That's pretty easy - they are going to reject them. Don't upload any others as those will be rejected as well. I uploaded last night and they were approved this morning, which is what normally happens when you have built up a reasonable reputation for not having files rejected

Steve

A question for US contributors. I've got a number of 1099 forms from various agencies, and some emails telling me the form is online, but I'm not sure if I have got them all.

Can we create a list of the agencies that send/have a 1099 form on their site - that would help us all make sure we don't miss one.

I've got 1099's from:

Shutterstock
Fotolia
BigStock (under SS SPV)
Corbis
Demand Media
Dreamstime


Steve

I knew the answer to this some time ago, but I thought that the original contributors to Stockxpert had their files and future earnings moved across to iStock? I just tried to log onto the Stockxpert site with my old User ID, but it no longer works.

What was the criteria that resulted in you still having earnings reported on that site?

Steve

Here is a bit from Dan Heller's excellent site on Model Releases for pets:

Animals do not share the same rights as humans, much to the dismay of PETA. So, photos of animals invariably do not require releases. The "exceptions", such as specific and well-known animals, are protected, not because they are "animals", but because their likenesses are trademarked. An advertiser can't use a photo of Lassie, the famous TV dog, in an ad without a release from whoever owns that trademark. Of course, it'd be incumbent on a litigant to prove that the photo is, in fact, Lassie. Generally, the real complaint would come about because the user of the image used the name and "goodwill" of Lassie as a form of promotion. In this case, the claim would more likely be that the ad said something that wasn't permitted, and the photo wouldn't really be that much of a concern. (But, while you're in the courtroom, why not add it to the list of claims?)

If you're looking to make a calendar of cute animals, and you're using candid photos you took in public, you are free to do so without releases from the animals' owners.

On the other hand, if you photographed the animals in a private settings, not in public view, such as a photo studio, you need to get a release because it's a private business transaction

The site is at http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html#8.3

Steve

I keep an open TextEdit file that contains the separated keywords for every picture I've done for the past several years.  When processing a new image, I go to the TextEdit file, do a search on the main term for the new image, and try to find something similar from my collection.  I copy and paste that similarly-themed set, but make a point to replace irrelevant ones and add new relevant terms for the new image. 

Do you use something like Lightroom or Aperture? I do the same thing but simply search in the database in Lightroom for a similar image (if I've taken one) and then sync the two images (old and new one) to update keywords, title and description.

Steve

1.  Process images on Aperture.
2.  Use Arcurs keyword site for keywording right into meta data on Aperture
3.  export 10-12 images to desktop folder.  (10-12 seems to minimize pain if I get a picky reviewer)
4.  upload using Fetch (Mac FTP program) to each site.  I upload to individually to 10 sites.  I can do about 5 at a time. More than that the upload rates get too slow.
5.  Then go into each site to put in categories and approve and submit images.

Hi Bob

Mine is somewhat similar, but differs a lot at the end! I use Lightroom to keyword, using Arcurs keyword site as well. I then export all the images into another set of folders organized 2012>January, 2012>February etc. I put all the images I am going to upload for the month into that folder.

I have created a free account at Lightburner. This is a company/site that automatically distributes your files to all the main stock sites. Some sites are already set up in their system and you add your user/password, for the others, you can add a direct FTP account to distribute to them. I also use their resize function to reduce the size of images going to Shutterstock. So one FTP to Lightburner puts all the images on 20 or so agencies.

I then visit each agency at my leisure and decide whether to put all the images into their queue, or just do a few, as you are doing now. Generally I put them all in the queue as that seems to work OK for me.

Steve

PS without being too blatant with my advertizing, I wrote a long chapter about using Lightburner in my eBook about getting started in Stock!

Of the ones in the lower tier, I agree that Photodune is pretty reliable. Similarly with iSignstock. That is a bit higher than Photodune for me. Zoonar is up and down. Many months nothing then a couple of reasonable sales. Pond5 can be good, but that is video. The rest are good for rounding up to the next $10!

Steve

Henrik - looks good. I know that you have put a lot of products on Zazzle. How does it compare with microstock agencies now in terms of earnings? I'm assuming you have set up your blog to get a referral fee if anyone buys one of the selected products?

Steve

Yes, I don't know of anything that is free, but I am sold on Nik HDR Efex Pro. I have Photomatix as well, but I find the Nik software to be much more intuitive and it has a lot of profiles that are pre-built to make it easy to get the look you are seeking without too much effort. Some of my HDR efforts are accepted on the various stock sites (although iStock isn't too keen!).

I also bought the Promote Remote control for my Canon as the exposure bracketing isn't great on Canon's. I usually take 5 shots at 1 stop intervals to blend together.

Steve

OK, much research later, I think I have got to the bottom of this. I was an early Lightroom user in version 1. In those days I added many of the basic keywords that we all start with - tree, flower, cat, washington, virginia, cloud, arizona etc. As Lightroom was enhanced through the versions, I upgraded and the database was converted as new functions were added. Somewhere along the way (I suspect between V1 and V2) Adobe must have enhanced the keyword tables to allow you to choose which keywords are exported. The initial ones in the database were set to "No." All new keywords appear to have the default of being exported. End result for me is that 3000 files are online with some of the most obvious keywords missing  :'(

Luckily, some sites pick up the words in the description and I probably put the obvious keywords there as well, but it is a bit of a bummer.

I've found a way to look at the underlying database in the Lightroom catalog and find which keywords are in this state. I've written a detailed post about how to do this if anyone thinks they have a similar issue:

http://www.backyardsilver.com/2012/02/strange-behavior-with-capitalized-keywords/

If you were a user of Lightroom 1, it may be worth checking this out.

Steve

Hi David

I did my test with one image. It appears that almost all issues are fixed. Graphic Leftovers failed because their FTP is down, same with Clipdealer.

The only one that appears to be set up correctly, but didn't distribute is Veer.

Steve

Wow - I've found the problem, but have no idea what the underlying cause was. If you double click on a keyword in the Keyword list in Lightroom there is a check box called "Include on Export." If this is not checked, then the particular keyword does not get exported when you save to metadata or export to a JPEG. Amazing thing is that the two I have found so far - Kauai and Washington make up a big set of my images...

I think I have a lot of work to do...

Steve