Doug McLean

The roses are definitely our of focus. For the book, when I look at the fibers sticking out on the right, they are not very sharp. Also, the photo seems noisy in the shadows.

https://xpiksapp.com/

when I look at them full size, none of them are sharp, and I don't think any of them should be accepted. Take a look full size and you will see what I mean.

I understand Shutterstock needs to compete in a competitive marketplace, attract more buyers, and keep the shareholders happy. Every business does. I also understand that more sales at a lower royalty can earn the same as fewer sales at a higher royalty. 10 sales at $0.10 is the same as 1 sale at $1.00, and I really don't care how many sales I make, as long as the money is the same in the end. My biggest problem with the new system is resetting everyone to level 1 on January 1st. This really isn't fair, because until you work your way up to your previous level again, you will earn s

Shutterstock doesn't care what you use (phone, DSLR, P&S, etc), as long as the photos meet the quality standards. Sorry but the photo you posted isn't even close.

You might start seeing weekly sales once you have 500-600 high quality photos online. You need to take photos that are useful to the buyers. Look in magazines, on web sites, in corporate reports, on book covers, etc, to see what types of photos sell. You also need many relevant keywords. Your football field photos look like they might be your most marketable (with the vertical orientation they may be useful as book covers?), but they may never sell because you don't have good descriptions and enough keywords. There are over 5100 pages that come up when you search "football field", ho

The D5300 does not have AF fine tune, so your lens may not be focusing perfectly. Try using a steady tripod, and focus using live view to get on-sensor focusing which will be more accurate than the phase detect AF. Once focused, mirror lockup and a remote release will help. Also note that inexpensive DX lenses aren't as well built and don't have the same quality of glass that more expensive lenses do, so the image quality won't be as good. Don't expect to get the same sharpness and image quality from a cheap $350 zoom lens as you would get from a better $1500 lens, especially a telephoto

Look at it full size. It is not in focus, or had camera shake, or something. The reviewer was definitely right to reject it.

It is counted from the start of the year, You go back to the bottom again at the start of next year.