Most 'object' shots do not need conceptual keywords.  Posting a sample with your rejected words would make this easier to help.   The rant, though, is not about the cv unless the words you need are not in the cv.

Rather than post specific images here and get specific advice on what might be accepted -  I want to learn the rules, whatever they are, and avoid rejections.   My real complaint is that the keyword guidelines on the site seem to be inadquate and I am wondering if there is better information, somewhere. 

One of their examples shows a young guy in a pose of despair.  'Sadness' is allowed. 'Suicide' is not, although teen suicide is certainly a hot conceptual topic.  No explanation is given.  I can appreciate that the photo 'shows' sadness but doesn't 'show' suicide, but I'd like to see these guidelines spelled out.

Grief, depression, sadness, or despair are emotions. Suicide is an act.

A photo of suicide would possibly be someone hanging by a rope, not a facial expression. 

Did that help?

CV is limiting in some cases, but in other ways, it makes the searches more organized for buyers. I agree that some wods don't exist which can be frustrating. At the same time, it prevents massive bad search results and gives the buyer a better selection. Since the rules are the same for everyone and so are the words, there's no advantage to spamming up keywords with concepts and words that are distant stretches. Level playing field.

  suicide   would  not  be  allowed  on  many  site  for  such  a  photo.  Racephoto  is  right  -  suicide  is  an  act  not  an  emotion.

If you can't use 'cat' for a bowl of cat food, what's left?  

The photo I described doesn't "show" sadness, it shows body language that could b be associated with sadness, with despair, or with thoughts of suicide. A search for "teen suicide" on IS turns up lots of photos with keywords like 'suicide', all presumably submitted before the CV jihad began.   So those are the images that will be available to buyers; no new photos can compete in that topic today.  

If I posted images, you more experienced people would all give me your expert opinions on what IS might or might not accept. But what I really want is for IS to tell me that, in the form of a clear set of guidelines.  I guess that isn't going to happen, and they'd rather just have contributors guessing, and reviewers spending time rejecting keywords or images.

Thanks sjlocke. "Cat food" is acceptable. Also changed the title to "Cat Food in a Bowl".