MicrostockGroup

Can anyone who became exclusive at iStock detail any obvious improvements as soon as they became exclusive?  Is it worth sticking at it?  After reaching acceptance of over 90% (which i largely put down to my new L series lens/5d combo), I am now finding almost everything is getting rejected.  Now, far be it from me to question the decisions.  I am happy to accept them all.  I'm not a quitter and am prepared to work extremely hard to put it right (as I have done through various iterations over many months), but sometimes I also stick with a lost cause too long and I really dont want to spend the next 6 months banging my head against a brick wall.  Is it time to call it a day?

Well I went exclusive. I had a 75% acceptance before going exclusive, and I now have a 95% acceptance rate. The quality of your equipment doesn't automatically give you acceptance (nor should it). It's much more important that (1)you know how to use whatever equipment you have, (2)you understand the basics of composition, (3) you understand DOF, f-stop, shutter speed, etc.

I like being exclusive, but I'd suggest to anyone not be a contributor to IS (the less competition the better  ).

I definately agree about your comment regarding the equipment. Good photographer can have very high acceptance rate from any DSLR.

I found it interesting that you acceptance rate went up after you went exclusive. Do you think that the quality of your shots went up or you think that the exclusive inspectors are easier?

anyone else find that because you aren't exclusive, most folk assume your skills consist of cracking off a whole load of shots on holiday with your Cybershot set to auto .....   

thanks for taking the time to respond yingyang0.   not at all patronsing

I have had about 80% of my images accepted using a Canon 350D and a Canon EF 50mm lens (mostly).  I just upgraded to a 40D, but I am finding that I have to work on finding the "sweet spot" with that camera.  I know for a fact that I make better images with the 350D, right now, than I do with the 40D, only because I need to feel the new camera out a bit.  I have only had it a week, so I am tweaking the settings.  Now the exception to that is if I take the time and effort to shoot RAW.  Hands down, the new 40D RAW images are better than the 350D RAW.  The new Digic III Processor and 14-bit images are just great.

I digress...  I have often thought about becoming exclusive with Istock, but the issue for me is that I think I am shooting images that are on the fringe of what Istock is looking for from their contributors.  If I was shooting mainstream images and my portfolio was being downloaded like crazy, I would consider it.  I have a friend who is doing VERY well as an exclusive with Istock.  It sure would cut down on my workflow!  For now, I still have alot to learn, so I am happy to go with the shotgun blast effect and see what happens!

Thanks photojay.  Encouraging to know that someone is having success with a 350.  I was beginning to think the only way out was a mark III 1Ds! 

Clearly a problem with my processing so thanks so very much for the pointer sharply_done.  I do tend to process for my own tastes and even though I've resisted the saturation button and dropped it below interesting ( kidding, please dont have a go...), its obviously still too much, so thats really helpful.

So I'll push on and give it another go.  With that addressed, can anyone point out any  immediate changes observed once they became exclusive  i.e. in terms of downloads,sales,portfolio visibility,search results (i know download limits and commission increase).

So, the big unknown for me is after becoming exclusive do your images come up higher in the search results thereby leading to more sales?

Thanks for your help and advice guys.  Very,very useful.  I like the iStock model and recently have been focusing on them alone.  Maybe right, maybe wrong.  I'm a newbie and maybe see things with a different eye (overly saturated perhaps ), but my impression is that iStock is head and shoulders above the competition and whatsmore, has the vision to continue to stay ahead of it.  I'm determined to crack it and your comments have given me fresh motivation and hopefully taken me over another hurdle....

Very interesting thread, as I have been pondering exclusivity at istock myself. I've resisted for a long time, and I'm not 100% committed to the idea yet. As I contribute presently to Dreamstime, too, six months from a couple of weeks ago would be the soonest for me to even seriously consider. I will also be coming up to 10,000 downloads right about then.

I do have a couple of friends who are exclusive there and one person was exclusive, then went non-exclusive, but then went back to exclusivity. That person says they noticed an increase in sales over and above the double commissions after going exclusive the second time, and it was just less time-consuming and easier to track photos being misused.

The other person went exclusive as soon as he was eligible. He hasn't been disappointed. Well, except for wishing for more sales, like the rest of us.

That is not surprising Yuri.  Recently the slight bias toward exclusives in the best match has become more of an extreme bias. 

I have seen this in the lightboxes I have created and managed.  My content in my own lightboxes is buried under pages and pages of exclusive work.  Only way to avoid that is to not add exclusive work to lightboxes, but I don't want to go that route.  I have a lot of exclusive CN members and friends.

I am absolutely certain this best match bias is being reflected in my current lousy sales.  Actual downloads are down 34% over the past year, despite increasing portfolio number by 50%.

Yuri, you are to be congratulated for doing so well despite the biases against non-exclusives.

I just did a search for 'seminar' using Best Match, and Yuri gets five results in the first 100 whereas Lise gets only 1.  Andrew Johnson (exclusive) gets 8.

blows my mind...... yeah, good question.   Mine get kicked back every time.... I stay away from anything  'artsy' now....      who knows...    =tom

I'm not convinved that there is an increasing 'bias towards exclusives'.  Yes, of course the exclusives are going to get preferential treatment, and they deserve to do so.

The 'disappointments' expressed by Yuri and Lisa and others, with stagnant or declining sales and income, is probably nothing other than 'dilution'.

Istock's library has increased in size by 100% over the past year.  Any photographer who has NOT increased their portfolio by the same percentage will be getting reduced exposure.

Lisa, you say you've increased your portfolio by 50%, so it's axiomatic that your exposure is diluted by 25% which is very close to your reduction in sales.  With 1 million new images being added each year, you are going to have to add 1,000 pictures in the coming year just to 'stand still'.

The same goes for all of us.  Of course it is easier to keep a small portfolio 'ahead of the game', but with a large portfolio it is possible to reach a point where sales and income simply cannot 'grow'.

This dilution effect defines the maximum revenue available to any contributor.

I follow Hidesy's portfolio with interest simply because I have met her and her advice prompted me to start contributing to microstock a year ago; her portfolio has increased from 7,000 images to 10,000 over the last year but her monthly downloads have not improved (and appear to be in decline), so even a black diamond exclusive will hit a ceiling eventually.

This, incidentally, is also probably why Yuri's income has stopped increasing.