My thoughts about it are the same as those above - right down to is this the first email I noticed or my first invite? - not sure - but it seems like a lot of time for $20 and I tend to be too much of a perfectionist even when it's unnecessary so I'm sure it'd take me more than an hour to shoot and process 20 photo pairs. But if it leads to more lucrative "missions" I'd give it a shot (or 20  )

Anyone here done one of their missions and what was your take? Thanks for sharing your experience.

Stuff I uploaded last week - including some AI Christmas stuff I figured I had better add now or it wouldn't be available until Christmas 2026 - was all reviewed yesterday and most were accepted. I was shocked but something has definitely improved!

I upload small batches - I think the most I've ever added in an entire month is about 35 images, so the new upload limits are welcome and whatever they are set at, I know I won't hit the limit - I just hope that they keep the spammers at bay and mean we start to see normal review times again.

I'd felt discouraged from uploading because my content was sitting for weeks on end with part of a batch being approved and the rest never getting seen. I've been really sick and unable to get out most days but I happened to take a few iPhone images a couple of weeks ago when I was well enough to get out to see some friends and they were accepted right away - (they were mostly illustrative editorial - always a faster review). Anyway, one of them was licensed the day after it was online, so I figured I'd add some more. I guess my timing was fortuitous.

I think Jasmin's suggestion that our welcome screen tell us how many uploads we have available is a great idea. For those of you with big portfolios who are super productive, it would only seem fair. I've been playing with AI since I rarely get out to shoot these days and kudos to Jasmin's suggestions - I researched Christmas trends for the year, couldn't face rooting around in my very hot attic to find props - so I made some AI "photos" instead. I spent ages fixing their flaws, so was happy that most were accepted. Now I'll see how good my research was.

Upload limits would certainly make things more manageable for reviewers and cut down on spam. It seems pretty obvious that would be a start. And far less time consuming than combing through the current millions of images to find dupes.

It would also give producers who thoughtfully compose their images a fighting chance to get them reviewed - though my stuff has gone through & been accepted quickly lately so I can't complain - but I've also waited months for reviews earlier this year.

I added a mix of illustrative editorial and commercial yesterday and all were online this morning. Maybe things are starting to improve.

Glad it was accepted.

Illustrative editorial surely goes through faster. Looks like a beautiful trip! Spanish architecture is wonderful.

It's interesting, I mentioned earlier that I had a batch accepted quickly where one languished for over two months, and I removed it as it was not longer timely (tax day concept).

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday US time), I uploaded two iPhone illustrative editorial images and they were online before noon today (Monday). So, illustrative editorial seem to be in another queue.

I get some frustrating quality rejections too and agree it would be helpful if they gave a more specific reason, so you could fix it and resubmit. I hate to be critical of anyone's work and I think those window and housefront images are charming, but since you've asked here, I find them to be a little off white balance-wise - a tad too blue, and despite the dark shadows, I think they could pop more and have a bit more vibrant color, given that the bright hues are a big part of the images' charm.

It looks like they were taken close to mid-day - which makes it harder - so I'd start with using your camera's neutral/ muted color profile in RAW.  In the housefront image, I'd try shifting the white balance toward the warmer side, a tad toward the yellow, and also move the tint toward pink. I'd also lift the shadows (if this adds noise, the AI noise reduction works well - and it doesn't tag your image as AI - though watch your keywords - it might add two keywords - denoise and something else - there's something you can uncheck in preferences to avoid this). Then I'd experiment with lowering the contrast slightly while adding a little sharpening, clarity and vibrance, maybe a little saturation, to make it "pop." I use the Nik filters a lot for this but LR/RAW work too.

Good luck. Those colorful houses can sell well.

Congrats Patrick! Beautiful image!

I've seen people offering classes on marketing and letting students use their ss images in their own marketing - not what this model envisions but what it will be used for in addition to the many other kinds of image theft and misuse. Looking for that opt-out button now.

My approval rating is 85% - and I had bunches of files from the same shoot where all were approved but one which would then sit and wait for a month or so, then be approved, I've got one that's been there for three months. Again, the rest of the set was approved in a few days. It was a commercial image with a tax theme, so I deleted it since it'll be irrelevant for much of the next year. It was late enough three months ago. At least others from the set have licensed, even one today, a day late!

I feel discouraged from uploading when the wait is like this. Maybe I should get my Christmas photos ready now?

I don't know where you are located but if you are in the US, I highly recommend the International Center for Photography (ICP) in NYC, and Maine Media, located in the southern part of Maine. Both have top-notch professors and offer different types of classes. I took a weekly class for a couple of semesters at ICP long ago before I actually became a professional photographer. I've also taken classes at Maine Media - they have week-long summer intensive classes and I think they have semester long ones too. In the summer, people travel from all over to take classes there and you not only work with your teacher and fellow students, but you live and eat and hang out with other top photographers who are teaching there, who often offer lectures at night, or who you can just jchat and have a drink with, ads well as students from all over, and you really can improve your photography in a week.

Another thing I did when I first started out was to take some classes at a local community college in the NY suburbs where I live. I took a portrait class, one on Photoshop, one on documentary photography, and even Illustrator -only one class a semester, but being involved in those classes helped me improve a lot. Is there a local university near you that offers classes - maybe one where you can audit classes so it doesn't cost as much?

In the US there is a group called the Professional Photographers of America and they have local chapters. I belonged to one local chapter for a while - the monthly meetings usually had someone who would talk, often time when you could get feedback on photos, and contests once a month where you would get extended comments. They also offered a variety of week-long classes one week every summer with some top photographers. I believe they may have classes online now too (I was a member over 10 years ago).

I'd be a little leary of online classes but if you've done your homework and their reviews are good, it might work out well. I know for me, when I feel like I'm in a rut creatively, I find taking a class can really make a difference. Nikon used to offer classes - I did a weekend class with them - and I believe Sony does too - places like B&H (again in Manhattan) offer different classes too - usually a one- day thing. Is there a camera store near you that has classes? Does your town's high school have continuing education classes with the school's photo teacher? These are other possibilities.

The best way to improve your photography is to get feedback on your work - and if they do that, it might help a lot. I personally prefer in person classes, but having done some portfolio reviews online during covid, that can really help too - though the camaraderie of other students and hearing a professional comment on their work as well as yours, can really aid in the learning process.

Good luck. Hope you find something that works for you. Just be sure they will be reviewing your work and giving you feedback.

Quote from: Contemporary Dave on March 27, 2025, 13:24

I got a $650 sale on an editorial photo of a Covid leaflet. On another day, someone bought 5 images of mine for around $160 each.

That was your royalty or that was what the client paid? Always very confusing here what people state on their sales and what they received.

I thought we were talking about ss - where you only see what you are paid - although I guess you can calculate what the client paid based on your level. Although I'm assuming no one is going to answer with that number?

I'm amazed by the high numbers here because the OP asked about ss. If people are answering with figures from other agencies, the numbers are still nice, but not as surprising.

I agree with Jo Ann's assessment, having qualified since 2018, I think of it as part of my compensation at this point too.

 Yes, it's a bonus and they can change the requirements or even discontinue it, but it would have been nice to know ahead of time since uploads are something we have more control over.

That's all. No "crying," just expressing my disappointment. I'd rather upload 100 good images than 1,000s of junky ones. But adding another few dozen to make the requirement would have been simple enough if I'd known. Come April, I'll buy the one-year plan, since if you pay monthly the price will go up this year.