I have never known a site that has so many technical problems.   

What!

They can't raise prices one month then take it away the next!

iStock is becoming a joke.

If I know a file is destined for Alamy, when I open it in Adobe Camera Raw, I use the drop down box at the bottom to upsize it to the next file size (I use a 5D, so whatever the one is from that).

I find then, that when I've finished messing with the RAW conversion and open it in photoshop, I get a perfect, 50MB file every time.

Doesn't look soft to me (doesn't look as sharp as smaller images obviously).  If your images are looking very soft, perhaps there is some underlying issue when you're taking the picture?  Incorrect focussing?

Quote from: Seren on February 21, 2008, 02:49

Pffft, don't bother with being exclusive.  It's not worth it.  I went exclusive for quite a while, and now I'm finding I'm making way more at other agencies.

How much you make probably depends on the individual whether exclusivity is worth it or not. Other than earnings, was there anything else you didn't like about being exclusive?

Yeah, I had images that were good but rejected by iStock that I couldn't sell RF anywhere else.  Often they were subjects that weren't suited to RM and Licensed usage.

Plus I'm really bored of the elitist attitude of some people over there.  iStock aren't the best stock agency in the world... I think Magnum gets that vote!  But people are just so grateful to be accepted there to be able to sell their photos, that they'll take anything iStock throws at them.  iStock could reduce the commission to 5% and still people would sell there and be all happy-happy about it.

Coupled with the total f***-up over European currency purchases at the start of the year (and I don't believe Bruces U-Turn on that "It was a simple mistake").

And the fact that they're being over zealous about copyright in some categories and not others.

And they let total morons run riot on the forums creating a bad impression.

Oh, and they totally messed up loads of exclusives free business cards (mine were cropped totally wrong, others had bad colouring and bad cropping).

And they don't pay enough, even to exclusives.

And...

Wait.  Do I need to go on?

Pffft, don't bother with being exclusive.  It's not worth it.  I went exclusive for quite a while, and now I'm finding I'm making way more at other agencies.

So I just wrote a post on the culling thread about how iStock is practicing severe double standards in culling car and boat images.  I pointed out that if they were going to do that, then they also had to cull pretty much every everything else in the library because everything modern is designed by someone and has either trademark, trade dress or copyright.

Guess iStock didn't like that, cause the removed the post.

So instead of answering the concerns of a contributor, they just suspend me from the forum.

I even pointed out that I was willing to be a test case in this ridiculous "policy" and more than willing to go to court over it in the UK.  Guess they didn't like that either.

Oh well.  iStock is going to implode on itself if it doesn't stop making ridiculous policy changes that are completely at odds with the rest of the stock industry.

This might be a good one for me, my mum works in Casualty so I'll ask if she can either borrow some scrubs or borrow me a nurse!  

EDIT:  Just realized this one is about up, but it's certainly gone on the "ideas" list!

Short of trawling through the whole lots of agencies, which allow you to submit CD's instead of uploading files?

I know SnapVillage does.  I'm just getting fed up of checking my computer FTP'ing files!  I've recently become un-exclusive with iStock, so I'm trying to get my portfolio uploaded to a few other sites doing well, but if places would accept CD's it would make me consider them, even if they have a lower earning potential.