Tips for PhotoDune and Fotolia
I cover both of these sites in detail in my eBook, but a couple of updates that will be useful if you are uploading to these sites.
Fotolia: When I upload to Fotolia, I now click on the “State” heading in “Manage Files” before starting to edit the uploaded images prior to submission. This keeps all the unsubmitted files on the first page of images, and stops you having to keep jumping to later pages if you have uploaded a lot of images. The advice to keep looking for images that match the current categories still stands. One change I noticed recently – for some reason, the default settings on the Edit Image page currently set the price of an extended license to the minimum available. It used to default to the maximum price. Two things here – when you are uploading new images, have a look at the extended price and make sure you modify it to the maximum available. If you have submitted images in the past and think that you have underpriced them, email support at Fotolia and ask them to change all your existing files to the maximum price. This price changes as you become more successful and so checking that you are at the maximum price is worthwhile from time to time.
PhotoDune: Almost alone among the major stock sites, PhotoDune requires you to separate your uploaded people images by model and upload a model release into a different FTP folder when you are uploading the photos. Of course, this is all on the assumption that PhotoDune is the only site we are submitting to, and so it all makes sense!! If you are like me and using Lightburner, then it is almost impossible to follow their rules – our photos just get uploaded as part of the bulk FTP system, and when we later go to PhotoDune to submit them, we realize that no model releases are present. My tip is to just forget this part of their process. Images without model releases will be rejected, and you will get an email telling you of the rejection – however, they are only soft rejected. If you go to the Author’s Dashboard and choose the “Hidden” tab, you will see any images that have been rejected because of missing model releases. Click on each one in turn, and choose “Edit” and on that screen you can upload a model release (in a zip file) for that model. Luckily, that first upload of the model release is sufficient for the whole batch – just edit each one in turn and you will be able to select your model release in the “Model release” drop down box. I add a little message to the reviewer explaining that a model release is now attached and resubmit. They are normally all accepted at that point.
