Quote from: cobalt on June 21, 2023, 04:55

I am happy to explore a new medium.
I create
If art is your big thing, why do stock?

I'm going to feel creative too next time, when I flush the toilet, since that's what happens when you press a button...
End of story. I stop loosing time now.

Quote from: DiscreetDuck on June 21, 2023, 05:11

Quote from: cobalt on June 21, 2023, 04:55

I am happy to explore a new medium.
I create
If art is your big thing, why do stock?

I'm going to feel creative too next time, when I flush the toilet, since that's what happens when you press a button...
End of story. I stop loosing time now.

Very funny and hitting the nail on the head. The others just don't get it. They only care about money. And how that comes in, is not in their interest. If they need to collect empty bottles in the street that is fine for them also. As long as it pays them a few dollars.

And you are working for the higher purpose of enlightening the world with your outstanding instant life changing art, right?
....scratching the walls of a cave with flintstone in perfect human true art tradition.

We, the unworthy button pushers could never dream of reaching your superior intellect and true understanding of the universe.

Well... so far this week it has been 100% rejection. Not a single file accepted (photographic). Bear in mind my lifetime rank is around 520 and I've been submitting to them for about 10 years so it's not like I'm a new contributor with no experience.

I've deleted the files that were waiting to go to them and for now, I'm going to pause submitting photographic content as I don't want to damage my acceptance rate. I'm waiting on a reply from AS when I contacted support about the problem.

I really like AS and I'm sure they'll sort it out but the radio silence, I have to admit, is rather concerning.

Edit. I've also asked for feedback as to what, "Quality Issues" because if there is problem, I want to resolve it. It's just that they pass everywhere else so it's a bit confusing as to why just AS. Hopefully someone will reply.

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on June 21, 2023, 13:00

Quote from: SVH on June 21, 2023, 11:29

Quote from: DiscreetDuck on June 21, 2023, 05:11

Quote from: cobalt on June 21, 2023, 04:55

I am happy to explore a new medium.
I create
If art is your big thing, why do stock?

I'm going to feel creative too next time, when I flush the toilet, since that's what happens when you press a button...
End of story. I stop loosing time now.

Very funny and hitting the nail on the head. The others just don't get it. They only care about money. And how that comes in, is not in their interest. If they need to collect empty bottles in the street that is fine for them also. As long as it pays them a few dollars.

Why always directly so insulting when you do not like other opinions.

From my point of view, you have not understood something here.
As already mentioned, I am also not a fan of AI.
But the AI is there now and will not disappear. So the only question is how we deal with it. So what's wrong with using this new tool wisely?

The problem and annoyance are those who suddenly produce thousands of images and fill the agencies with low-quality junk. Or do not mark the images as AI. This, in turn, is not a genuine problem of AI, but of the agencies, namely Adobe.

Hi Ralf, didn't think you thought you were spoken to.

Let me explain a bit better. I make my money in a complete other sector (which is not art) and I would have to sell at least ten thousand of Shutterstock subscription sales a day to match that income.

But I have a passion, which is photography. I use microstock to understand the value of my photography. Are people willing to buy it or not? I am obviously not in my place there because I only submit photography that I like to shoot and not what the market might actually need. And I am fine with that. It is not my goal to be the best. I am just measuring for myself.

I feel compassion for and I am interested in people who are doing this for their livelyhood. I think it's great if someone was able to earn their money through microstock (if it is photo or video). I understand their dissapointment that the market has gone down and that it is a struggle to get by these days. I understand that people were able to make money of their passion years ago and then the market collapsed.

That is why I am also rude maybe to Mat because I know he is not telling you the truth sometimes. I know corporate speak when I see it. It's not his personal fault. He is an employee but he cannot always get away with statements which are obviously misleading.

I really strongly believe that AI will kill any remained hope for these people that I just mentioned. I am sure they are passionate about their photography and video making (even though they have to shoot something else they would maybe prefer).

In the near feature every idiot (or maybe they are doing it already now, Adobe seems to accept it all), will be able to produce fantastic results with just a few words and one push of the button. Your long waiting time is because all these idiots are flooding Adobe's system.

Contributors here that have an awful portfolio are going all-in on this AI stuff, merely because they smell the money. And those are the people I am referring to in my previous post. Same kind of people as the thiefs that rip a photo or video from your portfolio and trying to sell them with another agency. It's only about the money and has nothing to do with the art or passion of photography or videomaking.

AI sucks also because it has also nothing to do with photography, videomaking or Art at all. It's a bloody computer algortihm that leeches on people's work. It's not creative at all.

For all those people that think they are needed because you need to tweek the original output of AI. It will be short lived. That tweeking will soon not be neccesary anymore.

Lastly, it is, like other people said, disrespectful and outrageous that Adobe accepts junk from AI and rejects high quality real work. It certainly seems they think that AI is the future and have left real work behind them. I am really wondering if they will also stop with their core products like Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro etc.. Why would they continue with that, if it is not the future for them?

Edit: I said thousand but I meant ten thousand a day. It's corrected.

Quote from: cobalt on June 21, 2023, 12:05

And you are working for the higher purpose of enlightening the world with your outstanding instant life changing art, right?
....scratching the walls of a cave with flintstone in perfect human true art tradition.

We, the unworthy button pushers could never dream of reaching your superior intellect and true understanding of the universe.

i highly recommend netflix 'Cunk on Earth' a hilarious send up of history channel type l faux documentaries.   she's aggressively ignorant as a presenter, eg describing cave painting hunting scenes as 'the war of men against cows'

@svh

"But I have a passion, which is photography. I use microstock to understand the value of my photography. Are people willing to buy it or not? I am obviously not in my place there because I only submit photography that I like to shoot and not what the market might actually need. And I am fine with that. It is not my goal to be the best. I am just measuring for myself."

What you are saying is, you are an amateur photographer with no interest to understand the actual needs of the customers.

That is why it is unlikely you will make reliable money from stock.

Stock is a service oriented business, not a self discovery journey. We don't make the content for ourselves, we make it for the customers and their projects.

You come into a professional business forum then proceed to judge and lecture the people that do this for a living.

You might as well enter a forum that supports the techs who sell and repair washing machines. Then proceed to criticize and belittle people while they are actually working.

And you don't even notice how out of place you are.

But we get your kind all the time, usually male, retired, bored and in love with their overpriced camera gear.

Have fun, while you are here, but you will get bored and move on sooner or later.

While we will still be here in 20 years.

eta:

Just as an example

my eyeem port

https://www.eyeem.com/u/cobaltstock

my eyeem lifetime earnings - How did I do that?

@svh

"But I have a passion, which is photography. I use microstock to understand the value of my photography. Are people willing to buy it or not? I am obviously not in my place there because I only submit photography that I like to shoot and not what the market might actually need. And I am fine with that. It is not my goal to be the best. I am just measuring for myself."

What you are saying is, you are an amateur photographer with no interest to understand the actual needs of the customers.

That is why it is unlikely you will make reliable money from stock.

Stock is a service oriented business, not a self discovery journey. We don't make the content for ourselves, we make it for the customers and their projects.

You come into a professional business forum then proceed to judge and lecture the people that do this for a living.

You might as well enter a forum that supports the techs who sell and repair washing machines. Then proceed to criticize and belittle people while they are actually working.

And you don't even notice how out of place you are.

But we get your kind all the time, usually male, retired, bored and in love with their overpriced camera gear.

Have fun, while you are here, but you will get bored and move on sooner or later.

While we will still be here in 20 years.

eta:

Just as an example

my eyeem port

https://www.eyeem.com/u/cobaltstock

my eyeem lifetime earnings - How did I do that?

Quote from: cascoly on June 21, 2023, 14:04

Quote from: cobalt on June 21, 2023, 12:05

And you are working for the higher purpose of enlightening the world with your outstanding instant life changing art, right?
....scratching the walls of a cave with flintstone in perfect human true art tradition.

We, the unworthy button pushers could never dream of reaching your superior intellect and true understanding of the universe.

i highly recommend netflix 'Cunk on Earth' a hilarious send up of history channel type l faux documentaries.   she's aggressively ignorant as a presenter, eg describing cave painting hunting scenes as 'the war of men against cows'

That sounds like fun, will look for it, thank you.

I am a big fan of the documentary "Cave of the forgotten Dreams" by Werner Herzog.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/

I saw it several times in 3D in the cinema. It is incredible. Hypnotic, especially if they light it with candles or torches. The animals come to life, they move. I ended up dreaming about the experience, it was very weird.

Makes you realize that while we are separated by thousands of years, they were us.

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on June 22, 2023, 15:39

Strange arrogant discussion here by self-proclaimed star photographers who themselves do not put their quality images here for discussion.

Stock agencies are in my opinion and experience no vernissage of high-carat images (of course, there should also be), but a collection of images that are needed by customers.
 
Do you top-photographers actually take a look at which images are used in the media?

Not every customer needs highly polished, artfully perfect works, but also simple pictures from everyday life.
This market is also large and lucrative.

My example image of snacks is admittedly of poor quality, actually embarrassing to others and was somehow an accident.  But it obviously has content - and that's what stock photography is all about - that resonates with customers. Over 100 customers have so far chosen the image over your high quality fries alternatives in the face of stiff competition.

Ralf, do you also mostly supply AI images these days? If so, then the same goes for you.

If not, read what your fellow contributor says and let it sink in before, again, you think you are targeted here:

"All 10 ai images accepted, one photo accepted, one photo declined for "quality"."

I've been in contact with AS and Mat recently about rejections. The ones I took issue with do appear to have been approved now (now in the accepted list, image portfolio)... I'm waiting on a follow up confirming what actually happened.

I have to say I found Mat to be very understanding and balanced with his assessment. I have no issues there at all. Hopefully the rejection problem is a growing pain issue due to the high volume of images rather than a change in policy.

If I had any issue, AS should have seen this coming... we've seen how fraudsters have worked tirelessly in the Stock Industry, especially at Shutterstock, so there was bound to be a massive influx of chancers submitting dodgy work etc by the 1000's.

Personally, I'd like to see AI have its own queue away from photographs, illustrations and human pngs etc and for any delay to affect them only rather than impacting everyone. At the moment photographs seem to go through ok but png's take an age.