For SS I downsize from 17MP to 4MP using the Bicubic Smoother option. Given the general sharpness of the originals and massive amount of downsizing, I find the results more pleasing to the eye using this method.

I think you're getting too involved with the technical aspects of your photography.

Sure, images have to be technically good in order to be accepted, but in order to sell they need to convey some sort of message and/or have emotional impact. If an image is strong enough in these areas it will be accepted and sell (almost) regardless of technical merit. Conversely, it's not uncommon for technically excellent images to be rejected or reside in the huge pile of accepted but ignored images - this is not where you want to be.

If you want to be successful in this industry, you're going to have to abandon your inverted meterstick tests (whatever they are), corner sharpness measurements, and red channel noise analysis in favor of thinking up concepts/marketable ideas and using your photography skills to illustrate them. Once you get the hang of this, getting images accepted will no longer a problem. Once you get good at it, selling images won't be either.


PS - I rarely sharpen, and shoot at f/8 most of the time.

blind loyalty of iStock exclusive photographers disgusts me even more than Xsize prices.

You're calling thesentinel blindly loyal to IS? Hardly!

If you think IS is unfair, why do you continue to sell your images there?

You can't know that you would be losing 10% of your StockXpert earnings.

You don't know if you would have made those sales as credit sales on StockXpert, or even if you would have made more sales on other subscription sites, if StockXpert hadn't decided to compete.

Yes I can. Steve-Oh once commented that credit buyers and subscription buyers represent two separate markets on StockXpert. If this is true, and subscription buyers license images solely by subscription, then I will never make a credit sale from a subscription buyer. I also doubt that the subscription buyer would purchase the same image from another suscription site - that would mean he/she would have concurrent subscriptions at competing sites, which doesn't make sense.

I stand by my conclusion: if I opted out of subscriptions my income from StockXpert would drop by 10%.

Subscription sales are currently making up 10% of my StockXpert earnings, but over 25% of my sales volume. In terms of subscription sales, November and December were about the same, but I saw an increase in January and a 'holding pattern' in February. A lot of my subscription sales are XXL size, but almost none of my regular sales are. Here are my numbers:


The bottom line, according to my experience, is that if I opted out of subscription sales on StockXpert I would be cutting my earnings there by 10%. This might only be a few dollars for some, but if I did it I'd be losing more than my monthly sales on lesser sites!

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Also, IMHO, advice to 'improve' your photography skills is not helping either, as I think everybody here is a pretty good photographer, and the overwhelming consensus seems to be that yes, there ARE specific things that you can shoot/edit/do that will increase your acceptance specifically at SS.
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No, not everyone here is a 'pretty good photographer'. Some of the work I've seen is commercially quite poor, and the advice to 'improve' your photography skills should not be lightly dismissed.

If you are experiencing weak sales you would do very well to take an objective look at what it is you are doing. The fault for poor performance in this market does not lie with unreasonable reviewers, unfair search engine protocols, or uneducated buyers ... it lies with the photographer and his/her failure to understand and/or produce commercially viable microstock images. Furthermore, concerning yourself with getting images accepted is pointless - the only thing that matters is producing images that sell.

My ultimate goal is to thoroughly enjoy myself while producing images that I like to make. That I can be paid well for doing something I would gladly do for free is serendipity found.

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But, having more means more work in a way.  Does BigStock still only take 10mb files?  I have no idea how big are most 16mp files are?  You will presumably downsample for them for BS and more for the subscription agencies... You will fill up a 4gb memory card in half the time.  The huge raw files demand huge memory on your computer. 
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I shoot with a Canon 1Ds Mk II, a 17MP camera. JPG files are typically in the 5-8MB range. Although BS takes only 10MB files, 98% of my images are under this size. Instead of downsizing 10MB+ images, I save them at JPG quality level 10 or 11. Although filling up a 4GB card might be a concern for a client-driven location shoot, it is not a concern when shooting microstock. I shoot mostly in JPG mode, and use RAW only for the situations that require it (e.g. landscape shots with far-off mountainsides of evergreen trees).

XXL sales don't occur in enough volume to solely justify the extra cost of this camera. As I see it, the raison d'etre of this camera is to remove all technical barriers in making a shot. The white balance, focus ability, focus speed, noise level, and battery life are outstanding with this camera, and it's fairly obvious after using it that the manufacturer could easily provide this same performance in their lesser models.

The advantage of using this camera in the microstock market is the ability to downsize marginal images - shots that might be unacceptable due to noise, artifacts, or blur can be downsized to XL or L size and be accepted. The extra image room also allows for freedom in cropping - XL size square and panoramic images can be made.

Although the Canon 5D is nice in that it provides 12MP full frame images, and it appears that most people think this is the camera to get for microstock photography, it doesn't quite have the ability of a professional camera. You should get an advanced prosumer camera if you are on a budget and/or don't intend to take your photography past the part-time/amateur/extra income level. Get a pro camera if you intend to make your living doing this, and need to squeeze the most money out of every photographic opportunity.

Yeehawwww ... way to go!

My record low XS price is 10 cents.
I had to look twice just to be sure.

Same here.
The site is intermittently there, but I can't log in.

My review times have been averaging 2.1/2 days lately. I only managed to get 3 batches in last week. Slower than usual, but still pretty easy to live with.

Wow, talk about low standards.
If they accepted those shots they'll pretty much take anything.