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Messages - gjalbert

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1
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: November 01, 2014, 11:58 »
We mentioned being slightly more selective on abundant subjects, not that we we're competing with Stocksy or Offset. If it was the case, our standards and prices would reflect that.
 
We acknowledge that our search results need some attention. This is just one of the many things we are currently planning to address. As you can imagine, many of these changes require a lot of analysis and planning (based on real data) to be done properly so the most significant results will be visible in the long run.
 
The reality is whatever site you look at, not one of them will please 100% of it's authors. Pick any site and some will feel the standards are too high or, yes, even too low. Some wish the prices we're higher or lower, etc. And it's quite normal considering the variety of authors submitting images that goes from hobbyists to large studios. On top of that, some work in specific niches while others are producing more standard content where the competition is extremely high.
 
Rest assured our authors are valued immensely in all our decisions. Does this mean we'll make 100% of our authors happy? Realistically, probably not. That said, I'm very confident in the opportunities Photodune presents (currently and in the future) to a very large number of authors. But obviously in the end, each author decides which site is worth investing in, based on their own results.

2
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: October 31, 2014, 17:09 »
My acceptance rate is, I guess, around 95%. I guess I provide what they consider their library needs.
Sales could be better, but having in mind that I signed up to PhotoDune (and CanStock)  in order to replace BigStock (where I quit uploading because of poor results) and already have 4-6 times more revenue from PD alone, I can't say I'm not pleased.

Maybe PD has a specific demographic they cater to, I guess their reviewers are not mentally handicapped, but provide feedback depending on the needs of the library and pre-selected criteria. PD to me seems like a very modern agency going in the right direction, and I'm pumped to see what new they have in store. Hopefully some spending will also go to marketing, so we see an additional boost of sales. :)

It's nice to also hear from those having a positive experience. I'm pretty confident you'll be pleased with what the future holds. :)

3
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: October 31, 2014, 17:04 »


"As you all know, the industry has changed over the past few years and so has the customer expectations. We feel by being slightly more selective, we are not only making the site more attractive and useful to existing and new customers, but as a bonus are also increasing your chances of sales on files that do get approved. Being more lenient would only have the opposite effect."



So bottom line, if you have multiple rejections you strongly disagree with, I re-invite you to contact us and let us know about it with the list of images you think should have been approved. There's 2 possible outcomes:
1. We overturn our initial decision, approve your images and provide feedback to our reviewers.
2. We confirm initial decision was accurate and provide you with personalized feedback so you have all the information required for your future submissions.



The problem is this Gaby

1. I don't have the time to constantly email Envato to query rejections.  At the rate you guys reject I would spend all my time emailing and little else"

2. Customer expectations may be higher but lets face it Envato are still paying less than the price of a MaccaD Happy Meal for these "higher quality standards"

If you were paying a couple of hundred bucks per sale I'd understand your principle.

You earn me 0.59% of my overall turnover with 16 agencies so it is not worth spending any more of 60 hours a week I put in to this business trying to convince Envato to do anymore than they are doing which is rejecting and rejecting and rejecting  ;)

Fair enough, at least you know the option is always there. :) The vast majority of authors that contacted us in the last few months have been pleased with the outcome. They either got their images overturned or they were provided with more personalized feedback that helped them improve their acceptance rate.

Quite understandably, nobody likes getting their images rejected. It would make things so much easier for everyone, even more so for our reviewers, if we approved every submitted file. While many authors would be thrilled at first they probably wouldn't be too pleased with the resultant a year or 2 down the road...

4
@Lightrecorder - Without posting pictures (and having in consideration the entire portfolio), it's very difficult to comment and I don't think this thread is the place to debate your specific case. If you want to continue the conversation we started a while ago via support I'll be more then happy to reply through that channel.
Thanks for understanding!

5
Thanks Eric :)

So to address certain concerns some have expressed I'll try to offer a bit of clarification on the term "travel snapshot" that appears in our not needed list as opposed to our "home town" photos we are looking for in this contest.

A travel snapshot is basically images that could be taken by just about any tourist, without much thought being given to lighting or composition. You walk by something you find interesting, even if it's 12h05 and sun is at it's highest point creating harsh shadows, you take the shot. Now in rare occasions it might work, but usually it will just end up looking like...a "travel snapshot" and we already have tons of those.

As you can see in the official Most Wanted forum, the majority of the images used as examples highlight certain ethinicities, cultures, modes of transportation, lifestyles, interesting architecture, values, economics, that are mostly region specific.

If the subject is very generic, like a picture of a building window, it might be local, but will most likely have very little distinctive features (or commercial value).

If you were an advertising agency wanting to promote your area, what features you think would best highlight what your home town is about? That's really the angle from which you should be approaching this contest.

Don't forget to keep in mind the model and property release requirements, depending on what you shoot. We certainly want to encourage quality over quantity here ;)

Hope this helps, and good luck to everyone! :)

6
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: October 29, 2014, 13:13 »
......
It's often tempting to compare rejections from different sites, but it's also important to keep in mind that images that were approved on another site 5-10 years ago (even if they sold well), might not meet their current standards anymore (this is important for those submitting their existing portfolios to Photodune). Just like it's possible that the standards on site X or Y are simply different.
nice try to divert criticism but I don't think anyone here was using old submissions as a comparison-- we're talking about CURRENT submissions that are accepted AND sold by other agencies, but are bulk rejected by photodune

Quote
....We feel by being slightly more selective, we are not only making the site more attractive and useful to existing and new customers, but as a bonus are also increasing your chances of sales on files that do get approved. Being more lenient would only have the opposite effect.....
 
would be nice if that were the case  BUT
doubling a 0% sales rate doesn't help anyone -- just as others have reported here - I had more sales on most & featurepics than photodune ever managed to produce


Genuinely, there was no intention to divert criticism. With all due respect, "Just like it's possible that the standards on site X or Y are simply different." was also mentioned in my post.

Authors submitting existing portfolios to Photodune (often including files from 2005 or older) is quite frequent and it's why I felt that part was also relevant.

Regarding sales, Photodune is still fairly young compared to sites that have been around for 10+ years. And even so, many authors are doing quite well. Now we're certainly not saying everything is perfect, we acknowledge that. Although it's not always visible from the outside, you can all rest assured that significant resources are working on improving the site, on all fronts.

7
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: October 28, 2014, 14:25 »
Since there's been a few new posts lately I thought I'd provide additional information for those recently joining the thread. :)

First I'd like to thank everyone for your feedback and opinions, they are always valuable in our efforts to continuously improve the overall site experience for both our authors and customers.

Our reviewing team is composed of highly skilled and qualified people. On top of that, they are receiving feedback and tests on a regular basis to make sure they are as consistent as humanly possible. But even with that, if you submit a borderline image, chances are the outcome might vary depending on which reviewer gets the file. Why? Because in those instances, subjectivity will play a larger part in the final decision. Submit a great image or a very bad one and the consistency will be around 100%. We could put together a list of all the guidelines and policies we could think of, but in the end, there's always going to be those files that are right on the fence and could go either way. Aiming for the top is really the best way of getting a consistently high approval rate, staying clear of the borderline images. We do have many authors with 95+% approvals, so it's certainly not out of reach.

It's often tempting to compare rejections from different sites, but it's also important to keep in mind that images that were approved on another site 5-10 years ago (even if they sold well), might not meet their current standards anymore (this is important for those submitting their existing portfolios to Photodune). Just like it's possible that the standards on site X or Y are simply different.

Even with common subjects, we welcome fresh content, we are simply being a bit more selective. Customers like variety, but they also like finding good images without having to go through 500 weaker ones. Adding new content is definitely something we want, as long as it's adding value to the library and not just diluting it.

As you all know, the industry has changed over the past few years and so has the customer expectations. We feel by being slightly more selective, we are not only making the site more attractive and useful to existing and new customers, but as a bonus are also increasing your chances of sales on files that do get approved. Being more lenient would only have the opposite effect.

With all that being said, mistakes can (and will) happen, and if it's the case, like it's been mentioned by a photographer in a previous reply, we will acknowledge it and address the situation.

So bottom line, if you have multiple rejections you strongly disagree with, I re-invite you to contact us and let us know about it with the list of images you think should have been approved. There's 2 possible outcomes:
1. We overturn our initial decision, approve your images and provide feedback to our reviewers.
2. We confirm initial decision was accurate and provide you with personalized feedback so you have all the information required for your future submissions.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best regards,
Gaby Jalbert
Quality Team Leader | Photodune

8
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: August 01, 2014, 09:38 »
I generally don't have a problem with rejections, but suddenly a large number of totally irrational rejections in the last two batches. I guess some new (inexperienced) reviewers were appointed. I usually can't be bothered to query the rejections. In my experience these types of problems are temporary and will resolve itself over time. When that happens I will simply re-submit those rejected images.

Indeed anywhere humans are involved inconsistencies can happen (same applies to all sites), though we put a lot of effort in reducing them to a minimum and I can assure you we have a team of highly qualified reviewers. Keep in mind that the standards are evolving. Because of the volume of files submitted we can be a bit more selective on certain subjects (then we we're when the site started out 3 years ago) in an effort to make our search results as attractive and relevant as possible to existing and future customers - if the customers are happy and come back for more, chances are you'll be happy too ;)

That said, without links or examples, it's really hard to further comment. But I do invite you to send us a support ticket (instead of re-submitting the rejected images) if you feel your files were wrongfully rejected as it serves 2 purposes:
1. It helps us provide feedback to the reviewer in case where images should have been approved.
2. If your files were rightfully rejected, we can provide more detailed feedback to help improve your acceptance rate.
So it's a win-win situation.

Best regards,
Gaby

9
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: August 01, 2014, 08:46 »
We are aware of many issues, and Envato is deploying a lot of resources right now on Phototune and it's sister sites as well to improve the overall experience both for authors and customers. Unfortunately it doesn't always go as fast as we'd like to, but we're not just talking about improvements, things are actually happening behind the curtains. Stay tuned you should start seeing significant changes in the next months. :)

10
PhotoDune / Re: I'm Done with Envato
« on: August 01, 2014, 08:32 »
Hi,

I understand rejections can be frustrating. What I'd recommend though, it to send us a support ticket with a link to a few rejections you strongly disagree with and I'll personally have a look at it and provide you with more detailed and constructive feedback (or overturn some images if it ends up that images we're wrongfully rejected). Just like with most sites unfortunately we can't always provide extensive feedback on all rejections (you can imagine with the number of submissions we receive, the time it would take). But we are happy to provide extra feedback when requested.

Thanks for understanding,

Gaby Jalbert
Quality Team Leader | Photodune

11
Envato / Re: How's your acceptance rate in Envato?
« on: May 21, 2014, 09:49 »
These tips are for those interested in increasing their approval rates. :)
And usually, going too fast ends up wasting time rather then saving some, as time is spent on files that will get rejected.

12
Envato / Re: How's your acceptance rate in Envato?
« on: May 21, 2014, 06:34 »
Welcome, gabby. Btw this is very basic advice but probably helpful for those just entering microstock.  Hope to see you post here regularly.

Thank you :) Indeed these are really the basics but represent the vast majority of rejections, for both beginners and experienced photographers (some from lack of experience and some simply for going too fast).

13
Envato / Re: How's your acceptance rate in Envato?
« on: May 20, 2014, 14:53 »
Thanks for the introduction Jarel, I'm really happy to have joined Envato! :)

Indeed we are working on many fronts to keep fine tuning the reviewing process and make it as consistent as humanly possible. We're also focusing on having standards evolve to provide content that reflects the latest trends in the industry.

A lot of subjectivity is involved with any kind of art form. And I can assure you our team of reviewers are highly qualified and they'd rather be approving 100% of submissions, it would make their job much easier.

If you have many rejections that you strongly disagree with, you can contact customer support (in one ticket) with a few links and reasons why you think they should have been approved and we'll try to bring insight into why they were rejected. If we feel the rejection was indeed a mistake, we'll process it accordingly.

With that said, each day, many images get rejected for issues that could have easily been avoided. Here's the top 8 reasons:

- With common subjects like flowers, sunsets, clouds, pets, travel pics (just to name a few), because we already have hundreds of thousands of them in the collection, we are more selective on new submissions. We'll always welcome fresh content to the collection, regardless of the subject, but only if it ads value.

- When shooting isolated objects, make sure to clean the items and background to remove any dust, dirt, marks, sensor spots and check your isolation at 100% to make sure it's not too soft or too rough, or that you missed a spot. Subject should be filling the most part of the image and excessive negative space should be avoided.

- Lighting can make or break an otherwise great image. When shooting outside in natural light, try shooting early in the day or later in the afternoon when the sun is lower and light softer. You can also combine with artificial lighting and or reflectors to fill the shadows. Harsh daylight is rarely flattering to anyone or anything. Also make sure the exposure is appropriate, and that contrast is well balanced. It's important to make sure your monitor is properly calibrated so that you are viewing your images the same way our reviewers are.

- If when viewing your image at 100% it's a bit too soft, you might want to downsize it to bring it back in focus. If it's just too soft, you'll have to move on to another file.

- Make sure your title and description are appropriate and that keywords are fully relevant to what we see in the image, specially if pasting keywords across a series, double check to make sure that all the keywords are relevant to all the images and edit them when it's not the case.

- When uploading large series, please select only the best, most useful shots. Submitting too many versions of the same file/concept or sending too many similar files is bound to lower your acceptance rate. If models are involved, pay close attention to facial expressions, avoiding instances where eyes are half-closed for example or any awkward expression that might limit the files' usability.

- Make sure that all logos and trademarks have been cloned out from the file.

- If you've done some Photoshop work, verify that you haven't forgotten parts of layers, brush strokes and that overall the image looks as if it was one. For composites consider things like the source of light, depth of field and perspective of the different elements so that they all blend in seamlessly and realistically.

By just going through this short list, not only will you increase your approval rate and chances of sales, but you'll be accelerating the reviewing process for everyone including yourself. Hoping you'll find this extra information useful! :)

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