I’ve started to push images and get reviews.? I was pending this morning but a lot of batches were reviewed and now I’m starting to go live everywhere.? I can’t wait to see how the food images sell!

Our shooting has started off very well too – I want to get ahead a little. We have now completed 6 food shoots in the last 9 days – about 200 new photos to submit now.

We need to plan our dishes for this week – we’ve done a lot of desserts so I think it’ll be great to get a few lunches and maybe an entree out this week.

What are your favorite foods?? What foods do you really LOVE to cook?? And eat?? I’m really interested in the types of things you enjoy.

Lookstat offers a trial of their new keywording & uploading back office services.? 25 images will be uploaded to up to 10 sites for no charge, no strings, no payment info given.

Now, before anyone asks, you do have to provide your microstock site credentials.? If you aren’t comfortable with providing this to a service provider you need read no further.? Understandably, you’re not going to be interested in this service.? That’s the first stage of getting setup.

Onto my trial!

I ftp’d the 25 images to Lookstat and a few days later started getting confirmation of the accepted and denied images.? I did nothing much in the middle except look at the keywords and approve them.? While in this step you can update, add, remove, change anything you want.? They did a pretty good job on mine though and I didn’t change a lot.

For me, the trial went extremely well.? The images were uploaded, they were almost entirely approved and the rejections were for image stuff not keywords or model releases.

The PROS

Most of the non-creative work taken care of for you.

Better keywording than you probably do on your own.

More time to be shooting & editing.

The CONS

Cost – contact Lookstat for details but it’s not the cheapest service.

Time – the ramp-up time killed me. FTPd the files, waited…waited…then started seeing them.

Handing over credentials – some people will find this a major con.? I don’t, but …

Doing 10 sites for me meant that I had to do the rest on my own – which means either waiting longer to get the keyworded images to sub to my other sites.

Conclusions: Am I going to do it?

For now, no.? During our wedding offseason I’m full time at stock so I have all the time in the world now to edit, keyword, upload and push images through.? This is MY job for the next 6-8 months.? Unfortunately once weddings start in June I will lose all the momentum I build this winter.? I may use Lookstat then to keep uploading for me.? The more images I can get edited between now and June the better, no matter how many I can keyword and edit.? I’m still going to shoot to do as much as I can but it feels really great knowing there’s some backup to keep my flow going.

I encourage any Q&A in the comments – I know Rahul reads them and will respond.? I would love for him to jump in and explain the ramp-up time better than I can as well as anything else he’d like!

Speed Editing, Intro

We have examined our workflow many times over the last year in an attempt to gain speed without sacrificing a bit of quality.? The first step in that process is always difficult and time consuming but ultimately necessary and extremely beneficial.

Our first step is to create an awareness of our current situation and workflow.

What steps do you take in order to go from image in camera to image on site?

I would suggest that while there are other steps to many photographer’s workflows, the following covers all of the bases and is a starting point to use.

1. Download the cards to your computer.
2. Backup the original files.
3. Choose the images to edit.
4. Edit the keeper images.
5. Keyword the keeper images and add title/description IPTC data.
6. Upload the images.
7. Backup the edited images.
   
8. Push the images on each site to completion.

Downloading Cards

Normally the download of cards happens while you do something else, such as drink coffee, watch tv, reply to email.? So most people are not concerned with download speed.? If you are trying to absolutely maximize your potential you will care but normally it will not matter much.? Start with a Sandisk ImageMate card reader or a firewire reader.? These are the two fastest options and will pull images from your cards very quickly.

Backup Originals

We prefer to backup our files to two external 1 TB harddrives.? As professional photographers both in microstock and wedding/portrait fields, we know that it is of ULTIMATE importance that we have these originals.? DVD backups fail? more often, period.? However you backup, however, just make sure you do it.? Some photographers never backup or only do it “every so often.”? Bad habits breed problems.? Backup the same day you download, every single time.

Choose the Keepers

I prefer Adobe Lightroom for this step.? If you have it, use it here.? If you do not, you have to look at your current time and make a decision about the speed you are getting.? Four clear choices exist for culling images from the rest.? Adobe Lightroom, ACDSee, Aperture and PhotoMechanic.?? Whichever you are using, sorting the wheat from the chaff is going to be one of the most time consuming steps so measure your time here carefully.

Edit the Keepers

Photoshop, Gimp, PSP – these are your main editing tools for this, of course.? Use what is familiar.? Do not try to use Lightroom for the bulk of stock editing.? The detail required in noise removal, sharpening and simple spot editing requires Photoshop to be open.? Even though I am a Lightroom LOVER, it’s going to slow you down in the editing stage.? Stick to single image editing programs.

Add Keyword/IPTC data

I prefer to use CushyStock as my keywording/IPTC editor.? It is simple, fast and helps me do bulk images very quickly.? I’ll be exploring this more in detail soon.? Whether you use Lightroom, ACDSee, CushyStock or ProStockMaster, you should have a bulk IPTC tool for simple series labeling.? Photoshop is *not* the right tool for this job.? It does the job, but it’s not the right tool.? You can use a rock to pound nails in too, but a hammer is more efficient.

Upload the images

Again, because I use CushyStock, I’m sticking in it for this step as well.? Once the images are keyworded, set them to upload and you’re done for now.? This part of the process on 50 images does take some time but a bulk upload tool or FTP program will help you immensely not to have to monitor it for each agency.

Backup the edited images

Do this step here, now.? Once the images are headed online, back them up.? If you do it before adding keyword data you can obviously understand what a mess that would be if you lost the images and had to re-keyword them.? Do it after upload because once an FTP has started they can safely be backed up.? If you backup and then start uploading you can cause conflicts which cause either the backup or the upload to fail.? Doing it in this order is computer-preferable.? Again, we obviously recommend double harddrives.

Push the images on each site

I’m not sure what most people call this step.? Completing?? We call it “pushing” because you’re giving the images one final PUSH toward review.? You need to do whatever it is each site requires to complete the process of uploading once the images have been FTP’d.

Some photographers would add things to their workflow such as tracking accepted images, etc. but realistically these are not part of the workflow that gets your images on a site.? Stick to the basics for now.? Download, backup, cull, edit, keyword, upload, push.? That’s it, that’s all stock is at its basics.

That leads us to stage 2 of improving our workflow for speed.

How long does your current workflow take?

In measuring the time it takes to do your workflow we must have a basis for comparison.? I would suggest that a batch of 50 images is a good standard.? Why 50?? Shutterstock’s full page is 50.? Dreamstime upload limits for anyone under 80% is usually 50 and StockXpert used to be 50 and is now 25, or 2 days of transfer.? It’s a nice round number for figuring out percents as well, as half of 100.

Do this: time every step for your next 50 images.? Separate 50 images you want to do the process to and mark it.? Here’s a guide from my last 50.

1. 3 minutes (2.5 gb, 481 originals) to download.
   
2. 1 minute (2.5 gb to 2 external HDs) to backup drives
   
3. 28 minutes to sort 112 keepers from 481 originals.
   
4. 63 minutes to edit 50 of the keeper images.
   
5. 37 minutes to keyword and IPTC 50 images.
   
6. 1 minute setup (50 images to 14 sites).
   
7. 1 minute setup (50 images) to backup drives.
   
8. 9 sites pushed in 35 minutes, 3 sites remain undone (FT, DT and BSP).

My total from the last 50 edited images, 169 minutes.? Of this, the 28 minutes to sort really gave me 112 not 50 usable images so it counts for about 12 of the 28 minutes for just this batch.? It will take me slightly longer than 1 hour to finish FT, DT and BSP? pushes.? So in roughly 4 hours of work I uploaded 50 new images start to finish.

So get an idea where you are – that’s all for now and I’ll come back later with tips on speeding up, where I save time, where I lose time, and what programs we can use for everything we do.

I learned a huge lesson in the last 3 months. That lesson:

“Success requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. Your momentum will then produce ten units of results with each unit of effort.” – Charles Givens

What I mean to say, exactly, is that stock is a momentum game. The more quality images you upload, the more people visit your gallery and thus the more sales you have overall. The first bit of starting requires a harder push than later on but you must start and (here’s the lesson of the day) KEEP GOING.

I’ve watched the downloads of several major contributors this month and last. They nearly always are consistently uploading. Image totals go up here and there and the contributors continue to be successful. Another thing I did was watch a few contributors with totals near mine. Some went up, some did not.? For the most part these type of users make up the majority of active contributors – those who are basically spinning their wheels.? The last group needs no monitoring.? They are the contributors who submit a few times, don’t make $10,000 and go away never to be heard from again.

I’m concerned only with the group that uses momentum in its favor.? This group uploads consistently, 50-200 images? a week almost every week.? This group also seems to make most of the money in microstock.

So what is it that keeps the momentum going?? What keeps a contributor going?? I think they are obsessed.? One of my favorite quotes ever is by John Irving.? He said the secret to business was “You’ve got to GET obsessed and STAY obsessed.”? Many start there – how do? you continue your obsession?? What makes you enjoy the business?

Recently I was away for a few months, reconsidering what I wanted to do in microstock.? Over the summer last year I lost my momentum and it really hurt my sales and my mood.? I have in the last few weeks been kicking it back into gear.? It’s time to run again.? I am obsessed with microstock again.? I want to learn, move forward, WIN.? I want to hit goals, hit higher ones and hit ones so high I have to reset them all.? I am officially OBSESSED with microstock and it’s time to get back to good.? I’m not going to let summer stop me this time.? I am shooting again, editing again, uploading again – with more consistency and less “flurry.”? Powerweeks work against me – that’s figured out.? Moving forward in a consistent manner is the goal.? We shall see!

Thanks for reading – I really appreciate all of you guys.? Leave me a comment and I’ll stop by to see what you’ve been working on too!

Just so everyone’s on the same page, if you want a “review” of the changes, you’re going to want to read Lee later on.? If you want to hear my OPINION on them, keep reading.? And it isn’t pretty.

So Bigstock announced today that they are implementing upload limits. Let’s look at that.

• New users with less than 15 total approved images are limited to 15 images in the Admin Approval Queue at a time
• Users with an approval percentage of 50% or less are limited to 10 images in the Approval Queue at a time
• Users with an approval percentage of 70% or less are limited to 20 images in the Approval Queue at a time
• Users with an approval percentage of 85% or less are limited to 40 images in the Approval Queue at a time
• Users with an approval percentage of 92% or less are limited to 50 images in the Approval Queue at a time
• Users with higher than 92% approval percentage have no limit.

“Remember, uploading images and deleting them affects your rating too, so please take some care not to upload images you don’t intend to submit.”

Ok, so Bigstock’s monster image queue is now getting an overhaul.? That’s fine – it’d be nice if you could get an image reviewed there in? less than 2 weeks when places like SS take like 2 days.? HOWEVER…

How can deletes count against you?!

We’ve been told for YEARS “not to worry” about that number.? It’s experimental and doesn’t mean anything.? It’s related to images IN THE LAST 90 DAYS.

As of today, neither are true.? It’s an all-time number and it’s related to your ability to do new business there.? I upload in batches of 50, so over FOUR YEARS I’ve made two mistaken uploads.? That’s 100 deletes out of 3048 photos.? That is 3% of my all-time total because of TWO MISTAKES IN FOUR YEARS.? Let’s make sure that sinks in.

Now, over time I’ve also cleaned up my gallery and self-edited so as not to clutter up the BSP gallery with 4 year old images that haven’t sold.? Oh, and gotten much better over FOUR YEARS of uploads.? Let’s not forget that.

So my rating is 88.43%.? This means just my 2 mistake batches alone drop me from 91.43 to 88.43 and from nearly being unlimited to being in this ridiculous “40 pending” category.? Not 40 a day.? 40 PENDING.? Which means until BSP clears out their queue, I get 40 images to upload despite my *ACTUAL* approval % being something like 93-95% and my delete % being 5-7% over YEARS of images and uploads.

Now let’s do some math for you bigger contributors.? Let’s say you’re me.? I have 2560 approved, 335 deleted/denied.? If I get the next 500 images approved – that’s right, 100% for 500 images – I’ll STILL be at 90.1%.? Let’s say I get 1000 approved IN A ROW.?? I STILL won’t be over 92%.? In fact, I won’t pass 92% despite having 2500 approvals in Bigstock until I get about 1400 images approved.? In a row.? No declines.? 1400 images, 40 at a time.

And why? Because I self-edited, deleted some of my own mistakes, cleared up the gallery and basically saved the reviewers work and BSP space to house my old/bad/wrong images.? THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT.

I don’t really know what my options are other than “wait a year to have BSP access again” or YELL.? So I’m yelling.? I hate taking this step because it FRUSTRATES ME but what can I do?

Bigstock – use the 90 day rating.? That’s FINE.? Use the denied photos, not the deletes – that’s FINE.? Don’t make it impossible for people who’ve actually stayed with you, done the right thing, etc. to make it with you.

Like I said, if you want the news report of this, hit Lee up later.? For now, you get me.? You get me REALLY mad.

What is a Powerweek?

Basically I’ve cleared my schedule for the next 7 days.? I will be doing *nothing* except microstock from Sunday March 8th through Saturday March 14th.? I will track the total number of images submitted to my top 10 agencies.

Why do it?

I think I can get 700 images up in one week and break 1000 for the month.? But it’s not been done.? As far as I know about, the record for NEW image uploads in one month to the top 10 agencies is 1035.? I would like to break that mark one week!

What happened in Powerweek 1 and 2?

Powerweek 1 resulted in 400 new images in 4 days.? I quit 3 days short of goal because I simply ran out of images.? I believed it was easier to shoot 1000 new images than get them up to the agencies but that is incorrect.? To quote myself “The single most difficult and time consuming part of the microstock process is to shoot stock worthy images.” I learned that you need a backlog when you start.

Powerweek 2 resulted in about 400 new images in 3 days.? I quit before the halfway mark because I was simply going too fast to too many agencies.? I was submitting 200 images a day to 15 agencies.? My upload speed is decent but I waited too long to upload the first batch.? Do not upload 200 at a time.? The upload time kills you!

How will this time be different?

So I just admitted to “failing” by not completing Powerweek v1 or v2.? In truth I’m not sure how much 800 images in 2 weeks is failing but I have learned.

1) I’m only uploading to 10 agencies for the next 7 days. I will have a backlog of images to go to the others later if necessary.

2) I’m uploading batches of 50, not 200. 50×10 = 500 total images per upload.? That should take 1/6th of my previous batch time.? I’ll make up for the smaller batches overnights when I do 100 at the end of the day.? That should allow me to do 200 per day if I can edit that quickly.

3) I have my backlog! I have 3200 images to edit now.? I will not run out.

4) My processes are better. I edit faster, keyword smarter and don’t waste my time on borderline images.

5) Need. I have to get through as many images as possible to earn as much as possible so that we can schedule our next trip.? The more we make the better, of course.? I like money.

So, wish me luck and see you in 8 days!

WHOA!? If you’ve read NiltoMil for any longer than 1 day you already know I’m all about speed, workflow and making things simple for us, especially across the smaller sites where it’s not necessarily worth our while to upload unless it’s dead easy.? Well I have had the opportunity to try Canstock‘s new bulk upload tool and I’m impressed!

According to Duncan, who is obviously still running things over at CSP after their buyout by Fotosearch, the main benefits of the bulk upload tool include:

• You do not need to categorize images; they will do that for you
• Model releases can be applied in a batch, with a page of 100 images at a time
• Added the ability to?upload a photo of each model, for quick identification when selecting releases
• Images can be submitted a page at a time, instead of one at a time
• The interface is faster than ever

According to Matt, me, I had 1400 images backlogged from Canstock because I wasn’t uploading over the last few months.? I uploaded them all one day accidentally forgetting that I had 7 days to get them done.? Canstock came to the rescue by letting me use this bulk tool to finish.? In the first 5 days I’d managed to finish about 400 images in 6 hours.? Once I started using the bulk tool I finished just over 1000 images in 90 minutes!

The bulk uploader is still in beta, but you can activate it on your account in the meantime by going to http://www.canstockphoto.com/beta/

Why am I uploading to? Canstock?? Sales have been crazy-good.? Wait for the end of month but I’ve sold more this month than in the last 6 months put together.? Add in the new $19.80 Fotosearch Sales (which I’m still waiting for …) and it makes sense.? If you bother to upload to anyone after the top 6 you should now include Canstock Photo again.

January – blessed January!? How do I love thee?

It was absolutely fantastic to get back to uploading with any sense of regularity.? I only uploaded about 200 new images during our busy bridal show/booking month but 200 is more than enough to get me back on track!

As always, our spreadsheet of microstock earnings is here.

The January numbers were great!? In fact, this was our best month since I stopped uploading last July (other than the ridiculous ELs from SS in Nov (3 of them!)? The final total for all this excitement was 424.82

To put that in perspective for us, Shutterstock was actually down a few dollars.? We had SIX BMEs – Dreamstime, IStock, FeaturePics, Crestock, ImageCatalog and SnapVillage.? Also, StockXpert would have been a BME but we had an EL in Nov.? Our old BME was $19.10 though and so this month’s $30 would have destroyed that!

IStock – no clue.? No new images but it was almost TWICE my BME.? I’ve had almost that many images online for FOUR YEARS and never gone up over $10 really.? $17 was a huge leap.? There’s some speculation that it was a result of all their Best Match changes.? We’ll see if it continues (plus I’m going to be uploading to IStock this month like mad so we’ll see if that helps!)

FeaturePics had a … slightly insane month!? I actually repriced all of my images to $10 from $2 before.? I only had 2 sales but those 2 sales resulted in $15.75, or 61% of my all-time FeaturePics earnings.? It was TRIPLE my prior BME.? I’m going to be working on some ideas to push my FeaturePics gallery around the next 6 months so we’ll see if I can’t keep getting a few sales there each month at the new price.

Check out my Fotolia gallery size increase on the spreadsheet – from 465 last April to 646 as of Dec 31st to 1350 as of tonight!? I over doubled my Fotolia gallery in one month!? The power of the push, I guess.? I worked hard on Fotolia (while watching TV) so we’ll hope that pays off over this month and beyond.

Other interesting bits – I passed 2,000 images on FotoMind and MostPhotos and will pass it on a bunch of other sites this month.? Gotta keep pushing!? You’ll note there are *new* agencies on the list – more on that in a future post…

My BME total is $575.46 and I’ll state for the record now that I hope February can beat that.? I’m only $150 away so I think I can make that up without much problem.? I wouldn’t be surprised to go well over $600.? I have a big month ahead – some news coming soon on our next stock photo trip as well!

Other sites reporting earnings:

Microstock Diaries

jrtb

CJ Photography

Microstock Junction

Driftless Ramblings

PDTNC

MelastMohican

Pixels Away

Bankizdjec

Microstock Experiment

Any I’m missing?? This list is getting rather comprehensive!

All in one place and organized by microstock agency, I present to you the canonical list of rejection reasons microstock agencies use to kick your photos (not vectors or videos)? to the curb.

There are two quick notes on this:

1) It’s incomplete – IStock and StockXpert refused to give me a list.? The 123RF list was given to me by Alex and should be fairly complete.? The Bigstock list is fully done.? I believe I caught every Fotolia and Shutterstock reason.? The other lists are created from my own rejections, a bit of research, and some help from an anonymous reviewer.? Vivozoom provided a list as well.

So feel free to contribute to the list, help me make changes, edit things I added if they’ve changed since I last received a particular rejection.? Whatever – it’s interactive and incomplete.? Thanks to the commentators who’ve helped me improve this list!

2) As mentioned above, this is for PHOTOS only.? I am not including the list for vectors or video because a) they weren’t given to me and b) I don’t submit many of those file types so I have way less experience there.

123RF

• Poor Lighting/Composition
• Minimal commercial value
• Potential copyright issue
• Visible branding/logo
• Similar image accepted
• Keywords in English Only
• Bad composition
• Bad focus
• Enlargement has been done and it?s not tolerable.
• Looks like a snapshot.

Bigstock

• Artifact Problems: Noise/Grain/Chromatic or other artifacts due to low light, blue or purple fringing, high ISO, over-sharpening or post processing techniques.
• Blurry: Image is not very crisp or is blurred when viewed at full size.
• Dull, lifeless color: Colors are dull or lackluster.
• Exposure problem:? Image is too dark or too light, not properly exposed.
• Hard shadows:? Caused by on-camera flash. Try not to use flash, use more fill light instead. Flash often creates hard ugly shadows, thanks
• Jagged edges: Isolation has jagged edges, anti-aliasing problems, or background is not clean.
• Low interest subject:? Probably little demand/selling potential for this image. Try for more marketable shots.
• Not newsworthy enough for Editorial Use:? Images submitted as Editorial need to be news, or current events, or commentary worthy. This image does not appear newsworthy enough.
• Poor composition/Cropped subject: Chopping off part of subject makes photo harder to use generally
• Potential copyright / trademark / privacy issue with photo (could be: copyrighted art, visible logo, license plate number, etc)
• Recognizable person without Model Release…
• Similarity: Image too similar to others already submitted. Try selecting only a few of your very best shots for submission of this subject.
• Snapshot composition: This image is more of a snapshot than a marketable stock image. Overall problems can include poor lighting, poor composition, non-interesting subject matter, etc.
• Subject not evident enough – hard to tell what the subject of the photo is
• Too Sexually Explicit:? Can’t accept fully exposed breasts, buttocks or genitals. Or image may be too overtly sexually suggestive.
• Upload problem: Please re-upload this image, there appears to have been a problem with the original upload, thanks.
• We have enough of this subject already…sorry.

Dreamstime

• The image contains elements that might be protected by copyright/trademark (logos, brands, specific buildings etc.), can identify a property/product (letters, numbers), or could raise usage problems, therefore it doesn’t qualify as a RF stock image.
• Poor color: this image has a low color profile and needs improvement in order to increase its sales potential.
• Poor lighting setup, poor contrast or incorrect exposure.
• This is a very well covered subject in our data base or the subject of your image is too specific. We are looking for images that exceed the technical quality and creativity of the images already online.
• The image includes recognizable humans. It cannot be accepted without a model release signed by your subject(s). If the people within your photo are not the main subject but their faces are visible, then you also need a MR for each person whose face is visible.
• Distorted pixels due to poor sensor performance, image was interpolated, poorly scanned, upsampled or JPG was not saved at the highest quality.
• This image is overfiltered. Its use for the potential designers is limited because of this, therefore the image is disqualified as a RF stock-oriented image.
• Image is out of focus or too much of the subject is out of focus (DOF too shallow or DOF not justified) / Image is shaken. Use a faster speed or a tripod.
• Witness’s print name missing
• Model Release document is incomplete.
• Lack of composition.
• Model’s signature missing.
• We have reviewed your file and this is not quite what we?re looking for.

Fotolia

• Quality of the photograph – Your photograph did not reach our desired level of aesthetic quality.
• Type of photograph – Your photographic work is excellent but does not meet the needs of the Fotolia customer base.
• Technical problems – The image contains one or more technical problems:
  • Blurry or out of focus
  • Over/Under exposure
  • Framing problem
  • Over or under saturated colors
  • Problems with contrast
  • Noise or Pixelation
  • Quality of routing
  • Interpolation problem
• Model/Property Release – However we discovered a problem (legal problem, lack of signature, wrong file format, or it was illegible) with the model/property release that you submitted.
• Overabundant Category – Fotolia has received an overabundant amount of high quality images similar to this photo and does not have need of more photos like it.
• Non conformity – The photographs in the Fotolia database are intended for sale to multiple buyers. Your photograph while attractive does not meet a level of neutrality for our buyers.
• Similar Photograph – the same or similar photograph was already submitted to Fotolia.

IStock

• The execution of isolation contains stray areas that are either too feathered or rough.
• This file contains artifacting when viewed at full size. This technical issue is commonly created by the quality settings in-camera, in post-processing or in RAWsettings. Artifacting may be the result of other factors such as excessive level adjustments.
• We found the overall composition of this file?s lighting could be improved. Technical aspects that can affect the overall quality of lighting are: flat/dull colors, blown-out highlights, harsh reflection, shadows or lens flares. These can all limit the usefulness of a file.
• In review of this file, we found the lighting underexposed
• We found this file over filtered from its original appearance/quality.
• This file contains artifacting when viewed at full size (probably due to oversharpening). This technical issue is commonly created by the quality settings in-camera or in post-processing.
• The keywords used for this file do not appear to be fully relevant to the subject.
• Your file contains stray/hot/dead pixels or sensor spots.
  • Sensor spots: Commonly caused from dust on the sensor of your camera. These darker areas usually show up in lighter areas of the file such as skies.
  • Hot Pixels: Dead pixels on your camera?s sensor. Sometimes caused by extreme temperatures, and may become permanent.

Thanks to Tim for the IStock list!

Shutterstock

• Focus–Your image is not in focus or focus is not located where we feel it works best.
• Composition–Limited commercial value due to framing, cropping, and/or composition.
• Poor Lighting–Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect.
• Lighting Problems–Purple fringe, blown highlights or lenses flare.
• Noise–Noise, film grain, over-sharpening, or artifacts at full size.
• Glitch–There was a technical problem with your upload. Please resubmit.
• Trademark–Contains potential trademark or copyright infringement–not editorial.
• Overuse–Overuse of noise reduction software.
• Keywords–Your keywords must directly relate to the image (relevancy). Please edit your keyword choices and resubmit.
• Editing–Your illustration has rough edges.
• Limited Commercial Value–We do not need this image at this time
• Similar Submissions–Too many of the same subject.

StockXpert

• Image contains too much noise/grain/pixilation
• Some keywords are not relevant to the image.
• Image requires a model release.
• Please improve isolation/editing.
• Thank you, but we have too many like this.
• Poor Lighting.
• Image requires a property release.
• Thank you but we are not interested in this subject matter or situation.
• Poor isolation – elements of the background are not acceptable.
• Cropping should be improved.
• Image contains too much dust.

VivoZoom

• Focus issue
• Overfiltering/Sharpening/Upsizing
• Over/Under exposed
• Digital Noise/Jagged lines/Pixelation
• Image content not required
• Lighting issue
• Composition/Cropping issue
• Copyright/Trademark issue
• Provenance
  • Model release missing or insufficient
  • Property release missing or insufficient
  • Sample text needs to be removed
  • Text copyright issues
  • Supply original image used to create illustration
  • Release on original artwork missing or insufficient

Today is going to be fun I hope – I’m going to show you how I edit.? I don’t claim it’s the ONLY way.? I’m not even sure it’s the BEST way.? But it’s fast.? REALLY fast.

This image was shot over grey instead of white because I like the flexibility of being able to isolate on white OR having some texture to a background if I want to colorize the available texture with some sort of blend mode.? For stock, I’d always turn this white though and let the buyer decide what to do with it later.

The entire edit ends up taking less than 2 minutes.? You can add another 15 seconds because after I finished recording I realized his shirt had a few small mistakes on the edge so I cleaned it up.? At any rate, editing at this speed would give you 30 images per hour or slightly under.? At even 20 images an hour, you could edit 100 images in 5 hours.? That would be quick and gives you 3 hours of “work day” to keyword, upload, push and submit those 100 images.? People have asked me before how I plan to sub 100 a day – this is the general idea.? Of course some days you have to shoot.? Some days you don’t get 100 edited and subbed.? Heck, MOST days I don’t.

Every trick you can learn will help you.? The difference in 10 images per hour and 15 is also the same as 1000 online vs 1500 or 10,000 vs. 15,000.? The difference in 5 images per hour and 30 is 6x your income each month.? Speed IS necessary.

Click the photo above for the video on what I did.? There’s no audio – it’s a visual process.? Tools used:

• Wand – grab the grey background.
• Lasso – select and unselect with shift and alt after the initial selection has been made.
• Feather 1, backspace – clear the grey background.
• F5 – custom action for curves.? Just brightens it up 2 steps.? I undid one to find a happy balance.
• [ and ] to resize the brush.
• Dodge/highlights around the hair.
• Eraser to trim unclean edges.
• Contrast for skin tone.
• Clone for the logo.
• Brush – for the screwdriver (alt-clicked the color nearby to grab it)
• Smart sharpen – 60/1.3 I think.
• After the vid ends, I also used clone on the edge of the shirt a bit.

To show you what my 2 minutes did, I’ve uploaded a watermarked version of this finished image to here.? One of my next goals is to upload some actual Photoshop tutorials – one using only the keyboard, NO mouse.? One as a speed drill and whatever else you guys want.