Shutterstock Contributor Reviews

by J.Kenneth

Went to broadcasting school and wanted to upload some pictures but every single pic I uploaded was rejected. I’m not a pro in any field but thought it would be something I would enjoy and was very dissatisfied and disappointed in the service because of over 60 rejections. I even tried dating pics from Google pics and I use an IPhone 12 Pro but everything was sent back as an error or blur even art images created as effects. This is not a user friendly app for just anyone it is only for true photographers and professionals in the photo industry I think.

by Sam Jean I Am

Uploaded great content for nature and outdoors. They rejected them all. Funny thing is I get more compliments on my nature outdoor photos on other platforms than this place.
It’s been an automatic reject. Like how? Sure my photos are from my phone, and their easy to see. I will be deactivating my account, don’t waste your time on a company that can’t take your photos serious. All the hard work you put in is not worth then saying it needs this and doesn’t have that. Every photo we do is our own art. People that may work for them don’t understand that.

by Matt Elkins Photography

I’ve honestly gave ShutterstockContributor a couple tries meaning three or four and I really really want to like the idea of this style app especially as a photo journalist and a photographer who has a full-time business but the problem is for me getting an image approved and l no matter what image I sent them they say that it’s either copyright ,there is noise ,it’s out of focus etc. Lol I guess this is the last tryJust to see if it would work this time but now every single image I try to upload failed. I mean how can you have noise when you’re shooting with Leica q or a 5D Mark III on L series lenses in broad daylight at ISO 100 it doesn’t happen lol

by Patriot65108

So I’ve made several attempts to submit some pictures online and using ShutterstockContributor. So far, all my pictures got rejected due to noise/grain, etc. I took the time to pull up the pictures that were uploaded and compared it to the original on my phone and computer. It appears that during the upload either the picture is compressed or converted to their proprietary format because the uploaded pictures are definitely not as crisp and clear and have more jaggies and “noise” then the originals. If this happens at upload then how in the heck is someone is even able to submit anything besides massive 10G or bigger sized files without being rejected? What a waste of time.

by Sterling LeCour

I check every photo I intend to upload before I do so, so I don’t get a photo not approved with a “subject not in focus” explanation when I get it back. I uploaded a picture to see if it changed the quality and sure enough, it did. And not just by a little. I took two screenshots of the same photo: one in the photos app of my tablet, and one in the Contributor app. The screenshot I took while I was in the photos app of my tablet was zoomed in quite a bit more than the one in the contributor app and was nearly crystal clear still while the one in ShutterstockContributor was clearly blurry. If this gets addressed I may update my review. Until then, I’ll use something else.

by Adam1krr

I have uploaded hundreds and hundreds of photos to ShutterstockContributor. Up until recently, the majority of them were approved. Lately, I can’t get any approvals, and some of the photos are spectacular. I wish I could actually speak to the person that continually rejects my submissions so I can understand their logic (or lack thereof).

Also, some of my photos have sold, which is really cool. I have to wonder though, how are the payouts determined? Some sell for more than others, so I’m really curious what dictates the price differences.

Overall, ShutterstockContributor , and the business are a great idea, but the constant rejections is going to cause me to stop trying to upload my work.

by Nealj121

Please take this from someone who does this all day long…

Shutterstock is the worst of the worst when it comes to stock footage websites. They used to be reasonable but when they had a merger few months back everything has gone down hill.

I am on 13 stock photo websites including exclusive ones. I used to think dreamstime was the worst but that changed over last few months.

Shutter has been rejecting more and more photos for reasons that don’t make sense. I will put that same picture on other markets with no issues.

I will take that same photo, resubmit it, and have no issues. I don’t make any changes to it. The review team is incredibly inconsistent and I’m pretty sure has no sense of what they are doing.

I have complained. I have… they don’t care. Customer service said they are changing policies too much and that could be why. Apparently that makes sense to them…

I intentionally submitted a grainy picture… they labeled it out of focus.

by Lpich94

I feel like it’s extremely difficult to get photos approved based on posterization among other reasons. Most everyone uses photo editing tools to enhance brilliance or any other defects that occur based on the fact many of these photos are currently being taken on iPhones or other smart phones which have the ability to capture great picture now a days. I understand if the photo is inferior based on megapixels but I have a hard time understanding how 80-90% of the photos are rejected for other reasons than that when I am able to sell the same photos I am providing to you which I blew up to a 20 x 30 and looked great quality wise. Thank you for your time.

Regards

Loïc

by Eli_Fitzgerald

ShutterstockContributor came up in a job listing as a website. So I wondered if it was an app and, sure enough, it was. So I downloaded it because it would be easier for me to use than a website.

The good thing about ShutterstockContributor is that I can work on multiple photos at a time; like while one is being loaded onto ShutterstockContributor I can type a description and such for a photo that’s already loaded.

I went onto it once I got the notification that my photos have been reviewed, expecting that all of my photos would be ok. (considering that I have NO nudity, gore, brand names, or anything else that could be bad in any of the photos) However, this was not the case. I had uploaded 17 photos and all of them got rejected for reasons that didn’t seem to apply to my photos. I even had one that said I had a logo in it, when I didn’t.

Then, right afterward, I went into the reviews of ShutterstockContributor to see if this is a common occurrence. Apparently it is, and it really frustrates me. I’ve also read that ShutterstockContributor doesn’t even give you much money for the photos that actually work.

Overall, don’t buy ShutterstockContributor.

by Rugby Players Don't Need Pads

This used to get a great site to sell photos, but they seem to only have idiots reviewing photos now. Probably not enough staff left or the only staff left are idiots. Basically I’m using shutterstock for the second time after previously deleting my old account. I’ve tried uploading my old photos from my old account only to have tons and tons of photos rejected that had been previously been accepted on my old account, and not only that made a lot of money too. Seriously think either shutterstock don’t want my photos to sell and earn money, or COVID-19 meant they had to lay off all their best staff, and kept all the idiot Mong’s who are being paid in buttons. Absolutely clown outfit of a company

by Courtney Stroup

I honestly just regret wasting so much time uploading images just for them not to be approved for things that have absolutely no relevance to the image it’s self. Example: image with a clear and noticeable focal point that is in focus - you can identify details effortlessly with in the image - color correction is on point - composition is fitting for subject - image was not overly compressed or adjusted in post - they will then sit there and not approve it for being out of focus yet every single other sites I have used had no issue with this with the same images. I sell my photography as prints regularly, never once had the issues I’m having with shutterstock. Such a waste of my time. Who ever or what ever does the reviewing process failed miserably and I’m not bothering with it again. Too much work. Found a better option. 👍🏻

by Evanbuck

ShutterstockContributor is very very strict. Sometimes as a photographer we like to get creative with our images and sometimes the look we’re going for might have some grain or the main subject might be out of focus, which was intentional. More recently it hasn’t been letting me upload pictures saying they aren’t more than 4mp. I know for a fact my DSLR shoots way above 4mp even after post production editing it still looks crisp and clear. And in the past they’ve uploaded just fine use the same camera, editing software, everything remained the same I’m not sure if this is a bug or what. Haven’t received much of a payout either. kind of wasting my time, money, and gas to go shoot what they recommend sells for each month.

by Use My Code To Sign Up

I tried many times to upload my photo but ShutterstockContributor kept making me fail due to redundant keywords. When i was uploading my photo it says that I can add up to 50 keywords so I did 49 and hit the submit and failed message appeared. So i cut half of my keywords and saved submitted again but still kept failing. Then restarted app tried again failed again. Decided to decrease my keywords to 10 but still kept showing me redundant keywords message. Then visited help center which says app uploading process may delayed so I could try some time later. I tried an hour later again and still failing to submit my photo. That’s what it is.

by Chitanian

Too many pics don’t get approved because the title is not descriptive enough, or supposedly not in english, even though it is. Or title doesn’t describe the image. We are artists, we title a picture how we feel like it should be titled. As a creator, song writer, photographer, producer, it just bothers me that a majority of my pictures get declined because of the title.. It should be based on the quality of the photo, not the title or description. Two people could see the same image and title it and describe it in two different ways.. and I don’t see a rename title or rewrite a description feature to update it once it gets declined. I just get frustrated because most of my pictures get declined for the wrong reasons. Very few seem to have legitimate reasons to be declined.

by Glitchykitten

There is a very low approval rate for images, and they get rejected for all sorts of reasons, some of which don’t even apply. One photo I submitted got rejected for one, very specific, reason. I fixed the issue and resubmitted it. The second time it got rejected for two new issues.
This wouldn’t be a huge problem if you actually made a decent amount of money from the photos that do get accepted, but you really don’t. I’ve never made any money off the photos they’ve accepted, even after being up for months.
If you want the possibility to earn a few cents after submitting hundreds of photos over the course of months, go for it. But if you want to use it to make money, look elsewhere.

by Pw95

Overall ShutterstockContributor is a great idea. Yet, lots of problems still. Would say this is a MVP at best. 1. Let me work on more than 10 pictures at the time. 2. Let me copy keywords. 3. Let me not just save multiple at the time but also submit them all at once. UX on this is pretty disappointing. 4. App crashes frequently or tries to upload for several days (not a network issue, other apps uploading don’t have issues and tested connection) saying “starting upload...” as it is loading...for hours per picture. 5. Why can’t I change profile settings (such as payment details) in ShutterstockContributor ? It’s always opening a browser window. If I keep getting redirected to the website I can just use my browser from the start and skip ShutterstockContributor . Please take this feedback into consideration and make some serious improvements to ShutterstockContributor , for the benefit of you (Shutterstock) and me (user/customer). Would be very appreciated!

by Cmason05

Hi, I recently started and I am a contributor and I just had some ideas the would make other contributors more efficient. One of the ideas was about the sets I know can see the sets but I wish we could put photos on that set and edit them. It would save a lot of time by not going online. The last idea I had was to see like how many images are pending on approval and stuff like that. I would like it to be more like the online version. I hope you make these changes shortly. :)

by TowerDefenseGirl

I only use this to review my sales and to put in the tags and other info prior to submitting if I haven't had a chance to do that from my computer. I always upload from my laptop, but then again, I don't upload pictures I took with my phone because they just aren't very good.

I tend to use ShutterstockContributor for quick reviews of sales and go through safari on my phone if I really want to see info on the go. ShutterstockContributor is lacking and the full site has much richer content and is way easier to use.

I still have ShutterstockContributor and use it so that's why it gets three stars. If there was way more info and a better way to view your photos, sales, analytics, etc. then I would be pretty excited.

Add more info please!

by Daffy1108

For those wishing to make a little side money on their hobby of photography , contributor by shutter stock is one avenue. However their strict standards can be quite annoying. Must have a release for so many things : public buildings like Eiffel Tower, or even someone’s home. Peoples faces that can be recognized also requires release. Brand names like Coke or McDonalds require release. So far only made a few dollars with some photos. Will continue uploading more photos and see if there can be small compensation for my time and efforts.

by BetiBup33

When I started a few years ago with an active job about photography and illustrations. The big dilemma has always been to do business locally with some store or online, through the Stock Agency ... By analyzing the market, I found that ShutterStock is the best agency for me.
I am here, we have been mourning for mutual satisfaction for many years and I am using this opportunity to thank you.
Just keep up.

Thank you for hanging with Us.

by Drummer4uva72894

I have been using half a dozen similar sites over the years, and this one has the highest rejections rates and lowest payouts of all the apps. Sometimes I just don’t even understand the reason for rejection, I double check the photo I upload and it just doesn’t match the reason they are rejecting...and one that always gets me, I need a model release for a silhouette?! I mean MAYBE, if it’s an up close portrait where you can see the shapes and features of the face, but a silhouette from thirty feet away, seriously?! Or a silhouette from behind where you can’t tell if the person could be 15 or 50?! I’ve made some money here, but it’s almost to the point where it’s not even worth my time anymore.

by In Game Name : Smauug

Why are photos being rejected for not being “descriptive enough” or, “don’t explain the subject?” Or “it isn’t written in English” when it is! I am very annoyed by this I tried to upload my first photo which was a heart, that was burning in a blue flame. I put the description as “Blue burning heart symbolizing not all hearts break immediately, they slowly burn.” Which was definitely descriptive enough. Please just review your broken approval system.

by Snap Free

It seems that the access and features come and go, other than that I have enjoyed the ability to look at recent sales... when they are updating properly. I wish ShutterstockContributor did more in the way of showing my portfolio activity.

by Megafon38

In general it is great to be able to upload, work on and submit the photos directly from the phone, especially for those contributing phone photos. However, the photos can only be uploaded one by one. It would be great if there was a possibility to submit multiple photos at the same time.

by Radiojla

ShutterstockContributor is great for submitting new photos after I have uploaded from my desktop, and checking your activity, it is easy to use, it allows you to see your portfolio, but it does not allow you to make any changes in the portfolio, or add or delete keywords. I find it easer to use ShutterstockContributor for submitting images.