KaJo has a new home!

KaJo’s photography blog has moved home, to a new blog, here: http://www.kajophotography.co.uk/

Please find me over there.

My first rejection…

I heard back from ShutterStock today. They require that in your first submission, 7 of the 10 reviewed images must be accepted. Unfortunately, 7 of my first 10 were rejected.

3 were rejected because they were of limited commercial value
4 were rejected due to excessive noise or digital artefacts.

So, now I have a much clearer idea of what standard and quality they are after. It is essential to view the images at 100% (or maybe more), remove all traces of noise (or better still, don’t shoot with any noise!) and really watch out for any artefacts. I suspect most problems were with my workflow and working with JPEG files. I’ve never had any need for higher quality than that, but i guess now I do.

So, for my resubmission, i’ll be selecting some alternative images that may have better commercial value, and for the remainder, taking the original RAW image, saving as a TIFF, and working on that, before finally saving as a JPEG as the last step of all.

Onwards and upwards, it’s all a good learning experience.

Also, today, i found another new stock site : www.picturenation.com I’ll sign up with them too.

Selling images via Micro Stock sites

I’ve decided to give this ago. As I have a little time on my hands at the moment, I’ve done a bit of research and signed up with a few microstock sites. The difficult bit will be selecting which images to upload, but at least now i’m clear on where i’m going to do it, and how.

So far, I’ve signed up for:

• Fotolia: http://en.fotolia.com/p/200767634/partner/200767634
  
• IStockPhoto
  
• ShutterStock
  ShutterStock – Check out My Gallery Here
• DreamsTime
  

I’ve also found some pages and software that look like they might be useful:

• Software for uploading to multiple microstock sites in one go : http://www.prostockmaster.com/
• Java script for resizing images : http://www.phototechniqueswiki.com/Article.aspx?articleID=34

I’ll update again when i’ve uploaded some photos for each of these sites.

CoffeeShop PS/PSE Actions

I’ve just stumbled across the fab CoffeeShop Free PS/PSE Actions! page by Rita at CoffeeShop Actions, with lots of fantastic free PS and PSE actions.  I particularly like the look of the PowderRoom one and am looking forward to having a play with that at home, but there are lots of other really useful little things on there too.

Another good resource with some interesting pages and lots of helpful hints is Erin’s http://digitalphotographyformoms.net/ – with especially good instructions for installing actions for all versions of PSE.

Distinctions Advisory Day

Firstly, apologies for not blogging sooner.  Been a busy few weeks.

So, the RPS Distinctions Advisory Day, what was it like?  In a word : Awesome

The day started with informal chat and introductions. It was great to meet some of the people with whom I had previously exchanged emails, and put some faces to names. Everybody was very kind and welcoming, and reassuring (I was very nervous).  There were about 40 people there in total, about 25 of whom were showing prints or slides, and the rest of whom were either judging, organising, or spectating.

I was informed that I would be the fifth person of the day, so I took a seat near the front and waited for things to get started.

The day started with each of the ‘judges’ (Vanessa, Nick and Tom) talking about what they are looking for when assessing L, A and F panels, as well as an introduction from the organizors.  This was an interesting insight into what is expected of applicants in terms of technical quality, visual awareness and presentation.  We then progressed onto viewing each of the participants panels.  As each person was called, their images were placed on a stand at the front, lit by two powerful lights to give a clear and bright view of the images.  Once the images were displayed to the participant’s satisfaction, the judges each took a turn in discussing the panel.  They were able to make suggestions about presentation and ‘panelling’, as well as technical quality of individual images, and help identify the stronger and the weaker images for each panel.

This feedback was fascinating and a source of excellent information – regardless of who’s panel was being discussed. I took several pages of notes from the day.  I found the advice to be both honest and critical, as well as supportive and encouraging. All of the judges found the time to speak to individuals during the breaks to provide further feedback and support.

I put forward the first panel below, along with four ‘spare’ images.  I was aware that as printed images, the 2nd and 4th on the top row were technically weaker than others, as they were a little soft in the main point of focus.  Vanessa noted this immediately, which confirmed my suspicion that I should consider replacing these, although she suggested perhaps image 4 (dandelions) could be reshot if possible.  She also made positive comments on my ‘spare’ image of the 3 Giraffes.

As well as the feedback and information from the experts, the other highlight of the day for me was seeing so many fantastic panels, particularly the A and F panels on display.  It provided a real insight as to what is required for the A and F distinctions, and how to start on the path towards these.  I came away inspired and motivated, and with a much clearer understanding of what will happen on the L Assessment day (and, I think, of what is required of me as an L applicant).

It was an exhausting day, but well worth it – I can thorougly recommend an advisory day to anybody considering applying for a Licentiate.