I am photographing a product with many cords and wires ... I am fighting to get them into neat coils for the image I need to create.  Any tips?

I use Adobe Bridge.

I am down for the first month in a long time, but not much, just $80.40

I was busy right up to Christmas Eve, slow Christmas Day, busy again and it didn't really slow down until New Years Eve and is picking back up this week.  Not too much of a slow down for me.

I am having some big payment problems with Fotolia and wanted to see if anyone has any input.

I requested my first payment on 7/29 when it did not come through in 1 month I followed up, and they said it just takes a long time.  I waited 2 more weeks, and they told me they paid me to check with PayPal so I checked with PayPal who told me Fotolia did not pay me so I forwarded that message back to support who told me billing would take a look at it.  That was 2 weeks ago.  I followed up again today with no response yet. 

It's been a month and a half, and I am starting to feel like I just gave away $100 of photos to Fotolia, but at the same time would really appreciate my payment.  They are not one of my bigger agencies, but at the same time I am a full time photographer so this is income not a hobby to me.

Any customer service tips would be appreciated.  I seem to be going around in circles.

Thanks everyone.  I am totally excited.  I am obviously going to invest it in my business ... I just don't know with what yet.

I got notified yesterday that I won the $500 bonus round for the Dash for Cash!  I rarely enter contests so this was a very welcome surprise. 

I have uploaded during the Dash for Cash and now that I have 900 pending / 181 accepted / 29 rejected I am going to keep on uploading.  I shoot about 100 images per week so I am missing the 200 image limit that was up the past few weeks, but the process is so easy that I have added it to my regular routine.

Thanks Veer!

I think it is great that other people stop uploading in the summer because they think it is slow.  It gives more visibility to my new images.

I upload consistently all year round, and have seen an increase in sales monthly.  I believe that adding to your portfolio is the key to increase sales, and of course you will slow down in the summer (or anytime) if you don't upload.

July has started off with a bang all around and is trending up for me, and I will continue to upload as usual.  So far on the 7th day of July ... VERY worth it to me. 

Quote from: sc on June 26, 2010, 00:41

Quote from: melastmohican on June 25, 2010, 21:47
If this trend continues I will have worst result across the board. Summer or recession?

NO it's not - sorry for you.
But you can't compare this month to last month or any other month this year - you need to compare to last June. There are too many variables that make month to month comparisons useless. If you are ahead of last June then you are on the right track - if not then you need to be concerned. Personally I have always bested the previous year and don't see that trend changing.

I am having a great month & summer.  Whatever this "summer slowdown" people speak of is not something I have experienced.

I agree with the month to month comparison, I also think it makes a difference how big portfolios are and how actively they are contributed to.  Someone who consistantly has new content will likely do better than someone who has a stagnant portfolio.

Quote from: microstockphoto.co.uk on June 23, 2010, 10:33

I mean that when I cheched first time this morning at 7 o' clock (GMT) there were only a few dollars and I was a bit disappointed. Then I checked again and again and one hour later the total amount finally stabilised - and it's pretty good indeed.

I did the same thing!  Mine was only at $1.00 the first time I looked, I was relieved to see that number grow overnight.  I offer all of my photos in the partner program & am loving the extra cash without the extra effort.

Mine has remained steady with the partner program doing well, and uploading my 15/week limit.  It is disappointing in comparison to other stock sites I work with, but steady.

PS -- I'd love for it to stay at 200/week even after the dash for cash ... Now that I'm in I'd like to get my whole collection up there so I can just add Veer to my weekly routine. 

I did notice!  And I submitted my extra last week and plan on this week too 

Maybe it will help my partner program stats come in quicker *wishes*

I just put in my application today -- good thing I wasn't planing on uploading right away 

I am on it!  I have plenty to upload.  The only thing with the slow inspection time is that it's hard for me to determine which of my images they will like and which they will reject.  I am just rolling with it for now ... the upload process is so easy.  I can't complain too much.

Here's my update :

First 10 Accepted

1 Sale ... Happened the first week from my first set of 10 images.

95 / 100 Approved from first batch = Total 105 Images in Portfolio

500 Images Pending (oldest submitted May 25th)

Woo hoo! 

Deep Meta has been working fine for uploads all day for me.

Quote from: Zeus on June 16, 2010, 15:18
For myself , I have never found this to be true. Usually market forces like increasing dilution hinder doubling income. It's more like double portfolio increase income by 50%. When you look at these these things you have to assume some constants otherwise it's meaningless. You can say stuff like it all depends how good your images are which is of course true but it make this analysis useless.

This is along the lines of what I have seen as well.  I shoot in sets of 20 images, often with several images on a theme for those Shutterstock downloaders who sometimes pick up more then 1 image on the same theme.  I submit 100 images / week to several agencies.

I am a little baffled too ... but haven't had so many rejections that I am too upset.

I did just have a rejection of a pair of english muffins that was not part of another food shoot, just a random shot I did because I was eating english muffins that day that was rejected for "too similar" which I don't get, but in reality it wasn't going to be my best seller so I am okay with it.

I just weed out the best images and submit those to Dreamstime.  

Truth be told -- my Dreamstime portfolio is selling very well, and money talks to me more then rejections.  I made more on Dreamstime last month then I did on iStock.  

I have been stuck at 78%-79% approval at Dreamstime so I can only submit 15 images / day and I submit 15 images every day.   I usually get about 1 rejection.  

Mine are up too ... !

I have been donating a few images a month there which I think is helping, but there is really no way to know.  As long as sales are up, I am happy.

Quote from: brookefuller on June 14, 2010, 02:09
I have 400 pending & will be uploading another 100 on Wednesday ... it's been over a month they have been sitting in pending now.

I just had 100 go through, so that's a 3 week wait for approvals.  I only had 5 rejections which isn't bad considering the payout. 

Quote from: PowerDroid on June 14, 2010, 19:14

Quote from: gejam on June 14, 2010, 17:15
When do you reckon the summer slowdown starts and for how long in your experience, approximately?
Cheers

In my limited experience (year and a half or so)...

2009:
March - great
April - big drop
May - back to March level
June - great rise over May
July - flat to June
August - flat to June
Sept - good rise

2010:
March - great
April - big drop
May - back to March level
June - slight rise over May so far

How many images do you upload per month?

Quote from: lefty on June 14, 2010, 18:36
lisafx, for me IS selling only older stuff, same picture get regular download.
Can I say too, permis, only Shutterstock is up up up for me. Across board all other down down down. I am happy I am with Shutterstock, phew !

I am with you!  Last month SS was over half of my earning.