Since I buy photos too, I can't in good conscience recommend IS because of the "Did you mean..." syndrome. I would recommend DT. It seems much faster for me to find what I need and they have a great selection.

The images that I saw weren't that awe-inspiring. They were nice, quality photos, but nothing made them stand out that much. I think that I may have clicked on a different link or something. My mistake.

Does anyone besides me think that it's strange that this week's featured photographer only has 259 images at DT? How do they choose the featured photographer anyway?

I just had no problem with Firefox.

Istock seem to like to see strong drawing in their application files

These weren't application files, just regular uploads.

We're sorry, but we found the overall composition of this file lacking visual impact and therefore not suitable as stock. With the rapid growth of the iStock collection, we give valuable consideration to each file but unfortunately cannot accept all submissions. Please don't take it personally. This isn't necessarily a reflection of your skill, rather a decision by iStock to determine commercial applications for your illustration as royalty-free stock.

The same reason for both.

Here are some links for sites with tutorials. http://vector.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/ http://www.graphicmania.net/35-high-quality-illustrator-tutorials-you-can-not-miss/
http://www.minervity.com/features/illustrator/25-awesome-illustrator-cartoon-tutorials/

This one is about how to create a vector drawing and then how to save it for stock. I found it very helpful.
http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/designing/how-to-create-a-vector-illustration-and-prepare-it-for-micro-stock-sale/#more-2069

How I have taught myself so far was to learn how the pen tool works. That is the tool you will be using most to create your shapes. Then once I understood how it works I then scanned some drawings I had made and I traced them in illustrator. Next learn how to color them in and ad gradients. Something I read somewhere was when using gradients always start off with both sides the same color and then adjust from there. It gives it a much more natural look. other than that once you understand the basic tools start practicing. Good luck!

Great idea! Thanks for the tip.

Anyone know where i can find source code [java, asp] that reads the IPTC data?

Basically, when i present an image on a webpage, i want to also show its title, desc and keywords; no need to change anything

i've tried google searches, but all i can find are either standalone exif editors/managers, or expensive image management software toolkots that are massive overkill, so i'm looking for something basic and reasonably priced (< $30)

i'd like to avoid activex or other components that each visitor would have to explicitly set up

steve

The code below should do the trick if you're OK with PHP...

      if (trim($_FILES['myfiles']['name'][$i])!="")
  {
        $newfile = 'your-image.jpg';
   $size = getimagesize ($newfile, $IIM);       
   if(is_array($IIM))
    {   
    $iptc = iptcparse($IIM["APP13"]);
if (is_array($iptc))
{
    foreach (array_keys($iptc) as $s9)
{             
     $c9 = count ($iptc[$s9]);
     for ($i9=0; $i9 <$c9; $i9++)
           {
   $output = $s9.' = '.$iptc[$s9][$i9];
   $begin = substr($output,0,5);
   $full = strlen($output);
   $len = ($full - 8);
   $word = substr($output,-$len);
        if ($begin == '2#005')
        {
        $title = "$word";
        }
if ($begin == '2#120')
{
$all_about = "$word";
}
if ($begin == '2#025')
{
if (($i9 < 1) or ($i9 > ($c9 - 1)))
{
$comma = '';
}
else
{
$comma = ', ';
}
$the_tags = "$the_tags" . "$comma" . "$word";
}
    }
       }

I uploaded to just shutterstock first to see if they got approved because I wasn't sure I had saved everything correctly. They approved them so then I uploaded to istock because they had instructions of how to upload. The other sites have nothing, or if they do I couldn't find it. I like to always upload the same files to all the sites every week though. Otherwise it gets very confusing. So this process has been frustrating! It is hard enough to teach yourself a program!

The light bulb needs Mouse Staches!!!!

I got the following:

SS
DT
FT
BigStock

I think that's all of them.

^^ I like it!