iStock?

Josh66

Been spending a lot of time on here!
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Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
Anybody use them?

Kinda seems like a pain in the ass to me...

I applied, passed their little test, and they liked the 3 photos I submitted to see if I'm 'good enough'.

I uploaded two pictures today - I pretty much lost interest after that. It takes forever to do anything on their website...
It's not 'upload friendly' at all. You can only do one image at a time, and inputting the keywords & catagories is much more cumbersome than other sites.

I can't even copy the information from one image to another similar image.

All of that combined with the fact that they only pay 20%... I'm not sure if I'll even bother uploading more pictures...


Anyone else feel the same?

EDIT
I just tried to upload another image...what a pain in the ass. The keywording interface is the most difficult to use I've seen.
 
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I use them.

There is an app you can download from the site so you can do all the keywording on your machine in your own time then upload as a batch when done.

But they do take ages to approve your images... much longer than fotolia and 123rf.
 
You'll also have a hard time now putting anything original up. I put up some fireworks images up there eons ago as an experiment... and even then it was hard to be considered "original" (granted, fireworks shots are common...)
 
i use them, but i use them for buying stock photos.

i havent gotten around to attempting to sell.
 
Overall, I'd think you would do a LOT better just selling your images directly.

I have one of my images which has been downloaded like some 400 times and I think I've made like $80 off of it or something.
 
I'm using the stock sites as a test, if I sell any I will make a more concerted effort to start marketing. I've also started reading "Sell and Re-Sell Your Photos" by Rohn Engh.
 
Overall, I'd think you would do a LOT better just selling your images directly.

I agree - but I wouldn't know how to go about doing that...

It's not like you can just e-mail companies and say - "Hey, I have some pictures - do you want to buy them?"

...Or can you? :confused:
 
^^^ just like any other business, you'd have to develop a site and start generating some traffic via advertisements, banners, etc. There's no question it would be easier doing this via a site like iStock, but look at the cost! Not to mention you're giving up your rights to that image.
 
^^^ just like any other business, you'd have to develop a site and start generating some traffic via advertisements, banners, etc. There's no question it would be easier doing this via a site like iStock, but look at the cost! Not to mention you're giving up your rights to that image.

So basically if you upload an image to Istock you kiss your rights to that image goodbye for further reproductions?
 
I am not a great iStockphoto fan. Of about 30 uploaded images they eventually accepted six, which have generated about $3.99 in two months.

Before I get flamed, I have about 700 images (including the ones rejected) with Alamy.com) and regularly sell 3-5 per month. iStockphoto has very strange acceptance rules.

Steve Nichols
Author of "Better PR and Editorial Photography"
See Learn how to take editorial and PR images you can be proud of
 

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