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Author Topic: Canva  (Read 422541 times)

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« Reply #775 on: August 04, 2015, 04:23 »
+2
Now it's down to 261 and they've removed a bunch of PNGs - I made some specially for Canva from images shot on white, given that their cutout process clearly wasn't happening. These have sold as well.

What's especially maddening about this is that I did these after they said that's what they wanted to see how they'd sell there. They did sell and now they've told both their customers and me that we're idiots. I should probably stop writing about this because I'm too angry to be constructive. Asshats

I have uploaded a PNG and they put it in their pending cut-out queue...  ::)

Also seems they are not interested in communicating with contributors anymore. Last email I sent to Lee went unanswered as well.

I think Lee is gone.  He's been updating his blog madly lately, and the reason showed up yesterday - a consulting business to make money from stock photographers.


« Reply #776 on: August 04, 2015, 10:05 »
0
I think Lee is gone.  He's been updating his blog madly lately, and the reason showed up yesterday - a consulting business to make money from stock photographers.


At the end of his "about" page he says he works at Canva

http://www.microstockdiaries.com/about

I sent a support ticket via the site July 10th and Lee replied to it (the statement they'd be clarifying their criteria for accepting content in the next newsletter) , so if he has left it's recent. His LinkedIn page lists Canva as a current employer.

Edited to add that they've now removed a bunch of backgrounds - I'm down to 245 approved images.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2015, 14:53 by Jo Ann Snover »

« Reply #777 on: August 04, 2015, 12:15 »
+2
Lee is still Director of Stock Photography at Canva and he makes a bunch of other things.

« Reply #778 on: August 04, 2015, 16:54 »
+3
I think Lee is gone.  He's been updating his blog madly lately, and the reason showed up yesterday - a consulting business to make money from stock photographers.


At the end of his "about" page he says he works at Canva

http://www.microstockdiaries.com/about

I sent a support ticket via the site July 10th and Lee replied to it (the statement they'd be clarifying their criteria for accepting content in the next newsletter) , so if he has left it's recent. His LinkedIn page lists Canva as a current employer.

Edited to add that they've now removed a bunch of backgrounds - I'm down to 245 approved images.

I am scratching my head on what content they actually want ....

« Reply #779 on: August 04, 2015, 20:24 »
+2
I've had about 250 files removed from my portfolio over the last couple of weeks, so I'm in the same camp as most others here.

The last batch I uploaded hasn't been reviewed, although admittedly it's only been there a few days.

I've got another batch of new files to upload (which I think will be entirely suited to Canva for their purposes) but to be honest I'm holding off because I'm unsure of what to do.  All these file removals and lack of communication from Canva make me feel uncertain about their plans.

Sales are still rising (and I'm pleased about that) but if they continue to remove files eventually sales will fall.

Let's hope that Lee (or somone else from Canva) will be able to pop in here with an update so we can all be made aware of what exactly is happening.

« Reply #780 on: August 05, 2015, 02:35 »
0
I've had the strange experience of as quickly as my recent images get accepted an equal number of old accepted images are being deleted.

2600 image portfolio.

The amount stays the same, new images accepted but images are just getting deleted at exactly the same rate.

Very confusing and very unsure as to keep uploading.
Do they just want to keep it all fresh and new?

« Reply #781 on: August 05, 2015, 03:33 »
+2
Can people upload their own photos to Canva, or should you always use Canva images?  In case one can use self-uploaded images, is Canva then free?
If this is the case, could people have an SS subscription (50 million images to choose from) instead of searching Canva (1 million?) ?  Then why would Canva systematically delete usable images? 
Also :  I'm sure it's easy to use a subject on a white background and put text on it (without cutting out the subject).  As a result, because of their HUGE backlog in "pending cut-out", Canva has a LOT less isolations than any other agency.  Yeah I know, you cannot put a non-cutout image on a different colour backdrop, but still it's better to have an "image on white only" than an "image pending cutout".
I really really don't understand the policy behind all this.  Canva is a GREAT idea and concept, but I would LOVE to understand their reasons.

« Reply #782 on: August 05, 2015, 04:51 »
+10
From what I hear, it sounds like they're just trolling contributors with their weird deletions.

I hope that once vectors are being ingested, they'll have a good idea of what they want, but I'm afraid by the time that happens, they'll have lost all goodwill. This policy of deleting images simply pisses off contributors and buyers alike, hampering Canva's growth and leaving many people unsure of where it's headed.
 
Such a waste of what initially sounded like a promising new agency. Playing these kind of frustrating games with their contributors is detrimental to their image.

« Reply #783 on: August 05, 2015, 06:03 »
+1
Image sold yesterday. Now "unavailable". grrrrrrr....

« Reply #784 on: August 05, 2015, 06:17 »
0
I still wonder why the bigger sites haven't just copied the Canva USP?  Its obviously very popular with designers, so why are sites like SS just letting them take their business?  Maybe they think Canva is too small but isn't that where the traditional sites went wrong when microstock started?  If Canva had played this right, I think they could be huge by now but they are still doing quite well despite trying to shoot themselves in the foot.

« Reply #785 on: August 05, 2015, 06:24 »
+6
It wouldn't surprise me to find Canva doing a deal with one of the Big 4 to use the images direct from them - cut out the expense and hassle of ingesting our work into their collection. We, of course, would get a fraction of a fraction of a royalty...

« Reply #786 on: August 05, 2015, 08:38 »
+3
I don't think that will happen unless other sites start accepting PNGs.  That is also a reason other sites can't easily copy their platform.

The deletion thing is hard to understand - not sure how that is making things better for them.  Better to just change acceptances going forward.  They certainly aren't the first agency to delete images but the others haven't done it on such a large scale.

« Reply #787 on: August 05, 2015, 09:08 »
+11
They chopped off more than 120 images from my port in the last two weeks alone. That comes to a total of almost 300 ever since they've started to delete images. Third of my port is still pending cut-out and I cant be bothered to delete them 1 by 1, cut them out myself and resubmit as png's.
With Lee gone missing along with any kind of support from their staff, no guidelines whatsoever of what kind of images they want, images dissapearing from ports without notice, I wont upload anymore!!!  >:(

objowl

« Reply #788 on: August 05, 2015, 11:52 »
+2
Image sold yesterday. Now "unavailable". grrrrrrr....

I sold an image yesterday as well, all my images were deleted on the 23rd of July.

I started off last year with 500+ images available, June was my best month when I only had 173 left after deletions. 

« Reply #789 on: August 06, 2015, 03:04 »
+2
Wow, that's a huge amount of deletions.  I hope they realise that most of us wont bother spending time uploading while this is happening and they are going to be losing a lot of business, as buyers will be getting images from other sites.

Lee hasn't been on here since 25th June but surely someone from Canva has some interest in their image contributors?

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #790 on: August 06, 2015, 03:32 »
+1
They could have started with tighter reviews but I guess they needed volume initially.  Good that they are curating, hopefully we will see the benefit down the line. I agree that it is very frustrating for the time being.

PZF

« Reply #791 on: August 06, 2015, 08:50 »
+1
How do you see how many files are still remaining and actually - alive? 
I've got images still processing for months, many rejected S (what?), others  marked pending cutout (which may as well be deleted from what we hear)(and many are NOT isolations)....all very disappointing.....

w7lwi

  • Those that don't stand up to evil enable evil.
« Reply #792 on: August 07, 2015, 13:00 »
+2
Here's part of a note I got from Lee last June.  While we may not be happy about it, at least it tries to explain what's going on with the image deletions.

"And just so you know, the quantity sold doesnt influence our decisions.  Some people buy even the worst images.  The cleanup is designed to have them using great images despite their inability to tell the difference.  Unlike normal stock agencies, we bear a lot of the brunt of bad designs made with our images."

As I mentioned, we may not be happy about this or agree with the way they went about it, but as people have said, it's their company and they are free to run it in a manner that seems right to them.

« Reply #793 on: August 07, 2015, 13:23 »
+5
Well they keep some rude manners then, assuming what I have read on the last 2 pages is true.

objowl

« Reply #794 on: August 07, 2015, 13:32 »
+6
Designers can take a great image and make a bad design, I've not been that impressed with Canva designs sent in their emails.  They accepted these images made a bundle of money from them, then discarded them claiming they are the worst images.
It goes without saying that it's their company to ruin in a manner that seems right to them, but good relationships with contributors and designers must be part of that, insulting both in a few sentences is not good business.

« Reply #795 on: August 07, 2015, 14:28 »
+4
"The cleanup is designed to have them using great images despite their inability to tell the difference."

I love that quote.  The problem, of course, is that what is great is relative - if the buyer thinks it's great that should be all that matters; trying to force people to only buy images that you think are great can be a problem if your vision doesn't correspond to current trends.  As long as Canva keeps up their sales numbers though I won't complain too much.

« Reply #796 on: August 07, 2015, 14:38 »
+13
Here's part of a note I got from Lee last June.  While we may not be happy about it, at least it tries to explain what's going on with the image deletions.

"And just so you know, the quantity sold doesnt influence our decisions.  Some people buy even the worst images.  The cleanup is designed to have them using great images despite their inability to tell the difference.  Unlike normal stock agencies, we bear a lot of the brunt of bad designs made with our images."

As I mentioned, we may not be happy about this or agree with the way they went about it, but as people have said, it's their company and they are free to run it in a manner that seems right to them.

I understand that, but I've been selling stock for over 10 years and while I won't claim to be a great photographer, I'm a good one and I know what sells - across agencies - and I know what the quality is of the images I provide. Canva has deleted many of my best sellers. Images that I believe have a very high technical quality and are aesthetically good/pleasing as well.

They are of course entitled to their curatorial standards, but (a) they should spell them out and (b) they also said a year ago that what sold well as stock elsewhere was what would sell at Canva - that's the stuff they're now deleting.

I realize any time anyone complains about review standards or deletions, they open themselves up to have their images called a useless pile of crap, but I just don't buy that about almost all of the images of mine that Canva has deleted.

objowl

« Reply #797 on: August 07, 2015, 14:45 »
+1
"The cleanup is designed to have them using great images despite their inability to tell the difference."

I love that quote.  The problem, of course, is that what is great is relative - if the buyer thinks it's great that should be all that matters; trying to force people to only buy images that you think are great can be a problem if your vision doesn't correspond to current trends.  As long as Canva keeps up their sales numbers though I won't complain too much.

Or until Canva decide your vision doesn't correspond to current trends and deletes the lot.   Having decided they no longer want my your images Canva insist on keeping them forever, just in case a designer who can't tell a good image from a bad one wants to make a bad design with them despite Canva having to bear the brunt of these bad designs.  What nonsense!

« Reply #798 on: August 07, 2015, 19:30 »
0
Is anyone here getting any reviews and acceptances for new uploads?  I've got three batches waiting.  Admittedly it's only been a week/ten days, but until recently reviews used to be quite quick.

« Reply #799 on: August 07, 2015, 21:31 »
0
Is anyone here getting any reviews and acceptances for new uploads?  I've got three batches waiting.  Admittedly it's only been a week/ten days, but until recently reviews used to be quite quick.
I have no idea where my last upload went, it does not seem to be in "processing" or in my port!


 

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