Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic

shutterstock · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1881 Location: New York, NY

We are trying to approve everything for you guys fast.

If we reject because the photo isn't interesting or has a problem with some part of it - we cannot give you a full explanation right now - and continue to approve as fast as we are.

Sorry... there is only so much we can do! You have to ask yourself - would you rather detailed rejections - or review of your submitted photos within 6 hours? I'm striving for the latter.

For photos we reject - one big reason is that they look like a picture you took as a tourist.. Which is nice and all - but isn't what people think of when they look for a stock photograph. A stock photo has to have a little more snazz than a simple observation. It can often be a simple observation - but not one that you would be able to take by looking at a street. you would have to add personality to it. Yes - this is all subjective.. But we are trying to make it so your pictures get bought and downloaded.. If we filled the catalog with photos that didn't get downloaded - it would be harder for people to find what they want.

We are prioritizing other stuff - like ftp uploads, and everything else you guys want! if we scrutinized every reject - we would be backlogged.. and you guys wouldn't get into the system at all..

If there are bad shadows, focus issues, exposure issues, artifacts, noise, or if the photo isn't interesting at all - we wil reject it - and we cannot guarantee a more detailed response right now..

we are hiring a person to do this full time.. it will get better. Bear with us as we grow.

I hope you understand - I spent hours approving/rejecting photos today - and its saturday night right now - and im still doing it!

Jon =)

dougrhess · Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 156

I understand what you're saying entirely and I would push for even more tightness based on some photos I've noticed that have that snap shot feel to them. It not only causes difficulties in searching, but means people will give up and not subscribe.

I hope you can consider a method other than "most recent photos first" when searches come up.

shutterstock · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1881 Location: New York, NY

We will soon have a

"Order By" pull down in the categories

to Order By
- last submitted
- group by submitter
- random

etc.etc.
Jon

shutterstock · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1881 Location: New York, NY

Hey -- that "snap shot feel".. How do you describe it? I have had trouble explaining how a stock photo differs from a snap shot... Often I have to show examples.. do you have a way to explain it? anybody?

I guess a (stock) photo is worth some-odd thousand words.

Jon

dougrhess · Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 156

I think it's best to describe the qualities of a good photo and define those qualities. So like: composition theory, depth of field, lighting, cropping, etc.

But here are some problem areas that come to mind:

One of the main "snapshot" disasters is not zooming in on faces. I hate getting pictures from my family of little kids where the photo is 5x7 and the kid's face is the size of a dime with grass all around them. What's that, a photo of the yard? ;-)

Lens distortion is an issue I see often when people are shooting buildings. People often don't notice it until you point it out to them, but they know a better pic when they see one that doesn't have this problem.

melking · Joined: 30 Oct 2004 Posts: 300 Location: Labrador, Canada

GeneralE · Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:35 pm

Almost all of my other "submissions" have been more for general evaluation (at DP Challenge) -- this is the first time I have submitted anything for professional review.

Having had to scrutinize and evaluate other documents (medical records) I can completely sympathize with your situation. Perhaps, though, this would be a good time to use a template where you can have some checkboxes listing the most common reasons for rejecting the photo.

If you only wanted to list one reason, you could have that checkbox also activate the script to reject the photo and send off the email, so it wouldn't have to add any clicks to the procedure.

Also, you seem to like my stuff better than the DPC voters -- I think everything's been approved so far!

My son Isaac is one-for-one too : )

crp · Joined: 26 Oct 2004 Posts: 338 Location: Colorado - USA

Just wanted to say Thank you for all the effort that you and the entire staff at ShutterStock have and are doing.

As for the image rejections. There are a couple of way that most will take it. Good or Bad.

I personally look at it as a good thing (as Martha would say), it tells me several things, among them being the following.

You and the staff know what sells, and what don't. As the photographer, we might see and capture the image, and do our best to catch things that would cause a rejection. Not always do we catch the flawed images.

It also tells me that I need to do a little better job, and that I let me self slip.
So it helps to keep one sharp when an image gets rejected.

Thanks for all your hard work.

crp

jsnover · Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 10:00 pm

mk · Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 13 Location: Minneapolis

Perhaps a list of topics that you'll no longer be accepting would be helpful? I've been rejected for a few topics where it's not immediately obvious to me that there are already too many. For some categories, it seems 10 photos is enough, but for others, there are hundreds. This would probably make it easier on both parties...we won't bother processing and submitting and you won't have to wade through and reject.

Photoshow · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 6:36 pm

You guys are doing a great job and the rapid turnaround on approvals is almost as nice as the brisk sales I have experienced since uploading my first images here.

Image and marketability evaluation are both areas of extreme personal subjectivity. Rarely will two inspectors see any given image exactly the same. So the reason for rejection is not all that important to me. The way I see it is that each agency has different wants and needs for inventory and if the shot is technically and conceptually sound then the shot will be accepted somewhere.

For me the wholesale marketplace is not the place for me to be learning what makes one image salable and the next not. I have sold enough stock over the years to have a good idea so all that really remains is the subjectivity that enters the equation at each agency.

For me stock is a numbers game that is all about averages. The more I have in my library the more I will sell so I keep shooting, processing and uploading and allow those who make a living out of selling to choose what they want to sell. If I shoot a subject I thought was going to be hot and then see a trend of across the board rejections for the concept or subject then I will move away from it.

I might not always understand an inspectors logic in a rejection but, I don't need too. All I personally need to understand is that they are the one who is marketing the image and for them they did not feel that the shot was marketable. If an image is rejected and I still think there is a market for it I will simply submit it elsewhere where in all likelihood it will be accepted.

I personally would not have a problem with ALL rejection notices simply saying.

"Thank you for submitting image #xxxxx for consideration of inclusion in our marketing database. Unfortunately at this time we do not have a need for this image."

Then if the inspector felt that the image was good enough to be accepted if a minor flaw such as poor cropping or the removable of a visible logo was corrected then they could add a quick pre written comment to that end.

Just my 2.5 cents worth on the subject.

Thanks,
[url-http://www.realdealphoto.com]Bobby Deal[/url]

fncdigital · Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 12:51 pm

mantonino · Joined: 27 Oct 2004 Posts: 1090 Location: Syracuse, NY

When I do a search on Corbis for "Wedding" I get over 5000 results. I have a feeling if I upload my 'best' 50 wedding photos, I'll get 48 declined for "too many like it" on the site. What is the GOAL of shutterstock? To provide that one image people want? Or to provide an image and if people want a zebra, take the one we already have, damn it!

I've stopped uploading because I don't feel this question has been addressed properly. What is "too many of the same thing" when professional stock houses have 5000 of everything? I know you want diversity, but let us each do our specialty. I'm not talking about people who download 500 of mom and 300 of the woods, either. I'm talking about unique, different images.

One example: I uploaded a bunch of different mushroom pics. This summer I happened to involve myself in a project for istock and ended up learning TONS about mushrooms. I have a collection of "one of each" type that I saw this summer. When I uploaded the first 4 of them, I got 2 "too many like it" rejections. Well no, actually there are NONE like it unless all mushrooms are the same.

*still frustrated, aggravated my post got locked without the question truly being addressed*

I like this site a LOT. I just don't understand this one part of it and I KNOW I'm not alone.

shutterstock · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1881 Location: New York, NY

mantonino - can you link to an example of the pictures that got rejected? maybe then we could explain exactly why. We get over 1000 photos submitted per day. Hard to remember which ones you uploaded.
thanks
Jon

mantonino · Joined: 27 Oct 2004 Posts: 1090 Location: Syracuse, NY

http://submit.shutterstock.com/photos/thumb_large/137/137,1098884898,9.JPG.jpg

http://submit.shutterstock.com/photos/thumb_large/137/137,1098884910,12.JPG.jpg

http://submit.shutterstock.com/photos/thumb_large/137/137,1098884907,11.JPG.jpg

http://submit.shutterstock.com/photos/thumb_large/137/137,1098884903,10.JPG.jpg

Those four mushrooms were rejected - they are all different varieties, and in most cases colors. They were uploaded with, I believe, very detailed descriptions so people could find exactly the type of mushroom they are looking for.

And again, my question is about the goal - is our goal to have the best 10,000 images period? The largest collection of good images? Or a handful of really good images about a general topic?

M