Who else is currently with Alamy?

06/07/2010 10:57:12 AM · #26

I've been registered for ages and keep trying to come up with the initial upload for review. So far have not done so.
I need to stop procrastinating and just do it.

06/07/2010 02:19:45 PM · #27

Ahhh, procrastination, also a favourite hobby of mine!

I was registered for 2 yrs before I realized that the D40 wouldn't cut it, and of course now it's officially an unsuitable camera. But the D90 has given me a ton of confidence, and I finally took the plunge...and it's not so bad. Just read very carefully all 24 reasons to reject an image, then go shoot (strongly recommend using a tripod), resize, upload, and cross your fingers...

Good luck all!

06/08/2010 09:14:17 AM · #28

Oooh got a zoom on one of those two images...c'mon buyer, buy that picture....pleasepleaseplease...

06/09/2010 09:07:00 AM · #29

Ooh another image got looked and at zoomed 5x! C'mon, it's such a pretty picture

! Even got some bokeh going on! Buy it dammit! :-)

Message edited by author 2010-06-09 09:08:56.

06/10/2010 08:29:17 AM · #30

OK all you procrastinators, here's a good reason to quit procrastinating and get those initial QC images in...

I was browsing the forums and my jaw dropped at the top sales figure for May. So sit down.

One image sold to a US transport service for $33000. THIRTY-THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Now I've no idea how big a sale like this comes along, and if the company paid that much they must have bought exclusivity and are going to re-do their fleet, advertising etc with that image.

But if that doesn't provide you with a little bit of incentive to get cracking, I don't know what will! :-)

Sigma 85mm f/1.4 for Canon

06/10/2010 03:26:44 PM · #31

afternoon bump

RKT

Canon EOS-60D

06/10/2010 03:47:22 PM · #32

Originally posted by snaffles:

This is not the norm over at Alamy. One image sold at that price...one out of millions. It's like hitting the lottery really. Patience is a virtue when it comes to selling at Alamy. I was there well over a year before my first sale. The more you have up over there, and the more active you are with uploading, the better. Most people don't see a sale until they have over 500 images up, but some see sales much sooner. I only had a little over 100 images up before I got my first sale. Variety is also a good thing.

06/10/2010 03:53:11 PM · #33

Oh, I realize it's an abnormally high sum, I'm not deluding myself or anyone else! But on the other hand, it is encouraging to see a sum that big. And yes, good analogy to winning the lottery. However, strange things have been known to happen.

Meanwhile I am still patiently shooting, keywording and uploading on a regular basis...and am adding more variety in my shots. Thanks for the advice and info on your own Alamy experiences.

Message edited by author 2010-06-10 15:55:11.

serdar415

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

06/10/2010 04:03:21 PM · #34

Hi and wellcome to stock business. I suggest to upload different photos with people. Ask designers what they need and upload them. They dont buy photos just because they are pretty. And they can shoot flowers themselves too, they dont need to buy :) Try to shoot everyday photos in different angles and concepts. Here is a classic sample:
A busines man in meeting room...... eh maybe sells (there are millions of this photo out there)
A businessman using laptop on a tree... start to make sense

And if you have good photos the photo count is not important. Some have 30 40 photos and sales over 1000.
Try to keep up quality, rare photos.

Good luck :)

Message edited by author 2010-06-10 16:05:27.

06/10/2010 07:07:59 PM · #35

Thank you very much for the advice, doing my best to vary my portfolio! :-)

06/11/2010 08:10:41 PM · #36

Welcome to the

snaffles monologue on Alamy...:-0

Today's helpful advice, when keywording animals/plants, make sure you put in the Latin term...one of my images got zoomed and was in a fairly small field of only 117 images, and the search used by the client was only its Latin name.

06/12/2010 08:21:42 PM · #37

evening bump

06/12/2010 08:29:02 PM · #38

Originally posted by snaffles:

evening bump

What? No addition to your monologue? ;oP

06/12/2010 09:12:17 PM · #39

Originally posted by cpanaioti:

Originally posted by snaffles:
evening bump

What? No addition to your monologue? ;oP

lol nope not today...except my last batch of pix which I uploaded Monday morning, still have NOT cleared QC yet...not worried but in meantime in no rush to send in more pix. Why add to an existing backlog?!

06/12/2010 09:18:44 PM · #40

Originally posted by snaffles:

Originally posted by cpanaioti:

Originally posted by snaffles:
evening bump

What? No addition to your monologue? ;oP

lol nope not today...except my last batch of pix which I uploaded Monday morning, still have NOT cleared QC yet...not worried but in meantime in no rush to send in more pix. Why add to an existing backlog?!

I still haven't put my first batch together. It'll have to wait until the middle of next month since I have too many other things to deal with at the moment.

06/13/2010 09:41:59 AM · #41

Morning monologue, with your host

snaffles...

The first few batches I sent Alamy cleared QC within 24hrs. However as I am painfully learning, it can and will take a week. So by tomorrow I should know if latest batch has cleared QC.

ETA:...remember how I mentioned it's good to always put in the Latin name of flora and fauna? Yesterday I saw a member of the species sitting on its haunches, one of which whose images got seen only because I had used its Latin name. So I said 'Hi, Lepus americanus', and after looking at me like I was completely daft, the snowshoe hare bounded off into the woods....so Disneyish it's sickening! :-0

Message edited by author 2010-06-13 09:44:57.

06/13/2010 11:43:40 AM · #42

Originally posted by snaffles:

Morning monologue, with your host snaffles...

The first few batches I sent Alamy cleared QC within 24hrs. However as I am painfully learning, it can and will take a week. So by tomorrow I should know if latest batch has cleared QC.

ETA:...remember how I mentioned it's good to always put in the Latin name of flora and fauna? Yesterday I saw a member of the species sitting on its haunches, one of which whose images got seen only because I had used its Latin name. So I said 'Hi, Lepus americanus', and after looking at me like I was completely daft, the snowshoe hare bounded off into the woods....so Disneyish it's sickening! :-0

So now you're Dr. Doolittle? hehe

06/14/2010 03:04:04 PM · #43

Apparently! :-)

And for today's Alamy monologue...well I did decide to upload a pic that I was NOT 100% sure of in terms of quality (looked a teeny tiny bit soft) ...and yes *sob, sniff* got a batch of 6 photos rejected, all because 1 had faults with it. So entirely my fault.

As a result I will delete that pic, resubmit the others (though I may as well be on the safe side and check them over again, too) and see how it shakes out.

serdar415

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

06/14/2010 03:20:22 PM · #44

They should be inspecting every photo separately even if they uploaded as a batch. A problem in a photo should not affect the others.

06/14/2010 03:23:41 PM · #45

Originally posted by serdar415:

They should be inspecting every photo separately even if they uploaded as a batch. A problem in a photo should not affect the others.

Sadly, that's how it is at Alamy, and I knew that if there was one bad shot the whole batch would be rejected. That's just how they do it, they are very straightforward about it.

I don't mind the slap on the wrist, serves me right for getting lazy.

btw

serdar415, do you have a link to your stock images?

06/14/2010 03:49:28 PM · #46

That's probably deliberate to keep the batches small. No one wants to risk having hundreds rejected because one is bad. ;o)

06/14/2010 05:17:58 PM · #47

That's my guess, too. Generally I do between 6 and 10 per upload. And from the looks of it, the only one that they actually had a problem with was the one flagged with the reasons why they rejected it. Everything else was jsut collateral damage...I hope! :-)

06/16/2010 09:07:46 AM · #48

And now for your morning monologue on Alamy from snaffles...

I have heard that if your images fail QC (and yes they DO single out the offending photo, give you the reasons why and expect you to either fix it (which I can't in this case) or fuhgedaboudit. Anyway seems that if you have failed QC recently your photos are bumped down the line, probably as a form of reprimand, so it will probably be another week before this Monday's batch passes QC. However, nothing says that in the meantime you cannot continue to upload more images, so I am prepping another batch to upload later today...once I get my studio tidied up BAHAHAHAAHAAAA!

And that is it for today's morning monologue.

ganders

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

06/16/2010 09:46:37 AM · #49

Meh... I'm not convinced that's true. Looking at submissions for this year, things generally pass QC within 24 hours, although there are occasional (presumably busy) times where that can stretch out to 2 or 3 days. The only real exceptions are one or two batches that have taken nearly a week, when I suspect I've had some marginal pictures that have had to have a second pair of eyes checking them.

During that time I've had 3 failures - one for a dust bunny I missed and two for pictures which I frankly knew were marginal. In all those cases, the next batch got approved within 24 hours.

edit to add: that said, I've got an established record of QC passes, which may make them more forgiving of my occasional hiccups!

Message edited by author 2010-06-16 09:47:41.