This is why I steer clear away from any of those free photo sharing websites like Flickr. Even web sized images can be taken and used. There are countless stories of people's images being ripped off from Flickr. Everyone knows how hard it is to find your own work being used from legit sources...

OK, I don't mean to pick on anyone in particular (sorry adamdodd you have some great images, but really...), but I just saw this image come across the latest approved images and I couldn't believe it. Take a look: http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=5307738

If I ever tried to take a picture of dirt, and not even an interesting one it would be rejected so fast...

Do you guys see this as evidence of exclusives having a lower bar for approvals? I think I could give a hundred examples of such images...

Quote from: ChasingMoments on February 07, 2008, 17:49
Having looked at the original & having read the thread, let me follow up on the issue of focus (and some of you commented on the fact that there is an out of focus problem - in the stem area, etc):

where SHOULD the focus be in this picture? I think, imho, it should be, most importantly, in the middle of the flower, and it seems there is none there - artifacty and washed out... Thoughts?

The whole image should be in focus. There isn't that much depth in the image...

Hmmm... that could be an interesting block of people if we ever wanted to change things at IS... 15% of revenue is nothing to sneeze at!

Here is a suggestion... go get the RAW file for those great landscape shots in your photo.net portfolio. Reprocess them with minimal manipulation. Studio shots face way more scrutiny than landscape, plus it's easier to hide some noise in them. Make sure everything is shot at 100 ISO and on a tripod... If I can get a few pictures accepted to IS with a lowly Canon Powershot A620 (I shoot mainly with a Rebel Xti and film cameras), then there is no excuse with your talent for that setup you have to get past the inspectors at IS.

These still life subjects, especially flowers are the hardest to get past the reviewers. Go out and take some landscape pictures for the first review and try to send them still life for regular uploads...

I'm not the best reviewer, but there is some blobby-ness on the base of the flower and stem. It should be in sharp focus. That camera is capable of much better images...

mine is around 330
+++++++++++++

1553

I've been missing those EL downloads. When all the microstock sites implemented them over the past year I got bunch of them, but I haven't seen an EL download in about six months...

I got accepted at Photoshelter a couple of weeks ago and I can't see myself uploading anything there until they streamline the keywording process... needs lots of work...

This is where I think Microstock makes the bulk of their money on abandoned accounts. There are literally millions of images across all of microstock just sitting there collecting downloads and the owners got bored or frustrated without getting a fast payout. I forced myself through my first 100 uploads and while I don't even consider it a 2nd source of income, it does buy all my equipment. But I have more time on my hands and I'm uploading more than I have in a year.

I had a pretty good month at IS, best month in about 12. With referral earnings it was a BME for me. DT and SS limped along in 2nd place pretty much doing the same as the previous few months despite adding many new images over the past couple of months. When I get to 2500 downloads at IS, I'm going to seriously take a look at exclusivity...

It just dawned on me that Forum participation and other ancillary things like rating other peoples images might have an effect on your best match rankings in the search engine. Hmmm... I might give it a shot at IS and see if I can boost my ranking by talking more in the forums. Same for DT... it makes sense because it keeps the "cult" going.

I have to say that my renewed vigor in uploading has boosted my earnings and downloads to the point that I'm going to have my best month in over a year at IS. If I added in referral earnings, it is by far my BME. SS and DT and Alamy trail way behind, but still not to the point that exclusivity is an option.

BTW, just got another one a couple of days ago... sure does help the bottom line and if this keeps up it makes IS way ahead of SS and DT in terms of earnings.

Anyone willing to discuss tips or tricks (especially tricks) for making your images rank higher in the search. I'm always looking for an angle...

Anyone doing the Photoshelter Collection? I just had my initial four images approved there without any problem. It seems like a professionally run organization, but the upload/keywording process is very cumbersome. I'm willing to put up with a little pain, but this seems ridiculous compared to micro-stock sites...

Quote from: Danicek on January 28, 2008, 07:50

Quote from: zorki on January 27, 2008, 21:45One thing we figured out after twiddling bits on a few images for a while was that there is some type of hidden ratings systems that the Inspectors must apply.

Were these pictures of one contributor? I would think that there are many other options that may be used as criteria during the best match. On of them may be the author rating computed on based on various things.

No, they were from several contributors. We did the same thing to an image (same name, description, keywords) and they were all over the place in the search engine. So... I leave it to your imagination... there is something else the engine is ranking them on.

Sean hates it when we trying to pull back the curtain and try and find out what is going on...

It's been a while, but a bunch of us on the Yahoo Microstock group tried to see what influenced IS Best Match searches. It seems to be decent keywords and description, obviously. Then there were more esoteric things like newness, ratings and exclusivity. One thing we figured out after twiddling bits on a few images for a while was that there is some type of hidden ratings systems that the Inspectors must apply. When all other elements are the same, except for the actual image and one is top in best match and another is down 50 pages, then there is something else behind the scenes.

Clearly, you are in control of your destiny in Microstock, but I think the days of easy money are over.  The laws of dilution are taking effect and I don't think that there are enough new customers to offset the surge in uploads. Not sure what is going to happen. Too much choice leads to frustration on the buyers end and too many photographers lead to fewer and fewer downloads. Not sure what is going to happen, but something will give eventually.

I'd like to know... I had about 50 images up there when they sold it. As I remember the owners were pretty involved in the forums pushing it, but it never materialized into anything...

I'm seeing direct results from saturation in the market. I have a little over 300 images on IS, DT and SS and really wasn't all that active last year until recently started uploading again heavily.

In terms of downloads, I was getting way more across the board 18 months ago on a portfolio with less than half the images. Earnings peaked in January last year, almost double what I'm getting now. This just around the time of some major search engine changes. I had an image go to flames in a couple of months, only to have them change the engine and have only 3 downloads in ten months. I think it proves that you need to keep uploading and can't sit on your portfolio.

Part of it is my problem because I hadn't been able to give it the attention I think I can to get to the next level. But hopefully that will change here soon...

I hit a peak of downloads in May of 2006 at IS on a portfolio that was about 1/4 the size it is now. Hard to believe. I think that was before there 1 million images on line.  Earnings have gone up with the price increases. My BME in terms of money was January 2007. This month, downloads are up a little over the past couple of months, so are earnings.

Does 12mp get you XL images at iStock?

At IS things finally got going around the 7th. Sales have been trickling in. Total downloads are way off compared to a year ago (January 2007 was my BME with a portfolio half the size it is now). I've had two referrals this month, so that's help. Haven't had and EL in six months. I'm half tempted to go exclusive to see if I can boost sales there...

DT is my 2nd best, but by far and I can't upload enough to feed the SS beast to keep sales up over there...

Let's have a look at the one year chart. I would say that as a stock, I'd steer clear of it until the dust settles...

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GYI&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

They could've chosen a better time to auction themselves... they should take the offer off the table and wait until the stock (the other stock) markets recover...