Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa and welcome to the March 2024 Brutally Honest Report, where as usual I’ll be discussing my earnings as well as my first impressions piloting the super-light weight DJI Mini 3 Pro.

Read towards the end as you’ll see a new segment I’ve named: “Happy 10-year Anniversary”, where I celebrate all images from 10 years ago that sold this month. Let’s get started!

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YouTube version of the report below!

The now-regular monthly YouTube earnings report is delayed as I’m busy traveling in South Africa capturing stock content (will be back in April I promise). In the meantime, sticking to the theme of YouTube, below is a 2minute video I captured of my 97-year old grandfather offering his secrets to longetivity (subtitles in English) that I recorded while on the cruise in November/December last year.

Monthly highlights on the blog

At the beginning of March the weather was generally quite poor in Portugal, which gave me the excuse to stay at home and draft/publish three blog posts, including:

• Interview with Super Microstocker, Andrea Piacquadio – 750,000 licenses/year
• Future-Proofing Creativity: 5 Strategies for Stock Photographers & Videographers in the Age of AI
• Shuttered Shutterstock: Why It’s Losing Its Shine for Contributors

Mini 3 Pro First Impressions – 5 Pros and 2 Cons

After 2 1/2 months without a drone since that fateful NYE incident I finally got flying again, this time around with the Mini3 Pro. Below I’ll provide my first impressions and discuss in detail whether it meets my needs. So, how does the Mini measure up to my old Air 2s?

First impressions

My first impressions of the Mini3 were, what the fk is this “cheap” piece of lightweight nonsense that is blown away at the smallest gust of wind. It also “feels” cheap with weak material…I’m afraid that if it hits a twig it will simply fall apart like a child’s toy.

But after giving it a serious go on multiple flights I’ve come to the conclusion that the Mini3 definitely punches above its weight (pun intended). I don’t know how to those genius DJI Chinese engineers did it but they’ve managed to pack so much techy goodness into such lightweight drone. I can only imagine what a Mini10 will be like…

Everybody has different reasons for choosing one drone or another. Mine are primarily to capture stock and travel lightly. Therefore, I’ve broken down 5 positives and 2 negatives reasons why the Mini works for me. Let’s break those down one by one.

Positive 1: Capturing high-resolution images for book covers and regular stock

My main initial hesitation was the resolution of the camera. My previous drone, the Air 2s, boasted a super 1inch sensor producing excellent resolution images. The Mini3, due to its obvious size reduction, offers a 20% lower size sensor as well as larger aperture at F1.7 vs the Air2s’s F2.8.

Here’s a side by side comparison between two similar images. On left taken with the Air 2s and right with the Mini3.

Perhaps It’s difficult to tell apart on the quality unless you zoom in at 100% on the high-resolution images (which I’m not gonna be posting on here). But suffice to say that the Air 2s produces slightly higher resolution results once you look closer. Not a huge amount but it is noticeable. On the clips, it looks almost identical.

In addition, I quickly found out that the Mini3, since the fixed aperture is quite a bit larger at F1.7, the edges can become extremely blurred. For instance, here are some examples at normal and 100%:

My worry was that these blurry edges may jeopardize my chances of images being accepted and ultimately licensed. I popped over an email to Nash Mascaro, Arcangel Sales Director, to ask whether those blurry edges would be an issue. Nash kindly replied the following:

“Drone work should be high quality, that includes sharpness and focus as well as a creative style that lends itself to publishing. In other words, blurry images from the top down in a traditional drone view with subject matter that doesn’t say very much won’t inspire designers.

Use models or vehicles/buildings in an interesting way with quality post production so that they fit into certain genres. It’s much more powerful than images that don’t tell a story, aren’t post produced or take into account the essential elements of good cover imagery.

Remember, drone photography can be found all over microstock sites, what we do is very different. Always look for interesting angles, subject matter and make them look like covers.”

Nash Mascaro, Arcangel Sales Director

Thanks for that useful advice, Nash.

Speaking especifically about “blurry edges”, I can always crop out the blurry parts, which isn’t a big deal since when using the 48MP mode there is plenty of pixels as long as I keep the main subject away from the edges. I’ll have some examples of accepted images this month in the respective AC section slideshow section of this report.

In terms of general travel pics, it does pretty much the same as the Air 2s and other semi-professional drones, for instance the panorama below I captured in Evora, Portugal which I’ve submitted to Robert Harding.

Vertical shooting – Last but certainly not least is the benefit of using the vertical shooting mode, which works great for book covers and avoids some otherwise awkward horizontal angles. Also great for social media postings.

Positive 2: Flying in more places (legally)

The obvious benefit of a sub 250 gram drone (for me and others I’m sure) is that I’m able to fly in the A1 category instead of the A2, which means it’s possible to fly over uninvolved people (just not over crowds). This was not possible with the heavier drone in A2 where flights over (uninvolved) people were not permitted / to be avoided. In the United States, a sub 250gram drone means no FAA registration required saving yourself some fees and paperwork.

In addition, at least in Portugal, with the Mini you won’t need to carry out any pilot training in the A1/A3 Open Category (however, do check your country’s laws) especially since there are regular changes.

VIC VideopIC has useful info below on this topic!

Positive 3: It’s super silent!

Another huge benefit for me is how much more silent it is vs the Air 2s, which sounded like a huge swarm of bees were ready to attack!

This is definitely a huge benefit to me since I’m all about drawing as little attention to myself/the drone as I can get away with. This is especially relevant when flying in more “tricky places” and avoiding confrontations with members of the public.

Positive 4: Portability

Almost goes without saying that this is one of the huge benefits for opting to invest in a Mini. The drone weighs less than half that of the 2s and its size is almost half as well (including its relatively tiny batteries). It’s a perfect drone for travels, fitting easily into my Top Shelf with room to spare.

Positive 5: The RC controller

To be honest, as usual, I was getting a bit fed up of controlling the drone using my iPhone since it was annoying to receive notifications mid-flight and also it drained the battery super quickly. Also the screen was difficult to see on very bright days. Instead, it’s been a super nice edition to include a high-resolution controller.

Now let’s move onto some negatives.

Con 1: Doesn’t handle the stronger wind well

So far almost all my flights were in almost ideal situations with little wind. The one time I did fly in a more windy day it struggled a bit and I started receiving “wind warnings” and honestly it was a super quiet day. I guess I got used to the 2s which I’ve flown in VERY windy days and didn’t have much issues. Below is a wind test review.

I’ll probably have to avoid windy days above 20km/h which can be difficult as I live near the coast.

Con 2: It’s not that powerful

Obviously due to the smaller battery, the power of the drone is much less than the 2s, including acceleration and top-speeds even in Sport Mode. If you want to get to place quickly it will take you longer or if you’re just a thrill junkie and love going fast…you’d be better off with a heavier drone or FPV. But for me it’s not a big deal as I’m often not going too far out.

Conclusion

For me, the Mini3 is being a great addition to my gear and didn’t break the bank (EUR600 used). I find it especially useful for when I want to be shooting in urban areas under the A1 license, also for traveling due to its portability. However, the size comes at a cost and I’ll have to use a heavier drone for those more windy days and/or when I have a need for speed trying to release pent up frustration from all those Shutterstock subs!

As well as on client jobs which require a more professional drone…may seem a bit superficial but showing up on the job with a Mini doesn’t particularly come across as a “professional photographer”. Plus I don’t want to have to abort a job because of a “windy day”.

Ultimately I’ll have two drones soon (or 3 if I can’t manage to sell my replacement 2s) including the Air3, as I’m eyeeing the 70mm lens to be able to capture high-quality book covers.

AI News – UN adopts landmark resolution on AI

It’s been a busy month with AI news as the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution on artificial intelligence.

According to the Press Release:

“Adopting a United States-led draft resolution without a vote, the Assembly also highlighted the respect, protection and promotion of human rights in the design, development, deployment and the use of AI.

The text was “co-sponsored” or backed by more than 120 other Member States.

The General Assembly also recognized AI systems’ potential to accelerate and enable progress towards reaching the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

It represents the first time the Assembly has adopted a resolution on regulating the emerging field. The US National Security Advisor reportedly said earlier this month that the adoption would represent an “historic step forward” for the safe use of AI.”

Source

During a time when many countries can’t agree on almost anything at least this has been a positive development.

Let’s now move onto the usual detailed earnings report.

Detailed Monthly Earnings Breakdown

Image Earnings (US$)

Agency	Number of Images in port (new images March)	Net Revenue March	Avg Return Per Image
Alamy	16,000 (29)	85	0.005
Arcangel (RM-exclusive)	4,028 (94)	250*	0.06
Adobe Stock	4,560 (54)	81	0.02
DepositPhotos	8,228 (21)	14	0.01
Dreamstime	9,111 (24)	6	0.01
Freekpik	1,010 (0)	9	0.09
iStock Turds (Jan 2024)	8,885 (9)	30!	0.003!
MotionArray	154 (16)	6	0.04
Robert Harding (Q4 2023 monthly average) – RM/RF exclusive	523 (4)	19	0.04
Shutterstock	12,214 (21)	105 + 94 AI Fund	0.02
Wirestock	3,066 (0)	7	0.002
Total		706

*Reporting on my historical average.

Clip Earnings (US$)

Agency	Number of clips in port (new clips March)	Net Revenue for March
Adobe Stock	1,053 (0)	6
Pond5	2,609 (1)	114
iStock Turds (Jan 2024)	832 (0)	13
Shutterstock	1,959 (1)	47
Total		180

Grand Total: $886

Thoughts on the month

I suppose $886 is OK…again I have to reiterate than anything below $1,000/month isn’t worth me getting out to bed but it’s close enough to what I deem to be “reasonable”. I probably would have reached that minimum goal if not for the shockingly bad iStock result which I’m sure you all also had to endure.

Other than iStock, it’s been a good well-rounded team effort and encouraged that clips have started selling again, particularly at Pond5.

The best news was the Arcangel book cover (more on this later).

Alamy

Strong month with $85 net on 9 downloads. $50 came from a deliberately bokeh supermarket shot I captured in Brazil early last year.

Adobe Stock

Quite average month with no major sales to report. Two clips sold for less than $3 each, ugh.

Pond5

Finally a strong month earning me $114 net on 5 clips, including two Lisbon drone aerials.

iStock

Wow, what I truly shocking month!!!! As you can see my results nose-dived just when things were sort of starting to improve late last year. Fk this useless dying industry.

Doesn’t help that 1/3 of my earnings were refunded. Really disappointed. Apparently a large buyer purchased the wrong license…

“Thank you for contacting Getty Images | iStock.
 
Some contributors have noticed an increase in cancellations on their royalty statement this month.
 
A large corporate customer who licenses a high volume of content mistakenly selected these uses as royalty-bearing when, in fact, they were for comp / low-resolution image use. It is standard industry practice that comp uses, for client pitches, mock-ups, etc., are not a royalty generating license.
 
We subsequently met with the customer to reiterate the correct licensing requirements and reversed these transactions. Due to the customer’s sizable team, some assets were selected for intended comp use multiple times, necessitating multiple cancellations.
 
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion caused during this process.“

Getty/IStock support

The MSG forum is up in the arms and lengthly discussions on this developing story.

Shutterstock

Nothing special in terms of stills. As for footage, it was OK…one decently priced clip from Seville earned me $26.

Was nice to see a decent enough AI-generated fund payment of $94 this month from Shutterstock.

Arcangel

Happy to report that I licensed one book cover image in Poland this month via the wonderful Arcangel. The shot of the hallway was captured during a real estate shoot in December 2023, which makes this blog post super relevant.

Earning Stock Income from Commissioned Work, a Case Study with my Top-10 Best-sellers

Here’s the before and after shot with the designer doing a fantastic job to include the protagonist and add a much overall colder feel.

As this is a Mini 3 Pro special, here are all the images accepted with this drone this month – sweet 16 in total!

New Segment – Happy 10-year “Passive Income” Anniversary

Overall it’s been difficult times lately in this industry with generally negative news (including a shockingly bad iStock earnings report), so I thought it would be a good idea to try at least to brighten things up with some good news.

As you probably know I’ve been submitting to multiple microstock agencies regularly for about 11 years. One of the huge benefits of this business model, other than not having a boss, is that images from long long ago can still today. I hesite to use the phrase “passive income” but in some cases it really is passive since it’s great to earn from images shot 10+ years ago even if it’s only a few dollars a month. Perhaps some images/clips in my port will keep selling for another 10 or even 20 years, who knows!

Anyway, here are some of the 10-year+ images that have sold this month and how much I’ve earned on them all-time. Four from my time living in the Netherlands (2011-2014) and one from the UK of the roof of a shopping centre.

I’ll report again in April on images from 10+ years ago that sold. I’m sure there will be many more sold in the coming months as I remember I started to upload many more around 2014.

Until next time!

Will be back in a few days/weeks with updates on my trip in South Africa…

Hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post. How did you do this month?

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About Alex

I’m an eccentric guy, currently based in Lisbon, Portugal on a quest to visit all corners of the world and capture stock images & footage. I’ve devoted eight years to making it as a travel photographer / videographer and freelance writer. I hope to inspire others by showing an unique insight into a fascinating business model.

I’ve gone all in on submitting book cover images to Arcangel Images. Oh and was also flying a DJI Mavic 2s drone regularly (although it crashed into Botafogo Bay on NYE – here is the story), which I’ve upgraded to a Mini 3 Pro and eventually an Air3 in 2024.

I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography