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Messages - ZymmMan
26
« on: May 17, 2008, 17:33 »
The issue with both the port and the Liberty state park is the angle you get on the Statue. She is facing the other way, towards the entrance. From Liberty State Park, you will not have Manhattan in the background. So, as much as you are closer than the tip of manhattan, you will not get a full frontal shot. From the port, you will get her back. And, as much as Lady Liberty is a pretty woman, she is not that interesting from the back or from the side which you will get from the port.
Most of the shot you have seen of her and Manhattan in the back were indeed taken by helicopter.
Photographer Peter Bennet has made a career of photographing New York for commercial stock reasons and can certainly be a source of inspiration as well give you an indication of where to shoot.
New York Stock Photo here :http://www.digitalrailroad.net/newyorkstockphoto/Default.aspx
Hope it helps and that you have a good time in our lovely city.
Best
Paul M
27
« on: May 17, 2008, 14:22 »
vikavalter,
You do not need to be french to see that this website owned by Le Monde, one of the biggest Newspaper in France ( like the NY Times in the USA) has used your image by just screengrabbing it ( is that a word ?) from the Shutterstock website with the logo on it. and no, it is not an article on Shutterstock but in eating healthy.
Yes, indeed playing with TinEye. A great and easy tool to find internet usage quickly.
best
29
« on: May 12, 2008, 09:38 »
After the request of some of our members, we have decided to go social and expand our reach. Zymmetrical now has an official group on Flickr where anyone with an account can join, compare images, start or comment on a topic or just enjoy being part being part of the fastest growing community of midstock shooters. You can see and join here : Zymmetrical group on Flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/groups/759123@N22/) We have also created a page on Facebook. Linked to the main site, the Facebook page allows for anyone with an account to subscribe and receive news from within their account. You can become a fan and interact with other members of Zymmetrical who uses Facebook. Click on the link to join the Zymmetrical Facebook page.( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zymmetrical/12702351826) We hope to see you there soon !!! Paul M
31
« on: March 18, 2008, 16:15 »
Pixart, Thanks for the feedback. The images are not handpicked but part of the incoming new submissions, as you noticed yourself. - "When you click on a photo and click it again to the max screen, it looks horrible." that is because , in our lab we restricted the size of the preview on purpose to sizes which makes it unattractive to steal. - "There is no trail to purchase a specific photo or to go back to zymmetrical - (other than the visible watermark on the photo)". Actually, if you click on the arrow on the top left, it brings you to the purchasing part of zymmetrical. We know, not very practical. working on that - "Not searchable". Not yet As you very well noticed, at this stage, it is more a marketing and showcase tool. We will enhance in the future to make it a true buying interface depending if we get enough positive feedback A screenshot here : 
32
« on: March 16, 2008, 16:08 »
Peep and al,
We have many examples of similar images selling at higher prices. $50 for an image that will be used for commercial usage is nothing compare to traditional RF that goes for $300.00 and more. We are still offering a good bargain. You will soon see that the microstock companies will soon follow our pricing. Fotolia is already pricing some images much higher than $1. For some reason, you have to be an agency to profit from this. Not on our site.
The approval speed, as we have already explained, is due to many factors. First and foremost is the lack of keywords. That will guarantee your images will take more time to get reviewed. We also review based on value and not order of entry. The reason is to not penalize anyone who uploads 3 images after someone who just uploaded 10,000. In a normal situation they would have to wait a very long time.
We also use a group of editors that work at different speed and different times. Some members will seem to have faster approval times than others. But it is only an impression.
don't forget we also review graphics, fonts and video. No, it is not too much and buyers like that they can shop for everything in one place. They really, really appreciate that, unlike other sites, we rely on pro editors and not the wisdom of the crowd.
Finally, we are not machines and we take pride in our full scale review process. We annotate rejections as well as approved images. we are working to help anyone who contributes to become even better photographers.
With this said, if you feel you have waited too much, send us a pm and we will try to accommodate your request as well as we can. Again, we appreciate your submissions ( that is why we offer a 70% commission!!!) and we will do whatever we can to make as easy and painless as possible for you.
Paul M
33
« on: March 13, 2008, 13:39 »
Dear madelaide,
thank you for your inquiry. As you well know, editing is not a science and we appreciate any feedback you might have. As Chief Editor of Zymmetrical, I have instructed editors to be vigilant for too many repetitive images in order to avoid image buyers having to go thought too numerous similar images. We offer them a service, which is to display the best images, not all of them.We value quality over quantity.
There is no policy regarding verticals or horizontals. Actually, verticals are most welcome as it is the most used orientation on the web but also on print. So, if we had to choose between two images, the vertical would have the priority.
Editing members submission is a fine balance between quality, composition, subject and other technical parameters. However, we have to be respectful of buyers time by not flooding them with too much choice. It doesn't help anyone.
Finally, as a midstock agency where our prices a higher than microstock, we need to stay aware that we are being highly judge on quality and relevancy of content. For that we use our past experience in image sales ( I have personally have done it for more than 17 years) but also more technological information from our site and its traffic.
I would hate to instruct our editors to follow very tight standards as I do not believe that I have the perfect eye. No one does. It is always open to controversy, it will always be since you are dealing with taste and opinions and one could go on and on how this image is better than the other one.
We have to agree to disagree. Hopefully not too often.
Best
Paul M
34
« on: March 05, 2008, 17:45 »
If I may:
Review time is based on keywords. Images with keywords get reviewed much faster than those without.
We have had bad experiences with some members who uploaded images without keywords. We spend valuable time adding appropriate keywords just for them to turn around and ask us to delete their account. The worse part is when they then come to this forum and say we suck.
Regardless. If you want a fast review time, help us help you. Put great keywords to your great images and it will be much faster.
We have added editors to help us handle our increasing amount of submissions and are continuously working on streamlining our editing tools.
We also explain thoroughly why we refuse images in the hope of making all our members better photographers. We also add comments to some of the accepted images.
Overall, we are not a chew and spit machine that just processes images by the pound. We are human beings editing images done by other human beings. We never forget that.
Finally, we review everything all the time. We do not feel you should be penalized because someone just drop 10,000 files before you and it will be a while until we get to yours. We make sure files from everyone have the chance to be reviewed, even if it is only one.
Hope that helps and keep those great images coming. Sales are climbing and you should profit from them !!!
Clivia> 5 images of yours have been accepted. we have no more in our queue from you.
Best
35
« on: February 26, 2008, 14:03 »
Stockmania,
Please. I am not here to argue. I am asking a question and would like some constructive answers that could help everyone in the forum.
Why would anyone choose to opt out of an EL option ?
best
36
« on: February 26, 2008, 12:54 »
Stockmaniac,
It's a question. Not an order. No need to be aggressive.
Have you opted out of EL ?
Best
37
« on: February 26, 2008, 11:42 »
ok,
but isn't it better to license an image for $25 than nothing at all. If they do want that image of a Daisy for bedsheets, they will find one, and it will not be yours.
is that ok with you ?
38
« on: February 26, 2008, 10:30 »
Great feedback !!
Thanks all. But what I am still missing is the comment of one or a few contributors that have decided to opt out and why ?
39
« on: February 25, 2008, 17:27 »
Dear All,
I looked at the forum and did an extensive search but with no success. We are constantly asked by image buyers to create an Extended License option. They would like to have the option to purchase more usage rights.
Being a real midstock marketplace, our prices are, as expected, much higher than microstock. An extended license just increases the price, but that has not turned off anyone.
As we were doing more research, I noticed that most existing site offer an option to Opt In or not into their Extended License program.
My question to the Group is : Why would a contributor decide NOT to Opt in the possibility to be part of the Extended License option ? and thus make more money.
What am I missing ? Who has opted out and why ?
Thanks
Paul Melcher
Zymmetrical.com
40
« on: February 01, 2008, 11:23 »
The miz, Could we post your tutorials on our forums at Zymmetrical? http://www.zymmetrical.com/info/forum/ I think they will be a great benefit for older and current members. let me know Paul M
41
« on: January 26, 2008, 17:47 »
Photojay,
This one has sold probably because there is something going on in the image and it is the most eye catching one of your series. I am not sure if a white background will change things much as creating a concept. The idea is good, although not quite sure about the daddy suit for the kids. if your idea was "1) younger worker pool 2) young-hip mentality about marketing 3) young businesses in general" than why the oversize suit ?
The other posts are right on the money. you should put your kids in suits that fit and in business situations. That would be closer to your original thought and would certainly sell well.
Tell me, is that your son crying ? I could never take pictures of my son crying. I would be too busy comforting him...
Hope this helps
Paul M
42
« on: January 18, 2008, 20:41 »
we receive a mix of already keyworded images, poorly keyworded images and images with absolutely no keywords. We review them in that order. We are very hands on for now, but have the blueprints for a semi automated approval system that will make the rate go sky high without having millions of editors. It will not require any additional work from the photographers either. That is all I can say for now.
Since we are a midstock agency, allowing members to choose their pricing from $3 to $100, we need to be extra careful about the quality of the content. That includes the quality of the keywording as well as the composition, colors, size and relevance of the images.
Do not forget that at the same time, we are implementing features that make the search and retrieval experience much easier for the buyers. You might not see them, unless if you purchase images, but they are there. And we use the same approach as with contributors, we listen to them, their needs and demands. We do not want to be the fastest to the market without being the best.
Have great week end !!!
Paul M
43
« on: January 18, 2008, 15:46 »
Dear sharpshot,
We ask our editing team to give everyone a chance to be approved so we do not process whole portfolios at once but rather a little of each in parallel. This way image buyers have a variation of style and subject to pick from and no one chances of being approved is delayed because a huge portfolio was just submitted the day before.
You have great images which are also very well captioned on upload so you should not wait much longer before seeing everything approved.
thanks for the heads up
cheers
Paul M
44
« on: January 18, 2008, 13:17 »
Dear anonymous,
Zymmetrical is very well alive and in great shape. We have successful upgraded our servers without a glitch, changed our interface and resolved most of the back end issues we had. We also introduced a new search engine that enhances the relevancy of the result and we are hard at work building tools for an ingenious "intelligent search". We have much, much more on our plate. Keith could tell you more about this.
On the submission side, we have been hard at work keeping up with the increasing flow of submissions. Our approach is two fold :
- Images with keywords have priority.
- We spend more time accepting than refusing: That is, we believe it is more important to make images available as quickly as possible than sending the refused one back.Since we explain in long human terms the reasons for our refusals, they can take more time to process than accepted images. Thus, in general, if an image has not been approved, it is probably in the queue to be refused with a detailed explanation.
I cannot give a status on your images as I do not know who you are but if you contact me directly, I will be more than happy to let you know. Keith and I are available almost around the clock to answer any and all questions you might have about any aspect of what we do. Our members feedback is precious to us and we look forward to discussing any issues you might have. We have absolutely nothing to hide.
I hope this helps and let us know.
best
Paul M.
45
« on: January 01, 2008, 15:27 »
First,
Happy 2008 !!!
Seems that we agree. that is why Zymmetrical.com offers a 70/30 split to ALL contributors, detailed rejections, self pricing, and we listen very closely to the needs, demands and concerns of our members. We be eive strongly that happy contributors make for a healthy and wealthy site.
Looking forward to seeing more of your images on zymmetrical.com this year !!
46
« on: December 23, 2007, 21:05 »
Hey, what about Zymmetrical ? according to Alexa we have more traffic than snapvillage. And we haven't really started yet...
Happy holiday all !!!
47
« on: December 19, 2007, 12:49 »
May I add that, according to Alexa ranking, we have been ahead of Corbis Snapvillage for more than a month. We are only 2, they have at east 50 people and the fire power of Corbis. We are also gaining fast on others. We must be doing something good !!! You can see the graph here : http://blog.melchersystem.com/__oneclick_uploads/2007/12/picture-1.png
49
« on: November 28, 2007, 19:52 »
Xeniall,
Your images are there. We have not published them yet because we want to preserve your German keywords. You can ask Keith, I have been on his case daily to get them published as I find them very good. As you might have read, we have been busy in changing the submission tool and had to stop editing for a little while.
I will check with him to see why you do not see them and resolve this as quickly as possible. I am a big fan of your work and cannot wait for our image buyers to see them.
Adelaide,
We price the images based on our experience of the market. Since it is not an absolute science we welcome your input. Our approach is to give you an "indication" that you can adjust at any time.
Hope that helps..
best
Paul M
50
« on: November 28, 2007, 11:46 »
All, Just to inform you that we have completed our work on the submission tool which allows us to process your uploads much faster and easier than previously. We are very honored to feature Ron Chapple (iofoto) as a new member. We have also have slightly updated our home page to give a better idea of the images available. Take a look an give us your feedback. On the buyer side, we have streamlined the user experience in order to make the purchasing process even easier. They already can easily find your images thanks to the auto-suggest feature purchase your images in any currency with any major credit card, and soon, will have an advanced search feature that is quite impressive. But more on that later.. A lot of our traffic continues to be from referrals worldwide. A lot of our members have added the search box feature to their sites and are making extra money. 10 % on images that sell on average at $20 is a nice income... You can also give it a go at : http://www.zymmetrical.com/art/affiliates/We look forward to seeing your latest work and getting your feedback. Sincerely, Paul M Zymmetrical.com
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