After more than two years from my first attempt and with a bit more of experience, I’ve tried again to apply as image iStockphoto contributor… at long last I’ve passed the test and the first images are now online!

Once I’ve passed the initial 3 images test – good to read “Congratulations, the iStockphoto administrators have determined that your files are commercially and technically ready for iStockphoto.com” – I submitted the first 15 images (there’s an initial limit of 15 photos a week). Strange to observe that the same 3 photos accepted in the initial test was instead rejected in this submission phase (lighting problem/keyword problem).

I’ve found the upload procedure via web harder than others stock agencies. Keywording is very accurate but, on the other hand, is time costly. For every keyword that could be ambiguous, you have to set the right meaning, for example:

I had some rejections because of wrong keywording “The keywords used for this file do not appear to be fully relevant to the subject”; they are very careful, but in this case you can resubmit the image.

mountain solar panel - iStockphoto © roberto marinello