iStockphoto - Stock Photography Training Manual

4.0 Quality Standards

4.14 Duplicates & Series

While we encourage contributors to explore a subject beyond the obvious approaches, we cannot accept endless series of images on the same subject. If you submit multiple images of one subject, ensure that each image is significantly different from the others in the series.

By “significant differences” we mean images must go beyond simple changes in orientation, color, ancillary props or set dressing, zoom, or angle. The images in a series should have different compositions, moods, meanings, or actions.

Images in a series should also be separate captures. Different edits of the same capture are rarely acceptable as a series.

Acceptable Series:

These images all feature a bagel as the main subject, but a variety of lighting setups, camera angles, depths of field, additional props, and messages keep the series from being too repetitive.

Unacceptable Series:

Each of these series would be unacceptable, because in each case only one significant change has been made. In the first series the message, angle, lighting and usage are all identical, and only the ancillary props have been changed.

In the second series the images show a few changes in angle, zoom, and composition but don't present significant differences in usage to a client.

The third series are all the same capture with only post-processing differences. This will rarely be an acceptable strategy.

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1.0 iStockphoto's Standards

2.0 Account Information

3.0 Image Requirements

4.0 Quality Standards