I tried it as well - not for the 2c, but as a learning exercise.

I was surprised by how many obvious (to me) keywords were missed, and by how many extraneous keywords were used.

The most ignored keywords are, I think, those that describe the concept or emotional content of the image. Maybe because they're the hardest ones to come up with. Elen Boughn wrote about keywords in her blog recently. Check it out:

http://www.dreamstime.com/keywords-that-work-(part-iii)_blog_art25
http://www.dreamstime.com/the-i-hate-to-keyword-guide-to-keywording-(part-ii)_blog_art24
http://www.dreamstime.com/the-do-nots-of-successful-keywords_blog_art20

I must say that I, too am curious to see the portfolios of both litifeta and StockManiac - especially when the former photographer complained of a 100% rejection.

I'm always surprised when members here don't list their portfolios. I look at this place as a resource to learn and grow. To me, looking at the work of others is an important part of that process.

Every ship, regardless of size, needs a captain. Without proper guidance, a leaderless ship will reach its destination only by chance or luck.

I've been here only a care while, and it's rather obvious to me that this place has reached a size such that it needs leadership. In corporatespeak, we need a "Mission Statement" along with clearly stated policies.

The questions that I think need to be addressed are these:

• Apart from being "A meeting place for microstock photographers", what is this forum all about? (i.e. Why are we here? What is it we hope to accomplish?)
• Who is in charge?
• What are the rules?
• What type of behavior is unacceptable?
• What is the tolerance level for unacceptable behavior?
• What happens when rules are broken?
• What are the consequences for repeated offenses?

These things, and probably much more, need to clearly defined and written down. It is my belief that without them we are doomed to sail in circles.

...
Such a portfolio could attract new buyers - who will purchase credit packages, and hopefully spread the wealth.
...
but I do understand that everyone must be left in a holding pattern for approvals while the reviewers inspect Iofoto's photos.....  and from the looks of things they still have over 1000 more to come.... 

Very good points, Pixart. This, to me, goes a long way in explaining the longer delays lately. I'll be happy when things get back to normal in that department.

That's an interesting observation ...

I'm not saying that 0 download days are bad, but the overall projections for the month are going to be lower than last month.

Well I'll say it: Zero DL days are bad! With 170 images online at IS I would expect that you should rarely, if ever, have them.


I don't understand your complaint - how did IS's "search tinkering"/"messing with the keywords" affect your DLs? Sure, they went down, but what makes you think it's due to something that IS did? Since you don't have that many images online at IS, maybe you should revisit your images with the goal of improving your keywords. A hassle, yes, but it may really pay off. Who knows, maybe the new keywording feature may be helpful.

April, I think, is not going to be a record month for many people - too many holidays. How ironic that I looked forward to holidays when I had conventional employment, but regard them as inconvenient now that I am independent.

Here's a technique I use to quickly goose the appeal of a shot:

• Flatten the image, then duplicate the Background layer 3 times.
• Select "Screen" as the blending mode for the top layer.
• Select "Multiply" as the blending mode for the next layer.
• Turn off the Background layer, then merge the 3 new layers together.
• Turn on the Background layer, then adjust the top layer's opacity so that highlights are slightly blown or not blown at all - whichever looks best to you.
• Flatten the image.

The overall effect is that the image becomes brighter and more saturated. I sometimes vary the technique by using "Multiply" on top of "Screen" to darken the image, and/or by setting the blending mode of the merged layer to "Overlay".

Give it a try!

I averaged 60 DLs per day for the Friday to Monday holiday - a little bit better than a normal weekend. It's going to be difficult to hit this month's target - I hadn't figured in the extra-long sales drop. I won't make that mistake again ...

I'm in Vancouver.

You've had quite the winter out there, haven't you?

The reason you suspect that the larger contributors get faster reviews is because they upload via FTP, then go back and enter keywords, categories, etc. at a later date.  When a file gets uploaded, it gets assigned an image number.  Reviews are then sorted by image number.  Say you upload 500 images tonight, then come back a month later to keyword them.  Your images will be at the top of the list a month from now - and will get reviewed within hours of hitting the pile.  That's how the system works - it's been addressed in their forums.

That's what I do - it works well, especially when review times are as long as they are now. The same method works with Fotolia as well.

StockManiac: The Director of Content and Business Development asks to look at your portfolio. Your response: Question her motives and insult her. Way to go. Smooth move. Real smooth.

She writes a blog that many users access on a daily basis (who wouldn't?). You may have received free publicity. You may have been able to bend her ear so that she could influence the DT powers that be to address your concerns. She may have been a valuable resource to this forum. Furthermore, she's very new to this site, and this was only her second post here - I'm sure she feels very welcome now.

Nice work!

Well said!