Alamy - The Challenge - DPChallenge Forums

08/26/2005 04:12:51 PM · #276

Originally posted by nsbca7:

Originally posted by WGF Images:
Imatch is not expensive compared with a 1Ds...around US$80 if I remember correctly...

I couldn't find anything on the site about Mac versions. Is there any comparable software for Macs?

I f I remember right, Alamy was cracking down on the use of these programs.

nico_blue

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

08/26/2005 04:19:17 PM · #277

Hey guys, i am planning on trying to join alamy in the near future with the about 100-150 decent quality stock images I have right now. I will read through this thread for pointers, just wanted to say thanks to all those that have gotten on Alamy for sharing their experiences and to keep your fingers crossed for me :-)

Mary Ann Melton

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 EX APO IF HSM for Canon

08/26/2005 04:29:36 PM · #278

In their instructions, Alamy recommends the use of Genuine Fractals to obtain the file size they desire. Genuine Fractals works as a plug in on my Mac Photoshop CS. It also has a windows version.

08/26/2005 04:37:10 PM · #279

Originally posted by MeThoS:

Originally posted by nsbca7:

Originally posted by WGF Images:
Imatch is not expensive compared with a 1Ds...around US$80 if I remember correctly...

I couldn't find anything on the site about Mac versions. Is there any comparable software for Macs?

I f I remember right, Alamy was cracking down on the use of these programs.

huh? cracking down? on using keywording programs....?

08/26/2005 04:54:10 PM · #280

Originally posted by leaf:

Originally posted by MeThoS:

Originally posted by nsbca7:

Originally posted by WGF Images:
Imatch is not expensive compared with a 1Ds...around US$80 if I remember correctly...

I couldn't find anything on the site about Mac versions. Is there any comparable software for Macs?

I f I remember right, Alamy was cracking down on the use of these programs.

huh? cracking down? on using keywording programs....?

My understanding is that keyword programs insert words to get the photo at the top of user searches even if the photo is irrelevant to what is being searched for. So it's very frustrating to designers or photo buyers when they have to wade through tons of images that don't pertain to what they are looking for. Which translates into disgruntled buyers not using alamy.

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

08/26/2005 05:02:27 PM · #281

The keyword program (such as imatch) only puts the keywords into the image that i tell it to. We HAVE to keyword our images. We just have to do it well. Alamy has NOTHING against using a program to make the keywording easier.

nsbca7

08/26/2005 05:12:49 PM · #282

Originally posted by leaf:

Is there a similar program for Mac? For all I know it might already be on my computer, but that doesn't help me if I don't know what it's called.

Canon EF-S 15-85mm IS USM

08/26/2005 05:13:50 PM · #283

photoshop cs2 has a bit of one, but i don't find it very convenient. I am not sure though.. i don't use a mac.

superdave_909

Canon EOS-60D

08/26/2005 08:19:30 PM · #284

Originally posted by nsbca7:

Originally posted by leaf:
The keyword program (such as imatch) only puts the keywords into the image that i tell it to. We HAVE to keyword our images. We just have to do it well. Alamy has NOTHING against using a program to make the keywording easier.

Is there a similar program for Mac? For all I know it might already be on my computer, but that doesn't help me if I don't know what it's called.

I just started using this feature in Extensis Portfolio 7, makes
keywording a lot faster! I'm pretty sure, not positive though, that
there is a version of portfolio for mac os

08/26/2005 09:31:47 PM · #285

Originally posted by leaf:

From alamy contributor source:

Firstly 'Keyword spamming', this is a practice which we are seeing more and more of, its quite clear that certain contributors are assigned a mass of irrelevant keywords to their images in a misguided attempt to improve the exposure of their images. It seems obvious that from a customer point of view this is more likely to turn someone off your images than to secure you a sale, yet it continues. In some cases it's obvious that the keywords have been generated by software that seeks to generate associated terms from a set of keywords added. In our experience such tools are unsuitable for the purposes of key wording stock photography as invariably the words automatically added are often far removed in terms of relevance.

We have also seen contributors cutting and pasting swathes of information from the internet about a given subject and placing this in the description or keyword fields. You should be aware of copyright infringement possibilities with this information and again it's important to appreciate that this invariably leads to irrelevant words being applied and therefore becoming searchable.

We must stress that while these occurrences are minimal compared to the vast amount of accurately and perceptively captioned imagery on the site we take the issue very seriously and have already deleted the keywords of a number of serial offenders in this unhelpful art.

Knew I wasn't making it up. It sounds like this is just discussing auto keyword generator programs.

oOWonderBreadOo

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

08/27/2005 01:08:49 PM · #286

ok, so I'm just reading their submission guidelines and for CD/DVD media format it says
DVDs - ISO 9660/UDF format
But I have no idea what that means and can't find it anywhere on my DVD package. Any ideas???

08/29/2005 05:03:27 PM · #287

Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:

It's the most popular recording format (Universal Disk Format) for writing CDs and DVDs. Chances are that's what your cd/dvd burner is using. You can google it for lots more info.

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

08/29/2005 06:09:11 PM · #288

Originally posted by MeThoS:

Originally posted by leaf:
The keyword program (such as imatch) only puts the keywords into the image that i tell it to. We HAVE to keyword our images. We just have to do it well. Alamy has NOTHING against using a program to make the keywording easier.

From alamy contributor source:

In some cases it's obvious that the keywords have been generated by software that seeks to generate associated terms from a set of keywords added. In our experience such tools are unsuitable for the purposes of key wording stock photography as invariably the words automatically added are often far removed in terms of relevance.

Knew I wasn't making it up. It sounds like this is just discussing auto keyword generator programs.

They are talking about programs that have the words in allready where you type in dog and the program types in 100 other words that relate to dog. Have you used imatch? I am guessing not.
It does nothing more than makes it easy for ME to type in each and every keyword that i am going to use with a photo. if i took 50 pics of a group of horses, i type in horses once and it goes on all the pics. It has nothing to do with adding mass groups of words to a image.

Could i make the program add 200 words by the click of a button? yes
could I copy and paste 200 keywords from a website (without using imath)? yes

it isn't about using imatch, it is about smart keywording... that is what they want.

petrakka

08/29/2005 06:22:24 PM · #289

i am thinkin of getting a portfolio together to send to alamy, or at least starting to work on one. Now alot of images i have are on 35mm or 120 transparencies, so im not worried about the file of those, as i can scan them huge.

...But I also have images from a 4mp p.s that are really some of my favorites. Is it reasonable to think they may have a shot at getting accepted or will there be too much quality issues after upsizing? Im not that worried about my d70 images..or should I be?

petrakka

08/29/2005 06:44:16 PM · #290

boomp

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

08/30/2005 05:33:43 AM · #291

Originally posted by petrakka:

Im not that worried about my d70 images..or should I be?

Most of the stuff I currently have loaded there is from a D70. Note that I didn't crop MUCH and then resized using Genuine Fractals to 8 bit 48MG TIFFS.

08/30/2005 10:42:55 AM · #292

Originally posted by petrakka:

...But I also have images from a 4mp p.s that are really some of my favorites. Is it reasonable to think they may have a shot at getting accepted or will there be too much quality issues after upsizing? Im not that worried about my d70 images..or should I be?

Give it a shot, you got nothing to lose. Just pay close attention to the quality when you resize up to 48 mb files. And if they get accepted, let us know.

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

08/30/2005 10:45:16 AM · #293

Woo hoo! Just made my second sale on Alamy! So yes, they do have buyers. This one was for the full 48mb. Both sales this month were from my initial submission back in February.

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

08/30/2005 10:50:57 AM · #294

Originally posted by dogz:

Woo hoo! Just made my second sale on Alamy! So yes, they do have buyers. This one was for the full 48mb. Both sales this month were from my initial submission back in February.

Congrats, which pic?
I'm working on getting my travel pics up but after that want to concentrate on creating/ uploading some more generic stock images taken specifically for stock.

08/30/2005 11:25:35 AM · #295

Originally posted by leaf:

Originally posted by MeThoS:

Originally posted by leaf:
The keyword program (such as imatch) only puts the keywords into the image that i tell it to. We HAVE to keyword our images. We just have to do it well. Alamy has NOTHING against using a program to make the keywording easier.

From alamy contributor source:

In some cases it's obvious that the keywords have been generated by software that seeks to generate associated terms from a set of keywords added. In our experience such tools are unsuitable for the purposes of key wording stock photography as invariably the words automatically added are often far removed in terms of relevance.

Knew I wasn't making it up. It sounds like this is just discussing auto keyword generator programs.

They are talking about programs that have the words in allready where you type in dog and the program types in 100 other words that relate to dog. Have you used imatch? I am guessing not.
It does nothing more than makes it easy for ME to type in each and every keyword that i am going to use with a photo. if i took 50 pics of a group of horses, i type in horses once and it goes on all the pics. It has nothing to do with adding mass groups of words to a image.

Could i make the program add 200 words by the click of a button? yes
could I copy and paste 200 keywords from a website (without using imath)? yes

it isn't about using imatch, it is about smart keywording... that is what they want.

Dude, calm down. I was just bringing it up so people didn't get in trouble. I stated before that I've never used imatch and this line sums it up. "It sounds like this is just discussing auto keyword generator programs."

Don't be an ass.

Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 EX APO IF HSM for Canon

08/30/2005 11:56:46 AM · #296

Originally posted by Kavey:

Congrats, which pic?
I'm working on getting my travel pics up but after that want to concentrate on creating/ uploading some more generic stock images taken specifically for stock.

It's this one.

Mary Ann Melton

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

08/30/2005 07:46:37 PM · #297

OK . . . . . I'm getting my second entry ready to submit at Alamy. Those of you that have already passed their QT - do all of the images have to pass for them to accept your work? Have you had problems with noise in your photos in upsizing them? If so, what did you do to correct. My photos are usually sharp enough when I can use unsharp mask, but I worry that they are not sharp enough without it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

WGF Images

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

08/31/2005 01:46:21 AM · #298

If you are using the 10-D on highest Jpeg and/or RAW you really shouldn't have any troubles with noise (unless of course the ISO was high/you have cropped it too much/or the resizing software isn't up to scratch). I have had images taken with my 300D resized to 72MB Tiff images without being failed by the Alamy QC. I use Genuine Fractuals, and more recently PS CS2's "Bicubic Smoother" resizing software.

DO NOT SHARPEN THE IMAGES (EVEN INSIDE THE CAMERA), YOU WILL ONLY GET THEM QC FAILED.

Mary Ann Melton

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 EX APO IF HSM for Canon

08/31/2005 08:06:09 AM · #299

Thanks!

I do shoot RAW. I'm not sure why some of these images have so much noise. Because I usually shoot at the lowest ISO (100). I am using Genuine Fractals. I'm going to try to get photos sent off this week. And hope for the best.

bhowie