Quote from: john_woodcock on September 22, 2012, 05:16

OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.

What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.

I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.

I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?

My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.

Quote from: cclapper on September 22, 2012, 18:47

Quote from: john_woodcock on September 22, 2012, 05:16

OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.

What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.

I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.

I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?

My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.

And your point is?    My comment was about how MY sales on SS went up, when MY port on IS went off. My conclusions are based on when I was an active contributor (first hand experience from the not too distant past), like many other contributors commenting here. Chill, dude. Stop trying to be a bully.

Not to sure about Thinkstock. I now get about half the amount of $ i got when TS started, while my port there doubled.

My iStock vs. SS experience seems to be just the opposite of most reporting here.  September is my second full month of being exclusive at iStock.  If I look at those two months vs. the previous several when I had ports at both sites there's no comparison between the two in terms of income.  While I had several more downloads per month at SS since turning exclusive at iStock my income is approaching 5X/month what it was during my peak time at SS.

I"ll take dollars over downloads.  Having said that I must say that I "enjoyed" dealing with SS much more than I do iStock.  So many site problems, a lack of communication, etc.  If SS ever offers exclusivity with a higher income potential than they have now I'd jump ship in a heartbeat.

5X/month than your peak time at SS?May i ask how much is your peak earning at SS?

Quote from: leaf on September 22, 2012, 05:44

but you do use DeepMeta don't you?  If you don't, you're crazy.

Call be crazy then.  I tried Deepmeta, after all the rave reviews of it on here.  It didn't seem to save me much time.  I already have a system at IS and DM just added to the PITA factor, IMO.  Maybe it takes getting used to...?

The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)

 - model releases
you can just click 3 model releases and they are all attached to the image.  This saves you combing releases together in Photoshop and uploading individually.  Perhaps not a big deal if you always use the same models in a shot for each shoot but I often have 4 models and vary who is in the shot in each shoot, making 17 combinations of models which makes a LOT of extra work.  Have the work simplified to Just having to click on the necessary releases for each image is a life saver in itself.

-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words.  I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done.  Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver

- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool.  You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio

Quote from: Freedom on September 23, 2012, 12:05

Quote from: cclapper on September 23, 2012, 06:44

Quote from: Freedom on September 22, 2012, 19:01

Quote from: cclapper on September 22, 2012, 18:47

Quote from: john_woodcock on September 22, 2012, 05:16

OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.

What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.

I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.

I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?

My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.

And your point is?    My comment was about how MY sales on SS went up, when MY port on IS went off. My conclusions are based on when I was an active contributor (first hand experience from the not too distant past), like many other contributors commenting here. Chill, dude. Stop trying to be a bully.

My point is, chill, and do not stay angry. Your anger against iS from many months ago may prevent you from offering an objective opinion of today and mislead others. Of course, you don't care because IS is irrelevant to you. Does it make me a bully? I'll let Leaf decide. 

  You're so funny!

Thank you! 

Quote from: leaf on September 23, 2012, 12:09

The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)

 - model releases
you can just click 3 model releases and they are all attached to the image.  This saves you combing releases together in Photoshop and uploading individually.  Perhaps not a big deal if you always use the same models in a shot for each shoot but I often have 4 models and vary who is in the shot in each shoot, making 17 combinations of models which makes a LOT of extra work.  Have the work simplified to Just having to click on the necessary releases for each image is a life saver in itself.

-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words.  I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done.  Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver

- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool.  You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio

Those would be convenient, no doubt about it.  I did a school shoot awhile back with 15 models in all sorts of combinations.  It was (and continues to be) a nightmare making all the different model release combinations. 

Evidently I did not spend enough time with Deepmeta to figure out all the time savers.  If I do another big multiperson shoot I may give it another shot. 

You certainly should.  It is really simple once you figure out where you need to click on the software.

So, how's it going? The first week was bad because of the new payment system, that failed horribly. But the rest of the month seems to be pretty bad too. February 2011 was my worst month ever as exclusive and �this september seems to be somewhere on that level.

Quote from: leaf on September 23, 2012, 12:09

The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)


-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words.  I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done.  Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver

- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool.  You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio

Duh I'm an idiot for not reading things.  I didn't know that any of this was possible!!! I just thought that the only real advantage was the model releases and the fact that once uploaded to the site you don't need to go back and finish things off.  This will save me a lot of work.  Thankyou.
ETA is there anyway of using deepmeta to edit images already uploaded to create the links?

Yes, of course.  In fact you can only create the links for images already uploaded and accepted.

I noticed that the changes are actually saved the first time but it takes several hours before it updates. But if you save twice it updates immediately. Weird problem.

Oh, one caveat to that - ever since iStock screwed up the site with their last update, any changes made in DeepMeta have to be sent back to the site twice before they actually take - they must have messed up something in the API.

Just select all the files changed, send the updates, then send them again.  Hopefully this will be fixed sometime "soon"...

It also does that if you make changes directly in the site, e.g. add a lightbox banner in the description. You need to 'send' twice.

Quote from: fotografer on September 24, 2012, 09:34

Quote from: leaf on September 23, 2012, 12:09

The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)


-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words.  I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done.  Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver

- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool.  You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio

Duh I'm an idiot for not reading things.  I didn't know that any of this was possible!!! I just thought that the only real advantage was the model releases and the fact that once uploaded to the site you don't need to go back and finish things off.  This will save me a lot of work.  Thankyou.
ETA is there anyway of using deepmeta to edit images already uploaded to create the links?

Yes, of course.  In fact you can only create the links for images already uploaded and accepted.

Thank you, of course that makes sense.  Looks like I am going to be busy.