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Hi guys :) new to this game, any helpful tips?


katiekk2

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Hi to all,

 

i am new to this site. Photography has been a hobby for a long time and has started to consume my life more and more recently. Now i am getting invited to places and offered money to take pictures and i am still getting use to it all. 

 

Stock is a new subject for me and I am selling in Shutterstock rather successfully for last few month.  I was advised to sign up also here. I have uploaded over 300 pictures but have zero response and starting to give up hope... any advice to a newby? what am i missing?

 

i appreciate any input :)

thank you in advance

 

best

katie

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- and especially read in the terms and in the forums about how Alamy interprets people (and parts of people) and property in the images (somewhat different to micro) and that the same or very similar image will have to hold the same licence type, even if sold from another agency (I think this is still true, though it sometimes seems that Alamy softens a lot to attract contributors). Anyway, selling the same image on micro will minimize your macro sales from Alamy catastrophically).

 

Good luck.

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I like your images but you need to give some thought to your keywording. That is paramount at Alamy. I was attracted by an image of a camel with it's head down looking at the camera. Animals always attract me and that shot is very appealing. Then I looked at your keywords.  adventure, animal, arabian, beach, camel, cloudy, desert, east, exploration, fog, gulf, khareef, mammal, middle, mirbat, mist, monsoon, nature, oman, outdoors, peninsula,salalah, sand, sea, storm, sultanate, summer, water

 

Yikes....where is the water in that shot? or fog? It looks like you have uploaded a bunch of images and given them all the same group of keywords. Big mistake. Hope you will do some correcting and do well here.   

 

Paulette

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 there's a third strategy

      3. fill the gaps.

 

 

Yes... but...

 

The gaps are there largely because the subjects are not very well known, and therefore are less likely to be sought by customers. While you may pick up the odd sale by having images that no-one else has, you're just as likely to sell a stunning new picture of London as you are a pretty picture of the little known Scottish village of Invermiddleofnowhere.

 

Alan

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Here's a tip.

Hopefully you used the term in jest, but either way, disabuse yourself of the notion that stock photography is a 'game'.

 

I think that 'game' sums up stock photography pretty well these days. It's a game we're all trying to 'win'... through taking good, relevant pix and then adding appropriate keywords... so our pix are found, but don't appear where they shouldn't. Many people have neither the aptitude nor the patience to create a long-term strategy for shooting and promoting stock photography. A lot of people don't 'get it'... and never will...

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'A little tip for newbies. I truly believe that drones could fill many gaps. Might be worthwhile to get the needed professional license if you're serious about this business.'

 

​Definitely a gap here but unless you can find new markets then selling on alamy may eventually pay for the licence and equipment but you will be working for shelf stacking wages! 

 

Regen

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 there's a third strategy

      3. fill the gaps.

 

 

Yes... but...

 

The gaps are there largely because the subjects are not very well known, and therefore are less likely to be sought by customers. While you may pick up the odd sale by having images that no-one else has, you're just as likely to sell a stunning new picture of London as you are a pretty picture of the little known Scottish village of Invermiddleofnowhere.

 

Alan

 

 

I've been there. Lovely wee place. ;)

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Katie, I started somewhere around 10 years ago. I didn't understand stock at all. Which was the concept of "how would a buyer use this image?"

So I took a lot of so-so quality pictures of birds, my first love. Birds don't sell that well here unless your name is Philippe, who has much better quality of bird images than I have. Not that I haven't sold some, I have. Just not that many. So...birds. Maybe a bird/flower/garden magazine might buy one. Maybe I'll get a textbook sale of one. A scientific venue If a bird disease takes a toll on a particular breed, I might sell one. That's like waiting for that shot of a tornado taking out your barn. :) I shot a few bugs, and other things without the how it could be used concept.

But if One takes a picture of a Christmas scene with people, it might sell seasonally. That browned turkey on a platter ready to be carved stands a decent chance, but staging and quality matters.

Your husband grilling ribs on the BBQ, the child handing a limp wildflower to mommy, people using technology, family fun, rare plants and flowers properly identified with scientific name, these are just small ideas that stand a better chance of selling than a bird.

Well known Garden-variety flowers already have huge numbers offered here. Yours must stand out above the crowd or forget about it.

 

I shot for several years before getting a grasp of stock, Alamy stock in particular, which is a different animal than where you've been contributing. I thought I had to have a release if people were in my image so I tossed a lot of good images. Hundreds. I didn't understand RM.

I still tend to take some spray and pray pictures, a hard habit to break. But I'm taking enough of the good kind and have seen my zooms and sales increase nicely.

It took me 5-6 months for my first sale, maybe 500 images in my port. Ironically, it was of a hummingbird. :)

Betty

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Oh wow, thank you so much for your feedback, this is all very helpful. I guess it is too early to give up. I have large library of images but keyworkding it all it time consuming excersise so, it takes hours to get my work up here.

so...

1. stock isnt a 'game' - for sure, but whats wrong with seeing it as such, some say that life is a 'play' :) im serious though... got the point and didnt mean it literally.

2. Better keywording - guilty i guess.

3. less series, more unique images and lifestyle photos (no birds, plans or cats - well, just one or two very special ones)

4. quality, quality, quality over quantity

5. patience and more patience. Marathon over a sprint any time...

 

I havent entirely understaood the difference from other stock Agencies - should i try to keep only unique images here? would this help?

 

there is also difference of an opinion about pruning it back. I guess in the meantime i will keep what has been uploaded already unless you really advise me otherwise?

 

thank you again, you all giving me hope :)

 

katie

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Hi to all,

 

i am new to this site. Photography has been a hobby for a long time and has started to consume my life more and more recently. Now i am getting invited to places and offered money to take pictures and i am still getting use to it all. 

 

Stock is a new subject for me and I am selling in Shutterstock rather successfully for last few month.  I was advised to sign up also here. I have uploaded over 300 pictures but have zero response and starting to give up hope... any advice to a newby? what am i missing?

 

i appreciate any input :)

thank you in advance

 

best

katie

 

partially-broken-down-ocean-ship-in-a-sh

 

You have interesting images, but do more research. The image above (of a whole series) lacks many of the keywords which are truly essential and much sought after. And nope, I'm not going to do your homework. Google is your friend  ;)

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

Philippe,

 

thank you so much for valuable feedback. But i am little lost here... i looked at my keywording and i thought it was actually rather good. this is i guess what it means to be a newby. Any suggestins what to search for in google to find the right keywords , pleeeeeaaaase :)

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Thank you, Katie, for your response. Sometimes when we go to some trouble to answer a query there is nothing but silence in response. it looks like you are ready to make your images more salable. Getting them seen in the first place for the correct subjects is a big part of it here. Few of us enjoy keywording but it is the key to success. Alamy has very good advice on this in the contributor section. Mostly, only put down what the buyer can see.

 

Paulette

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Thank you, Katie, for your response. Sometimes when we go to some trouble to answer a query there is nothing but silence in response. it looks like you are ready to make your images more salable. Getting them seen in the first place for the correct subjects is a big part of it here. Few of us enjoy keywording but it is the key to success. Alamy has very good advice on this in the contributor section. Mostly, only put down what the buyer can see.

 

Paulette

 

Thank you Paulette, i really appreciate everyone's input. I read through it all and was actually so pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome. Ill check out the contributor section and see if i find something to help me...

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Hi to all,

 

i am new to this site. Photography has been a hobby for a long time and has started to consume my life more and more recently. Now i am getting invited to places and offered money to take pictures and i am still getting use to it all. 

 

Stock is a new subject for me and I am selling in Shutterstock rather successfully for last few month.  I was advised to sign up also here. I have uploaded over 300 pictures but have zero response and starting to give up hope... any advice to a newby? what am i missing?

 

i appreciate any input :)

thank you in advance

 

best

katie

 

partially-broken-down-ocean-ship-in-a-sh

 

You have interesting images, but do more research. The image above (of a whole series) lacks many of the keywords which are truly essential and much sought after. And nope, I'm not going to do your homework. Google is your friend  ;)

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

Philippe,

 

thank you so much for valuable feedback. But i am little lost here... i looked at my keywording and i thought it was actually rather good. this is i guess what it means to be a newby. Any suggestins what to search for in google to find the right keywords , pleeeeeaaaase :)

 

 

Alright, alright  ^_^ Always a pleasure to help a damsel in distress  :D

How about recycling which is a very hot topic nowadays. Work around that. You also forgot "scrap" and look out for misspellings like envioremental  ;)

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

Thankyou thank you - sening some warms thoughts and kisses your way

Damsel

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There are two strategies specifically for Alamy (just my opinion, of course ;)) :

  • show only your bestsellers / repeat sellers / what's relevant to what's happening right now and constantly update those
  • show everything that has a sales potential and has competing quality

In both cases, these photographers have huge collections, n°1 just doesn't submit them all. The second strategy works pretty well if you start from day one by submitting many thousands of images (send harddisk). That way, you have almost daily sales right away so you can maintain and improve your ranking. And I'm pretty sure Mr. W. (I can read minds, you know :D ) also started stock when he had already a very large archive ;)

 

 

Thinking aloud here.. presumably a hybrid solution is an option. Create two pseudos and for one pseudo go with option 1 and with the other pseudo go with option 2.

The pseudos have their own CTRs and rank.. so you're covering all bases... ? I guess there's some occasional housekeeping to do in terms of swapping images between the two pseudos as images become popular or drop out of favour

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There are two strategies specifically for Alamy (just my opinion, of course ;)) :

  • show only your bestsellers / repeat sellers / what's relevant to what's happening right now and constantly update those
  • show everything that has a sales potential and has competing quality

In both cases, these photographers have huge collections, n°1 just doesn't submit them all. The second strategy works pretty well if you start from day one by submitting many thousands of images (send harddisk). That way, you have almost daily sales right away so you can maintain and improve your ranking. And I'm pretty sure Mr. W. (I can read minds, you know :D ) also started stock when he had already a very large archive ;)

 

 

Thinking aloud here.. presumably a hybrid solution is an option. Create two pseudos and for one pseudo go with option 1 and with the other pseudo go with option 2.

The pseudos have their own CTRs and rank.. so you're covering all bases... ? I guess there's some occasional housekeeping to do in terms of swapping images between the two pseudos as images become popular or drop out of favour

 

 

this is interesting! so, you can effectively have 2 galleries under one account? what would the benefit be here?

 

One more newly question that i haven't been able to find an answer for... If i sell my images of local people from different places in other agencies as editorial, can i still sell the same images in Alamy under RM? I have hear conflicting reports if i should do it or not. Can someone please clarify.

 

and on a separate note, i just made my fist sale in Alamy :)))

 

Thank you again for the warm welcome and generous help here :)

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I've come to the view that there is not a "one size fits all" solution to selling here. There are many different strategies and approaches, and they work for different folk. OK you've got to get the basics right; good keywording is paramount, avoiding excessive similars,  some market research, and a lot of persistence and hard work, but style, technique and strategy have got to be a personal thing.

 

Further, if I look at my most remunerative sales, I don't see overmuch correlation between what I consider an aesthetically satisfying shot (or, for that matter, one satisfying an obvious market requirement) and selling price! 

 

There is a degree of luck involved, maybe that's where the concept of a "game" comes from.  :)

 

Not very helpful I fear, but that's the way I see it.

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Yes, If your images of unreleased people you are selling elsewhere as editorial, you must sell them RM here. But it is automatic if you answer the question, How many people and do you have releases correctly, RM is all that's available.

That said, if you are selling them as microstock, you are competing against yourself. Why would a buyer purchase your Alamy copy for more money if they can get it cheaper on microstock?

You may do as you please, but if it were my collection, I'd carefully select the images that fit well here, then delete them from elsewhere.

Not saying to close the other account, some of your images may fit best at the other place.

 

About pseudos. You have one Alamy account. BUT you can have two or more pseudos under that one account. For instance, I have the pseudo Betty LaRue for general stock, B LaRue for birds/wildlife, and A LaRue for plants/flowers. ( my middle name is Alice).

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Thank you Betty for taking time to explain. I was under impression that RM images would have to be exclusive and couldnt really find accurate info anywhere. If this isnt the case, I have tons of stuff i can upload. :)

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I've come to the view that there is not a "one size fits all" solution to selling here. There are many different strategies and approaches, and they work for different folk. OK you've got to get the basics right; good keywording is paramount, avoiding excessive similars,  some market research, and a lot of persistence and hard work, but style, technique and strategy have got to be a personal thing.

 

Further, if I look at my most remunerative sales, I don't see overmuch correlation between what I consider an aesthetically satisfying shot (or, for that matter, one satisfying an obvious market requirement) and selling price! 

 

There is a degree of luck involved, maybe that's where the concept of a "game" comes from.  :)

 

Not very helpful I fear, but that's the way I see it.

Thank you so much for your input, it is all helpful. I have noticed that what sells isnt necessarily what i personally like and take pride in... i dont think anyone can exactly explain it all :) I will try to find my way too...

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Thank you Betty for taking time to explain. I was under impression that RM images would have to be exclusive and couldnt really find accurate info anywhere. If this isnt the case, I have tons of stuff i can upload. :)

 

 

But note that you have to use the same licensing model here as on the other place you uploaded the pictures. If they are RF editiorial, as it is usual for microstock, you can't upload them here as RM editorial.

 

 

Christoph

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There are two strategies specifically for Alamy (just my opinion, of course ;)) :

  • show only your bestsellers / repeat sellers / what's relevant to what's happening right now and constantly update those
  • show everything that has a sales potential and has competing quality

In both cases, these photographers have huge collections, n°1 just doesn't submit them all. The second strategy works pretty well if you start from day one by submitting many thousands of images (send harddisk). That way, you have almost daily sales right away so you can maintain and improve your ranking. And I'm pretty sure Mr. W. (I can read minds, you know :D ) also started stock when he had already a very large archive ;)

 

 

Thinking aloud here.. presumably a hybrid solution is an option. Create two pseudos and for one pseudo go with option 1 and with the other pseudo go with option 2.

The pseudos have their own CTRs and rank.. so you're covering all bases... ? I guess there's some occasional housekeeping to do in terms of swapping images between the two pseudos as images become popular or drop out of favour

 

 

this is interesting! so, you can effectively have 2 galleries under one account? what would the benefit be here?

 

One more newly question that i haven't been able to find an answer for... If i sell my images of local people from different places in other agencies as editorial, can i still sell the same images in Alamy under RM? I have hear conflicting reports if i should do it or not. Can someone please clarify.

 

and on a separate note, i just made my fist sale in Alamy :)))

 

Thank you again for the warm welcome and generous help here :)

 

 

You have been willing to appreciate the advice given and have done the work to follow it. I'm not surprised that you've made a sale already. You have good images and a good attitude. 

 

Paulette

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