Problems getting accepted to stock sites

07/27/2010 07:07:41 PM · #1

Hey everyone,

Had some issues past few days, started to upload some of the first shots ive started to produce to the stock sites to get my portfolio rolling but nearly all of them have been declined. So far on istockphoto and shutterstock.

Both for the same reasons

The photographs provided in your application should be diverse in subject matter, technical ability and should be your best work. Think conceptual, creative and most important think Stock photography. Try to avoid the average eye level push the button perspective of a common subject. Try and impress us, we want to see how you stand out from the crowd

I thought my shots were better than your everyday joe blogs with a compact camera, obviously not haha. Ill attach some of my shots so you guys can see what i submitted.

All the images were pin sharp.

Well basically im not going to whine at them or protest it, i need to improve and produce some better work for submission. What do you guys think to them , what could i improve in them , should i shoot somthing completely different, change my composition? or even change my whole setup alltogether.

07/27/2010 07:13:52 PM · #2

Were they all this similar?

More variety, like include a hand on the knife, looking like it's chopping the veggies, more variety like have an Icelandic woman cooking something, anything...

How about three colors of peppers, or fifteen varieties of peppers in the BG..

Perhaps you could get a new cutting board, as your current one is in that no-zone, too worn to be shiny-new, and not worn enough to be used-cool..

Oh- and as a side note - I can claim absolutely no experience in stock photography, this is just what I see when I look at what you wrote..

07/27/2010 07:21:08 PM · #3

Originally posted by coryboehne:

Thanks for replying!

Good ideas you put across, i totally agree with them all - and i did think about the cutting board being used , but then i thought about old rustic farm kitchen. Trip to tescos to get a new one wouldnt of hurt :)

Going out tommorow to get some more shots, got access to a private garden with a ton of rare animals. Thats if i can find them haha. I think what i need to do is sit back and think about the shot more - past few years ive been working at a company pulling shots off as fast as i can. Ill take things slower tommorow and review things more.

07/27/2010 07:28:21 PM · #4

Cool, have fun, and do try to find an Icelandic babe, those always improve the chances..

07/28/2010 03:35:23 PM · #5

Hope this is better :)

Text on it is for my upcomming blog im working on.

07/28/2010 03:43:00 PM · #6

Better :)!

Now, you're going to scream, but, I think that might be a little soft :)

07/28/2010 03:48:08 PM · #7

Haha yes the compressed jpeg is, the raw is not i assure you, and the exported max jpeg is not :D Was shot in studio on tripod, and double checked it remotely on the pc, its PIN sharp :D

07/28/2010 04:06:42 PM · #8

Originally posted by adenphoto:

Haha yes the compressed jpeg is, the raw is not i assure you, and the exported max jpeg is not :D Was shot in studio on tripod, and double checked it remotely on the pc, its PIN sharp :D

I find a hit of unsharp mask after resize can help that quite a bit... Rad=<1 Strength=(25 to 100)%