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Messages - cascoly
3776
« on: December 08, 2011, 14:10 »
another problem with soft rejects is that if we do re-submit, there's no response to any comments to the reviewer - they just end up as another soft reject with the same rejection reason -- as others have mentioned, some soft rejects ask that groups of 3 or 4 images be broken up into single images, but this isnt always practical
3777
« on: December 03, 2011, 15:01 »
I always assume that all site's search engines will use descriptions and titles.
some sites use only the title, some use NEITHER title nor desc in searches, so i always make sure keywords includes all possible tags
3778
« on: November 24, 2011, 16:23 »
"most cars and trucks have distinctive shapes" Yes but all "Brand X" blue sedans look the same, without the license plate, the owner can't identify their personal car. I think that's the point of license removal, not the brand of car? How about a city bus, where I had to remove the bus number on the back. Not the license, just a number and it's a public vehicle?
It's so silly sometimes.
Commercial airliner, take off the registration numbers. Add that to the list.
like the john deere example earlier, here they're rejecting based on trademark, not copyright or individual ownership - each agency handles this differently, some approach the ridiculous; others have widely varying reviewers i still get occ'l sales of airport pix of branniff's uniquely colored jets
3779
« on: November 23, 2011, 19:41 »
and same problem occurs with traffic pictures - even if license plates arent seen, most cars and trucks have distinctive shapes
3780
« on: November 23, 2011, 19:38 »
123 has one of the most stringent property release reviews - many exteriors and almost all interiors require property releases - it's explained somewhere on their site
however, with their new automatic submission as editorial, a lot of my buildings gett accepted as editorial
just make sure you check the box on the ftp submission form:
and, unlike some other sites, they recognize that editorial means more than just newsworthy
3781
« on: November 20, 2011, 01:48 »
most of my RF portfolio is nature, landscapes & travel - both specific sites and details [architectural details like corinthian capitals, mullioned windows, etc] these still get accepted by SS & DT and do sell, but notin large numbers
there are many sites that will take any imagers that are technically correct [gl, most, dp, yay,feature, et al] but the problem there is they dont produce many sales at all. i only submit to the lower level sites that make it easy - no sites that require a category for each image, etc
my editorial images sell much better but have a smaller potential audience.
thanks cascoly. could you mention which particular lower level sites are you talking about ? what about photodune... how is sell there ?
i've just started submitting to photodune others with easy submissions [no category] include cutcaster, graphics leftovers, most, depositphotos, yay but few sales on any of them. some of these ask for categories, but they're optional but definitely concentrate on the big sites first
3782
« on: November 20, 2011, 01:39 »
i like this, but something strange happened on the last update of the software - the title i put in gets extracted by some agencies - eg, Big & SS, 123, but not by others - DT, yay,
no agency has ever replied when i reported this - very strange
I noticed that some agencies import different fields as title.
I always write the same title to 3 fields: Title, Headline writer and Object name (as called in XnView and ExifTool; names may vary slightly)
tx - i use guiexiftool now & writing to object name seems to have cleared all problems for me - i had tried headline in the MS prp photo tools but headline didnt work, nor title
3783
« on: November 17, 2011, 15:43 »
most of my RF portfolio is nature, landscapes & travel - both specific sites and details [architectural details like corinthian capitals, mullioned windows, etc] these still get accepted by SS & DT and do sell, but notin large numbers
there are many sites that will take any imagers that are technically correct [gl, most, dp, yay,feature, et al] but the problem there is they dont produce many sales at all. i only submit to thee lower level sites that make it easy - no sites that require a category for each image, etc
my editorial images sell much better but have a smaller potential audience.
3784
« on: November 17, 2011, 15:28 »
i've had similar experience - 1-3 wks for pond5, with most accepted; SS is a few days, but more demanding - eg, they suggested i use a tripod for a long sequence following a group of skiers in the alps!
3785
« on: November 16, 2011, 16:51 »
In the last few years I've had anything between one and two days, occasionally three days, and once it took four days.
The thing about SS is... I never really worry about what's going on there. I just trust them. It always works out in the end.
exactly - i have similar results - i just try to keep about 50+ in the review queue and add more as they get reviewed. SS is one of the faster review sites
3786
« on: November 15, 2011, 17:47 »
>>>>>People - If it has a person or body part in it, the image should be in this category. Groups of people also go here. *If you are posting a photo of a child DO NOT EVER USE KEYWORDS NUDE OR NAKED. Nor can you use "teen", "nude", or "sexy" as keywords or in the description of a single image. You will be warned the first two times you violate this rule; the third violation will cause you to be banned from the site, your past earnings will be forfeited, and your current images will be removed permanently.*
a bit off topic - one of the most annoying things about BigS 'helpful ' keyword guesser is that it automatically adds 'SEXY' as a category to any image that has the word man or woman in it! ESP'LY ANNOYING since you then have to explicitly delete the stupid category
3787
« on: November 15, 2011, 17:41 »
They're hitting one of the limits of their crowdsourcing model.
They feel like they have "enough" images now, and it's too expensive to pay people to look at new photos and make value judgments as to whether they're better than photos already on line. It's so much easier and cheaper to just kick back and keep selling what you already have. And to cook up ever-more-complicated marketing, pricing and subscription plans...
except DT is one of the few [only?] agencies culling inactive images from their files, so in theory they should be looking for new material common mantra: it's not the image collection that's important; it's the ability to search & find what you need
3788
« on: November 15, 2011, 17:31 »
Overall travel photos on microstock are very very weak. So its definitely crap that they are saturated with travel pictures. Of course I do not mean snaps but there are thousands and thousands of places very poorly or not at all offered by microstock.
The things not mentioned and really saturated are: businesmen shaking hands, zillions of ppl on white in every existing position, isolated fruit, flowers and other common crap, abstract backgrounds, details of PC, cellphone etc...
of course, you're assuming the reviewer actually checks to see how the submitted images compare to current inventory. that's why a market based solution is less subjective - eg, the 'delete if no sales in 2 yrs' type
3789
« on: November 14, 2011, 19:51 »
Microsoft Pro Photo tools is actually a really good batch metadata editor... now if only it weren't base on the .net framework and I could use it in Linux.... 
i like this, but something strange happened on the last update of the software - the title i put in gets extracted by some agencies - eg, Big & SS, 123, but not by others - DT, yay, no agency has ever replied when i reported this - very strange also if you enter a title, then enter a desc, then save, the title replaces the desc. i ended up entering title, saving, then entering desc and saving. i've uninstalled & re-installed latest version but still happens
3790
« on: November 14, 2011, 19:36 »
SS doesnt like most images taken midday, on an overcast day,stormy weather, etc, or buildings partly in shadow - sometimes you can fix these by increasing highlights or leveling, and adding saturatiion - but it seems to also be one thoose "not-sure-but-i-dont-like-it" reasons
3791
« on: November 02, 2011, 14:38 »
istock for me has been 5th - 8th for more than a year; just became not worth the time for their silly submission process
otherwise last 2 months have been steadily increasing with following proportions on total of $435
ss 56.68%
dream 12.67%
foto 8.99%
123 6.68%
big 5.99%
pond video 3.46%
yay 2.30%
istock 1.84%
feature 1.38%
DT was down this month after 2 BME in previous months
the month to month graph doesnt make much sense for me since it's very spiky, so i follow 3 & 6 mo averages and the results for these are
6 mo avg +14% over last year
3 mo avg +19%
except for SS & DT i no longer submit to any site that requires more than a click to submit an image
3792
« on: October 31, 2011, 18:25 »
Better to have tried and decided to drop the project than never to have tried at all!
Not if you waste time and resources of contributors, not knowing what you're doing.
i uploaded to artfilm and have no regrets - i knew the chances for succes were small, but they made it simple to submit, so i gave them a try. i probably lost about 1/2 hr of my time in total.
3793
« on: October 31, 2011, 18:21 »
Hey Phillip,
Our reviewers have decided to shift the images to the Editorial section for the reason of "Any Building Exterior that is famous for its architectural design and is a Main Focus of the Image" as the building that you snapped is the 'Main Focus'. Not only that, we would also wish to protect our contributors from any legal issue that may arise in the future.
i've noticed this lately and i think it's an excellent system - let the agency decide whether they want to label it editorial, rather than playing guessing games, and having to then guess whether to resubmit
3794
« on: October 31, 2011, 18:17 »
Completely agree in general. But 123rf is one of the best sites regarding upload method: pictures go directly from FTP to approval Q and their payout is completely automatic, you don't even have to ask. So you can basically never login again to that site. There are lots of sites with unnecessarily time-wasting procedures but 123rf is NOT one of them.
in addition, they have the smartest system for editorial - if your image is not accepted as RF, you can have it automatically & immediately reviewed as editorial - much better than SS silly caption requirements and reviewers who dont know the differnece between editorial and newsworthy it's difficult to get any editorials accepted at SS anymore, but DT, 123 and others accept & sell those same images
3795
« on: October 23, 2011, 17:05 »
What is tha posted image supposed to be? Why would the typical micro buyer download it? LCV means low commercial value, yes? Low, not zero? So it may sell for a quarter one time in two years. Who wants a collection full of cintent like that? If you're wrong %3 of the time, so what, if a tighter collection draws more overall as a user experience.
would agree IF these reviewers actually knew WHICH would sell and which wouldnt - but they DON'T so it makes things worse for buyers and sellers by restricting the market. once again, the solution isnt fewer acceptances, but better search methods - categories, eg, are a waste off time - who can sort thru the milliton images under 'nature' or 'architecture'? until then, the best strategy is to submit large numbers of quality pictures and ignore any subjective rejections
3796
« on: October 08, 2011, 17:31 »
no - ebay banned all digital products a coupla years ago because of some problems with a few sellers - a sledgehammer approach
it would be a great outlet for microstock, but still out of reach
3797
« on: September 08, 2011, 12:54 »
had several batches sitting over the weekend - about 150 images. then suddenly 100% reject - they must be clearing their backlog!
I'd really curious what are they like, after 150 all getting rejected...
it's a VERY broad sample, from over 2 years - travel, people, markets, nature, textures, landmarks, urban, rural, etc, etc - basically look at my SS portfolio of over 5K imkages and most of those would be rejected if submitted now - worst are the editorial rejections from reviewers who still dont know the difference between breaking news and editorial - but 100% rejection is just ludicrous
3798
« on: September 07, 2011, 15:25 »
had several batches sitting over the weekend - about 150 images. then suddenly 100% reject - they must be clearing their backlog!
3799
« on: September 05, 2011, 18:25 »
I'm not sure there is really much they can do to improve. Maybe adding collections, but their huge database of files makes that a large undertaking. They kind of backed themselves into a corner with the subs model. I guess they could go the opposite route and offer more individual sales, but I assumed that was what the acquiring BigStock was for. And that seems to have been kind of a bust (at least from my perspective). It will be interesting to see what they come up with though.
one possibility would be to phase out the current subs and replace them with subs that limit the size of image you can download, or charge more credits per download, etc re the probationary acceptance - that's a great idea - and would take few resources to implement - the probationary files could have a flag set, and then the system would automatically delete images with that flag and < Y sales after X days, otherwise the flag would be removed; so no further human attention would be needed
3800
« on: August 16, 2011, 17:03 »
the suggestion about deleting old images was ONLY meant in conjunction with acceptance based only on technical quality - basically letting the market decide. i agree 1 year may be too soon to decide, but 4 years seems reasonable. it's also a method that should cost very little since it can be automated
and there may be even better ways of displaying useful results from gargantuan search results
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