MicroStockForum - Compare Stock Photography Sites - Sell photos with best sites and earn the highest commision.

Comments Total Comments: 14

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iStuck

Approvals are completely unpredictable. Two images from the same shoot, same lighting, SAME image quality...one is approved, the other 'contains artifacting when viewed at full size.' Then there was the submission that had a copyright issue. So I spent time fixing the problem, and then they rejected the image for another completely unrelated reason. With a limit of 15 image uploads per week, and only 8 or 10 of those approved, I'm ready to try out some other micro sites to sell my shots. I think the shooters who have thousands of downloads at iStock were the ones who got in early--like years ago...before they hired the inspectors from hell!

RP

1. Very picky inspectors.
2. Biased in favoring the exclusive members.
3. Senior reviewers take literally months to respond to a question about a rejection

I would terminate my account immediately BUT ... it earns me more than any other agency - including Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Fotolia.

Interesting relationship huh ?
Can't live with or without ...
:-)

Kitty

I've been with istock for a few years now and am making about $100 every ten days. I have to admit it was hard to become a photographer...many rejections and some controversy but well worth it. Umm... who did Getty buy?

joe

Hard as hell to get accepted .(Ansel Adams would have problems here!!!)...slow. ALWAYS an "artifacting " problem AND i shoot tiff on an 8mpslr...anyone have advice????

slobo

I am exclusive to iStock. It has high standards and sub par photographers have hard time getting their images accepted.
I had high rejection rate in the beginning, but now it is less than 10%.
I can get as much as $4.00 (Summer of '07) for a single download and I am not talking extended licenses!
There are people having several THOUSAND sales on a single image.
I tried three other sites before becoming exclusive to istock but they came nowhere near in terms of sales.

bluerabbit

Each site has advantages and disadvantages. I like the community at Istock. I do not participate in the forums, there, but the networking and ratings have introduced me to like-minded photographers. They have really speeded up their approval times in the last couple of weeks, and they raised their limits, too. I've run into approval glitches at all of the sites, but since I am signed up with several, I just submit the bafflingly rejected elsewhere (in all cases). I, too, earn as much with a small portfolio here as I do with some larger ones elsewhere.

bluerabbit

I belong to all the big sites mentioned here, plus the beta SnapVillage from Corbis. I really like istock. I like the way photos are displayed on the site and the community. I don't do the forums, but if you do the Creative Network, you will soon be part of some public lightboxes. I have met some very talented photographers from around the world who do the same type of work I do--sense of place.
Approvals are spotty. Sometimes, they are very fast, and other times quite slow. As for limits--shrugs--I just submit elsewhere while I'm waiting.

Scott

iStock is best of all I tried (I tried SS,DT,F,BS,SX) and went Exclusive.

Other posts above are very inaccurate. You can batch upload with Aperture plug in, IM,; FTP would be nice though but I like Aperture so no prob.

Has quick response from staff for support, tech issues, either thru sitemail, forums, or phone calls. People w/ Canadian accents will actually answer!

DL's take less than a day, sometimes literally hours when Exclusive maybe 5 days for non tops; there are 80 inspectors in all time zones of the earth.

forums are very less 'big stick' than past and though promoting other sites isn't welcomed in forums where would it be on other sites?

I make 35% and soon more! 20% is base. Add Exclusive and 5% each canister upgrade plus Extended Licenses.

FTP is avail. for video.

After site is revamped following Getty acquisition it should be much better than it already is. Ask yourself, which microstock did largest photography co. buy?

Charmaine

I am new to the micro-stock madness. I made the BAD mistake of starting with istock. After having my first 4 accepted, they rejected my Eagle because “it appears to be a copy of another artists work”. I sent them the web cam site (my model) but no response, and no reply. I had 5 more images pending so I put a picture of myself doing artwork in the “model release” section…they refused them all  saying they “are not stock quality). The site is filled with simple shapes, my 5 that were refused were detailed! I don’t have a problem with refusals, but they are insulting!

I will NOT GIVE them any more! A vector file takes a day to create, they also want you to produce a pencil sketch (to prove that the work is yours) and the JPG. I work directly in Illustrator. To make them happy I would have to print, trace, and photograph my own work! You have to copy to have your work accepted, so that you can prove from where you copied! All of that for less money than a photo! The other sites price by size of photo and more for a vector. (And you know the value BEFORE you give it to them) It’s not right to have other sites sell your work at more reasonable rates, and have customers buy your work from istock because they are cheap with the artist!

Noel

My biggest payout is from istock. I make about three times as much here as on Fotolio, and about 10 times as much as on Dreamstime. Upload system is frustrating.

Yan

I agree with the above posts. This site is a photographer's nightmare. I have roughly 200 images backlogged waiting to be subbmited because of their weekly limit.... next month bith Fotolia and Dreamstime will surpass my IStock earnings....

Ernst V

I work with 6 different stock agencies. Istockphoto is unique among agencies in that:

It does not provide batch uploading. Images uploaded manually one at a time.

It provides no reasonable form of contact for photographers to sort out problems or technical issues.

It is the slowest site to approve new uploads (approx 2 weeks).

It's forums are heavily policed and posts critical of istockphoto's procedures are deleted. It does not permit favorable comments about other stock agencies on its forums.

It offers the lowest pay per earnings ratio of any stock site (20%).

It has the highest rejection rate of any site.

Mark

istock doesn't seem to value the photographers that submit images. Have very limiting limits on the number of uploads and reject far more than other agencies, usually for "reasons" that are visible to the inspector only such as trademark/copyright when there is no logo to be found in the image. Istock used to be strong in sales, up with Shutterstock and Dreamstime, now they are seriously lagging and I've reached the point where I would rather spend my time shooting more photos to upload to the ohter agencies than to waste time uploading to istock. I think changes that have been made with this agency have it on its way out.

IamJoke

Very hard to get images accepted. But the largest place to sell. I only have 200 images (where other sites have accepted 400+). But it earns more than any site except Shutterstock!

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iStockphoto.com : royalty free stock photography community

iStuck

RP

Kitty

joe

slobo

bluerabbit

bluerabbit

Scott

Charmaine

Noel

Yan

Ernst V

Mark

IamJoke

joe

bluerabbit

bluerabbit

Charmaine

Ernst V