Shooting stock images using film, or digital?

[ted_smith]

Hey

Do any of you guys use an image library, and if so, do you use digital or film for your collections?

I have an account with The Image File (www.theimagefile.com), but I have to say, most of my stuff on there is digital, because there's a difference between shots that I shoot for stock, and shots that I might want to produce as posters on my wall (i.e. bottle of cod liver oil tablets, some weird abstract view etc for stock, my pet dog, baby, wife for my walls) . But whenever I shoot my stock images using digital I always feel that the results would have been better in film, but using film for stock means paying 14 a film for high scale pro level scans.

Just curious if anone here shoots stock using film? If so, what kind of workflow do you adopt?

 

[jd callow]

I don't shoot much stock, but what I've done has been for a purpose. The client had a specific purpose -- we need images of X for use in large displays (high res = film), decore (med to high res = either, but film would be preferred), specific industry publications or editorial (relativily low res = digital). I've never tried the generic stock stuff you find online because it seemed to low of a return on effort. My opinion is that digital that is 12mp or higher would meet the vast majority of needs.

 

[rnwhalley]

I shoot stock. In the main I now use digital because of the cost and ease of workflow. I also feel the digital gives a clean but "synthetic" feel to my work. I do however shoot some stock on film, mainly with an XPan but I also do some Medium format on a Pentax 67II.

With my film work I scan 35mm using a Minolta 5400 from Velvia 50 slide. I use Vuescan software with this and have the infrared clean switched to light. I then check all images at 100% and spot them. Keywording is using iView Media before final submission. I then keep backups of the original images in case I need to resubmit, move to another library etc. These images get accepted without a problem.

For the Medium Format work I scan using a V700 with pretty much the same workflow as above. With the V700 I use the Betterscanning film mount and tend to shoot mainly Velvia 50. I have found Alamy accept this work without problem but my other Library "Loop" comment on a lack of sharpness and shadow detail (which I agree with) so don't send them this work very often now. They are also quite fusy about the digital work as well because they have a partnership agreement with Corbis who have very rigerous standards.

 

[jd callow]

Robin,
What resolution is your digital camera?

 

[rnwhalley]

It's a Canon 400D 10Mpixel. I know libraries such Getty won't allow this camera as it's not considered "pro" but I have never had a problem with image quality or having my images accepted. The camera is also very cheap and easily replaced.

 

[ted_smith]

I've never tried the generic stock stuff you find online because it seemed to low of a return on effort.

You're quite right for the majortiy of stock sites - many only paying pennies for your works of art. I hunted hard to find online equivalents of the traditional image libraries that not only accepted my relatively low res digital shots (Nikon D70s producing 6Mp RAWs) and also scans but more crucially, I wanted a library where I had control over how my shot were used, i.e. Rights Managed or Royality Free. I was not interested, at all, in the sites that accept all your images, sell them to IKEA for production into posters generating tens of thousands, and only paying you $1!!

So my options (at the time) where the US based 'Digital Rail Road' (which I subscribed to but it went bust) and so more recently the UK based 'The Image File'. I find The Image File to be suberb - excellent customer support, great marketting tools, and they do not ban your images just because you're not using the latest DSLR, and I can submit my scans to them. As stated above, I bet Getty USED to accept The Canon 400D 10Mp camera a couple of years ago, but now they probably don't because it's the 'latest' model. It's a daft restriction in my view - my D70s produced superb prints from RAW up to A0 and similar.

Anyway, some interesting views here.