Since my sales have picked up on Istock and reading some of the comments about SS being hard to get accepted images I will stay put. Istock have also started to take editorial shots which is the reason I wanted to join SS in the first place.

The seasoned self preserving stock pros here who have commented have clearly given off the "Leave it to the big boys and go away and play with your dolls" vibe.

The seasoned self preserving stock pros here who have commented have clearly given off the "Leave it to the big boys and go away and play with your dolls" vibe.

Oh, that was just Rinder spouting off, he was having a bad day or needed a martini, or something;  if  you read his entire post, it is pretty spot on-microstock is a professional business; there are lots of folks that just want to sell a few images to impress their family or friends.

I don't see a problem with the casual user; if my stuff is good enough, it will rise to the top soon enough.  Hopefully I have not starved to death by the time it starts to rise so I can enjoy some of the monetary rewards; if not, then my children will enjoy the rewards of my hard work

Then again, I am in a pretty specialized field; not to many casual snappers out here in Tiger country (Far East Russia);  now if the SS reviewers will just understand the lighting is not always perfect in the wild I will be happy.  They want studio lighting out here in the naked outdoors; I am lucky to see an animal once a week, much less have it in perfect light.

I'm going in again for another try. Cover me ;-)

delete plz

?

Yep, another rejection. This time I got 6 out of ten BUT one was rejected just for the wrong caption !!!! That's really annoying because the image was right.

They say that I should not submit the same images again but why not ? I submitted them before and they got passed so I would be stupid not too. If I submit a whole new load of images it's a new lottery. One was rejected this time that was passed the time before so it isn't foolproof.

30 days wait.....sigh  

When I did it I just based my selection for the �exam� on the very few accepted by IS & all 10 went through.  I assumed that IS are so tough that anything accepted there would pass on SS technically but notice some folks have problems with well covered subject matter so am curious if any technical aspect was cited? 

Yep, another rejection. This time I got 6 out of ten BUT one was rejected just for the wrong caption !!!! That's really annoying because the image was right.

They say that I should not submit the same images again but why not ? I submitted them before and they got passed so I would be stupid not too. If I submit a whole new load of images it's a new lottery. One was rejected this time that was passed the time before so it isn't foolproof.

30 days wait.....sigh  

3 D and you will pass

1) Diversity - different lighting, different subjects, different settings, variety! One good isolation wouldn't hurt. Show your skills.

2) Downsize - reduce the images to just above minimum so there's no chance of artifacting and flaws will be less viewable. (for application only, before someone starts disagreeing again. This is about APPLYING not after being accepted.)

3) Don't Give Up... 

There you go!

There's one more, use my link and have me as your referral, that ads ten points. (OK that's a lie and I made it up, but what the heck?)

Just do the first three and you'll pass. That's assuming you have good quality images, know how to use a camera, and interesting Microstock type subjects. If you shoot your cat, flowers in the garden and out of focus, underexposed fields of grass, of course, no one will pass!

I'm having a real challenge getting any night-time cityscapes accepted on SS.  The first batch was done well after dark...



I figured they don't like cityscapes in actual darkness, so the next batch was more twilight...



I get the canned, "Poor Lighting--Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect." reason for all of them.

I did a search on "cityscape night" which returned just over 200 shots, the vast majority of which are anything but night.  Most are barely dusk.  Other sites are accepting them.  Anyone else have any experience with night-time cityscapes?

my last batch got 100% rejected. I got a keywords rejection on 2 of them which was a first. I re-checked my keywords and there weren't any way off base - unless you didn't actually read them and split them up (which I don't think SS does anymore). (for example "Jack-o-lantern mushroom") - clearly it is a mushroom, not a carved pumpkin. oh well. Since new images don't seem to get seen either, I guess it doesn't hurt much except my motivation.

Agree w/ the 3 D suggestion above. Also go with bright colors and light images and don't do shallow depth of field. - and of course make sure your captions and other stuff is spot on. I had one of my initial 10 rejected because of a problem w/ the model release. Luckily 7 others were accepted.

Yes, and there are probably another ten good pieces of advise, but the idea of 3D is KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid.

If someone had posted sample of the rejections and there were shallow depth of field shots, I would have jumped on that too. Then the whole "real" isolations, in camera, done with lighting, not photoshop. I love the bright colors suggestion, seems like Micro is very much about high contrast and optical, especially bright, attractive colors. (with the exception possibly of IS which appears to lean more towards natural)

I often think the entry exam is more about proving you can use a camera, edit and aren't just shooting one thing, with common and average results. Unless of course someone would submit a set of stunning food photos, or something that they were very good at, then it might be different.

What's funny for me is now and then I'll see something or have an idea, and I make one shot for SS. I don't do whole sessions of the same thing and try to submit multiples anymore. Two is the limit and I think the last one I did like that was two green things on St. Patrick's Day, or maybe two Fall photos with colors? But I'm one of those "less is more" people, so 90% of the people should ignore me and the other 10% already do. 

If you've got 800 past the IS inspectors you should have no problem technically - suggest using your most unusual subject matter as SS seems to like offbeat (stockwise) subjects that are not competing with thousands of almost the same thing.

And they reject it saying there is limited commercial value. I submitted a nice shot of old vintage traction engines (that has sold a few times at IS) at an English rally and it was rejected. You can't win.

Again, rejection on 4th attempt. I absolutely cannot fathom SS at all. Images that were accepted last time have been turned away.

It's a lottery and a waste of time waiting yet another 30 days. One shot with people needs a "proper caption" I have no idea what that means other than describing the image and what they are doing which is what I did.

Gutted 

I failed 1st SS test subm. ( 6 out 10 ) and I remember that was cleary to send 10 "new" images on next submission. I keep that 6 images, and after being accepted, they gone with first or second batch.

About "proper caption", is when You submit as Editorial ( or they assume as editorial when U haven't model release )

See : http://www.shutterstock.com/buzz/creating-the-perfect-editorial-caption

I do editorial captions with SS rules and they are almost accepted on major agnecies, exception made to IS, where i remove part of caption. 

I gathered my 10 best selling photos for submission to SS only three made the grade.
Made me wonder what next? So I tried 10 vectors - all approved. Most of these vectors have
had 0 sales on other sites but at SS it's a different story. I'm glad I got in!

I have sympathy with Herg... do let us know when your images are finally approved in SS... al the best