MicrostockGroup

Hello,

The recent upward trend of threads at Shutterstock and here on the microstockgoup boards regarding an increase in rejections at Shutterstock is interesting.  For that reason I decided to put together a survey that will give us more information in regard to rejections at Shutterstock.  If you are also interested to see if there actually is a new trend in increased rejections please take some time to fill out the online Google spreadsheet form.

Reason For Survey ~ I am curious to see if the rejections at Shutterstock show regional trends?

The questionnaire is entirely anonymous. If you use the form frequently and answer the questions with a red * for each batch you submit that receives rejections; we will ALL have a better understanding of Shutterstock's recent rejections and maybe we can even gather some interesting geographic data during the process.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHY5ZlNtWldxcXFxNGU1MFlQNUVMdFE6MA

At the link below you will find the mapped results so far.  The data is not updated on the fly, we entered the latest entries at 7:00 PM 04/28/2011 EST

If you click on the dots you see the following rejection responses that the users of the form were gracious enough to share with us.

Date That You Joined Shutterstock:
Most Prevalent Reason For The Rejections In The Batch:
Have You Experienced An Increase In Rejections At Shutterstock In The Last 6 Months:
If You Answered Yes Do You Feel The Increased Rejections Are Accurate:
Has Your Rejection Rate Increased This Year ~ If So Please Select The Most Relevant Answer:
For Those Of You Who Have Not Experienced An Increase In Rejections ~ Have You Experienced A Decrease In Rejections At Shutterstock In The Last 6 Months:

http://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S185397zYiY

I'm in the "happy" field as well on average, but what I don't like are the 100% rejection or even the 100% acceptance which are happening lately. That can't be right.

I would be happy to add another form field, though you would fall under the Yes or No question "Have You Experienced An Increase In Rejections At Shutterstock In The Last 6 Months"

We actually decided to put these questions out because of a conversation between friends.  Some of us who are long time submitters are seeing a significant increase in rejections while and others of us seeing absolutely no change. We are wondering how many are seeing substantial increases and if so we question does your geographic location have anything to do with the increases.

Per your suggestion I added another question to the form

For Those Of You Who Have Not Experienced An Increase In Rejections ~ Have You Experienced A Decrease In Rejections At Shutterstock In The Last 6 Months

No My Rejection Rate Remains The Same

Yes My Rejections Have Decreased Slightly

Yes My Rejections Have Decreased Moderately

Yes My Rejections Have Decreased Substantially

Yes My Rejections Have Decreased Drastically

Sorry for the confusion Lisa and thanks for the response.  No we are only interested in recent rejections.  So if you had a rejection this week you could use the form.  And if you have one next week and the following etc you could use the form.  This data could be correlated to geographic location.

The date you joined was added so that we can correlate the rejection information to your experience level. Rejection information from someone who joined last week will not be as relevant to an increase or decrease in rejections as it will be for someone who has been submitting for 4, 5, 6 or 7 years.

I don't plan on going in and filling in all the details but for what it's worth I haven't seen any change.  SS very rarely reject an image.

the most frustrating rejections continue to  be editorial - some reviewers insist every editorial MUST be newsworthy - but that's not how SS defines editorial

i sent in a set of urban graffiti recently as editorial - all rejected as not newsworthy - then resubmitted as ordinary & rejected as lacking a release!   that's precisely what editorial is supposed to allow - as witnessed by the many other editorial images

Lisa thanks for giving it a try.  I expected most people to use alias's for that reason.  A group of us were discussing why a few of us who have lesser content and skills still have very high acceptance rates while others with better content and skills have been getting batches rejected at almost 80 to 100% for months.  We are looking for answers.  Maybe there are none.  

I added the option "All Images were accepted in the batch", just for you.   You can leave the zip out or change it slightly but the info will not be as accurate in the end.  We are wondering if the increased rejections are regional. Just trying to make sense out of it all.

Thanks Gbalex.  You have been very accommodating in updating your survey.  Seem the least I can do is to take it

Here are the mapped results so far.  The data is not updated on the fly, we entered the latest entries at 7:00 PM 04/28/2011 EST

If you click on the dots you see the following rejection responses that the users of the form were gracious enough to share with us.

Date That You Joined Shutterstock:
Most Prevalent Reason For The Rejections In The Batch:
Have You Experienced An Increase In Rejections At Shutterstock In The Last 6 Months:
If You Answered Yes Do You Feel The Increased Rejections Are Accurate:
Has Your Rejection Rate Increased This Year ~ If So Please Select The Most Relevant Answer:
For Those Of You Who Have Not Experienced An Increase In Rejections ~ Have You Experienced A Decrease In Rejections At Shutterstock In The Last 6 Months:

http://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S185397zYiY

Yeah, things have changed a little at SS. They seem to be accepting more of a certain type of files, and rejecting all of other types. For example, I can't seem to get them to accept any 'texture' photos anymore.

I know a few photographers who are getting very high rejections numbers after years of acceptance rates of nearly 100%.  The rejections run the gamut from studio foodie and model fare all shot using profoto Pro-8 kits and premium super sharp primes with beautiful color and contrast such as the Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2 ZF.2 Lens.  They are getting rejections for lighting and focus.  Ramping up to f 8 - f16 while using mirror lockup on the food shots brought no rewards.

Same for me. I would say from the day I joined Shutterstock (Illustrations mostly), I had only less than 1% rejection. I don't find them too hard on me.