Slightly wobbly newcomer

[Guest]

Hello

I recently decided to ditch my current business (antiques) for stock photography, did loads of research, joined Alamy, bought a tripod and ordered a camera, in that order. My research included reading many threads here (often scary, but I feel like I know some of you already ) Am ready to take the plunge.

I was a keen amateur photographer years ago but haven't taken pictures seriously for some time. I'm a bit daunted by the new technology I've got to get my head around but I daresay I'll get to grips with it. Most of it. Enough of it.

The best strategy seems to be to spend the next few months taking and editing as many (suitable) photos as possible and, once accepted, upload a few hundred at once or in batches so that I can hopefully maintain a middle ranking. Does this make sense?

I shall probably ask various questions if I can't turn up answers here or elsewhere; will try not be tiresome, though.

Anyway, a happy and prosperous new year to all, hope to make your various acquaintance soon.

Jan

 

 

[Guest]

Make a gushy, amateurish post, albeit friendly, and you shouldn't expect an answer. Noted.

[John Morrison]

Hi Jan...

 

The best strategy, IMO, is to upload your best pix (size of upload doesn't matter) and keyword them carefully. If people like your pix (by zooming... and buying) your ranking will rise. But most people here would agree that submitting pix to Alamy isn't likely to provide a 'proper' income, and the situation is getting worse rather than better. Giving up one business - antiques - for stock photography, even before you've bought a camera, seems rather optimistic. The people in the forum are generally happy to answer questions, and only a few of them are grumpy...

[ManWay]

Hi Jan

 

If you look on this forum at "how was your 2013?" and "How was your december?" you will realise that this is not an easy option or a road paved with gold. I wouldn't give up the antiques business you mention. Very few people can make a living in the marketplace of stock (or any other kind) of photography these days.

Having said that I wish you luck in your endeavors .

 

Regards

Richard

[Martin P Wilson]

I would have though the antiques business would have provided a great source of raw material for stock photography. It seems you might be going about things back to front. The best advice for a budding stock photographer is to stay in the job you have and build your portfolio and learn the craft while you have the comfort of an income. Worrying about money is not conducive to thinking about photography.

 

If I had access to the contents of an antique shop (and the knowledge) it would keep me VERY BUSY as a stock photographer. You may just have thrown the baby out with bathwater; most successful stock photographers major in fields they understand inside out. Above all it is a business, and a tough one at that.

 

Good luck anyway, you are sure going to need it.

[spacecadet]

Stock photography doesn't pay enough to justify any specific expenditure. If we still used film it wouldn't even pay for that.

[Mike@Meonshore]

Hi Jan,

 

Welcome.

 

You should note that we are in the first week of the year and many people are spending Christmas/New Year not rabidly reading forums and answering questions but with their families or watching the Sound of Music. Had you posted at any time other than this you might have picked up a faster response. A simple "bump" might have been a more suitable technique rather than complaining about the lack of attention  .

 

I'm sure you have read the submission guidelines but critically if you haven't already your initial submission should be of 4 images.

 

http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/prepare-images.asp

 

The recommendation is to make them as simple as possible to QA and get accepted - nothing too arty or challenging - and with the basic assessment items all easy to tick.

 

Then whether you send in batches of 10's or 100's you'll need 1000+ to see regular sales, and more likely 3000+ across a wide spread of subjects.

 

Good luck with it.

[Doc]

I would have though the antiques business would have provided a great source of raw material for stock photography. It seems you might be going about things back to front. The best advice for a budding stock photographer is to stay in the job you have and build your portfolio and learn the craft while you have the comfort of an income. Worrying about money is not conducive to thinking about photography.

 

If I had access to the contents of an antique shop (and the knowledge) it would keep me VERY BUSY as a stock photographer. You may just have thrown the baby out with bathwater; most successful stock photographers major in fields they understand inside out. Above all it is a business, and a tough one at that.

 

Good luck anyway, you are sure going to need it.

Good advice I think Jan from Martin  - also, rather than waiting till you have taken a few hundred images, I would upload 4 good sharp images immediately, get them passed and then you can gradually add to them as you take the shots,which is much more satisfying, not to mention faster and easier on the key-wording front!

 

Good luck and welcome  

 

Kumar

[Guest]

Hi John

Since my first post, have decided to keep antiques business going, at least for the time being, run the two alongside. I earn very little and I would not have to earn so very much with photography to equal it.

Have camera now, and am learning to use it. Am ace keyworder, as my business is mostly via ebay.

This is a bit of a standing start, but I'm not a novice photographer, although digital photography is relatively new to me.

Thanks for your reply.

Jan

 

Hi Richard

I don't for one moment imagine a road paved with gold, just a chance to make at least some money, doing something I enjoy.

Thanks for your good wishes.

Jan

 

Hi Martin

No shop, and I already had it in mind to use antiques in some of my photos

Thanks for your good wishes.

Jan

 

Hi Mark

My old Coolpix had packed up, I needed a new camera anyway.

Jan

 

Hi Mike

The forum's been pretty active, actually.

Have done lots of research but thanks for your suggestions.

Jan

 

Hi Kumar

I thought it might be better to wait so that I could maintain a middle ranking more easily. Perhaps I've misunderstood but, from reading previous threads, it seems that you have to kind of 'feed the beast' to avoid slipping back in the rankings from having too few pictures.

Thanks for your welcome.

Jan

[NYCat]

I think quality of images is much more important than the numbers. Better to have fewer striking ones and even better to have subjects that have not been well covered. Of course, Jeff Greenberg has been able to put up huge numbers while not losing quality. Not easy to do. I have put up images that I wish I hadn't because they are not my best work. Now, of course, people are going to report sales on images they were about to delete!!! There is no one answer, but I really suggest not worrying too much about the numbers at this point.

 

Paulette

[Addict]

My advice is find a job that makes a min of say $15 an hour for your time".."........period

[Phil Robinson]

Stock photography doesn't pay enough to justify any specific expenditure. If we still used film it wouldn't even pay for that.

If the business still relied on film, we'd still be earning the fees we got 10 years ago.

[Guest]

I think quality of images is much more important than the numbers. Better to have fewer striking ones and even better to have subjects that have not been well covered. Of course, Jeff Greenberg has been able to put up huge numbers while not losing quality. Not easy to do. I have put up images that I wish I hadn't because they are not my best work. Now, of course, people are going to report sales on images they were about to delete!!! There is no one answer, but I really suggest not worrying too much about the numbers at this point.

 

Paulette

Thank you, Paulette, I was wondering about the numbers thing and I think you're right. 100 great images would no doubt do better than 3,000 iffy ones.

Thanks for such a positive post.

Jan

[Doc]

 

 

Hi Kumar

I thought it might be better to wait so that I could maintain a middle ranking more easily. Perhaps I've misunderstood but, from reading previous threads, it seems that you have to kind of 'feed the beast' to avoid slipping back in the rankings from having too few pictures.

Thanks for your welcome.

Jan

Hi Jan,

 

As I understand it all newcomers are put in by Alamy at the average rank. They then rise or fall depending on their subsequent performance, but since the ranking system uses the previous 9 months data to generate a rank, newcomers will stay on average rank for 9 months before moving.

 

You may notice that average rank in the BHZ system is around page 20 out of 25 pages, but I think this is because it is only the active enthusiastic contributors who play the BHZ system and there are a lot of "dead" contributors out there!!

 

Regards

Kumar

[Guest]

Hi Kumar

 

Thanks for that. If it depends on sales rather than numbers of photos then I have misunderstood and so will get some photos on here quicker than I was planning to.

 

In Googling 'BHZ', I came across this, which I'm posting a link to because I think it might help other newbies like me:

 

http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/two-essential-links-to-read-from-alamy/5/?wap2

 

The BHZ system sounds like a stick to beat yourself with - think I'll be giving it a miss!

 

Jan

[Inchiquin]

 

newcomers will stay on average rank for 9 months before moving.

 

 

I was with Alamy for 5 years before my ranking even started to move away from its initial median position.

 

 

The BHZ system sounds like a stick to beat yourself with - think I'll be giving it a miss!

 

 

It's marginally useful as a quick and simple way of seeing in which direction you're moving every 3 months.

 

Alan

[Ed Rooney]

 

I think quality of images is much more important than the numbers. Better to have fewer striking ones and even better to have subjects that have not been well covered. Of course, Jeff Greenberg has been able to put up huge numbers while not losing quality. Not easy to do. I have put up images that I wish I hadn't because they are not my best work. Now, of course, people are going to report sales on images they were about to delete!!! There is no one answer, but I really suggest not worrying too much about the numbers at this point.

 

Paulette

Thank you, Paulette, I was wondering about the numbers thing and I think you're right. 100 great images would no doubt do better than 3,000 iffy ones.

Thanks for such a positive post.

Jan

 

 

Jan, it's early days for you to be focused on rank and positioning yourself with regard to the size of your collection. Before you do anything else, you must have your 4 test images pass Quality Control. That's not something to be casual about. Alamy is an unedited collection -- QC is not concerned with how artistic your test images are. They will want to see 4 sharp (at 100%), well-exposed, well-lighted images without noise. The subjects are irrelative.

 

You say you bought a new camera. May I ask what it is? And what lens you're using? Did you check Alamy's Preferred Cameras list? http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/recommended-digital-cameras.asp

 

My BHZ image was on page 2, but I deleted the BHZ in my keywords.

 

One more thing (There's always one more thing): I spent a long time as a pro back in the film age. I found that the move into digital was a much steeper climb than I had expected.  

 

Good luck and welcome.

 

Ed

[Guest]

I'm not at all casual about it, but I am confident that I can pass QC once I've got to grips with the technology. I'm aware of the criteria. My camera is on the Alamy list but excuse me if I don't say what it is. I didn't come here to have my choice of equipment picked apart, nor for anyone to tell me whether I've got a right to try my hand at stock photography or not.

[Mirco Vacca]

It is a difficult adventure indeed. I am a newcomer also. I am here because i love photography and i have a reason to take images for. But over 5000 images going to 6000 and being here for 4 months it is still not like it goes as on other agency where i started in 2009. Far different results between this two. On that other one i have 4000 images. Also i think microstock is taking more and more from the market. There is one microstock agency that has allready 6,5 million costumers. This is a mega great number and it is growing every month.

 

I think it is like Philippe said. But anyway you should always try. You can submit to Alamy and a few others. So still dont loose hope......

[Ed Rooney]

I'm not at all casual about it, but I am confident that I can pass QC once I've got to grips with the technology. I'm aware of the criteria. My camera is on the Alamy list but excuse me if I don't say what it is. I didn't come here to have my choice of equipment picked apart, nor for anyone to tell me whether I've got a right to try my hand at stock photography or not.

 

Well . . . I guess you told me. 

[Craig Yates]

Hello

I recently decided to ditch my current business (antiques) for stock photography, did loads of research, joined Alamy, bought a tripod and ordered a camera, in that order. My research included reading many threads here (often scary, but I feel like I know some of you already ) Am ready to take the plunge.

I was a keen amateur photographer years ago but haven't taken pictures seriously for some time. I'm a bit daunted by the new technology I've got to get my head around but I daresay I'll get to grips with it. Most of it. Enough of it.

The best strategy seems to be to spend the next few months taking and editing as many (suitable) photos as possible and, once accepted, upload a few hundred at once or in batches so that I can hopefully maintain a middle ranking. Does this make sense?

I shall probably ask various questions if I can't turn up answers here or elsewhere; will try not be tiresome, though.

Anyway, a happy and prosperous new year to all, hope to make your various acquaintance soon.

Jan

 

Hi Jan, Ditching your antique business for a plunge into stock photography is a very brave step,Unless you have heaps of cash in the bank to support

your venture. Personally I would do them both in parallel and establish a solid manageable workflow between the 2 jobs. You say you have a camera, you also need a PC, and some photo editing software, all of which will take time to get the hang of. Your learning curve will be steep, but keep your expectations low. You are up against 43.5 million other images on this agency alone.

There are some very helpful experienced stock photographers on this forum who will be happy to answer you questions.

Good luck.

 

Regards

Craig

[icon]

I'm not at all casual about it, but I am confident that I can pass QC once I've got to grips with the technology. I'm aware of the criteria. My camera is on the Alamy list but excuse me if I don't say what it is. I didn't come here to have my choice of equipment picked apart, nor for anyone to tell me whether I've got a right to try my hand at stock photography or not.

you sound overconfident and arrogant. Doyou know some pros have a very hard time at this, and find it diff to deal with the QC and dealing with all the little things in the digital world. you have a rude awakening ahead of you son. it also sounds like you got a inferior camera and dont want to be told that. you have no rights to be a stock photographer, but you can try. just with i could be a fly on the wall whe you relised what you got yourself into. why not throw some pics up and get going, for real. not like the fake antique dealer you said you are and then said its on ebay. your funny how old are you?

[icon]

you sound overconfident and arrogant. Doyou know some pros have a very hard time at this, and find it diff to deal with the QC and dealing with all the little things in the digital world. you have a rude awakening ahead of you son. it also sounds like you got a inferior camera and dont want to be told that. you have no rights to be a stock photographer, but you can try. just wish i could be a fly on the wall whe you relised what you got yourself into. why not throw some pics up and get going, for real. not like the fake antique dealer you said you are and then said its on ebay. your funny how old are you? you prob live at home with mommy and daddy. thats a plus yo wont have to deal with worrying abt a mgt or expences

[icon]

.

[NYCat]

Wow. Things have become very hostile here. Not typical of this forum, I am happy to say. I figure the OP will find out whether there is opportunity for earnings here.

 

Paulette