In early April, the administration of the stock photo agency Dreamstime notified users of precautionary measures when reading emails that are allegedly sent by the stock agency, requesting your account details or suggesting that you follow a link provided in the email to verify your information on the stock agency’s website.
For those of you who have already started your work or are just planning to earn from microstock agencies, you are probably asking yourselves who buys images from these agencies. I believe newcomers also have the same question. And honestly, I’m sure many are curious about who pays for the work of microstock authors.
In 2009, first the stock bank Shutterstock, and by the end of the year other major stock banks like Fotolia, Dreamstime, and Depositphotos began acting as tax agents for their authors. How did this manifest? These popular stock banks started withholding taxes from image sales.
Well, what has been talked about for a long time has finally happened. The freebie at DP is over. The stock bank Depositphotos officially discontinued its program to incentivize stock photographers on April 1, 2010. Why did this happen?
More and more stock agencies are launching Russian-language interfaces for users. And, perhaps, this is justified, as many microstock contributors are indeed from Russian-speaking regions. But, importantly, the percentage of stock buyers from Russian-speaking regions is also increasing month by month. It seems to me that the introduction of Russian localization on stock agencies is driven by competition for new markets.
Many beginner illustrators wonder, what to do with open paths in vectors. Novices often face rejections due to open curves. Many photobanks provide explanations on their websites about resolving the issue of open paths in vectors, but I believe this topic needs further clarification. In today’s article, I will attempt to explain why it is so important to avoid open paths in vector illustrations and what exceptions photobanks may have for accepting works with open paths.
