Quote from: Graiki on November 25, 2019, 23:41
Amazing how the reviewers or artificial intelligence went crazy.
Very boring all this.
I edited 7 videos and uploaded, were denied for various reasons. I sent again because Pond5 and Adobe had accepted. They were not accepted again.
I got the impression that the reviewers were crazy.
What did I do?
I sent it one by one.
Of the 7 videos, 5 of them were accepted after submitting by 3rd.
I believe sending in Batch is worse than one on one.
I ridicule it, but in my case it worked.

I had a batch of 6 images that had gotten rejected due to noise and focus.  All images were in focus, but a couple did have a small amount of noise.  After reading your post, I decided to submit them one at a time.  All but one was accepted. 

Quote from: wordplanet on November 24, 2019, 01:56
I think that using non-professional reviewers means you are always going to see inconsistent decisions.

I remember last year uploading a bunch of very different illustrations based on a single photograph. They were very varied. Shutterstock took about 2/3rds of them. Adobe took 4 - the original image made into an illustration and 3 different color variations of that original image, which were similar to each other. But then they rejected all of the other very different illustrations when the only thing they had in common was that I had used the same image as a starting point.  If I hadn't uploaded that original image as a "property release," I think they would have accepted most, if not all, of the others

Even more inconsistent was their decision to accept all 32 illustrations of another subject I uploaded at the same Those 32 backgrounds all used the same basic elements (hand drawn, so no "property release"). After uploading, I thought I'd probably gone a bit overboard, and I figured most of them would get rejected. But SS, DT and Adobe took all 32. Go figure.

Of course, the stuff Adobe rejected is selling on SS and DT (or was until this month - I think this is my worst November since I started back in 2008)

I even had one flawless image that Alamy licensed to Travel and Leisure, rejected by one of the micros for "artifacts." Maybe the reviewer had dirt on their screen? It's the exact same file Alamy took with their pixel peeping and has sold there and via my site for $$$. Flawless in print but not good enough for a micro? Seriously, I re-checked the file at 200% on my retina screen and on my iMac. 

I guess you just have to shrug and move on.

The most telling I suppose was some years ago when I made $375 on DT for a single $750 one-year exclusive sale of an image that had already sold many times before there. I guess I should thank the other sites' reviewers because the only reason it was exclusive on DT was because every other site had rejected it as not being commercially viable.

It's very frustrating to get such inconsistent acceptances and rejections. If a file is rejected somewhere, another site would usually take it, and generally I'll feel vindicated that the inspectors were wrong when it sells elsewhere.

The inconsistency would be laughable, if it wasn't our livelihood on the line.

I recently had some images rejected by SS.  One image was rejected for focus (even though the focus was spot on) and noise/artifacts/film grain (even though there was none and it was at 100 ISO in daylight.  Adobe, however, accepted the images and that photo just sold.  So, I felt a bit vindicated myself.

Quote from: jodijacobson on November 23, 2019, 20:20
I have two Canon 5D4's. I fell and can't lift them so I didn't shoot in over a year. I just bought the Iphone 11pro and this phone camera blows the Canon away! Everything I am shooting is getting accepted. The color right out of the phone for stock is fantastic. It even shoots in the dark without noise!

The phone is 12 MP and the 5D4 is 30.1 MP, so you're not getting the same in resolution.  It does NOT blow the Canon away.  It's a nice phone camera, but not a replacement for a dslr.  And according to this comparison article https://digital-photography-school.com/iphone-11-pro-versus-the-canon-5d-mark-iv/ they say, "As for noise and sharpness, I don't notice any issues when viewing the photos at a normal viewing size. But viewing the images large (which can be done here) shows significant noise and lack of clarity in all of the iPhone images."  So, you're not getting images in the dark without noise.  You're just not viewing them large enough to see it.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on November 22, 2019, 20:32

Quote from: Hoodie Ninja on November 22, 2019, 18:23

Quote from: Uncle Pete on November 22, 2019, 17:06
Some people have said that they wanted one, and this will "replace the DSLR". Others say, we want a camera that has a phone, because then it would be a real Camera Phone? 

Enter the getting there camera: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-powershot-g7x-mark-iii-review?ref_=pe_1822230_454513780_dpr_nl_400_4

Canon PowerShot G7 X III with Live YouTube streaming support built-in

I won't be running out to get one, but I thought that was interesting.

Key Specifications:

    20MP 1"-type Stacked CMOS sensor
    24-100mm equiv. F1.8-2.8 lens
    Built-in 3-stop ND filter
    Touchscreen tilts up 180° and down 90°
    8 fps burst shooting with autofocus, 30 fps Raw burst mode
    4K/30p and 1080/60p video recording
    Microphone socket
    Live YouTube streaming support built-in
    Vertical video capture
    1080/120p slow motion video (with no audio or autofocus)
    Wi-Fi + Bluetooth wireless connectivity
    USB 3.1 (with USB-C connector) for data transfer and charging
    235 shot battery life per CIPA standard

I have the Samsung Note 10+, which has just as good of a camera as the iPhone 11 Pro Max and I have said several times since getting it that, if I wasn't doing photography professionally, I'd just use my phone for photos from now on.  The built-in HDR creates stunning images with no need to edit.  I've actually been using my phone as a reference to how a picture CAN look with the right editing of my DSLR images.  Since I can see all the lights and darks in real-time, it makes it easy to decide which composition looks best for a scene.

My second option for not using a DSLR right now is my little Sony RX100 IV.  I take it with me as a backup just in case the "real" camera fails me.  Of course, newer versions have come out since I bought it, but them adding 200mm zoom over previous models was a big selling point for me.  It also has a touchscreen that you can flip up for self-recording and can be controlled by your phone.

But I will always have a soft spot for Canon Powershots since that was my first camera that I bought when I started getting interested in photography. <3

All good points, I'm just not ready for a phone that's a camera quite yet, but I do see the nice images that some people make, and the computational analysis or whatever the phones have built in, does a really good job of making up for the inadequacies of a tiny sensor and a tiny plastic lens.

I've been a Canon loyal since my first film SLR a FT-QL. Mostly because of lenses and once married, there I am. I think the new Sony and Fuji, and Nikon of course all have some pretty nice features and models, so I'm not saying that Canon is the end all and everything, by any means. Just what I have and the L lenses fit nicely into what I like to shoot.

I actually have a couple of accepted and sold Microstock photos from an A-1200 that I always carried in my pocket, before the days of better phone cameras. I've tried some others, G series for two different models, and some other bridge camera. They got sold after having some fun, just not what I wanted. I eventually did settle on a EOS-M which is almost a pocket camera or is with big pockets.  Decent lenses and the crop sensor, nice for grab and shoot around the house.

But my personal opinion is, the new phones have not replaced the DSLR yet. In a year we'll hear the same and in 2021 we'll hear again. Just seems to be some people like to predict the demise of DSLRs every chance they can. There are loads of good and in some situations better cameras, but the replacement hasn't come quit yet for serious everyday work.

My first shots that I uploaded to SS were taken with a Canon Powershot S2 IS. lol  And they sold for awhile.  Haven't seen any new sales with them in awhile, though. 

I'm also "married" to my Canon camera and lenses.  But I haven't seen anything come out that would make me want to change. 

While my phone is a good tool to use with my dslr, I don't feel it's ready to replace it anytime soon.  I am curious to see if the images would get accepted to the stock sites, though.  Sometimes my phone is all I have with me and I've gotten some pretty nice shots with it.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on November 22, 2019, 17:06
Some people have said that they wanted one, and this will "replace the DSLR". Others say, we want a camera that has a phone, because then it would be a real Camera Phone? 

Enter the getting there camera: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-powershot-g7x-mark-iii-review?ref_=pe_1822230_454513780_dpr_nl_400_4

Canon PowerShot G7 X III with Live YouTube streaming support built-in

I won't be running out to get one, but I thought that was interesting.

Key Specifications:

    20MP 1"-type Stacked CMOS sensor
    24-100mm equiv. F1.8-2.8 lens
    Built-in 3-stop ND filter
    Touchscreen tilts up 180° and down 90°
    8 fps burst shooting with autofocus, 30 fps Raw burst mode
    4K/30p and 1080/60p video recording
    Microphone socket
    Live YouTube streaming support built-in
    Vertical video capture
    1080/120p slow motion video (with no audio or autofocus)
    Wi-Fi + Bluetooth wireless connectivity
    USB 3.1 (with USB-C connector) for data transfer and charging
    235 shot battery life per CIPA standard

I have the Samsung Note 10+, which has just as good of a camera as the iPhone 11 Pro Max and I have said several times since getting it that, if I wasn't doing photography professionally, I'd just use my phone for photos from now on.  The built-in HDR creates stunning images with no need to edit.  I've actually been using my phone as a reference to how a picture CAN look with the right editing of my DSLR images.  Since I can see all the lights and darks in real-time, it makes it easy to decide which composition looks best for a scene.

My second option for not using a DSLR right now is my little Sony RX100 IV.  I take it with me as a backup just in case the "real" camera fails me.  Of course, newer versions have come out since I bought it, but them adding 200mm zoom over previous models was a big selling point for me.  It also has a touchscreen that you can flip up for self-recording and can be controlled by your phone.

But I will always have a soft spot for Canon Powershots since that was my first camera that I bought when I started getting interested in photography. <3

Quote from: Uncle Pete on November 22, 2019, 17:36

Quote from: Hoodie Ninja on November 21, 2019, 20:22
My gap for the year is $2.12 and $69.99.  But sales are few and far between.  Plus they take forever to release the money.  I've only gotten 40% of my earnings so far.  And my last sale was in September.  My first sale was in February.  And my one and only payout happened in October.

My view is, one or two payouts a year from Alamy beats the heck out of every other possible agency in the polls on the right, below them, who don't make a payout in a year for many people. I mean I can get sales on DT or 123RF or DP (as examples, not to pick) and not get a $50 payout in a year. Alamy isn't volume and isn't microstock, not comparable.

At the current sales and agencies, one $69 DL from Alamy is more than the little sites make a year. Also more than the best ELs I get from Microstock now. It's one more source and can be lower volume, but higher total?

Sure I'd like more consistant sales, but I'm also pretty happy with what I do get.

I will agree that the earnings are better than DT and 123RF (I'm not on DP), but Alamy's submission process is more tedious than the other two to make your images have "optimized discoverability."  123RF almost isn't worth the effort anymore, so I do put Alamy above them.  But DT is about even with Alamy for me on the actual payout.  I had a payout back in May and am over half way to my next one.

My gap for the year is $2.12 and $69.99.  But sales are few and far between.  Plus they take forever to release the money.  I've only gotten 40% of my earnings so far.  And my last sale was in September.  My first sale was in February.  And my one and only payout happened in October.

Quote from: gillian vann on November 13, 2019, 06:55
I do stock f/t but I'm not the family breadwinner. I could probably survive on my own living in Thailand on what i make, but living in Australia is expensive, kids are expensive. I make a really decent part-time wage, and given i'm the stay at home mum, it's been the perfect job that has allowed me to freedom to be home with my kids, and still work when I choose. I wish I'd started earlier than I did, I seem to have missed the good ol days.

I am also doing stock full-time, but not the family breadwinner.  My husband has always wanted me to do more with my stock, so last year an opportunity arose where I could stay home and just work on that. 

I started uploading to stock 9 years ago, but after uploading a small portfolio (about 400 images), I lost interest and hardly ever uploaded.  The images made a small amount of money, but over time, the amount dwindled to less and less. 

My portfolio focus is on quality images, not quantity.  I have just over 1,000 images now.  My earnings have increased and some of my photos have gained traction. I've also been trying to branch out into video since those make more money than still images. 

At this point, I could live comfortably in the Philippines, but not the US. lol

BME not counting this past July when I had one really big sale.  I'm up 70% over my average for the past year.  I attribute part of that increase to one video that has gained traction and is 18% of my October sales.  The other bump is one particular photo that continues to increase in sales and is 30% of my October sales.  Which means that 2 files are almost half of my earnings.

My last batch did not go through.  But it's not like I really make money there.  Less than 1% on average. lol

Quote from: noodle on November 07, 2019, 16:29
This should be under "Shutterstock reviewers are idiots" thread

lol....I had to laugh a little too hard on that one.  Probably because I had a pic refused recently due to focus and also noise.  The focus was spot on and the pic was shot at 100 ISO in daylight, so, no noise.  All the other sites took the pic no problem.  I chalked it up to the reviewer either being a.) stupid or b.) exceptionally stupid

Quote from: Desintegrator on October 18, 2019, 14:20
Why is anyone still uploading there?

These rates are an insult

Because, despite the rates, they are still 25% of my income.  And do you have suggestions for sites that are going to make me more money than that?  I see people saying all the time that they are no longer going to upload to iStock/Getty, Shutterstock, etc.  Those are my biggest earners after Adobe. Unless someone knows of some secret site that is making a ton of money, why leave the biggest earning sites?

I had a "similar" rejection this past week as well.  I uploaded two images of a pig.  One was looking straight at the camera, the other was looking off camera.  They rejected one.  I tried uploading the rejected photo in my next batch and it was rejected again for being similar.  So, I shrugged and moved on.  But it IS annoying when you know that your images aren't "too similar" and they reject them.  But my sales continue to climb there, so I keep submitting.

Awesome!  Thanks.

I'm currently using a Seagate external HD, but have also used WD in the past.  No problems with either.  I generally buy a new HD every year and transfer all my previous files over and then add to that as I go.  Since I live in an area where internet isn't as fast as I'd like, I don't rely on any cloud-based programs. 

For September, this is the percentage of each dollar amount I got from sales:
0.36        30.10%
0.41     1.94%
0.66           8.74%
0.82           1.94%
0.99          51.46%
1.49            0.97%
3.30            1.94%
5.89            0.97%
10.82    0.97%
26.40         0.97%
Most all were subscription sales.
I have had an increase in sales each month overall with Adobe, which is nice to see. 

Out of the 6 agencies that I contribute to, Adobe is currently my best earner at an average of 31.1% of my total earnings.  Shutterstock is 29.9% and Getty/iStock is 26.7%.  The remaining 3 agencies...Dreamstime, 123RF, and Alamy are 3.1%, 1.3% and 8% respectively.  However, I have yet to see any money from Alamy...due to the horrendously long lag between earning and "clearing" of sales.  But I am finally going to get a payout this coming month.

I don't normally keep track of RPD, but for September, Adobe was the winner at 1.19.

Thanks for the article and info.  It's always nice to see how other people are doing.  And I have no problem with you having a donate button.  Most people do nowadays.  Cheers.

I had 26 refunds, 25 of them being from Australia.  Each one was followed by a smaller sale for the same image.  Sales were a bit higher than my average for the past year.

I seem to do okay on Dreamstime.  Enough that I feel it's still worth it to upload there.  But 123RF seems to be rather stagnant and their upload process is super time consuming.

Quote from: leaf on September 19, 2019, 06:32

Quote from: Hoodie Ninja on September 18, 2019, 21:58

Quote from: leaf on September 18, 2019, 19:18

Quote from: ronyzmbow on September 18, 2019, 16:30

Quote from: leaf on September 18, 2019, 10:38
Thanks for the heads up / reminder.  I'll see if I can get this fixed!

Quote from: ronyzmbow on September 17, 2019, 08:54
For some years I am using the Microstock Keyword Tool of the site here with great success and no problems.

Lately there is a big problem!

As far as I know the tool is based on the Shutterstock site and takes the results from there.
When I make a search of a specific word (in this case - coffee) the results are very few. Searching directly Shutterstock give way much more results and VERY different!
See the attached pictures.

Why is this?
Am I doing something wrong?
Am I the only one experiencing this?
Can anybody recommend any other online Kewords Tool that works properly?

Please let us know when and if fixed!

The keyword tool is indeed working, but the 'glitch' is that it always searches for images with people.  It seems to ignore that setting in the API call.  i can work on it a bit more - but other than that it appears to return similar results to the regular Shutterstock site search.

It's still not working correctly.  A search of "Hoh Rainforest" returned only 11 images despite my choice of 100.  However, when I search for the same criteria on SS, it says there are 2,123 photos.

Hmm, yeah very strange.  It doesn't seem like it is the 2 words problem.  "Dentist Chair" returns a regular number of results for example.  I'm having a hard time figuring out why the results are limited

Yeah, I just searched "Oregon Waterfall" and got only 6 results.  There should be over 10,000 results to choose from.

Quote from: Pauws99 on September 18, 2019, 06:53

Quote from: Hoodie Ninja on September 17, 2019, 23:11
I guess no one bothered to look at Yuri's Instagram account.  He was looking for "new faces" for his portfolio.  The address listed for the casting call was in Cape Town.

yes I don't do Instagram....that was for January 2019 though last post Nov 18

It was actually an Aug 30, 2019 post for a casting on Sept 2, 2019.  A little over two weeks ago.

Quote from: leaf on September 18, 2019, 19:18

Quote from: ronyzmbow on September 18, 2019, 16:30

Quote from: leaf on September 18, 2019, 10:38
Thanks for the heads up / reminder.  I'll see if I can get this fixed!

Quote from: ronyzmbow on September 17, 2019, 08:54
For some years I am using the Microstock Keyword Tool of the site here with great success and no problems.

Lately there is a big problem!

As far as I know the tool is based on the Shutterstock site and takes the results from there.
When I make a search of a specific word (in this case - coffee) the results are very few. Searching directly Shutterstock give way much more results and VERY different!
See the attached pictures.

Why is this?
Am I doing something wrong?
Am I the only one experiencing this?
Can anybody recommend any other online Kewords Tool that works properly?

Please let us know when and if fixed!

The keyword tool is indeed working, but the 'glitch' is that it always searches for images with people.  It seems to ignore that setting in the API call.  i can work on it a bit more - but other than that it appears to return similar results to the regular Shutterstock site search.

It's still not working correctly.  A search of "Hoh Rainforest" returned only 11 images despite my choice of 100.  However, when I search for the same criteria on SS, it says there are 2,123 photos.

I guess no one bothered to look at Yuri's Instagram account.  He was looking for "new faces" for his portfolio.  The address listed for the casting call was in Cape Town.

It's been going on for quite awhile now.  The keyword tool used to work great.  Now it's almost useless.  I hadn't looked for a new keyword tool, but thanks for the link...looks like a pretty decent tool.