12 pages in and the watermark still look like crap on my screen - even DP has done a better job and if SS can't or won't see that then they need to put away their ping pong paddles, stop drinking the lapsang souchong and shave their ridiculous beards off.

"Big Data" is the Golden Fleece that marketing suits fantasise about when enjoying their morning frappuccino. To think that once we dreamed about what was over the next mountain, what was beyond the sea.

Someone in the room should have pointed out the emperor had a bare arse.

I'm surprised at SS - this is amateurish.

Quote from: john_woodcock on October 14, 2015, 12:42
Being ultra fussy I can see the point where the vertical lines of the window go into the curve of the top of the window, there is an anchor point there and I would want to just pull the arm of that anchor point up vertically, holding down Shift to constrain it, so you get a perfectly smooth transition into the curve.

You're absolutely right. I'll sort it. Cheers

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 14, 2015, 11:35
They look good to me. 4000x4000 is a good size...it seems to keep the bad reviewers at bay.

Okay - ta very much for your help

 This is the basic image before I add any gradients etc

I've made my first basic vectors using the shape tool in Illustrator but I'm not sure if I have a clean edge - especially on larger curving edges created by using the elipse shape. In the EPS file they look clean at 400% - However, in the JPEG which I save at around 4000 x 4000 I see a slight fuzziness on the curving edges when I view the original size....although this could be the pixellation of the moniter screen

1) Am I checking at the right size for both the EPS/JPEG?
2) Can I expect to see a slight jagged edge for curves during inspection at 100%
3) If not is there something I'm doing wrong or am I being overly fussy?

Would appreciate your guidance please. Here are a couple of 100% crops from the JPEG

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 12, 2015, 11:34
The evidence is clear; gun owners just don't want to see it. Half a million guns are stolen from private owners in the U.S. every year. That's where "criminals" get them.

So there is a good chance you could be maimed or killed by the very weapon you bought to protect yourself in the first place.

My final thought on this matter: If you require access to and believe you may have to use a lethal weapon to protect your kin or your personal freedoms, then the belief you are living in a free country is illusory.

Quote from: Microstockphoto on October 11, 2015, 21:20
I think they all have drawn the line here

not bad

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 11, 2015, 16:07
Crayons. But usually if you ask a question a couple of people will answer.

Thanks for putting down your work for a moment to answer.

I've got a few questions but will hang onto them for now.

Honest question....since I am on the verge of being a vector producer. Given the number of illustrators out there why is there so little conversation. Not just here but on the SS forum. Are you all too busy with your crayons or am I in the wrong place if I want to communicate with and annoy people in the illustration community?

Outsiders fail to appreciate how deeply ingrained the Civil War is into the American psyche to this day. And here we have, at the extreme ends of the argument for and against, two groups of people who are in fear for their lives and their culture. Not good.

On the one side a section of society that believes without guns they are at the mercy of criminals and state. At the other end are people who attribute the annual slaughter to the proliferation of weapons. Neither can agree and in between are all those people who might be able to find common ground but are in fear of the consequences if those two extremes start taking action against each other. Incidents like Waco demonstrate how badly that can go.

A cultural shift of the scale required to reach a compromise is beyond the ambit of a single political party in power and until it becomes an election issue will probably remain so.

Given the deaths of all thoses babies at Sandy Hook changed absolutely nothing, we can expect to see this continue for decades if not centuries.

Whether you roll out all the statistics and the issues and the rights and the amendments to condone or condemn - the bodies all roll in the same direction. Sad.

I suspect one of the biggest influencers these past two years has been the exchange rate between US and Europe.

In 2014 the Euro was worth 1.3 to 1.4 USD but is now down to around 1.1 USD

In 2014 the Pound was worth 1.6 to 1.7 USD but is now down to around 1.55 USD

Anyway, the cheese moved back in 2013

In my experience businesses that blame market forces are using it as an umbrella excuse for their failure to compete in the arena.

Instead of trading out of this position they opt to finagle their way out of it by hammering suppliers to increase margins. Weak and predictable.

Nice move Adobe and decently done for a change.

Done.

This move would dissuade photographers and film makers from using "difficult" locations and as usual, meddling politicians with little or zero business savvy have missed the bigger picture:

1) Use of these landmarks in movies and commercial images is FREE advertising for these locations and no doubt inflates visitor numbers
2) The businesses that provided transport and other services for creatives to arrive at and stay at these locations will lose income
3) The cost of enforcing the wretched thing will vastly outweigh the accruals


I have several others but I've got a trapped nerve and an evil disposition as a result and will say no more. Except this: the agencies are strangely silent on the matter

Adobe is a massive shop window for our business and a pay rise is refreshing and motivating. Other agencies should take note and take positive action for both customers and suppliers or they will rue the day.

What happened to the Facebook dls in the SOD space - used to add a nice sum to the bottom line but they seem to have dried up in May.

Quote from: Elenathewise on May 28, 2015, 17:00
That combined with recent absurd image reviews could be an indication that Vogons are taking over...

Or FIFA

The average judge is about a hundred books and several years of indoctrination from reality.

I urge everyone to do as I have done - google the news feeds on this charlatan eg Artnet and tweet the s**t out of it

Quote from: marthamarks on May 14, 2015, 15:59

Quote from: Red Dove on May 14, 2015, 15:46
In the meantime I'll continue to fight my corner on work that I am convinced passes muster.

I agree with your assessment of how this is happening and why.

But I'd love to know how you continue to fight for your work? How does one do that with this increasingly impersonal and unresponsive site?

I'm still using submit@shutterstock - although response times have drifted out to a week plus of late. Probably backlog.

My rejections have all been in the editorial space, either for focus or noise. On second opinion, about half of them have got through. I personally believe that SS are struggling to cope with the workflow and this has forced a knee jerk decision on acceptance criteria - but they will never tell.

If i were seeing large batches kicked back I might take a different approach - but this is a problem as you have correctly pointed out - SS have become largely incommunicado....on everything.

Once shareholders are involved we all know that ways and means have to be found to demonstrate operational costs are being driven down - so they can pay for all the new Vice Presidents of this that and the other, plus ping pong tables and foot massages in the breakout area.

It would make sense then to use software to try and streamline the review process and perhaps one day, allow them to take a scythe to the inspector cadre and thin the herd.

In the meantime I'll continue to fight my corner on work that I am convinced passes muster.

the thumbnail previews are bigger and look more detailed to me...but everything else is tiny. How are you supposed to read that text on mobile devices without zooming in all the time?

(watching these kids in a cafe in London today texting like maniacs on their phones using two thumbs - whereas I'm stabbing away at my iphone with a giant index finger and no doubt had my tongue poked out to aid concentration).

Well 29 pages in and SS have not chipped in - what usually happens is this goes on and on until they notice a rise in staff turnover at submit@shutterstock or some twit with a 6 sigma bent finally earns his badge by attaching an efficiency cost to the rejection/review/rejection/review metrics. But that could take months.