Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic

reviewer · Admin Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 1633

Everyone gets rejections. It's really easy to jump up and down and place blame and call names, it is far harder to accept rejection. We all know that. We have all had rejections.

I have said this dozens of times, as stock photographers you must separate yourself from "art" and focus on craft, produce a product. I am not saying, "If it's not perfect, don't upload it". I am saying, if a buyer wants supersized, will they be happy? If a buyer pre-views at medium and downloads at full size will they be disappointed at artifacts, poor choise of focus, or noise? We hope not. We strive to prevent that disappointment.

If the "product" is what the customer finds sub-standard, the customer may not return to us. We want them to know that Shutterstock will provide them with a good product. They come back and download your images over and over in volume!

How do we know what they will buy? We know what sells and what doesn't. If an image has been here a year and has never been downloaded, chances are, it's a dud.

All of that said, the rejection review thread will be back real soon. It seems to help everyone. We urge folks to post in this forum, some of the people here have been around a long time, and understand what we are looking for. It is hard for US to hear how "horrible" we are, when most times it is not really true.

Sure, sometimes we make mistakes, but a lot less often than you might think.

Keep shooting! Keep getting feedback! Keep uploading!

photonotebook · Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 8:52 pm

I am relatively new to SS, and I have realized that rejections however harsh they are help me become a better photographer, make me more self-conscious of what I shoot, how I shoot it, why I shoot it and so on. As well as making me realize that there is sooo much room for improvement in virtually every area. Ultimately, I've learned not to care about my ego as much because it's not my ego that's on the line - it's the quality of my portfolio that's on the line, and I'm thankful to SS both for rejections and approvals. Failures too should push us to strive to be better. And they should teach us, before blaming others, to be pragmatic and honest about quality of our own work - something that very few people can do. Duh, just my $0.02 for what it's worth.

absolut · Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 221

Agree with your statement that we need to provide high quality photos to incite new users and to make all users come back to ss and buy more of our photos. That's a great approach towards the business and raising core competences is always a good idea. Only hope that the mistakes the reviewers make will be really rare cases. Best to you.

hfng · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 1811

shatteredlens · Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: New York, NY

They do on occasion do a sweep of people's galleries, but for the most part they expect you to do it.

And yes, good morning hfng

hfng · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 1811

shatteredlens · Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: New York, NY

lol, you're not the first person to suggest that ;-) And wouldn't you guys miss me in the forums?

hfng · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 1811

riffmax · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 2877 Location: Florida, USA

Can I second your nomination, hfng?

hfng · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 1811

riffmax · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 2877 Location: Florida, USA

No - Im seconding your nomination of shatteredlens!

And then - yeah, I'll nominate you, too!

ctesti · Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 1344 Location: California

alitaylor · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 85 Location: UK

Yeah and please dont think my thread in the forum about rejections was a complaint to the Admin! I just wanted advice on how to improve!

Ali

jubalharshaw · Joined: 25 Sep 2005 Posts: 300

Photonotebook and I think a lot alike about rejections. I came from the trads with my nose up in the air and was indignant when they flunked all 10 of my evaluation images, cancelled my upload privledges, and told me to come back when I had learned the craft. Somehow I shook that off, looked at what I was doing, and came back after the requisite 90 days to subsequent approval. It is a common, albeit odd, characteristic of life that as we are compelled to aquire specific concepts about certain skills, we come to wonder at not seeing these things early on.

There is another psychological adjustment that continues to serve the submitter over time: the shrug response. If you cannot understand or learn (here for example) why a certain image was rejected, then the attitude can be "Oh well, 'stuff' happens." Then go on to other images. Often, the reasons for past rejections become apparent over time.
Jubal Harshaw

barbaraj · Joined: 17 Aug 2005 Posts: 370 Location: Vancouver, Canada

I have learned soooo much from my rejections, and I always take the time to figure out exactly why a picture was rejected. I've searched but I've found different answers to this question here on the forum: Can I re-submit after cleaning up a noise rejection without getting a warning? And how will I know if I do have a warning?