我與市場的差距（一）

Poor lighting setup, poor contrast or incorrect exposure.

多虧了黃妹詩雯的回應，讓我發現自己原來還有一個部落格可以寫點東西。

這幾天看了網路上的介紹，開始把自己一些躺在硬碟生灰的照片丟上美國的圖庫，看能不能賺點電費回來。事實上這並不是容易的事，除了挑圖轉檔以外，撰寫標題、描述也得花點功夫，最煩人的是想關鍵字（keyword），因為網路上的客戶是透過搜尋來找圖片的，而英文程度有限的我，要替每張圖想出貼切、容易被用到（如 happy woman 和 mirthful female，顯然多數人會搜尋前者）、而且足夠（！！）的關鍵字實在很花時間。

不過最令人困惑與洩氣的，就是圖庫審圖的標準。

我先投稿號稱全美最熱門的 ss 圖庫，該公司的規定是必須先丟十張審核，通過七張才可以正式加入，但未來只要累積退稿五張，就得停權一個月——可以繼續收錢，但是不能上傳新圖。

結果我十張都沒過。

去除少數細節疏忽（未上傳模特兒同意書，圖說未臻完整）外，其餘的問題是：


Poor Lighting--Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect.

Composition--Limited commercial value due to framing, cropping, and/or composition.


看來我得一個月後再登門求辱（！？）。


之後，我轉而投向據說審查較寬鬆，也沒有「面壁思過」期的美國次大圖庫 dt，這次的戰果稍好……
每被退一張圖，也會過一張圖，成長率是驚人的 50％！dt 的退稿原因是：

Lack of Composition.Please visit the Stock Photo Utilities section of our site or the message boards for more information on how to produce stock-oriented images.

Poor lighting setup, poor contrast or incorrect exposure.

Image is not RF stock oriented or its sales potential is too low at this stage. Please note that Stock photography is a commercial type of imagery, so, snapshots are not Stock. There are several vital requirements that an image must meet in order to be stock oriented. An image must serve a purpose, must have a concept, must have a good technical execution in terms of composition, exposure, light setting, optical performance. Creativity is a keyword for a successful stock image, as well. It is also very important to understand that Art and Stock are two fundamentally different categories of imagery, that only meet when an artwork can adapt to a wide range of commercial usage.


（待續）