I'm really impressed by so many getting into SS on the first shot! Good work all!! I got beat up pretty bad by SS.  =tom

did the memory card thing a few times.... fortunately each time I got a little smarter and didn't take as many great pictures of .....nothing..  Now, it's the first thing I do whenever I pic the camera up.... check for the flash card..

..... here's a classic I'm sure many have done....  I do a lot of nature stuff, spend a lot of time sitting waiting and waiting for just that perfect shot, ....and then, there it is!!!!  Punch it, hear the click followed immediately by... beep beep beep....  had it set on remote... 

...how incredibly stupid is this one.... went out on a shoot one time, got all set up ready to do it... only to find every....every... battery I had was dead.  I was kind of ticked at myself that day. But, never did that again either.  Happily, I do learn from my stupidities...  LOL

... years ago, I wanted some shots along a river bank... waded out into the river up to about my waist. Took the shots and started back in. Didn't get too far and... I slipped, went down on my knee, thrust my hand with camera up into the air, dropped the camera, however, I always (even to this day) wrap the strap around my wrist. Well the camera came swinging around, had this huge metal lens hood on it, wacked me right in the face. Hour later I walked out of the e-room with three new stitches over my eye.  I  DID  save the camera, didn't hit the water and I got the shots... so in the end, I was pleased.  LOL  =tom

As usual.... I always wind up eating my words.... what's the odds???  I just sold a pic since my last complaining post early this evening.... seems every time I complain here about LO,  I suddenly sel...........hey, hey
Hey, wait a minute....that's it!!! That's the secret!!   I should complain more, ....every day.... yeah, that's the ticket!!! 

Mitch, you're betraying your age.... dude, that's gotta be from one of the first few seasons of SNL.  ..but I like to think I'm more   Samurai Photographer.....  ..Belushi was the man!!

man... you guys aren't helping me...     I've been sitting on the fence trying to decide what to buy.   =tom

Micth, don't beat me up... just posting my stats and comments obvious to them

LO since 9/31/06
Only   56 DL's for $72.20  (inc  1 EL and a buck for a referal)
38296 views
       although everything I've put on in the last month or two still only has 0, 1 or 2 views.   I wonder how that works. daily my views climb, but nothing on anything recently uploaded.
406 pix
126 comments given
93 comments recvd
2 odditorriums

only 4 sales in 2008,  none in 42 days.

  I like the site, I had high hopes for LO back in 8/06 (and I still do).   I'll still hang in there, but uploading for no views isn't smart. I've officially stopped uploading now after a year and a half.  I'll let what is there ride and hope for the best. If it starts to pick up, I'll have hundreds more  to upload.   =tom


BTW to those that follow such things, Mitch and I have signed a peace accord. 

So if I get you right... all pictures that were rejected you reupload after few weeks with no major changes or what? Or do you take picture of the same thing again?
And do you say something to reviewer or just don't say anything?

First, I don't just do it to be a wise guy, or a smart alec. And I don't reload every pic that is rejected.   I don't like my time being wasted so I try not to waste other's time either. 
I have had plenty of shots that , frankly, the reviewer was correct. They found a blemish I didn't see, those I correct and send back in. If I can't fix them, they go to the round file cabinet under the desk.
Other shots such as the  "not stock/we don't need/etc"   yeah,  I wait a awhile and I reload.   
     No I don't say anything to anyone..  and that's part of the point.  It wasn't stock worthy then but it is now.??

   Why?       I assume situations change and now someone is looking for those images,  or two,  a different reviewer who thinks they are indeed stock worthy is on duty. Who knows why it sucked in march but was good in april?   
              I guess that's the point.  The review system isn't perfect.
Neither am I.  Some outfits such as IS  invite you to fix and resub tech problematic shots and that's great. I don't get very many "not stock' rejections from IS.  I don't do it to SS & IS for one reason.  There, I have to agree with the reviewer most of the time.  It is rare that I get a reject from SS or IS that  I think is bogus.  AND... they are my bread & butter,  that's where I make the majority my sales & $$... SS & IS.

Just about everywhere else  I have  previously 'not stock/not needed' pictures selling well.              Go figure.   

At the same time,  Miskolin,  I've only been in the biz a couple of years.. there are many here far more wise than I.  It would be good to get a few more opinions.  As you should with any 'tips' you read anywhere.  It works for me but that doesn't mean it'll work for everyone.

I will give one example.  I have a long shot of a modern living room.  One of the first pix I uploaded when I got into this thing.  Some took it, some didn't.  One of the 'big 5' rejected it as 'not stock material' and a 'non-big 5'  rejected it for 'composition'.  Those that took it, started to immediately sell the thing.  Thru FT and just by surfing the net  I've found that a  paint manufacturer in France has used it in web ads and in print advertising.  An art seller in the U.K. has used it in both web and print ads (their designer took the shot, removed a plasma tv on the wall and replaced it with one of the artworks they are selling, looked really cool).  It's been used by a couple U.S. home/design outfits... and by unknown others for unknown reasons. The picture sells just about every day and some days 6-8 or more times across the board. It's sold in large format......  it just sells and continues to sell.
     The 'Big 5' outfit that rejected it as 'not stock material' .... unbeknownest to them,  has sold it just under 200 times AND..has sold with EL's (not stock material?).  Reloaded to the 2nd tier outfit a couple months after they rejected it for 'composition' , they've sold it  over 150 times in a matter of months.  Overall, the pic has sold nearly 2k times.  Considering it took me all of 2 minutes to walk in, compose the shot in my head, then in the camera... click... do the math.
     Soooooooooo  was it REALLY  "not stock worthy" and "poor composition"   Or did someone on the review screen make a bad call?
Well, in those two cases,  I see it as me doing those two agencies a favor in spite of themselves and their reviews.  LOL  They're making a helluva lot more money on those pix than I am... and their reviewers shot them down.
      I've got pix across the board that were rejected and I later reloaded, that have subsequently been published, some rejected for tech reasons, turned out to be 2 page large in magazines...  and yet some of those agencies now have them and are selling them making me money and themselves too......  as I said,  in spite of the reviewer that first shot them down.  And not knowing I resubed the original image and it was taken the second time.

     Why?          ........the review system isn't perfect.  One man's trash is another man's treasure.

To each his own.  It seems to work for me.... and really work for the agency, no?     
 =tom

To answer the question, first time at bat with StockXpert...  The only site I didn't get in on first shot was SS  which took me 3 or 4 times(i forget).   Some have mentioned them being tougher now.... yeah,  I believe that is generally the case across the board (except for the budding new sites out there).
    Like someone had mentioned above... I too do a lot of landscape and StockXpert is taking and selling them.  I have had numerous  "not stock material"  rejections from StockXpert, but I don't see a pattern in it. 
    I think you can only place very very general flags on all of them as to what you can be guaranteed will be accepted and gauranteed not.  I've seen too many contradictions. Some of the work the folks here at MSG have shown as examples can make you wonder what the heck the reviewer was thinking.  Pix I'm selling like crazy on IS or SS being rejected by non-top 5 agencies..  Many times it makes no sense.
    I really believe the vast majority of it is all in the person sitting the review desk that day and what mood they're in.   [unless a pic is obviously crap].  LOL   

One more point.  Just because it was rejected today, doesn't mean it won't be accepted next week.  I can personally swear to that.  LOL  That just blows my mind.  It wasn't stock material today but it will be in a couple weeks .... go figure.  I take all rejection now with a grain of salt. =tom

Just trying to figure out why some people have major problems with IS and others say, it's easy. Same people who get on well with IS, can't break down the door at SS.

Now I'm beginning to understand that creative and artsy shots may do better at IS and stock, stock does better at SS.

Next time I try to get accepted at IS, I'll stop sending my best "stock" photos, food photos, plain objects and isolations and send in something more artistic or different. Maybe that's where i was going wrong.

Oh wait, I'll just go through the SS rejects. 

Well,  you've got nothing to lose except some time...   I was hoping to get a little more input on that thought...      artsy vs IS....

At least I have found this to be true in my case.  Let me know how you make out, sir.    =tom

Quote from: Waldo4 on March 18, 2008, 13:22

Once I figured out what IS wants my rate has been pretty good,

What do they want? I see comments and people saying the same things, SS takes mine, IS doesn't. Some people are fine with IS and can't get in the door at SS. 

What's the secret of getting accepted at IS?

Don't know if there is one..  as for me... took 3 or 4 batches of submissions  to get into SS...  but I got accepted at IS with my first batch.  No clue why. Same pix.    =tom

88.4% =tom

I'll tell you one beef I do have with LO....  It is the slowest site I'm on. It seems to take forever to navigate around the thing. I was trying to do a couple of comments on pix I liked tonight.  It got to the point, it wasn't worth it.  wait wait wait,  time outs, time outs...  It's not me. I'm running cable and superman would have a hard time keeping up with my 'puter. I'm zooming fast everywhere else on the planet....  'ceptin   LO. 
    I have a block of pix sitting there waiting for KW'ing, but ....man, it just takes too long. Everytime I go to work there... I get ticked and log-off... time is too short, I'll go upload where I can get some work done.
   Am I the only one?   

Bryan.... we need some Hi-test premium jet fuel injected there somewhere....  =tom

Quote from: a.k.a.-tom on March 08, 2008, 12:34

...speaking of...  I just got hit with two more StockXpert  'property release'  rejections.  Both public structures in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I mailed support... we'll sell how it goes.    =tom

well so much for my first experience getting it settled in less than 24 hours...   Still no reply to this mail  and they both still show rejected in my 'folio.   we'll see....    =tom

First off,  is it really lame to quote oneself? 

None-the-less.... in conclusion... I didn't get any mail, but the pix got approved.   Thank you StockXpert.   =tom

Hey,  can I get a free tee-shirt???