had enough of istock and its dictatorial approach.  i spotted the potential for this a long long time ago, but if you post anything even remotely negative on the forums someone kicks you in the teeth. the corporate graveyard is full of companies that stuck their fingers in the air and went 'blah, blah, blah'. you've got to listen to the stuff you don't like guys. perhaps even more so than the arse-licking.....  they are now banning complaints on the forum and want them to be sent as support tickets instead - so they can 'filter out the real issues'. but there's still a guy reading the complaints and deleting them?  has someone pushed the self-destruct button there?

   Man, I am sooooo glad to read this thread.  I have been reading loads of stuff too about forum activity, creative networks etc. making a difference to downloads.  Having made alot of sacrifices and worked my butt off to go on field trips, improve my techinical ability, build my portfolio, suffer the pain of rejections, edit keywords and titles, create links etc. etc. I was absolutely gutted to read that the files that have disappeared into the ether were perhaps not downloaded because I didn't spend enough time chatting in forums (hard to take when you spent most of your schooldays being told to stop talking and get on with your work  ).  Seriously, after last weeks nonesense from Mr Klein, this pulled my motivation to rock bottom.   This morning I was beginning to wonder if I'd been duped into thinking I was contributing to a photo agency when in fact it was a social networking site.  I felt 12 years old.  Now I know that my lack of downloads is just because my photos are crap!  And I'm absolutely delighted!  At least that's something I'll be happy to work on......

i've got some which have been in the queue for over 10 days.  went exclusive with istock recently.  had one good week and since then i am worse off than when i was non exclusive.  on top of that, i know everyone says istock inspectors always get things right, but i have had the most  spurious and inconsistent rejections over the last four weeks.  in addition, it seems that my poorest images fly through, but those which would be in competition with the top downloads are thrown out.  i wouldn't mind but when i see some of the images that are displayed on the home page.....

I am fairly new to stock photography and when I first started I tested the water with a few agencies uploading a handful of images to them all before concentrating on the one which worked best for me.  Things have worked out reasonably well with that agency and I was planning on going exclusive when possible.  In anticipation, I have been attempting to close accounts elsewhere.  You know whats coming next....

One agency just wont reply to my account cancellation requests.  Two others are insisting that despite a portfolio of only a handful of images, they will implement the clause stipulating that images must remain on their sites for 6 months.  With one agency the 6 month rule applies only when you request deletion of images.  So, effectively that means I cant go exclusive until September.  Extremely galling as the portfolios with those agencies are so small and have only produced one sale in the last 4 months.

As I say, my fault for not reading the small print, but does anyone have any advice? 

Thanks for your help and advice guys.  Very,very useful.  I like the iStock model and recently have been focusing on them alone.  Maybe right, maybe wrong.  I'm a newbie and maybe see things with a different eye (overly saturated perhaps ), but my impression is that iStock is head and shoulders above the competition and whatsmore, has the vision to continue to stay ahead of it.  I'm determined to crack it and your comments have given me fresh motivation and hopefully taken me over another hurdle....

Thanks photojay.  Encouraging to know that someone is having success with a 350.  I was beginning to think the only way out was a mark III 1Ds! 

Clearly a problem with my processing so thanks so very much for the pointer sharply_done.  I do tend to process for my own tastes and even though I've resisted the saturation button and dropped it below interesting ( kidding, please dont have a go...), its obviously still too much, so thats really helpful.

So I'll push on and give it another go.  With that addressed, can anyone point out any  immediate changes observed once they became exclusive  i.e. in terms of downloads,sales,portfolio visibility,search results (i know download limits and commission increase).

anyone else find that because you aren't exclusive, most folk assume your skills consist of cracking off a whole load of shots on holiday with your Cybershot set to auto .....   

thanks for taking the time to respond yingyang0.   not at all patronsing

Can anyone who became exclusive at iStock detail any obvious improvements as soon as they became exclusive?  Is it worth sticking at it?  After reaching acceptance of over 90% (which i largely put down to my new L series lens/5d combo), I am now finding almost everything is getting rejected.  Now, far be it from me to question the decisions.  I am happy to accept them all.  I'm not a quitter and am prepared to work extremely hard to put it right (as I have done through various iterations over many months), but sometimes I also stick with a lost cause too long and I really dont want to spend the next 6 months banging my head against a brick wall.  Is it time to call it a day?

i agree.  there are many truly awful images which have been recently accepted.  and the artifacting thing is maddening.  (it would be nice if the guidelines could give a true example of the level of artifacting that isn't acceptable!)  whilst on the subject of being realistic, please showcase images that actually sell.  the ones currently on are absolutely superb wihtout a doubt and would stand up in most galleries.  but some have 30k+ views and only a handful of downloads?  come on.

i read in another thread that microstock was great because it allowed those who didn't have the connections with the agencies a chance to get into the business purely on ability.  i think we may be beginning to see that door closing.  not just that, but the cost of kit to produce the quality required will reimpose the barriers to entry which used to exist pre micro.  looks like the tantrums from the macro boys have been pandered too.  of course it doesn't help when there is frequently no separation between contributor and reviewer.  i'm not saying that it definitely happens, but it would be naive to conclude that it couldn't be the case that a reviewer would find something wrong with an image to protect his/her -  or his/her buddy's - portfolio.   

thats life though.  happens everywhere.  those who have it, start building barriers to protect it.  an old aunt of mine remembers the day when you didn't have to go to college to become a lawyer, you took an apprenticeship.  not so now. and who imposed those requirements? 

just a bit galling that the door closes when you are struggling through with your new camera bag and tripod.....    of course, it seems at the moment to be just this particular door - for the timebeing at least.  cue the stampede to get through the others......

i can't speak for smithmore, but my point isn't one which can be explained by inspector off days.  i am talking about a consistent drop in acceptance rate over a 3/4 week period.  that's a trend not a blip and its either because my photography skills have deteriorated or there is a change in the inspection process.  if the former, fine.  if the latter then that's f***ing about with peoples livelihoods.  i have bounced back many times from rejections and accept that if my images are not good enough then fine.  i like to think i am grown up about it and indeed am delighted to have learnt a huge amount from my rejections.  however, what is so frustrating is that with each batch of rejections i have gone away and worked hard to improve.  i have also invested in better kit to get better results.  i truly believe that the images i have been submitting in the past 3/4 weeks are significantly better quality - both from a composition and technical point of view - than earlier submissions.  so, to find your acceptance rate go down significantly is disappointing.  i am not suggesting there is anything sinister going on.  it could simply be that the the inspectors have been told to raise the bar (entirely feasible and consistent with a new business strategy which has identified the death of macrostock and the need to push istock ahead of the crowd) and only accept exceptional images in certain categories (interestingly i do find images in some of the less marketable categories seem more readily accepted).  fine.  but at least at some of the other agencies they are honest about that and dont try to shoe-horn the rejection into a vague category that leaves you wondering what . you have to do to get it right, or thinking you need to go spend $12k on a camera and lens in order to avoid an artifacting or 'center point of focus' rejection...... (or else just use a 12MP point and shoot and avoid taking images which include sea or painted wood or .....)  if so, it would be nice to know for sure if this is a permanent bar raise because i can't afford to play games.  the only way my recently rejected images can be improved is with a step up to the next level of kit and i certainly can't take a chance on that level of investment when earnings are so low.  ok though if you are already established and already have that kit.  for example, if you currently contribute to getty......

well, i did intend my posting as a joke to take the edge off my rejection gloom, but i'm glad you posted smithore as i have been experiencing exactly the same.  70% acceptance down to 10% in last three weeks.  and the central focal point thing is just maddening.  also getting alot thrown out for inappropriate key words when similar images have exactly the same. 

not nice - especially if you are spending considerable time working on the images and hoping to make a living out of it.  that just aint right.  its a bit like having a 'normal' job, working hard consistently and out of the blue and without warning, your boss says that same standard isn't acceptable and he aint gonna pay you.  it does feel a bit like 'we just dont think your images cut it anymore, please stop uploading'.   i know, i know all you smuggies out there with your thousands of downloads  , deep breath and start again.......  just this little photographer's oxygen tank is getting close to empty.

I had a series of 60 really nice images of Grecian urns all rejected.....

...apparently they contained artifacting 

i thank you.