Quote from: OK82 on September 26, 2022, 08:48

Is anyone else having trouble getting horizontal and vertical versions of same subject approved? Many of my vertical images have been rejected for similar content lately.

No, but what exactly are you trying to submit? It's not allowed to submit the same image as both vertical or horizontal image. (https://support.submit.shutterstock.com/s/article/Why-was-my-content-rejected-for-Similar-Content?language=en_US)  If you want to have them approved you have to re-arrange the scene, change the angle, etc. on both vertical and horizontal shoot and best not submit them at the same time. That usually works for me, but just shooting the same scene vertically and horizontally is not allowed on Shutterstock. Though I remember there was a time when they suggested doing exactly that in some of their older blog posts.  🤷

I think it's even adviced by some stock agencies to provide both horizontal and vertical image of same subject to offer options to byer, as long as it is two different exposures and not just cropped version of the same image.
Usually both versions are accepted, but now couple of those vertical versions keep getting rejected even if I resubmit them.

Actually if you scroll down the page in the link you provided there's:

Exceptions
* � For photos and footage, 1 horizontal and 1 vertical orientation of the same unmoved subject is allowed.

I just uploaded a picture of a forest, just trees and a lake behind them. It got rejected for missing model release.
Do they require a model release for trees now?

Just started uploading to shutterstock.
I noticed that three of my images that were approved had some sensor dust spots. I wanted to fix those, so I deleted those images from shutterstock, used healing brush to those spots and re-uploaded basically the exact same images without dust spots.
Well .. one of them gor rejected beacuse of the noise and other two beacuse of intellectual property and visible trademark even though they were earlier approved as commercial image.

I guess lesson is that if images are approved, it's just better to leave them be no matter what mistakes they have.