google Earth. Now contributors are able to precisely add a location to images, streamlining the search process for designers  creating materials with a certain geographical or tourism focus.

“People across the globe are turning to Dreamstime for their imagery needs and we pride ourselves on providing each customer with a seamless experience,” said Serban Enache, CEO of Dreamstime. “This is an important milestone for Dreamstime, and to serve our fast growing customer base, we remain focused on developing and enhancing offerings and solutions that drive additional value for everyone.”

About Dreamstime

Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world’s largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 12.6 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with over 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 300,000 free images available, Dreamstime’s active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site’s 127,000-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

Stock Photography Sales Statistic November 2011

This is my stock photography sales statistic for November 2011. You can find a complete list of stock photography agencies that I work with here.

These are for me the best 4 performing stock agencies for November 2011:

1. Shutterstock
2. Zazzle
3. DepositPhotos
4. Dreamstime

November was a good month with a small decrease of 1% compared to October and an increase of 51% compared to November 2010. Again it was an excellent month for DepositPhotos! It was the best month ever for PhotoDune, Stockfresh, and Superhug (if you sign up, please use referral "hlehnerer").

(This statistic include referral earning at the different agencies)

Dreamstime Launches Image Subscription Offering for Students

Five iPad 2s Randomly Given to Those Who Sign Up; Five Additional iPad 2s Awarded to Top Five Student Referrers

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - September, 2011) - If there's ever a universal commonality among students, it is the fact they could all use more money in their pocket to spend on such "critical" activities as concert tickets, road trips and house parties. Leading stock photography company Dreamstime understands this and in an effort to help students save now and cram later on their scholarly studies, it has launched an exclusive offer and give away for students who require imagery and stock photography for the academic year.

From now through October 6, 2011, any student that registers with the Dreamstime community will immediately receive 25% off all images and image packages. In addition to the savings, each student will be eligible to win one of five iPad 2s.

Dreamstime is also incentivizing students to refer other students to the community, which stands at 4 million registered users. The top-five student referrers will be awarded with an iPad 2.
So, if you're a student in need of high quality digital images for curricular type of activities such as class presentations, projects, student newspapers and newsletters, personal blogs, and websites, go ahead and sign up today.

Or, for the "extra"-curricular activities when you need pictures of clean-cut and respectable looking students to show the parents your new friends, images to jazz up your spring break fundraiser fliers, parent-friendly photos from your study abroad experience, or beach photos for your fraternity luau this weekend, Dreamstime has the student body covered.

For more details and to register, click through to Dreamstime's student registration page.

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography and a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, and national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 12 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with over 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site and is one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 250,000 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 120,000-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

Dreamstime Announces New Feature to Report Imagery Copyright Infringement

First in Stock Photo Industry to Automate the Offender Notification Process

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - August, 2011) - Today Dreamstime, a leading stock photography community, launched Infringement Reporter, which will enable contributors to notify website owners of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violations. Passed more than ten years ago, the DMCA was developed to address copyright challenges that content owners face in an increasingly digital world.

Dreamstime's new feature is the first in the industry to streamline the DMCA notification process and provide contributors a quick and easy way to notify website owners when they are misusing a photo. This is often an arduous and time-consuming process for photographers and creative professionals to undertake themselves. Dreamstime anticipates this new feature will also educate image-users about copyrights associated with the images they find and download online.

"Though not always intentional, the theft and misuse of images are constant battles for the photo stock industry," said Serban Enache, CEO of Dreamstime. "Search engines have made it easier than ever to find and download digital content, but there is very little information about the copyrights associated with images people find online. Dreamstime is committed to helping our contributors identify stolen or misused images so they can focus on taking great photos instead of worrying about the illegal use of their images."

With Google's new image-recognition search tool and others, it is easy for photographers to find where their images are being used online. However, these tools fail to provide a way for contributors to notify offenders when they are abusing the license associated with an image. Dreamstime recognized this as an opportunity to help its large and active community protect their images and also educate image-users about image rights and the stock photography industry.

When Dreamstime contributors find an image that is being used without the proper license, they simply populate the form on the Dreamstime website and provide the image identification number and a URL to the website misusing the image. Dedicated to the protection and promotion of images, Dreamstime is taking customer service one step further by making this process more efficient for contributors.

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 11.7 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with over 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 250,000 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 120,000-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

Dreamstime Selects LEWIS PR as Agency of Record

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Aug 5, 2011) - Dreamstime, a leading stock photography community, has engaged global communications agency LEWIS PR to implement a media relations and thought leadership campaign in North America.

The campaign will focus on increasing awareness in the US among target customers, including advertising agencies, design professionals, national and international magazines, online media sites, and film and television production companies. LEWIS will utilize an active, engaged Dreamstime community to drive creative, trend and issues-based news opportunities.

Rich Young, vice president, LEWIS Boston, will lead the program and report to Noelle Federico, CFO/Business Manager, Dreamstime.

"Since 2004, Dreamstime has grown rapidly and is now a worldwide leader in stock photography. Our community is known as the friendliest and our users are very active contributing photos, posting on blogs and sharing tips and ideas. We searched for a communications team that would highlight and elevate our profile as well as drive more new customer growth, using the strong assets we have in place," said Federico. "LEWIS is that team. They bring relevant industry experience, past success, an enthusiastic team and creative ideas that will ignite our communications program. We are thrilled to have them on board."

"We're excited at the opportunity to raise Dreamstime's profile in the ever changing market of online stock photography. There is a strong corporate story to tell, a loyal and engaged community and an intention to take on larger, more established brands," said Young. "It is the type of communications program that every PR professional wants to be involved in. We look forward to helping Dreamstime reach its business and communications goals over a long-term relationship."

Details of the budget are not being disclosed. The campaign commenced in August.

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography and a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, and national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 11.7 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with over 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site and is one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 250,000 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 120,000-plus contributors.
For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.

About LEWIS PR
LEWIS PR is a global communications agency. In addition to traditional media and analyst relations, LEWIS specializes in social media, digital marketing and creative services. It works with organizations to implement integrated communications programs on an international scale. LEWIS works with leading and emerging brands across multiple sectors, including automotive, consumer, government, healthcare, insurance, legal, non-profit, technology and telecom. LEWIS has more than 25 wholly-owned offices across the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific, with regional headquarters in London, San Francisco and Singapore.

Dreamstime - New Level, Feature & Licenses

Dreamstime is about to celebrate their seventh anniversary and they look forward to a new fruitful period at Dreamstime. To celebrate this, they are releasing a large array of new features and upgrades meant to consolidate their position as a leader in stock photography and also to improve sales.

Although still young, they have managed to establish a tradition of innovative and unique features throughout time and to continue in the same spirit, they bring you an upgraded price structure, additional licenses, a special lightbox feature, and new subscription plans.

The new price structure brings a "new guy in town", level 0!

As you can see, a new level has been introduced for images without any downloads (for now, new customers only):

• The first download will continue to sell at the price we've had so far, while the next will have the previous level 2 pricing. Higher levels shifted towards files with less sales (e.g. now: 1-4 downloads, before: 5-9 downloads).
• First download awards a 25/27.5% royalty (non-excl. contributors), while the next ones stay the same, but at higher prices.
• Exclusive royalties remain unchanged.
• Level 5 files sell now for a maximum of 19 credits (previously 17 credits).
• Level 0 subscriptions remain at 1 download. The average price per download for subs awards an average of $0.50 (non exclusives). Adding extra downloads here would only make this this product less attractive for the buyers.

We expect most files to continue to sell at better pricing under the new level, while any additional downloads will bring better revenue to the contributors (as much as triple for extra small files). The increase is high for lower levels and diminishes for higher ones.

Two brand new licenses go live today: SR-EL1 and SR-EL3. They are in fact extended RF licenses awarding an unlimited print run and exclusivity for a specific time interval (1 year or 3 years). In order to keep things simple, their value is based on the price set for SR-EL (hence the name). Files are automatically disabled after purchase and automatically re-enabled once the license expires. At that time, the designer is allowed to continue to use the file, but will lose exclusivity. Full details here. These licenses are automatically available for all files that already have SR-EL enabled.

A new experimental feature, "Choose your price", for a limited number of customers. This feature is available for downloads via lightboxes and is consequently targeting volume buyers. Designers will be allowed to set their own pricing for the files they prepare to download. The feature is using an elaborated algorithm that ensures that contributors receive royalties above minimum required (credit-based). The price that is set by the designer will be split between the agency and the contributors according to each file's level and per our royalties chart.

Three new weekly subscriptions are added today for designers with short-term projects to complete. With the weekly option, subscribers are able to download up to 10, 25 or 50 images per day. While the product is almost identical to our current monthly subscription, the abbreviated subscription is available at a lower cost.

Dreamstime now with geo-locate your images

Dreamstime created a function to allow contributors to lace their images (whenever relevant) on the world map. You can click the map, search for places of interest or simply paste GPS coordinates if you know them already. Powered by Google, both map and sattelite versions are available.

The new funtion can be accessed from the Edit Image page or from the Submission page via Geo-location / Insert manually. Simply select the image, click the map and hit SAVE.
In case your gear supports GPS data, we read your EXIF automatically so there's nothing else you should do.

In this stage, contributors are asked to begin locating their images from existing portfolios and at submission time. The data will be used to generate various buyer-oriented features in the near future.

Congratulations! Dreamstime quietly passed another big milestone, sometime in early January. Dreamstime has over 3M registered users. The size of a small country.

Dreamstime Celebration Rewards Its Biggest Fans: The Community

Tallying Its 10 Millionth Image • Offering 100%-Plus Royalties and Buyer Incentives

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Dreamstime, a leader in the global stock photography industry, approaches a prodigious achievement. The six-year-old company anticipates the addition of the site’s 10 millionth image in late November.

In recognition, Dreamstime has announced plans to celebrate this mile mark with its photographers by offering a full 100% royalty for each and every image sold on the 10 millionth marked day; Dreamstime exclusive contributors will be rewarded with royalties at 110% during the 24-hour period. In addition to the 100% payout, the contributor who submits the 10 millionth image will be awarded an Apple iPad tablet (the revolutionary, up-to-the minute mini-computer catering to visual media that will lend itself as a natural segue to Dreamstime). His/her portfolio will also be showcased on the Dreamstime homepage for seven days. Dreamstime designers and contributors can monitor the increasing number with a live “countdown” currently in process on Dreamstime.com.

Buyers will also be included in the milestone celebration. Dreamstime shoppers will be offered a one-day-only 20% discount on all purchases made during the 10 millionth marked time period. Unlike marketing campaigns and promotions with fancy prizes awarded to few (with rules, regulations and stipulations in fine print), this promotion solidifies Dreamstime’s commitment to its community--one and all.

“Our incredibly talented contributors and designers have been the cornerstone of Dreamstime’s success – we all understand that in order for the agency to be a success, we must ensure the success of our customers. So, as we near this landmark, we encourage all of our wonderful participants to join us in the celebration,” Serban Enache, CEO of Dreamstime, explains. “The promotion sets the stage for our 2011 goals: to go deeper into untapped markets and attract more customers who have never used stock before. We hope to grow our community even more in the coming years. With all of us together, we have no doubt Dreamstime will become grander with each passing day!”

Contests, incentives and promotions are traditional for Dreamstime. From its inception, the site has encouraged healthy competition amongst its users; two current contributors contests include The Assignment and In The News. Informally known as The Assignment, Dreamstime monthly assignment contests are customarily theme-based and are open to photographers who have at least 50 images online. Submissions must be sold exclusively with Dreamstime and entrees can earn up to $300 for their image. In The News is a section specifically designed to initiate interest and participation by skilled and gifted photographers for use in print journalism.

This 10 Million contributor reward is not a new concept for Dreamstime but a usual course of business to applaud and recognize its photographers at all significant turning points. Formerly presenting prizes with every 10,000th file, then every 100,000th and now, with every millionth image, hundreds of prizes have been awarded over the years (from electronics to gadgets, t-shirts and branded merchandise).

Today, with nearly 10 million images, Dreamstime.com is currently the second leading agency in total customers (with over 11 million unique visitors to the site) and is one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock agency worldwide. In addition to the more than 100,000 free images available, Dreamstime’s active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site’s 100,000-plus contributors.

Stock Photography Sales Statistic March 2010

This is my stock photography sales statistic for March 2010. You can find a complete list of stock photography agencies that I work with here.

These are for me the best 4 performing stock agencies for March 2010:

1. DepositPhotos
2. Shutterstock
3. Fotolia
4. Dreamstime

March was an OK to good month, but with an decrease of 22% compared to February . It was the best month ever for iStockPhoto, YAYmicro, GraphicLeftovers and Zoonar. DepositPhotos is still my best earner and there is an increase in sale, but more then 90% of the income with DepositPhotos is through the referral and affiliate program.