Alamy - The Challenge - DPChallenge Forums

06/30/2006 10:38:44 AM · #851

Michael, it is a rush! I think some of my friends, who know I've been into photography for most of my life, assume I'll be disappointed that there haven't been any sales of MY images as opposed to Pete's (since he's only been into photography for a few years) but I feel a huge thrill when either of us make a sale and I love the fact that my partner is, these days, just as much into photography as I am!

I'm currently processing images from our trip to Galagapos and Peru last spring (so behind!) which will result in over 300 more images to load to Alamy. Nearly done on the processing but oh my god keywording is gonna be a bitch.

One of the things on my list is to submit our Alamy portfolio to other agencies too - I really must get my arse in gear on that front.

PS Can I just tell you again incase you'd forgotten. Your pears and gourd photo is still one my all time favourites ever.

Nikon MF 180mm f/2.8 ED AIS

06/30/2006 10:39:52 AM · #852

Just goes to show which one of us is the best photographer ;)

/hide

mcmurma

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

06/30/2006 11:54:46 AM · #853

Pete, you better watch your step. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble :)

I started off thinking I would just submit all my images to many different places... then all that horrible penance of keywording would (hopefully) reap the most benefit. And ultimately, this may be true, if you have the time to keep up with it all. Frankly, I'm finding that keeping up with even 3 agencies is a handful, and I havn't been working it very hard at all. It's just a hassle to juggle the diff submissions formats/requirements, etc... And the extra work makes me dread getting submissions ready!

I'm glad you still like the Boscs and Gourd Kavey, I wish it would sell!

Regards to you both,

-Michael

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

06/30/2006 11:57:31 AM · #854

OMG just thought I'd check Alamy to see if I've sold anything yet... and ...

THIS

sold 4 days ago for $285 :) Yay! First sale with them.

mcmurma

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Nikon MF 180mm f/2.8 ED AIS

06/30/2006 12:02:30 PM · #855

Originally posted by idnic:

OMG just thought I'd check Alamy to see if I've sold anything yet... and ...

THIS

sold 4 days ago for $285 :) Yay! First sale with them.

Congrats! I like that image. I bet it will be a good seller for you.

-Michael

Ben

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

07/20/2006 05:23:56 AM · #856

Just osme quick 'quality' questions about submitting, if these have been answered you'll have to forgive me for not reading through a 35 page thread.
:P

On their help with submitting page (alamy) it states here;

'
d) All files submitted must be Tiffs or JPEG Level 12. We also accept LZW compression for Tiffs. Bitmap, RAW, STN or PSD files will be rejected.

e) Bit depth of 8 bits/channel. If scanning images, scan to the highest bit depth possible as this gives better tonal range. Convert to 8 bits/channel before sending the images to us as our upload system automatically reduces any 16 bit files to 8 bit.

f) 48MB minimum uncompressed file size (unless reportage material, which we will accept as 24MB minimum). Alamy have imposed this minimum requirement to sell to the widest possible market. Note that images could be used for anything from a small web image to a giant poster.

* Note for images from digital cameras - We strongly recommend that images are captured on a digital camera capable of producing files of 17MB and upwards (6 megapixels). Please then interpolate the images to a minimum of 48MB using professional upsizing software. We recommend Genuine Fractalsâ�¢, although other professional upsizing software is equally acceptable, including Abobe Photoshop versions 7 and CS/CS2 (if the bicubic option is used).
* Note about resolution - The resolution of a digital image is measured in bytes - or in our case - Megabytes. This is the only true measure of the amount of information contained in the image, i.e. its resolution. The actual dpi/ppi is not important in itself - only the file size matters.'

Now if they accept Jpegs, level 12 surely they would be far less than 48mb as they're compressed, so do they actually accept them or not? Because i could fit alot more jpgs on a cd than tiffs.

Also could someone tell me what settings to use in Genuine Fractals?
I'm not sure, do i just change the resolution to 300, which is 417%?
Thanks for any help.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

07/20/2006 05:38:35 AM · #857

Originally posted by Kerm:

Now if they accept Jpegs, level 12 surely they would be far less than 48mb as they're compressed, so do they actually accept them or not? Because i could fit alot more jpgs on a cd than tiffs.

When they ask for "48mb images" they do not mean the physical file size, but the number of bytes in the (uncompressed) image.

There are 3 bytes per pixel (RGB) so that's 17 megapixels, or roughly 5000 x 3500 (ish).

If you're using Photoshop, make sure you're in 8-bit mode and look at the status bar at the bottom left of the image you have open and it will tell you the image size in those terms.

Ben

Canon EOS-30D

07/20/2006 06:01:24 AM · #858

Right, so i've just opened a RAW file in CS2, then in the RAW dialog box just selected '5120 x 3413 (17.5MP) +' from the drop down box, then when i open it in PS the file size (bottom left) says 50MB, then i save as JPG - 12, and the file size on my hard drive is 3.69 MB, is this acceptable?
Or a bad way of doing it?

Im abit lost. I have the demo of Genuine fractals, but dont know how to use it properly. Ha.

Thanks for the help, again.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

07/20/2006 06:08:07 AM · #859

Well, you're ending up with the right sized file, yes.

By specifying the size in the raw convertion stage, you're using Photoshop's raw converter to do the upsizing - I've not personally used it, but I have certainly heard that these days it does a pretty good job.

Ben

Canon EOS-30D

07/20/2006 06:18:51 AM · #860

Ok great.
Thanks alot for your help Ganders.

Can i ask what you use? And more importantly for me what settings and sizes do you get?

Message edited by author 2006-07-20 06:19:42.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

07/20/2006 07:35:35 AM · #861

I use Genuine Fractals (mainly because when I started that was about the only thing Alamy recommended, and I'm not sure the resizing in PS6 was as good!); as for settings it varies a bit but I tend to make my shortest side 3500px and double-check that it gets me across the 48mb limit.

Not too sure my massive sales count of 2 qualifies me as an expert, but I can at least claim to have never had a rejection from Alamy (unlike all the microstock sites who routinely reject at random, usually images that go on to be top sellers elsewhere hehe)

front_element

Nikon D700

07/21/2006 06:37:44 AM · #862

Another handy thing with Genuine Fractals is that you can save the .stn files of completed images at much smaller sizes with no quality loss.

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG for Canon

07/21/2006 07:15:55 AM · #863

Congrats to Cindi - I missed your post somehow - woo hoo to you!

Michael, which other sites are you submitting to besides Alamy? Can you remind me?

Thanks

cerebis

Canon EOS-20D

07/31/2006 08:09:50 PM · #864

I've had images on alamy for around three years now, and sold about $7500 worth of pics, of which I got 60 %, so I am obviously happy with the results. Rather depressingly in terms of my photography, its been my 3d rendered images that have sold the best, more graphic and less geo-specific I guess. And, yes, even I think the baby pic looks a little freaky, but somebody must like it, cos they're paying for it :)

Here are the 3 best sellers to give u an idea :

mcmurma

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Nikon MF 180mm f/2.8 ED AIS

08/01/2006 11:37:27 AM · #865

Originally posted by Kavey:

Congrats to Cindi - I missed your post somehow - woo hoo to you!

Michael, which other sites are you submitting to besides Alamy? Can you remind me?

Thanks

Hi Kavey,

Yes. I'm currently submitting to Alamy, Acclaim, and MyLoupe. I have been seriously considering dropping MyLoupe. In fact, I have already pulled my rights managed images and have nothing but a handful of RF images there.

I'm too lazy to keep up with two sites, let alone three :)

Hope you and Pete are doing well.

Regards,

-Michael

08/01/2006 11:38:45 AM · #866

has there been any more word from alamy about the ability to upload images? i've got a bunch prepped but don't want to send them if i can just upload them soon.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

08/08/2006 09:10:59 PM · #867

well, fine. i didn't want to talk to you either. :P

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

08/08/2006 09:18:48 PM · #868

Rob, the last I heard it was scheduled for "Late Summer".... I'm still waiting!!

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

08/08/2006 09:32:38 PM · #869

well, the newsletter says this:

Originally posted by Alamy:

The new upload system will only accept jpgs, so you should now start submitting jpgs, as opposed to tiffs. Tiffs will simply be too large to upload online.

so i guess even if we send in discs we should send jpgs now.

PhantomEWO

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/08/2006 10:32:48 PM · #870

Originally posted by muckpond:

well, the newsletter says this:

Originally posted by Alamy:

The new upload system will only accept jpgs, so you should now start submitting jpgs, as opposed to tiffs. Tiffs will simply be too large to upload online.

so i guess even if we send in discs we should send jpgs now.

Yup, the last two disks I sent in were JPG saved at level 12. Make sure you convert to JPG from at least a 48 Mb TIFF first. Most of my JPG have been between 6Mb and 12 Mb. So even when they allow DL it will be real real slow and still not practical unless you have a T-1 or faster.

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

08/15/2006 09:36:21 AM · #871

Here's the latest word from Alamy:

Dear Contributor,

We are currently testing AlamyUpload and are on track for beginning the gradual roll-out of this new facility to contributors during the last quarter of this year. We'll be letting you know the exact timescales for this as soon as we can.

In the meantime we'd like to let you know about the
technical requirements to use this facility.

There are two options available to you - AlamyUpload
and Standard Upload.

AlamyUpload is supported for:

Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP
- Internet Explorer 6 or later
- Firefox 1.5 (with JRE 1.4 or later)
- AOL 9 or later (if Internet Explorer 6 or later is installed).

Mac OSX
- Safari
- Firefox 1.5 (Mac OSX 10.4 only)

We recommend that you use AlamyUpload, but should you not
wish to upgrade your computer to meet the above requirements, you can try using Standard Upload. However, this method has less flexibility and will be slower.

In order to use AlamyUpload, you may need what are known
as "administrator privileges" on your computer. If you own
the machine you are using, it is likely that this is already the case.

If you have any queries about these technical requirements,
we suggest that in the first instance you speak to your technical advisor.

In line with our submission guidelines, all images submitted Online must be at least 48Mb uncompressed. This now also applies to reportage images. Files which are smaller than this will be rejected by the System.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

08/15/2006 10:45:38 AM · #872

Yes we got this too but no word on the release date yet... They first started testing online upload such a long while back that I'm slightly surprised at how long it's taking them to introduce it but to be honest, I don't find the CD/ DVD route that much of a problem so it's not a big deal to me.

briphoto

Nikon D700

08/17/2006 05:39:03 AM · #873

I'm glad they are taking their time with the new upload capability. Nothing is worse than software released before it has been tested and proven to be workable. However, I wish they would hurry up... I do very dislike having to send discs to the UK and wait 4-6 weeks for the photos to appear on Alamy.com. Does anyone know if the uploaded photos will go through a QC like they do now, or will we have "immediate publish" privileges like we do on sites like MyLoupe.com?

08/17/2006 06:05:28 AM · #874

I believe they will go through QC in same way as they do now - I spoke to someone at Alamy about it some months ago.

I'm thinking the upload facility is going to lead to a LOT more submissions and I suspect QC may even take longer than it does now unless they bring in additional QC staff. Now they are accepting JPEGs I wonder if they will also see more sharpening/ compression artifacts?

I agree that it's good to wait until the software is ready rather than release with bugs and poorly designed interface but it's been a REALLY long time since they first started testing this...

I may stick with sending stuff by disk anyway, to be honest. It works well for me.