Author Topic: Is it Fotolia or Me?? (Read 6156 times)

bobkeenan · « **on:** November 20, 2009, 13:55 »

I have only be at this microstock stuff for about 10 months. I have anywhere from 100-500 photos at the different sites. I am not the best photographer but people are buying some of my stuff. I would guess that my annual sales would be around $1000. My goal is to get to $5-10K so I can get a Full frame camera and new lenses some day... and then keep my habit fed.

But here is the deal......

Fotolia is rejecting a most (98%) of my stuff. They did not do that in the past? The stuff that is being reject is being accepted at the other sites (Istock, shutterstock, Stockexpert, dreamstime) and some are selling well (by my standards) AND almost right away. But my sales at Fotolia are crawling to a standstill.

I had the impression that Fotolia was a site that was comparible to Istock and Shutterstock.

Are looking for something that the other sites are not looking for?

BTW Shutterstock is the best.... high approval rating for me.... fast reviews.... quick sales.

KB · « **Reply #1 on:** November 20, 2009, 14:05 »

You need only take a look at some of the other threads in this forum for your answer.

Some people have a very high AR at FT, but others, like myself, are extremely frustrated with them.

I just noticed today that I have 2 images in my port that were rejected by them 2x, so I gave up. Together they have nearly 200 combined sales on other sites since.

Stu49 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 20, 2009, 14:15 »

rejecting just about everything I upload ! they didn't use to

borg · « **Reply #3 on:** November 20, 2009, 14:37 »

They reject 4/4 of my photos right now...

Here is same photos on SS:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41170981
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41170984
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41170978
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41032624

But I know why, they only want still-life object isolated , or people in situation....

Every other kind of artistic level they will reject, especially HDR and landscapes....

So don't worry, give them what they want or upload somewhere else...

rimglow · « **Reply #4 on:** November 20, 2009, 14:38 »

You have to be careful not to upload similar images from the same photoshoot. They tend to take one and reject the others. I try to stagger such shots, by uploading months apart.

leaf · « **Reply #5 on:** November 20, 2009, 15:14 »

agencies seem to have things they don't want - or tell their reviewers to be really strict on. I have found backgrounds tough to get online at Fotolia for example whereas Shutterstock and Dreamstime take more.

bobkeenan · « **Reply #6 on:** November 20, 2009, 16:02 »

Quote from: borg on November 20, 2009, 14:37

They reject 4/4 of my photos right now...

Here is same photos on SS:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41170981
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41170984
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41170978
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=41032624

But I know why, they only want still-life object isolated , or people in situation....

Every other kind of artistic level they will reject, especially HDR and landscapes....

So don't worry, give them what they want or upload somewhere else...

OK... I do a lot of misc. landscape and HDR : )

I have used to do more light box stuff.... maybe it was because of the type of stuff I submitted.

eppic · « **Reply #7 on:** November 20, 2009, 16:17 »

I'm sitting at around a 75% rejection rate, so you certainly are not alone in this camp.

lisafx · « **Reply #8 on:** November 20, 2009, 17:36 »

As others have said Bob, it most likely isn't you.

Many of us have had similar experiences of having random batches of images rejected at Fotolia for no apparent reason.

Lately they have been accepting my work though, so probably I should not have said anything. Would hate to jinx it!

ap · « **Reply #9 on:** November 21, 2009, 00:53 »

it's definitely not you...i did notice that sales at ft has dried up since the beginning of october. part of it may be due to my portfolio (lacking pumpkins and people) but the difficulty of uploading new stuff has stopped views also.

they're so subscription oriented, they're almost like ss, needing to feed the beast. so, when you don't feed the beast...i was more successful at getting a higher approval rate recently and the views came back, but not the sales.

fotografer · « **Reply #10 on:** November 21, 2009, 02:54 »

I don`t agree with that. I think that feeding the beast and putting up just about everything you have is what causes the rejection.

Quote from: ap on November 21, 2009, 00:53

they're so subscription oriented, they're almost like ss, needing to feed the beast.

ap · « **Reply #11 on:** November 21, 2009, 03:28 »

Quote from: fotografer on November 21, 2009, 02:54

I don`t agree with that. I think that feeding the beast and putting up just about everything you have is what causes the rejection.

Quote from: ap on November 21, 2009, 00:53

they're so subscription oriented, they're almost like ss, needing to feed the beast.

i beg to disagree but it's because nothing is getting through that i can't feed the beast.

i don't put up everything...sheesh!

fotografer · « **Reply #12 on:** November 21, 2009, 03:52 »

HaHa,
I thought that by feeding the beast you meant just putting everything you had up to them. They seem a lot more selective about the type of images they want compared to other sites. Luckily I produce the style of images that they want so have a pretty good acceptance rate. I find IS a lot more difficult to get images approved at.

ap · « **Reply #13 on:** November 21, 2009, 04:02 »

see, you just can't game the system. istock is much nicer to me and lets me feed him/her a lot more often. but, you sure can't tell with your rank at is that you even have a problem.

can you go into more detail what your style is for us fotolia rejects? (or have you already mentioned this somewhere else?)

fotorob · « **Reply #14 on:** November 21, 2009, 04:31 »

I don't want to brag, but Fotolia takes most of my images, maybe 95-98%. But I only do people shoots though...

fotografer · « **Reply #15 on:** November 21, 2009, 09:16 »

The same as fotorob, people shots, and like him I rarely have anything refused at Fotolia and if I do it is mostly because I have uploaded a nature shot without people.

Quote from: ap on November 21, 2009, 04:02

see, you just can't game the system. istock is much nicer to me and lets me feed him/her a lot more often. but, you sure can't tell with your rank at is that you even have a problem.

can you go into more detail what your style is for us fotolia rejects? (or have you already mentioned this somewhere else?)

ap · « **Reply #16 on:** November 21, 2009, 16:33 »

thanks guys for the tip. i just did my first model released shoot this week, so i'll see if your theory pans out.

Quote from: fotografer on November 21, 2009, 09:16

The same as fotorob, people shots, and like him I rarely have anything refused at Fotolia and if I do it is mostly because I have uploaded a nature shot without people.

i had my two first ever landscapes approved by ft last week. but on closer inspection at 100%, you can actually see blobs of people.

studioportosabbia · « **Reply #17 on:** December 12, 2009, 17:46 »

Great to learn I'm not the only one: for the last months I had most of my work rejected by Fotolia but those files do well on other sites. Maybe part of the Crestock crowd had moved to Fotolia?

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Author Topic: Is it Fotolia or Me?? (Read 6156 times)

bobkeenan

KB

Stu49

borg

rimglow

leaf

bobkeenan

eppic

lisafx

ap

fotografer

ap

fotografer

ap

fotorob

fotografer

ap

studioportosabbia

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