Look at your best sales at Shutterstock

Thanks, problem is you can't write on the forums until you have at least 1 image accepted. I called them and talked to them...
My best sales at SS is two of the baby in striped hat, the forget-me-not flower and Toronto skyline.
Now, iS seems to have something against flowers (too many?) so I don't think I should upload that.

The sailboat has already ben rejected at iS, again, it's a sunset and they have too many?

I'd be careful with the guitar and markers one, unless you are completely certain that the isolation is perfect you are taking an unnecessary risk. From what I recall from my pre-exclusive times, istock is stricter than other agencies with isolations. Mother reading to children might get a flat dull lights rejection. If there are no artifacts in any of the babies they might be approved. I like the story on the first one, but would be a bit afraid about the dark areas on the top where the chairs are.

Just guessing here, should see them large and could be wrong.

Thanks everyone for your help!
Thanks Ann for your kind words.

I guess I will have to give it some more thought, maybe do a shoot specifically for iStock.

I'd go with the mother reading to the children and the isolation of the guitar. As far as a third one goes...I don't know. It is hard to get florals or sunsets accepted any more because of the over saturation of those categories. Maybe the Toronto skyline in winter? They pretty much like a variety. You've got the model shot and isolation covered, but need to find a landscape that works...(not sunset) or food shot..something like that.

Congratulations on getting accepted!  Just wanted to chime in and say that the baby is ADORABLE, and your pictures of her are excellent!  With that smile I think she's going to be a stock superstar

Good lifestyle images like the family reading, and the shots of the very photogenic baby are much more saleable than isolated objects and cityscapes IMO.  Nobody mentioned the shot where she's reaching in the drawer, but that's really the concept shot of the bunch.  Could be used for "have you childproofed your house" or "caught in the act" concepts.  

I notice you have a lot of black-and-white shots in your canstock port.  I would not submit many of those to IS.  A color shot of the same thing will outsell B&W by a large margin.  Most buyers can do their own B&W conversions nowadays, so including lots of them in your portfolio just cuts down on your sales potential. 

Congrats....I'm glad you made it...

BTW...Lisa is correct about the black and white photos. They look great and I personally like black and white because of the impact it can have, but it does limit the saleability.

Thanks Lisa for your kind words. The baby is my little one, so she probably will be a stock superstar, haha. Unfortunately she is one of those high-need/spirited children, so she is never still and is very hard to photograph. But yes, I will try for some more conceptual photos from now on.

About the black-and-white: These were pictures taken of my brother with girlfriend two years ago. This was before I had any thought of selling the images, and I actually shot them in black and white. I thought I would save myself a lot of time editing that way 
Needless to say, I wouldn't do the same mistake again.
We took a bunch of photos to make a YouTube-movie for a Swedish song we like, here is the full video:
Sista Morgonen - Slideshow [nofollow]

Thanks for pointing out about cropping the head. I'll think more about not doing that, even though I like it sometimes

^ that is great advice about cropping. I have overcropped too. I've really made a push to process less and crop less lately. pretty photos are great and all, but I'm realizing that designers really prefer a nice, clean, colour-corrected file that is simply useful. I hate to say it this way, because it's not entirely correct and there is a good deal of artistic vision in good stock, but I'm separating the art out of my stock images....

Quote from: Mysmasken on November 30, 2010, 21:23

Thanks for pointing out about cropping the head. I'll think more about not doing that, even though I like it sometimes

I like it too sometimes .  As a suggestion, sometimes when I upload a tightly cropped shot, I will also upload a similar one that is wide, so the designers have a choice.  It's tougher to do that now that the sites are so picky about similars, but still a good idea if you can manage it.

The B&Ws are beautiful, and it makes perfect sense to do them, since you weren't shooting for stock.  Stock makes you think about pictures in a whole new way, doesn't it?  Lots to learn, but you have natural talent and good models, so you will be fine

Thanks for your kind words again, Lisa. I really appreciate it. I figured I would get bashed left, right and center here when outing my tiny portfolio. I don't know why the Internet has become such a hateful place. I guess it's because people can hide behind their monitors. Good thing there are still some nice people out there.

And yes, stock photo really makes you think in a new way. I feel that I am developing lots in the technical aspects, trying to avoid grain, blur, distractions in the background... I guess for every picture I take now I try and go through the checklist they have at the agencies before I snap the pictures, hehe.