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Messages - Mantis
4976
« on: January 04, 2012, 18:12 »
Do we include Thinkstock with Istock?
4977
« on: January 02, 2012, 18:15 »
Perhaps there is a better place to post this. If so, my apologies. I have just received the forums email invitation to participate in the 2011 Independant microstock Survey. So I took a quick look at the 2010 survey portion that dealt with income vs portfolio size. I will not fill out the survey form as I am somewhat concerned about the tabulation of at least this portion of the last (2010 survey). My comments and concerns can be read at:
http://blog.microstockgroup.com/microstock-income-vs-portfolio-size/
Your username here does not match up to that link you reference. So we don't know which comments are yours.
4978
« on: January 02, 2012, 09:12 »
I cant see any changes? I think their "relevance", actually show quite relevat results though. Good search actually.
I agree here. I did a digital image video for a worthy cause and used DT for my images. I think I purchased somewhere like 200. It was easy to find what I wanted, but sometimes you do have to wade through a bunch of pages to find the right composition and look to fit the tone of your project and placement of copy.
4979
« on: January 02, 2012, 09:07 »
Hey Leaf,
Do we just clump Thinkstock into IS? Reason I ask is that I now make the same if not more from TS. This new best match makes it really caddywhompus. If it keeps up, TS will be 75% of my sales and IS only 25%. It would be interesting to see IS and TS as separate measurable entities.
4980
« on: January 02, 2012, 09:00 »
Yeah, as long as you ticked the box (at the end of the survey) 'I took part in the 2011 Survey' you'll be entered in the draw
I tried. I ticked the box and entered my info, but it kicked it back saying you already had that address on file. Hope it works out. Either way, the info is even more useful than the prize 
That's what happened to me, so I just let it go. Not sure if it took.
4981
« on: January 02, 2012, 08:58 »
I wished there would have been more love for exclusives like myself the last few months. The end of this week I am NON-exclusive.
Best of luck to you. Your port is very beautiful. You will do well as an independent.
4982
« on: January 01, 2012, 19:41 »
I suppose this one would get rejected too?  For any number of reasons.
Just another Enzo, with strange lines in the sky?
That would be accepted by SS from some individuals.
4983
« on: December 31, 2011, 13:02 »
never used the P, I was thinking it was a Programmed mode, it aint?
P actually stands for PUNT! It's used when you can't get anything else on your camera to work right.
4984
« on: December 29, 2011, 08:55 »
4985
« on: December 28, 2011, 19:53 »
When I buy my main criteria are:
1. if I can buy small credit package of the just right size. (If I have small project today I don't want to pay for 10000 credits - especially in case of IS where they expire after 12 months (And I hate this expiration)
Apparently if you write to customer support they'll extend the expiry date.
Why not make it a policy as opposed to buyers having to beg?
4986
« on: December 28, 2011, 19:27 »
Under this best match it doesn't matter if we leave or not, we've been made irrelevant (though maybe some people will search by DLs). In any case, even if I earn almost nothing at iS next month, I will still want my $200 from TS.
It matters if we leave in that if all indys were to leave, meaning pull their ports, TS would cease to exist unless they open up a new "application process" specifically for that cheapo charter sites. And with this latest shift, and if it is any indication of what the future holds, IS will just try to make indys happy with a few hundred bucks a month to use as a carrot to keep uploading. For example my TS earnings in nov were close to $300, something like $270. Many indys will stay and upload for that few hundred bucks. They point I am making is that I have always summized that when RCA came out it was the end of indys making anything on IS, and that IS would try to make the IS collection exclusive and dump what they consider the afterbirth (indys work) into TS to keep that collection alive and competing with other sub sites. Seems to be happening now. Just for the record I have had 3 dls there in the last 10 days with a 1900 port and gold canister...pft
Agree with your points, but would like to add that those $200 - $300 for current participating members of TS are going to drop a lot when/if Istock ever manages to get its act together and transfer all those millions of non-exclusive files over to TS. We will all most likely be getting pennies out of them after that.
Totally agree. Dilution is the business challenge with ms. I think thats what IS is trying to overcome with their exclusivity.
4987
« on: December 28, 2011, 15:08 »
I would call them to verify. Never trust any email that says to provide personal info without first verifying with the agency for which the email refers.
4988
« on: December 28, 2011, 14:48 »
Under this best match it doesn't matter if we leave or not, we've been made irrelevant (though maybe some people will search by DLs). In any case, even if I earn almost nothing at iS next month, I will still want my $200 from TS.
It matters if we leave in that if all indys were to leave, meaning pull their ports, TS would cease to exist unless they open up a new "application process" specifically for that cheapo charter sites. And with this latest shift, and if it is any indication of what the future holds, IS will just try to make indys happy with a few hundred bucks a month to use as a carrot to keep uploading. For example my TS earnings in nov were close to $300, something like $270. Many indys will stay and upload for that few hundred bucks. They point I am making is that I have always summized that when RCA came out it was the end of indys making anything on IS, and that IS would try to make the IS collection exclusive and dump what they consider the afterbirth (indys work) into TS to keep that collection alive and competing with other sub sites. Seems to be happening now. Just for the record I have had 3 dls there in the last 10 days with a 1900 port and gold canister...pft
4989
« on: December 22, 2011, 17:52 »
Does photodune only take 30 keywords? I know that Graphic River does and it's a big PITA to have to strip out the keywords up to 50. Again, it would really help with time taken to upload if it was in line with the other sites.
Hi Microbius! Thanks for taking the time to give PhotoDune a chance to sell your photos  Any keywords beyond 50 will simply be dropped and will not affect your upload.
Hope that helps!
They won't simply be dropped. Your image will go into a "file has a problem" mode and then you have to pick what keywords must be removed, unless something has changed in the last two weeks. There is no counter so I pasted the keywords into word, which counts them for you. Then I copy and paste back into the file, hit submit and voila!
4990
« on: December 19, 2011, 09:03 »
Does photodune only take 30 keywords? I know that Graphic River does and it's a big PITA to have to strip out the keywords up to 50. Again, it would really help with time taken to upload if it was in line with the other sites.
hey microbius, They actually take 50 but state 30 somewhere on their site. When you have to edit an image due to too many keywords, it makes you take out anything over 50.
4991
« on: December 13, 2011, 08:21 »
I'd add that their "hidden" files directory needs what I would call simple, common sense fixes. Let's look at a soft rejection that needs a model release. I go to the edit file tool within the hidden folder and when I do that it requires me to attach a brand new full resolution file and then create a zip file for a single model release. That is crazy. The site should retain the original image and allow you to select from a pool of already uploaded model releases (within their own directory) and let you simply click on a drop down to select the model release, holding the CTL button add multiple releases. To have to create a zip file for every combination of models within an image is so time consuming and cumbersome to manage that it isn't worth doing, especially if you have lots of combinations to create.
4992
« on: December 12, 2011, 20:04 »
I haven't followed the post, but when I looked yesterday it seemed that they all had crown icons. Did this happen to any indies?
Yes I had some.
4993
« on: December 12, 2011, 19:58 »
Over the weekend I actually had my first 'zero sales' day on Istock ... for 7 years (literally, my last zero sales day was 10th Dec 2004). It has been gradually getting closer and the way sales have been slipping it didn't come as a surprise. I'm expecting to 'enjoy' such events more and more regularly in the future.
Wow. Sorry to hear this.
4994
« on: December 12, 2011, 19:56 »
What's interesting to me, and I thought this would eventually happen, is that my PP sales are skyrocketing and my IS downloads are about dead. Most of my money was made from IS then I'd get 30 20 percent more from PP. Now it's 65% from PP and 45 from IS. Really typical of what I forecasted would happen so I am not surprised. I can probably make a more statistical conclusion with six months more of data, but it looks like that is the direction IS is forcing on indys.
4995
« on: December 12, 2011, 19:51 »
In the past, the first two weeks of December have always been brisk business for me. The last two weeks are completely dead. This year it seems that the whole month is a write off.
SS is still holding its own, as are DT and FT, but I have always been heavily dependent on Istock sales, and they are just gone. Dried up almost totally for me. My weekday sales have dropped to the equivalent of weekend sales a couple of years ago.
Was nice while it lasted....
Lisa, Same experience for me. All of a sudden Istock is dead. 1-2 dl per day vs. 10-15. Been this way for two several weeks for some reason. SS has been best and I got a few big DL's on DT and one 100 credit on FT this month. But overall I will be down this month by several hundred bucks when compared to all months of 2011.
4996
« on: December 11, 2011, 19:49 »
To ward off fluctuations in sales....One word. VARIETY.
That does help!
4997
« on: December 11, 2011, 18:38 »
My lowest is 8 cents. Not encouraging.
4998
« on: December 11, 2011, 18:37 »
I always love the Xmas day threads on how many downloads people get. I recall two years ago Sean Locke only got a mere 17 on Christmas day, and that was his report of "so far"......
I don't shoot a lot of holiday stuff due to the vast amount of great stuff already available, but it's fun to see what other folks get.
4999
« on: November 27, 2011, 20:25 »
I hate to rejoice in anyone's demise. But they deserve it.  On the other hand, if they fess up for being tyrannical, then they deserve a second chance.
After they disappear, let's hope their reviewers don't get jobs at SS, 123RF, etc. Maybe we can be the reviewers and reject all their work as "not suitable for stock."
Site analytic's most recent update - apologies if this is shown somewhere else...
Then I guess you are not interested in debating the facts. One and two word sentences just don't do it.
IS in trouble.
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/istockphoto.com/
I would take Istock's inspectors any day over Shutterstock's, or at least the Istock rules for image acceptance. If you were able to purge from Shutterstock what Istock would normally reject they could clean up their collection, have more salable product, and actually have a system where photographers are encouraged to upload.
LOL, another post from a brilliant Anonymous poster, with all signs showing ShutterStock eating IStock for lunch, Mantis steps forward and posts this masterpiece...LOL.. saleable product...LOL
Well folks, I am going to defend my position once again against the chest thumpers in here who seem to not embrace common business principles in the field of design and demand, microstock being one of those fields. I am a MS buyer, a MS contributor and a business design executive. I do not do MS full time, but I do design business processes full time and, as a result, understand customer needs. Although I am anonymous on this forum Nubrocs BRILLIANT comment only shows his own incompetence and breadth to hear and understand others opinions on a topic for which he disagrees. To be fair, he may be a good photographer, but going against the grain via others opinions seems hard for him to accept. Same with LagergreekI think he calls himself Christian. Hes a good photographer, too, but in my opinion failed to understand my point.
Now, back to defending my comments about SS inspection policy being sub-par to Istocks.
I make these comments for very good reason and based not on just my experiences. Shutterstock turns a blind eye to experienced photographers who know what they're doing. When I shoot I conduct research then set up the shoot around that research. I am not just snapshooting away and hoping what I shoot will sell. Then there is the work that goes into prep and submissions. So LCV rejections begin. The photographer (including me, among other very active contributors) try to share with SS WHY these images are salable and not LCV. Here are ways I personally have used to try to educate the ding dong inspectors at SS.
Stats of the same Images from other sites...as Joanne stated earlier. I have shared data with them from IS, Alamy and DT showing that the very images they claiming to be LCV are in fact researched and selling elsewhere. The response is all rejected for LCV.
Sometimes I am extending a successful series, explain to them what that series is, reference image numbers to show actual salability on their own site and they get rejected for LCV.
Other times I point out how my submissions are adding to gaps within their own collection and that they are fresh, new content, not versions of a bazillion other "apple" shots. Rejected for LCV.
Now you (Nubroc and Lagergeek) are probably in the minority of contributors who may not experience a lot of LCV but the bulk of contributors I speak with who are perhaps in the top 25 percent of all contributors in terms of quality content and volume are getting slammed with LCV rejections.
So I make my statement based on that very anorexic ear the SS peeps have in terms of listening and hearing what their experienced contributors have to say about their revenue killing inspection standards. Yes, they ARE leaving money on the table, both for SS and the contributor.
I am personally okay with rejections but when I can quantify or strongly qualify the value of an image set and it goes in one ear and out the other, that tells me a lot about a huge gap in their system and that they could care less about what constructive feedback contributors offer.
I have a higher than 90 percent acceptance on IS so I know it's not quality or composition. Funny that the last batch they rejected (90% rejection) had sales within days at DT, IS and Alamy. So that in and of itself proves them wrong.
So in a nutshell, that is why I say what I say and I stand by my comments. Don't get me wrong, though. I am speaking specifically about their inspection standards as an opportunity for serious, fair improvement. The rest of the company seems pretty solid short of seeing their financials.
So, my original comment: This is completely accurate. They are leaving money on the table and have inspectors that make unfounded judgement calls on saleability. This is the one are where SS sucks. They also do not listen to contributors, rather ignoring them is something they perceive as value added. Just because they are currently at the top, or close to it, doesn't mean they don't have significant room to become the king of micro. Their whole inspection process is so poor that uploading there is an honest crap shoot, a gamble that is a result of their unwillingness to bring fairness and commercial realism to their inspection process. They are by far the most shameful agency in this regard. ACCURATE, Nubroc. Tic, tic, tic , tic, tic. as long as they accept yours then its okay, right?
Awaiting you and Lager to reciprocate. You know what that means, right?
A Bitter anonymous poster who's been rejected at ShutterStock no doubt....LOL
Long winded too
5000
« on: November 27, 2011, 20:12 »
I shoot (photographed them, not shoot them with a gun) some law enforcement football players who basically wanted their images NOW. I do a lot for law enforcement so it is a kind way of hitting me up for prints.
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