Author Topic: SS strict rejection policy (Read 13717 times)

Asthebelltolls · « **Reply #25 on:** August 31, 2022, 14:22 »

Quote from: offisapup on August 31, 2022, 03:48

Quote from: randomillustrator on August 29, 2022, 14:33
Has anyone noticed that new images don't sell like the old ones. I have almost no sales for images that I uploaded after march 31 2021.

The opposite is true for me. The images I uploaded this year have sold a lot more than images from before.

Sounds like a comment from an SS troller. Personally, my sales are almost always images from years ago that have always been popular. Anything recent rarely sees the light of day. I'm thinking that's the same situation for most SS contributors and the problem when an agency is tanking.

offisapup · « **Reply #26 on:** August 31, 2022, 15:01 »

Quote from: Asthebelltolls on August 31, 2022, 14:22

Sounds like a comment from an SS troller. Personally, my sales are almost always images from years ago that have always been popular. Anything recent rarely sees the light of day. I'm thinking that's the same situation for most SS contributors and the problem when an agency is tanking.

lol... Judging much? I hate SS as much as anybody. But I can only tell you what's happening in my port. Do older images sell? Yeah, of course. But only the ones that have gained popularity with the algorithm over the years. By contrast, more of the images I've uploaded this year sell than the older ones. But yeah, if you think I'm a troll, I can't help it I guess.

Firn · « **Reply #27 on:** September 01, 2022, 01:23 »

Why is everyone who makes a different experience from your own always considered a troll, a fanboy or someone secretly working fore SS? Different people have different ports that work different on different agencies, so everyone's experience must not be the same.

This year my SS earnings have been mediocre, but last year, when everyone was already complaining that their earnings have gone down because of the change of the earning structure, Shutterstock was my best performer most months and in many of these months it was even doing better for me than any other agency ever had. Adobe on the other hand, which everyone was praising and where everyone was saying it was outperforming SS, had rather been on a decline of earnings for me, only earning me a small fraction of what SS earned me. Back then some people also had problems believing me and I was called a "Shutterstock fanboy". Sorry you have such a hard time beliving other people's ports perfome differently than yours? It's the same with people who say Shutterstock rejected 90% of all new content. Sorry, but that's simply not my experience at all.

As for the topic: For me too old content sells about the same as new content. But I think it plays a role here how old your "old" content is. I have heard from contributors who have been with Shutterstock for 10+ years that their old bestsellers that have established a good position in the ranking over the years still keeps selling. And in comparison to that new content hardly sells. But if you haven't been with microstock all that long, like I have, content from 2021 or 2020 doesn't sell more often than content from 2022 - Yes, I have managed a few images with good ranking that sell on a regular basis and therefore of course more frequently than newer images, but that's simply because of the ranking a newer image can't have achieved yet when it has not accumilated enough sales to rank that high. But if you find the right topic, a new image can still sell frequently. If I look at my SS top performers I even have an images from 2022 in my top 10 lifetime best perfomers. So new content can still sell very well. It's just getting harder every day as your competition is getting bigger every single day.

UPLOAD-UPLOAD-UPLOAD · « **Reply #28 on:** September 01, 2022, 05:40 »

Yeah, it's the much touted, much ballyhooed AI in real world action.
Not worth diddly doo
I've had all sorts of rejections.
Tried to upload a picture of a truck in a Texas sandstorm.
Keeps getting rejected for noise and grain. No kidding?
This same picture was accepted by Adobe, Dreamstime, Wirestock and 123.
I just take it in stride tho and just say to myself, "Dang - that cost me a dime" and move on.

gnirtS · « **Reply #29 on:** September 05, 2022, 06:52 »

Quote from: mino216 on August 31, 2022, 03:19

I would say that resubmit always goes to human reviewer, but the first attempt... who knows. Basically all landscape images from full frame camera are rejected for focus (but they are just detailed - it seems that some AI does not understand grass straws and consider the details as noise). It is much easier to get accepted blurred images (soft corners) from a compact camera than perfectly sharp images from a full frame.

Its been like this for a while - full resolution images at 30-50mp get rejected for focus and noise. Downsizing that same image to 8MP and it gets accepted.
The AI seems to struggle with smaller pixels when ranking an image for focus.

TonyD · « **Reply #30 on:** September 05, 2022, 08:19 »

Quote from: Mrks on May 04, 2022, 01:32

Quote from: Firn on May 04, 2022, 01:14
I also get more than 95% of my submission through the first time, so I don't have a problem with them other than their similarity rejections (Which you can mostly avoid by not submitting images from the same shoot in one batch) If you look at their newest images of any random topic you will usually find countless almost identical images where the camera was moced 5 centimeters and that's all the difference, and then you will get two images form the same shoot with a competely different composition rejected for being too similar. There similar rules are also pretty concrete, yet some reviewers seem to have never looked at them or understood them.

Other than that I am almost glad that they have become a bit stricter - I was only looking through my old photos last week to sort some out to possibly submit to FAA and, oh m gosh - there are so many old photos of mine SS accepted that I would not even try to submit these days as the focus is horrible. I am almost ashamed at the thought that a customer might download one of these only seeing the small preview and then realizing how blurry the image is in full size. If I didn't know that 95% of my photos only end up being used in small size on the internet anyways, I might even delete these photos from my port.

When I downsize my images, as you guys said, most of them get accepted, but does that means that they will not be sold for an extended license and mostly at 10c?

Yes, I often have to downsize photos from 16MP to 12MP and they mostly get accepted.I nearly always have to do this with photos that have small subjects in the distance which would be naturally less sharp due to heat haze or pollution. Also photos with trees. This A.I. won't take subjects and weather conditions into account. Shutterstock must know about the problem but are in denial because when I complain to CS (they are not even a part of SS) they keep saying the same old garbage about SS requiring very high technical standards.

TonyD · « **Reply #31 on:** September 05, 2022, 08:23 »

Quote from: gnirtS on September 05, 2022, 06:52

Quote from: mino216 on August 31, 2022, 03:19
I would say that resubmit always goes to human reviewer, but the first attempt... who knows. Basically all landscape images from full frame camera are rejected for focus (but they are just detailed - it seems that some AI does not understand grass straws and consider the details as noise). It is much easier to get accepted blurred images (soft corners) from a compact camera than perfectly sharp images from a full frame.

Its been like this for a while - full resolution images at 30-50mp get rejected for focus and noise. Downsizing that same image to 8MP and it gets accepted.
The AI seems to struggle with smaller pixels when ranking an image for focus.

I once submitted a completely blurred image taken at night because the AF failed & was accepted.

TonyD · « **Reply #32 on:** September 05, 2022, 08:32 »

Quote from: Firn on May 04, 2022, 01:47

Quote from: Mrks on May 04, 2022, 01:32

When I downsize my images, as you guys said, most of them get accepted, but does that means that they will not be sold for an extended license and mostly at 10c?

That will completely depend on what the customer wants the image for, not necessarily the type of licence. If he wants to print it on a huge billboard in town, then, yes, small image size might keep him from buying the image. But if he wants to print it as a postcard, then the minimum size Shutterstock requires is more than enough. I guess in the end it's probably like this: Downsizing will not keep you from getting extended licence sales, but it will make the chance of it smaller as it does limit the possible usage of an image.
But, in the end, the one image you won't get an extended license sale for sure is the image that never got accepted, so I'd say it's better to have a downsized image accepted than not having it accepted at all.

I don't see many printed billboards anymore. They are mostly adverts on big LED flat screens and if you look at them closely you can see the dots that make up the image which means even a 4MP image would work fine with them.

PokemonMaster · « **Reply #33 on:** September 06, 2022, 11:18 »

I had a bunch of rejections for "3D images must be signed as 3D", while it was clearly 2D drawings. I tried a few reuploads - no success. So, I just added in the title what they asked and in all passed through.
So, yeap, it's AI and it is dumb.

OK82 · « **Reply #34 on:** September 08, 2022, 00:38 »

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?

alvarobueno · « **Reply #35 on:** September 08, 2022, 11:53 »

¡Hola! Hello from Spain, sorry if my english is not very good.

I just want to share my experience whit all of you, trying to upload photos to my shutterstock account.
Read it please. May be someone could help me, maybe some one could understand better what happends today with SS.

First of all, I've been trying to contact Shutterstock support for three days, and I can't, because the contact form gives the same error.
https://ibb.co/y8R6wXT [nofollow] <--- can be seen here.... Also, on previous occasions recently I have found that it is impossible for shutterstock to help you, as they have outsourced to a company the support service, and they can't see any confidential information, ergo their help is of little use.

On the other hand, I have tried to upload three of the images that are currently rejected in the account I want to boost, in another shutterstock account different from this main one, which is where I want to upload the images that are rejected, and these three images have also been rejected, saying that the content has been uploaded previously, when it is a lie, because it has been rejected and is not online.

Here are the rejected images in question on the main account I want to boost:
https://ibb.co/P175nLd [nofollow] <-- Image 1
https://ibb.co/ypdbXpy [nofollow] <-- Image 2
https://ibb.co/K0TxCPW [nofollow] <-- Image 3

And here you can see those same three images pointed out, that I have tried to upload in another account, but they have rejected because they claim they are previously sent when it is a lie, they have not been published nor accepted:
https://ibb.co/PZ6B1Wc [nofollow] <-- The three images in question.

Conclusion. Either nobody reads the model release on Shutterstock, or the one who reviews the images is racist and doesn't accept my images because my friend is black, (I am white caucasian), or the one who reviews is a robot and doesn't know anything.

The images of the photo shoot with my friend, have been accepted at the first time without problems, for example on adobestock:
https://ibb.co/TLh7hDV [nofollow] <-- accepted on adobe

Or on iStock, among other stocks:
https://ibb.co/c3JL9gc [nofollow] <-- accepted on istock....

I don't know what to think anymore... But don't miss it, there's still more!

This summer I did some photography at a local fitness gym in the town where I live. Same shoot, same model release, I upload a bunch of photos from the shoot, all in order:
https://ibb.co/pd3vy82 [nofollow] <-- Accepted!

I upload another set of photos from the same session again in the next week or so, same model release, same models, same location, same sixon, all in order:
https://ibb.co/2P77pJC [nofollow] <-- Rejected!

Anyway, I think I've been blacklisted or something at shutterstock and they don't want any more pictures from me. I am writing to you here as I am trying to dig into internet forums about shutterstock and why they treat us contributors so badly. There is no more shutterstock forum, they closed it down, there is no direct community that can help or advise you. The company doesn't answer, the information they give is ambiguous or labyrinthine? I understand that they have to lower the prices of everything to compete, ok, I accept that to a certain extent, but * it, don't treat your collaborators like that! Treat them with care and take care of them properly!

I just wanted to share my strange experience with you, in case it helps you in any way. I don't think I'm going to be accepted on shutterstock anymore for some strange reason that I can't figure out. My model releases are correct, they are accepted by all other agencies, they have all the legally required data, etc.

Well, greetings from Spain, and thanks for your attention (I would have liked the images in the links to have the texts in English, but I don't know how to view shutterstock in English, it always loads in Spanish no matter what I do). I've used deepl to help me with the English text, although some of it is written by me.

Best regards!

Year of the Dog · « **Reply #36 on:** September 08, 2022, 17:09 »

Two accounts and they are noticing the same images uploaded to both. You won't last long.

derby · « **Reply #37 on:** September 08, 2022, 17:16 »

You're breaking rules using multiple accounts. Simply don't do this and everything will be ok

cascoly · « **Reply #38 on:** September 09, 2022, 13:04 »

Quote from: Year of the Dog on September 08, 2022, 17:09

Two accounts and they are noticing the same images uploaded to both. You won't last long.

right, and OP is confusing 'uploaded' with accepted/rejected

OM · « **Reply #39 on:** September 09, 2022, 19:00 »

I have no issues with SS...haven't submitted for 2 years and nor will I in future for 10 cents. If I get some decent SODs in a month, sales are OK but without some SODs, sales are pretty pathetic.......still....for no effort everything is a bonus!

alan b traehern · « **Reply #40 on:** September 10, 2022, 07:09 »

Quote from: Year of the Dog on September 08, 2022, 17:09

Two accounts and they are noticing the same images uploaded to both. You won't last long.

Calling ss racist rejections for same images uploaded to another account?

Mimi the Cat · « **Reply #41 on:** September 12, 2022, 03:36 »

Quote from: Year of the Dog on September 08, 2022, 17:09

Two accounts and they are noticing the same images uploaded to both. You won't last long.

Seriously shitterstock don't even notice all the stolen images and similars they allow in

alvarobueno · « **Reply #42 on:** September 12, 2022, 05:27 »

Quote from: Year of the Dog on September 08, 2022, 17:09

Two accounts and they are noticing the same images uploaded to both. You won't last long.

No, you do not understand, I have two accounts, in one account I upload editorial images most of the time. In other account I upload creative photos only lifestyle. I never upload the same photos in the two accounts. But I tried to upload in the first account three of the photos rejected in the second account, because of the model release, (all photos has being accepted in other agencies).

alvarobueno · « **Reply #43 on:** September 12, 2022, 05:32 »

Calling ss racist rejections for same images uploaded to another account?
[/quote] Well, Well, I don't know what to think anymore. Photographs that look great and are selling in other agencies and whose model release has been accepted without any problem, are rejected again and again in SS because supposedly the model release is not valid. I have already written my problem above. Nobody answers me anything other than, I can't have two accounts and I can't upload photos to two accounts. What a forum, so little help.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator [nofollow] (free version)

alvarobueno · « **Reply #44 on:** September 12, 2022, 05:36 »

Quote from: Mimi the Cat on September 12, 2022, 03:36

Quote from: Year of the Dog on September 08, 2022, 17:09
Two accounts and they are noticing the same images uploaded to both. You won't last long.

Seriously shitterstock don't even notice all the stolen images and similars they allow in

I am not uploading duplicate photos to different accounts, didn't you read my message above, did I write wrong in English and didn't explain what is wrong with me? I see that nobody has answered me anything interesting, just that I can't upload photos to two accounts, when I do NOT upload the same photos to two accounts.

RalfLiebhold · « **Reply #45 on:** September 12, 2022, 11:09 »

Maybe Shutterstock guidelines are helpfull for you

Our policy does not permit one person to hold multiple accounts without expressed written permission from Shutterstock.

Since each person or entity can only own one portfolio, a second account would be permissible if it is registered under the name of a different entity, with its own copyrighted material.

If you also own a company, you would be allowed to have one personal account under your name and one business account under the company name. You may not share content between the two accounts, each account must have its own owner with its own content.

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #46 on:** September 13, 2022, 06:44 »

Quote from: alvarobueno on September 12, 2022, 05:32

Quote
Calling ss racist rejections for same images uploaded to another account?
Well, Well, I don't know what to think anymore. Photographs that look great and are selling in other agencies and whose model release has been accepted without any problem, are rejected again and again in SS because supposedly the model release is not valid. I have already written my problem above. Nobody answers me anything other than, I can't have two accounts and I can't upload photos to two accounts. What a forum, so little help.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Because you accuse them of being racist and blacklisting you not asking about rejection reasons or why a model release is rejected. We can't help your anger. You're right the support is terrible and they don't answer, been that way for years. You can't have two accounts. What should we answer to that?

RalfLiebhold · « **Reply #47 on:** September 13, 2022, 06:58 »

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on September 13, 2022, 06:44

Quote from: alvarobueno on September 12, 2022, 05:32
Quote
Calling ss racist rejections for same images uploaded to another account?
Well, Well, I don't know what to think anymore. Photographs that look great and are selling in other agencies and whose model release has been accepted without any problem, are rejected again and again in SS because supposedly the model release is not valid. I have already written my problem above. Nobody answers me anything other than, I can't have two accounts and I can't upload photos to two accounts. What a forum, so little help.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Because you accuse them of being racist and blacklisting you not asking about rejection reasons or why a model release is rejected. We can't help your anger. You're right the support is terrible and they don't answer, been that way for years. You can't have two accounts. What should we answer to that?

I can't really confirm that about the support. Last week I had incomprehensible rejections because of incorrect PR. After the contact letter on the same day came a few follow-up questions from support and after reviewing my case, I received a clarifying helpful answer.

JaclynV · « **Reply #48 on:** September 13, 2022, 08:18 »

Quote from: mino216 on August 31, 2022, 03:19

I would say that resubmit always goes to human reviewer, but the first attempt... who knows. Basically all landscape images from full frame camera are rejected for focus (but they are just detailed - it seems that some AI does not understand grass straws and consider the details as noise). It is much easier to get accepted blurred images (soft corners) from a compact camera than perfectly sharp images from a full frame.

Unfortunately, this isn't true with their new AI system. Even after selecting the "previously submitted" checkbox, the AI automatically rejects the images within seconds. I've started submitting images as editorials when they don't need to be just to avoid the robot. Interestingly, they get approved when they reach a human reviewer.

Stock4Me · « **Reply #49 on:** September 14, 2022, 09:26 »

Quote from: alvarobueno on September 12, 2022, 05:32

Well, Well, I don't know what to think anymore. Photographs that look great and are selling in other agencies and whose model release has been accepted without any problem, are rejected again and again in SS because supposedly the model release is not valid. I have already written my problem above. Nobody answers me anything other than, I can't have two accounts and I can't upload photos to two accounts. What a forum, so little help.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

What is your question? I don't see any questions, just your experience and your conclusions. People will help if you ask a question.

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Author Topic: SS strict rejection policy (Read 13717 times)

Asthebelltolls

offisapup

Firn

UPLOAD-UPLOAD-UPLOAD

gnirtS

TonyD

TonyD

TonyD

PokemonMaster

OK82

alvarobueno

Year of the Dog

derby

cascoly

OM

alan b traehern

Mimi the Cat

alvarobueno

alvarobueno

alvarobueno

RalfLiebhold

YadaYadaYada

RalfLiebhold

JaclynV

Stock4Me

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