Yes, and to make up for the needless panic that most of us experienced over the last 24 hours, an awesome gesture for freaking us all out would be a nice little bonus in this month's payout.
I mean seriously, many many people were in distress over this, feeling like they had just lost their income. lost countless work hours trying to figure this out and many, I am sure lost sleep as well and a nice bonus to make up for the near heart attacks would be a sweet gesture :-)

Has anyone else noticed a sales drop after the massive email drop?

Here is another page worth checking out :-) (be sure to check out the noise page too)

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-cybershot-dsc-rx100-m3/9

in my workflow, i use raw, only sharpen with the raw sliders and find that sometimes adding a touch of contrast makes the image appear sharper. on the rare times i use the jpgs my sony makes, i leave them as is, maybe adjust the wb and manual levels.
i have also found that on my camera, the wider open the aperture the softer the image....
and you are most welcome! If my thoughts help, awesome! we are here to help one another through this life :-)

Also... I just looked up reviews of your camera.... seems you are not doing anything wrong... if you look at the samples both the 80 and 100iso look soft.... try shooting at 200.... (scroll down for the image sample... hope this helps)
http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-cyber-shot-rx100-iii/[/url

Hi Bunny!
I just looked up your camera, seems it is a 20 mpx?
are you submitting the full size file? That could be why they look soft.
A trick I have learned that lessens noise and sharpens the picture is to export the image between 7 or 10 mpx ( as they get smaller things tighten up.)
I know nothing about LR and have used apples' aperture since day one....
When uploading to the sites, they dont need more than 10 mpx (they upsize themselves and ya dont make more money for a bigger file and the smaller the file the faster to upload).  :-)
so maybe export a smaller version and then see how it looks at 100 % of that ....

just a thought.... cookies by their very nature, even in real life look like they have noise.... maybe experiment with smoother surfaces?
Another thought the sonya55 is a small lightweight camera and noise at 800 is minimal. since it is an older model, they can be found cheap. I got one recently for only 250 usd. because of its size, it comes with me everywhere i go.
I have also found, with the sonys I have had, the lower the iso the softer the image, especially with the 828.... with the dslr's the lowest you can go is 100 and not 60 (at least with the ones I have used)
And yes many photos shot at 800 iso on the 55 have been accepted and are selling on the major sites.

Not sure if that helps at all but best of luck!

Now, he never did say what the image was or the reason why.... for all we know he/she may be an axe murderer and it was an image of their latest victim.... this thread could be quite interesting!

Congratulations Alfa!
I have been doing this for 10 years and never tire of the big sales and always take time to be grateful and joyous about them (and the little sales too)!
Sad there is negativity coming from some in this thread you created out of your joy.
They are energy drainers and it is no wonder their sales have slipped. People forget that our work is a part of ourselves.
Just because someone has been doing this for years DOES NOT give them the right to be dicks, but some people just cant help themselves.

Keep the joy and it will show in your images!

haha! Firewall, I usually do but after tweaking the white balance, actually hitting it with the PS auto color which to me always looks wrong..... but those usually get in the second time around

firewall, i still get the occasional white balance off rejects over at ss
chichikov... you mean the power to reject makes them feel powerful? haha! awesome!

With the rejection rates at CS I am starting to feel like SS never rejects a thing.  :-)
If sales were great at CS I could understand them being so picky... wasn't crestock kinda like that?

I voted for Ulysses! Best of luck!

I just noticed the same thing and it was the same images being sold numerous times a day. Did a Tineye search and it seems bigstock is selling at least one of them through cafepress.

wow! 17 out of 20 rejected for the not suitable reason.... I would ask if they were actually still accepting photos but I did get three new ones in.
Funny thing is, some of what they have accepted recently I would consider not suitable, but hey, if they want the other sites to get all the sales, that is ok by me seeing that what is unsuitable for DP is suitable for all the big earners :-)

I have noticed an unusual amount of rejections also. Maybe that is how they go through the files so fast? Work that get accepted at all the other sites seem to get blindly rejected at canstock. I submit mostly images and occasional illustrations. and here, I used to think SS was a little extreme...CS currently has them beat!

I do donate on 123 and many of the images are later bought at a full size and also related images are purchased. I rotate a whole bunch of ones that never sold there or elsewhere and they are now getting seen and purchased. So for me, it works and works well.
As for not giving anything away, my philosophy is you need to give in order to get. Just be fully aware of what you are giving.

[/quote]

I think this is the key, though. The DP offer doesn't allow such control. They get to pick and choose, and I imagine they will pick your best images (best sellers). If you decide to offer some for free, that is one thing. Allowing them the control is quite a different matter.
[/quote]

yes! and I offer mostly old forgotten images, some times I will add a brand new one for kicks. I also do not redonate after the image reaches a count of 10 downloads. And it is pretty fun to watch those old ones regain sales afterwards.

This has got to be the most entertaining thread I have seen in a while.
I would just like to add a couple of thoughts, I did not read the blog nor will i visit the site. the more hits and the more comments the site gets, the higher it will get ranked, the ego need not be enlarged further. :-)
seems there was a comment on things looking plastic on SS by YA.... if I remember correctly, wasnt it he that perfected the plastic people look and that was where he made all his money?
I too saw no swearing or name calling just a nice friendly conversation and critique of a blog post. Isnt that what forums are all about?
To go to his site where he has COMPLETE control over what the public gets to see is not an open forum or discussion. Again visits and post there just help HIS ratings in search engines.
Mush better to post here :-)
At this point where almost all sites  are taking both good and bad stuff and everyone and their sister think they can be photographers, I am sure even his work (of which I have seen nothing recent) is getting buried with everyone else's.
Yes, I was impressed at how much he made, but never really cared too much for the style of images and obviously wasnt impressed enough by his earnings to try to copy him.

Microstock is a crap shoot, which is why I shoot what I want the way I want, upload to all the decent sites and just let them fly.

At this point is YA a has been? If the sales are not what they used to be, well.... we will let someone else decide that!
Stick with the sites you feel treat you right and enjoy . out of making pictures because that is truly what it is all about! the money comes when you do what you love!

I have to say, over at 123rf when I started adding to the donate section, my sales have increased quite a bit on both the ones that are "free" and ones that are not. I have been with 123rf for years and it wasnt until I started donating that the sales started going through the roof.... they are now one of my favorite sites due to this and you can pick and choose which photos and for how long they are available.  The DP version dosnt sound as good as the 123rf version.
As for rejections, I have found small batches to DP get more acceptance than large batches. I cap my submissions to 10 at a time and wait til those are gone through and then add another 10 that are waiting in the unfinished section.....

I have been reading the forum for a long time but this is my first time posting. (yes, I went through the unbearably easy process of signing up this morning :-))
As for canstock, I do have a fondness for them as I have been with them for almost as long as all the other sites I submit to.
Sales are decent although not the best, I would say they are in 6th place for me. with sales ranging from 25 cents on up to 10 bucks.
What I have noticed recently is the amount of rejections and the often lame and inappropriate reasons (in my opinion, especially since many that get rejected sell well at SS, BS, 123.. and we all know ss can be quite a sticklier, but in a good way)
So they are easy to upload to, the sales are decent when they come, they breeze through the submissions (perhaps too hastily) and are a nice company to sell through, they are canadian after all, and I have yet to meet a canadian that isn't nice :-)
Has anyone tried resubmitting images that were rejected?
In the early days we used to do that at SS....