No, the title of this blog entry does not describe what happened to my camera, but sometimes I feel it should...

Much of my photo-related thoughts lately have been about improving my stock photography in various microstock site galleries, especially on Shutterstock (the only one where I've actually earned enough to receive a check). Unlike some people who try out the microstock market and hit the ground running, though, I've barely been getting by, with a pretty high rejection rate.

I've been trying to learn to improve what I upload, and at least in terms of subjects and compositions I think I've gained a better understanding. I've also learned what to watch out for in terms of photo quality, such as noise, purple fringing, etc. This last part has resulted in me doing a lot of rejecting -- I have dozens and dozens of photos that I've taken but not uploaded because I find too many problems.

That has become a significant point of frustration for me -- I am having problems getting photos with suitable quality for uploading (assuming, of course, that I'm not going to spend hours and hours digitally editing a photo that might not earn me more than a few dollars). I've been trying to make improvements in how I light things and such, but I feel like I'm hitting a brick wall, with far too many rejects and far too few photos worth uploading.

So I'm trying to figure out the problem(s) at the root of it all. Do I have inferior equipment? My DSLR lenses were cheap, so that could be a factor. I don't have a pro lighting setup, so that could be another factor, but I think I "should" be able to get by with what I do have. Is it my camera? (I'm mostly using Sony's first DSLR, the Alpha A-100, so that's a concern.) Or is it all in my technique, i.e., how I'm using the equipment I have?

I read about people on Shutterstock who have hundreds of downloads a day, and that's both encouraging (to know that level of activity is possible) and discouraging (to know I am so very far away from that level of success). Hopefully I'll have some better news to report in this area as the year progresses...