Stock photography workflow
From Cushy Stock Wiki
There are several steps between making the image and selling it for the first time on a stock photo site. The contents below provide a summarized outline of the entire process. Each step is also discussed in more detail after the contents. Note: this workflow focuses on using Cushy Stock as the primary tool for organizing, managing, and uploading your library of processed stock images. However, if you already have an established workflow using other tools to organize and keyword your images, Cushy Stock can still integrate seamlessly into that process and streamline your image uploads and tracking on any number of stock sites better than any other program out there.
[edit] Making the image
Images can be created and captured using a variety of methods and tools from digital cameras to illustration programs. If you are reading this, then you're probably looking for a tool to help you manage what you are already creating. Cushy Stock supports a wide variety of image formats including JPG, EPS, and RAW.
[edit] Transferring the image to your computer
This step is self explanatory. You can use whatever method you already employ to import your images. You can import them directly to your hard drive and use Cushy Stock to categorize and catalog them. Or, you can import them into any other database program that you already use and then let Cushy Stock manage and track the ones you send to stock sites.
[edit] Preparing the image using RAW tools and/or a graphical editor [optional]
You can use programs such as Adobe Photoshop (tm), Lightroom, or GIMP to process your images before picking them up in Cushy Stock. If you shoot RAW, you will need to edit your images and export JPG files before uploading them through Cushy Stock. It is also a good idea to tweak your images using an editor anyway, even if you shoot JPG, so that you can ensure the output is tailored to what most stock sites look for (saturation, contrast, brightness, etc.). Note that every stock site has different standards and they are all interested in a slightly different "look" for their library.
[edit] Adding an image to the Cushy Stock catalog
The main interface is organized in 3 columns, which will be referred to as "left," "middle," and "right" for the purpose of this and subsequent topics. To add your imported photos (or even photos that you've exported to JPG using another tool as discussed in the previous topic) follow these simple steps:
1. Launch Cushy Stock from the desktop shortcut or Start Menu.
2. In the left column under the Files tab, browse to a location that you want Cushy Stock to catalog by using the + nodes to expand the folders.
3. When you find the folder you want to catalog, select its name in the Files tab window.
4. The Full Scan Wizard will ask you whether you want to scan the folder and subfolders or not. It is recommended to select yes - especially if those images have embedded meta data that you want to add to the database. If you click Cancel, Cushy Stock will still read the images from folder and display their thumbnails in the middle column, but will not import their meta data automatically. Scanning a folder can take some time, so please be patient if there are a large number of images in that folder / subfolder.
5. Once the thumbnails are displayed in the middle column, just make sure that the Stock Info tab is selected in the right column, which will display the Catalog Categories in the bottom section. Then, simply select an image thumbnail and drag it to the desired category. You can also select and drag multiple images using the standard file explorer conventions (hold down CTRL and click to select several individual thumbnails; hold down SHIFT and click to select a range of thumbnails). The multiple selection can be dragged to a category as a group.
[edit] Editing the metadata of the image
Working our way from left to right along the tabs in the right column of the interface, the next one is Image Info. This tab facilitates working with all the metadata for an image in one efficient place. If you have already added metadata such as a title, caption, and keywords to your images using another program and stored them in the IPTC fields, Cushy Stock will automatically recognize this when you let the Full Scan Wizard read a folder, and will display the metadata it finds in this tab.
You can select one or multiple images and fill these fields (Image Name, Description, Keywords, etc.). The field values will be saved automatically as you input them. This metadata is stored in the IPTC section of JPEG (or TIFF) files. You should fill in this data to identify the image(s) in a stock photo site. After uploading the image(s) you will see the name, description, and keywords on the stock site's submission page before you finally submit your image. Thus, using Cushy Stock, you do not have to input that same information multiple times for every stock site to which you upload.
[edit] Adding related keywords to the image
You can also have more flexible control over entering or editing the keywords by using the next tab on the right called Keywords. Again, any keywords already added to the IPTC fields of an image will show up here. This tab provides 2 additional, powerful tools for working with keywords:
1. Generating numerous related keywords from just a few words manually entered in the Generate Keywords function
2. Adding keywords to the image(s) from the catalog categories it belongs to
Additional details on these 2 tools
You can enter keywords in the top field of the Keywords tab. They should be separated by a comma, ';' or other symbol excluding space and '. When you have typed all the keywords, just click "Add keywords to image button". Keywords will be added to the list. By default, keywords are added by the order in which you entered them. However, you can also sort them alphabetically ("Sort alphabetically" button). Additionally, you can move keywords up and down or delete them from the list. When keywords are added to list, they are immediately saved to the IPTC section of an image. If you have already added an image to the catalog (File cataloging), you can add keywords from the catalog category to the image (File keywording). If you selected several images, the same keywords will be added to all selected files. Duplicated keywords will be excluded.
Warning! Only JPG and TIFF images contain an IPTC section. So, you can't add keywords to EPS or RAW files.
[edit] Preparing the image for upload
In the Cushy Stock program the image can have one of the following states:
- Not ready [default state for each image]
- Ready to upload
- Pending
- Upload failed
- Rejected
- Accepted
- Resubmit
- Donated
To prepare images for uploading to stock sites you simply set their state to the correct value. Go to the Stock Info tab in the right column of the interface and select one or multiple images that you want to upload. Next, to the right of any stock site in the list where you are already registered, use the dropdown list to change the state of all selected images to "Ready to upload." This state means that those images will be uploaded during the next uploading session.
[edit] Uploading the image
Before uploading for the first time you should go to File > Options and fill out your login and password information for the stock sites where you have registered. One of the most powerful features of Cushy Stock is that you can also add any number of new stock sites to the list that aren't already shown, and store separate URLs and login information for each of their FTP and web site access. To add a new stock site to the list, fill in the fields in the "Add new stock" section and click the "Add new stock" button. Finally, fill out the remaining login information for the new or existing site and click "Save stock data."
Warning! You must click "Save stock data" each time you change the information for any site!
When all the stock site configurations are complete, click OK to close the Options window.
Finally, go to the Uploads tab in the left column of the interface. You will see the list of images that are ready to upload, grouped by stock site. By default, all images are checked and selected for upload, but you can uncheck any image that you do not want to include in the batch. Only checked images will be added to the final upload list.
To start uploading, simply click the Start button under the Uploads tab. The progress bars will track the overall and current file uploading status. Model releases for the included images will also be uploaded if the stock site(s) support(s) FTP uploading for model releases and you selected the release for the files.
You can abort the uploading process at any time by clicking the Stop button. After uploading, the images will be automatically set to a new state: either Pending or Upload failed.
Warning! The trial version only allows a single image upload to a single stock site per program run. After that upload is used it is necessary to close and relaunch Cushy Stock in order to try another upload.
[edit] Changing the image state
Currently, Cushy Stock only supports automatically detecting and setting the Pending state of an uploaded image. In future versions (1.8 I hope) tracking images throughout the other states will also be an automatic process. In the meantime, you can manually change the image state by selecting it from the same dropdown in the Image Info tab that you used to select "Ready to upload." Since Cushy Stock allows you to select multiple images, it is a very quick process to manually update the state for each image per stock site. When your photo is accepted or rejected at a particular stock site you should change its state using the Image info tab. The state will be saved in the database and will be displayed every time you select the image. Also, this is used to separate images by groups when you open the Stocks tab on the left and select a stock site. This view is very effective for tracking what has been accepted or rejected at which site.
[edit] Tracking financial data for the image
You can get financial information from any stock site at any time. Please Note: You must fill in login and password details for the stock sites under File > Options before using this feature.
Go to the Stocks tab in the left column of the interface, select the stock site you want to check, and click "Get statistics for current stock" button. You can also get statistics for all stocks sites at once using the "Get statistics for all stocks" button.
Warning! Sometimes this mode will only return partial information and freeze before returning details from all stock sites. This is a known issue and a resolution is being looked at. In the meantime, if getting all statistics at once is too unreliable for you, please acquire updates for each site one at a time.
[edit] A quick summary of a workflow that includes Lightroom
Here is a brief outline for one example workflow that incorporates Cushy Stock into an existing process to streamline submissions and status tracking for multiple stock sites. In this example, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (LR) can represent virtually any other photo editing and/or cataloging program.
1. Shoot and Import RAW files into LR as normal.
2. Use the Library module of LR to add keywords, titles, captions to a group of images.
3. Use the Develop module of LR to tweak the RAW development settings for each image.
4. Export all modified images as JPGs to a new folder such as "My Pictures" under "My Documents." Be sure to enable the export options that will embed the metadata to the JPG's IPTC fields.
5. Launch Cushy Stock and select the "My Pictures" folder to run the Full Scan Wizard and import the JPGs metadata into the database.
6. [Optional] Even though the JPGs are ready to upload at this point since LR added the necessary metadata, it is often beneficial to use Cushy Stock's "Generate keywords" functionality to make sure no important keywords are left out.
7. In Cushy Stock, select the images you want to upload and change their status to "Ready to upload" for each desired stock site.
8. Start the upload process.
9. Modify the status of each uploaded image as the results come in from the various stock sites. Alternatively, you could wait until all results are in from each site for that particular batch, and mass-update the image statuses very quickly using the multiple selection functionality.
