99% of my submissions rejected by SS is because of noise - I certainly can't see that noise at 100% view (and I know what noise looks like!) Yet I have a higher rejection rate at FT where all my rejected photos were accepted by all the other major agencies where I submit.

Hello!

I'm really dissapointed now too - the did rejected 3 pictures and the rest: "7 out of 10 have to be approved"...

some of my tries:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4315677_bauble_on_gold_background.php?id=4315677
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4607627_asian_beauty.php?id=4607627
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4854911_christmas_cookies.php?id=4854911

Have a good day, Martin

My tips for getting past that initial 7/10 hurdle with SS:
Forget about picking images you think will be good sellers, rather go for photos that are technically good. I'm not sure if they are stricter with the first ten - I got 10/10 accepted and later a lot of photos rejected, but you will have lots of opportunity to upload good sellers later. Look for something with natural lighting because it lessens the possibility of problems with white balance. Even if you are satisfied with lighting of the photo, make sure the histogram also tells you its good. I sometimes get the impression some reviewers look at the histogram rather than the photo itself. Make sure the light source was behind you, reviewers tend to find more noise in shadows or back lit images. Don't sharpen photos at all. With SS I never make any adjustments in Photoshop, except for levels and selective noise reduction. Look at every part of the photo at 100% view, and if anything looks just remotely like there could be noise or jpeg artifacts, enlarge that part to 200% and get rid of the problem, or don't submit.

Thanks CCK.

My latest application is in with them. I will keep your advice in mind because if they reject my lates batch, that will have meant that they've rejected 30 images which have been previously approved across an average of 2-3 sites including the big 5 sites.

Mark

got approved today 10 out of 10. Quality of images become better as I got some CS2 skills.

vphoto

Congrats vphoto on getting approved at SS.

I am still trying

Mark

before I did not remove noise. with last submition I have removed noise with Noise Ninja plugin for CS2 and also sharpened with  Smart Sharpen filter in CS2 ( I did not do that before either).

vphoto