Frequently Asked Questions

• Login
• Registering
• Purchasing, Licenses and Usage
• Problems Downloading or Using Images
• Digital Images
• Managing Your Account
• Photo Requests
• Ratings
• Navigation and Content
• Getting Paid

Login

I don't remember my login information! What should I do?
In order to keep your private information secure, we do not display login information, however we can email it to you.

I cannot login even though I am sure my username and password are correct. What's the problem?
Please be sure your internet browser does not reject cookies. If cookies are rejected, we are unable to log you in.

I am trying to login but getting the error message saying my browser rejects cookies. I set it to allow cookies, and still I cannot login.
First of all, verify the cookies are truly accepted. Type "accept cookies" in your favorite search engine, and you will find plenty of tips helping to make sure the cookies are accepted by your web browser. Once your browser is set to accept cookies, check if your computer is running any privacy control or firewall software, and review your security settings you may have set with ZoneAlarm, Norton Internet Security, BlackICE, or other firewall/privacy software (including Windows XP firewall). Alternatively, you may want to try to reset all web browser settings to defaults, clear its cache (temporary internet files) or use the latest version of another web browser (Mozilla FireFox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Google Chrome).

Registering

Do I have to register?
All ShutterPoint content is currently available for viewing free of charge. When buying photos, you do not have to be a registered member. You will only be asked to register and pay the activation fee if you choose to have an ability to post photo requests, take advantage of buyer rewards, and use other member-only features such as faster check-out, private messaging, favorites and more. If you would like to register, proceed to the Registration Page. Make sure to review our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before you register. Need more information to decide? Click here to read more about our services.

Why didn't I receive my registration confirmation via email?
Most probably, you have supplied an invalid email address. To register for our website, you need to enter your complete and valid email address.  Here are some examples:
  address@aol.com
  address@yahoo.com
  me.here@worldent.att.net

Please note that e-mail addresses do not include spaces or commas and are not case-sensitive. Invalid email addresses result in account deactivation. Note that certain mail programs or web mail providers can mistakenly place confirmation e-mails into Bulk/Junk/Spam folder. Be sure to check that folder as well.

If you are certain that you have supplied your correct email address, you may request another confirmation by clicking here and filling out the Confirmation Code Request form.

Problems Downloading or Using Images

Image is not 300dpi, why?
DPI is the setting used when printing images - the higher the DPI, the smaller the output size of the print. A DPI value sometimes gets embedded in image files, but an image's dimensions or quality are not determined by the DPI values. The only measure of an image's resolution is its dimensions in pixels.

DPI values determine how large a printer should make the pixels in the photo when it gets printed - this setting is entirely up to you. For quick reference, the site lists the print (output) sizes for all images under several most commonly used DPI settings (see "Pricing" section on the bottom right of each image). After you download the image file, you can control the print size by changing the DPI values. In your editor, be sure you do not resample the image when changing its resolution. The pixel dimensions should remain the same after you alter the DPI.

More information on this subject below

I did not receive (or lost) authorization keys
If you are registered with us as a photo buyer, you can view the keys in your Order History as soon as your new order has been processed and verified. You can also view the keys on your receipt.

If you are not registered with us as a photo buyer, it may take some time for us to verify your order and e-mail you the authorization keys. If you do not receive the keys before the end of the business day, be sure to check your Bulk/Spam/Trash folders as automated confirmations can sometimes get misplaced by your spam filtering software. You can also go to Photo Download Page and print the receipt for your purchase - authorization keys will be added to the receipt as soon as your order gets verfied.

Purchasing, Licenses and Usage

What is the advantage of purchasing digital images through ShutterPoint?

• Virtually no restrictions on how the photos can be used;
• Great features that make finding the right image easier - image zoom, search by color, "More Like This", lightboxes, and comp downloads;
• Simple and easy check-out process - no registration is required for purchasing (you may be asked to create an account if your purchase amount is under $10);
• Lots of great photos for much less money than elsewhere;
• Ability to submit photo requests and receive buyer rewards (registered photo buyers only).

How can I use images that I purchase at ShutterPoint?
Images on ShutterPoint are provided for either Commercial Use or Editorial Use. This distinction is made for each image on the website, and shown in the pricing section. Each license type we offer is royalty-free, which means that a price is paid for a photo license, not the number of times it can be used (some limitations on the number of runs apply to Standard License purchases). Please refer to the Licensing Information to learn about the types of licenses we offer and how they differ from each other.

What is commercial use?
Commercial (for profit) use license allows using photos on the commercial basis, and the type of photos usually sold under the terms of the commercial use license is generally called "stock photos". Stock photos represent majority of photos on ShutterPoint, and can be used on the book cover, as a postcard, in the ad, as part of the web site design, in the magazine, etc. Commercial use license does not explicitly prohibit any use of photos for the editorial content, and therefore commercial use includes editorial use as well.

If an individual's or a property's likeness is used commercially, you should ensure that you obtain a model or property release authorizing such use. ShutterPoint will usually not allow purchasing of unreleased images for commercial use, and you are welcome to contact us should you need to receive a copy of the release form for commercial use images you have bought. Availability of the release forms is shown in the photo information section underneath each image.

What is editorial use?
Editorial use license narrows the actual use of the photos to editorial articles or similar material that can only be used in the editorial context. "Editorial" is defined as legitimate mass media, presumed to be unbiased, which reaches a large (usually over 2000), anonymous audience. Customarily acceptable editorial uses include newspaper or magazine articles and feature stories which are associated with the image(s) used; internet articles and feature stories which are associated with the image(s) used; or certain books on topic. Editorial use images are usually different from commercial stock images, they can be photos of celebrities, politicians, newsworthy events, and many more.

What is a release?
A release is a signed documented agreement on which an individual or property owner gives permission to the photographer for the image to be reproduced commercially.

How are the images delivered?
As soon as an image is purchased (or more accurately, a license to use the image is purchased) you will be given secure access to immediately download it from ShutterPoint. You can come back to the website within 7 days after the purchase and download an image again.

I have recently purchased images from ShutterPoint.com in the past, is there any way I can download them again?
Yes. You can download any images you purchased, as long as the purchase took place in the past 7 days or less. In order to get access to your purchased images, simply claim photos and use the order number and authorization key(s) that you received after your purchase.

If you are a registered photo buyuer, you can also access your previously purchased photos as well as the order history via the Order History section in the My Account area.

Digital Images

What is the image resolution?
The concept of resolution may be confusing even to experienced photographers or designers, and in order to fully understand it, we highly recommend reading at least a few articles presented below. Reading this material just once will help you become much more knowledgeable about resolution and demystify some common myths about it.

Managing Your Account

My e-mail address has changed. How can I update my account to reflect the change?
Account Information can be updated at any time by following "My Account" link on top of every page and selecting My Information.

I would like to change my password, how do I do it?
Account Information can be updated at any time by following "My Account" link on top of every page and selecting My Info. Once there, follow the Edit Password link to reset the password.

Photo Requests

How do the photo requests work?
If you are a registered photo buyer, you can submit an unlimited number of photo requests that become visible to all ShutterPoint photographers. Photo requests allow you to locate specific images that you may not be able to find otherwise. As soon as you submit your photo request, photographers may begin sending in photos to satisfy the requirements you set. You can view photos submitted specifically to meet your needs at any time.

Submit a photo request

What are the different phases of a photo request?
All new requests become Active immediately. At any time later, you can pause the request by changing its status to Paused (this will give you an opportunity to make it Active again), or you can close the request by setting its status to Closed. Requests also can expire when the expiration date of the request is bypassed. Please note that photographers can only submit photos for Active requests.
Expired or closed requests and all submissions for them are available at the website for 30 days after the date they became inactive. After the 30 days elapse, expired or closed requests are automatically removed.

Am I obligated to purchase images submitted for my photo request?
No. Even though you are under no obligation to make any purchases, photographers take your requests seriously and expect you to buy photos that match your requirements.

Ratings

How do I submit numeric ratings?
Only the registered photographers can submit numeric ratings. If you a photo buyer, you can submit comments.

What is the entire list of words the system does not count when I submit comments?
To obtain the word count in the comments you submit, the system ignores all punctuation characters, all stand-alone numbers and letters, and the words below:

about, after, all, also, an, and, another, any, are, as, at, be, because, been, before, being, between, both, but, by, came, can, come, could, did, do, each, for, from, get, got, has, had, he, have, her, here, him, himself, his, how, if, in, into, is, it, like, make, many, me, might, more, most, much, must, my, never, now, of, on, only, or, other, our, out, over, said, same, see, should, since, so, some, still, such, take, than, that, the, their, them, then, there, these, they, this, those, through, to, too, under, up, us, very, was, way, we, well, were, what, where, which, while, who, with, would, you, your.

I cannot see the relationship between the individual given ratings and the total rating for the photo. How is the total rating determined?
The total rating for a photo is based on the individual numeric ratings; however it is not a simple arithmetic average of them. ShutterPoint uses the formula based on the true Bayesian estimate to calculate the total rating. This method is the common approach used in statistics to normalize the responses or scores. See Help on Ratings for more information on how the ratings work.

I would like to modify my comment I left earlier. How do I do it?
The system will allow you to alter comments you left before. The system "knows" you when you are logged in, and you can provide a different comment to a photo you already commented on. Simply navigate to a photo and provide your comment again - when you do, you will see a message on top of the page acknowledging your new comment. Please note that updating a comment will make it identifiable with your name, even if you originally submitted the comment as anonymous.

Navigation and Content

What is the Popularity sort option?
Popularity is the default sort order on many pages showing photo thumbnails. The higher the value of the popularity index, the better ranking photos will have on the page. The value of the popularity index for each photo is not displayed; and it is meaningless by itself since it only affects the ordering of multiple photos on the page. Factors that influence the index are the total rating and the number of views. For example, a photo with a lot of views, but few good ratings may show up higher than another photo with better ratings, but only a few views.

I tried to save the photo from the site by right-clicking, but that did not save the file. What's wrong?
Photos displayed at ShutterPoint cannot be saved with a browser. This behavior is by design, and it is meant to address potential theft of the copyrighted images. If you would like to obtain a small copy of the image you are interested in to assist you in making a purchasing decision, please use the "Download Comp" link underneath each photo.

What is the best web browser to use when viewing ShutterPoint?
We have designed the site to be compatible with almost any browser and operating system, however your best bet is a latest version of any major web browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome). You may sometimes experience problems with older browsers that have incomplete support for latest web standards.

I have disabled cookies in my browser and now I cannot login. What do I do?
In order to login to ShutterPoint.com, you need to have the settings in your browser that allow cookies. Cookies are small harmless files that are placed on your computer by your browser for a more personalized experience on the web. Please adjust your browser settings to allow cookies and try to login again. The login FAQ has some tips on how to handle problems with cookies.

Sometimes pages are showing old information, what do I do to see updated information?
Most likely the cause of this problem is that your browser is using a cached copy of the page instead of the new page on our server. Click "Refresh" button on your browser while having "Shift" key pressed on your keyboard ("Control" key on Mac). Deleting your cache (or the temporary Internet files) should help as well.

Getting Paid

How do I collect money for my Referral Program earnings?
We record all sales that your referral links generate. Each sale produces a commission posted to your account according to the schedule defined in the Referral Program. In order to get your earnings, you should tell us how you would like to receive it and when. You have a choice to get your payment via PayPal or by check, and you can specify the minimum balance amount that will trigger the payment. Once that is done, you do not need to do anything to get your money - we will process the payments to you when your payable balance reaches a minimum payment amount that you choose.

Payments are usually processed during the first and third week of every month. Please be advised that 30 days must elapse before your earnings become eligible for payouts.

What is PayPal?
PayPal is the well-established leading electronic payments service for both businesses and individuals. PayPal is widely used by auction sellers and buyers, e-commerce websites, or just people looking for an easy way to pay or receive money online. Please visit www.paypal.com and decide if this service will be right for you for receiving the payments from us.

What are the pros and cons of receiving payments via PayPal vs. check?
If you are located in the USA or other countries PayPal can support, your best choice is to use PayPal. You will be able to receive payments to your PayPal account instantly, and be notified via e-mail. Once you receive the payment to your PayPal account, you can transfer it to your local bank or use your money to pay for goods and services at countless websites accepting PayPal payments. Additionally, ShutterPoint does not assess any fees on sending money to your PayPal account. Please note that PayPal may charge a small fee for processing transactions - see PayPal website for details.

If you prefer to receive your payment by check, or you are located in the country where PayPal accounts cannot be used, select payments by check. You will receive your sales proceeds in the form of the corporate bank check by regular mail. Please note that the checks are issued in US Dollars, and you may have to pay certain fees to convert the payment to your local currency (if applicable). ShutterPoint subtracts $1.00 from each payment made by check to cover processing expenses.