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Hi everyone - Newbie here hoping for some advice :)


Andy_C

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Hi everyone,

 

I joined Alamy a couple of months ago, and have now got 178 photos uploaded on here. I've very much an amateur rather than professional and I'm obviously not expecting huge sales through this site, but am a little concerned that so far I've only 411 views, and my CTR is 0. I've been careful with key wording, and have read around the forums for general advice, but I was wondering if anyone observed anything specific about my portfolio.

 

I'm about to go on a 9 month trip around the world and plan to take a whole lot more photos! Can't wait :)

 

Be great to get any views advice from anyone :)

 

Thanks in advance,

Andy

 

My portfolio link is http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/F8CC489B-FCB5-4B42-B8C1-C13E5F742B00/1/Andrew%20Coleman.html

 

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Hi everyone,

 

I joined Alamy a couple of months ago, and have now got 178 photos uploaded on here. I've very much an amateur rather than professional and I'm obviously not expecting huge sales through this site, but am a little concerned that so far I've only 411 views, and my CTR is 0. I've been careful with key wording, and have read around the forums for general advice, but I was wondering if anyone observed anything specific about my portfolio.

 

I'm about to go on a 9 month trip around the world and plan to take a whole lot more photos! Can't wait :)

 

Be great to get any views advice from anyone :)

 

Thanks in advance,

Andy

 

My portfolio link is http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/F8CC489B-FCB5-4B42-B8C1-C13E5F742B00/1/Andrew%20Coleman.html

Hi Andy, I'm no expert, have only been doing this for last 6 months with any serious intent, but it is to a large extent a numbers game. 411 views for 178 photos (which all look great BTW) is, I would have thought, pretty damn good. Keep at it and you will get a higher return. Good luck.

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Hi, Andy

 

Your images look very good, but I think you're spamming on your keywords, putting in all sorts of unimportant terms. This means you'll have your pics pop up in views where there is little chance of getting a zoom or making a sale -- not good for your CTR or your rank. That's my opinion, and opinions are what you get in this forum. Others might disagree. 

 

Even more important is what you've already read over and over in the forum: 178 images is too few to get attention, and a few months onboard is nothing. This is not a short-term game where you dip in a toe and if you get a good reaction, you continue. It's going to take a long-time commitment on your part and lots more uploading of images. 

 

Good luck on your coming trip, and remember that you are in charge of your own security.  

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Hello Andy,

 

I concur with what Ed and Jansos are saying and would like to add that even though your photos are good I note some similars like G83GBD and G83GAY, which look the same. Cull your similars if you think you can.

 

Also there is a monochrome image of the same subject. If a client wants mono they usually remove the colour themselves.

 

In the same images of a door in a wall you have a keyword (behind). What is behind what. We are looking at a wall with a door so we cannot see behind. Just keyword what you can actually see in your images.

 

Hope this helps and enjoy your trip.

 

Allan

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Hi Andy,

 

Agree with the above; also:

 

Many of your images are very good but ensure accuracy in your captioning and keywording - eg Image: H2E752 is a good stock image but in the caption, say exactly what the monument is and where it is as well as having that info in the keywords. Also add "copyspace" to the keywords as there is space for wording in the image. 

 

Too, your image G3XNJG is of cheetah cubs, not young leopards - I note you have put both cheetahs and leopards in the keywords but you must be accurate. Also, with all images of wildlife put the latin name in as well. 

 

You are up against professionals in the stock industry - you have to be accurate in your keywording.

 

As a final point, when you are thinking of putting u[p an image for stock, ask yourself what someone might want to use it for - firstly it will help for the keywording, and secondly if you cant think what it would be used for, then dont put it up

 

Hope this helps

 

Kumar

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Same advice here.  For example, the pics of the swan.  It is a Mute Swan.  You should have that in your keywords as there are different types of swans.  You also have "swimming" and "water" and there is no water in the one of the swan's head as well as he isn't visibly swimming.  Again, add the latin name as well.

 

Jill

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Wow guys - thank you all so much. That's such a positive first experience of using this forum, I really appreciate you taking the time to look at my portfolio and provide such customised advice.

 

Pretty much all makes complete sense, and I will go through and address all the points around key wording & repeat images, B&W, cropping etc...Thanks!

 

I have a couple of questions for Doc / Kumar and Geoff / GS-Images though if you can advise further:

 

Doc - you said add "copyspace" to my keywords - do you mean literally add that word to the keywords section of every photo? What does that do?

 

Geoff; there's mixture of JPG and RAW, as some of my older images were taken before I would do any post-processing. I now shoot everything in RAW and post-process in lightroom. However, if your observation applies to the more recent photos in my collection, I'd really like a bit more detail on what I could do to process them better? I use the histogram to check for white-outs etc, and generally just adjust by eye. I use an iMac - not sure if / how to calibrate the monitor?

 

 

Thanks again everyone :)

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"Doc - you said add "copyspace" to my keywords - do you mean literally add that word to the keywords section of every photo? What does that do?"

 

Hi Andy - many stock images are used by picture editors where they can add some text over a less important part of the image to illustrate a point - often the sky. Take a look at any magazine cover to see what I mean.  

 

Alamy advises to add this to relevant images which would support this- NOT ALL OF THEM!  - ie which have potential copyspace for copy (type). The image I referred to, H2E752 would be good for this, as would images H2E75D and H2E76P, for example. 

 

Image GDJB84 is not so good, as an example. 

 

The editor may well use the word copyspace, or words copy and space in the keywords to search for relevant images. 

 

Cheers

 

Kumar

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 I use an iMac - not sure if / how to calibrate the monitor?

 

 

Thanks again everyone :)

 

 

Hi Andy,

 

I am using an iMac too and looking at your images the colour generally looks fine to me on my monitor, as does the brightness, so no need to worry about calibrating your monitor.

 

But if you feel or think it necessary to calibrate from what others may say then please do not let me stop you.

 

Just checked my monitor settings and it is set to iMac colour profile with brightness set just below 50%.

 

Allan

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Because you're planning a trip, start with All of Alamy: http://www.alamy.com/Customersearch/Customersearchhistory.aspx

Set the starting date as far back as possible, which at this moment is 01-Oct-2015.

In the Search Term field fill in one of your destinations or topics, like this: %Warwickshire%.

Don't forget the %%, it's a database thing.

 

Maybe before you do a search with your own terms, have a look at real searches: with the Search Term field blank, click on UCO, to see the most researched topics. Don't bother when sales seem very low, they're not recorded very accurately in this database. Rather I should say, they're recorded too accurately, so we do not see all here.

 

For your own searches, first look at the most searched topics, but don't forget to look for gaps.

 

In the case of  %Warwickshire%, note that warwickshire countryside is not in the title/caption of your H2CJGT, let alone the exact place we're looking at. Vital for a client. If you have ever watched an image editor flick through your images, you will know they decide in a blink of an eye. Which is all every image gets too. At best ;-)

 

If you click on Views, all topics with less than 100 views, will get your image on page 1 for that search.

Click on one to see the competition and decide whether you can do better. If not, you can shoot it as an exercise, but I would only upload to Alamy if it's really competing. Not everything sells. The best images sell. However the best image is the image that fills the need of a client, not the prettiest one.

 

0 views is a real gap of course. And those are worth looking at.

 

For your planning, click on Search Term to see groupings and relations.

 

I would save all these views, in case you do not have good internet on the road. There's a button Save to Excel on the bottom, or you could just block and copy/paste to a document.

With searches producing more than 1 page, the Export function saves lots of time.

 

wim

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The question to ask, which I don't always follow, is what is commercial reason why a particular picture was taken? In other words, how will a customer use it to sell an idea or a product? If you cannot come up with an answer to that, then the picture is unlikely to get many views or zooms.

 

There are also those pictures someone might want to use in their power point presentations, educational materials, or documentaries/news. 

 

You have some good stock photos but also quite a few of little commercial interest, or photos that have a license that, in my opinion (I am no expert on anything, I am new here also and know nothing, but anyone can have an opinion) will make them hard to sell. For instance the " Red poppy & poppy seed bud in british summer" is an RM image on behalf of which reason? In the stock world out there there are about hundreds of thousands of similar photos, many of which are better than this one, all RF. And to worsen the likelihood of this image being sold, since it will be hard to find it, you don't have the scientific name of the plant in the keywords or title.

 

Just the two cents from someone who, like you, struggles.  ;) I had a zero CRT for som many months that I just thought the count was broken or something. But with more images and improving my key wording and commercial value of the pictures I uploaded, it got a little better. Just a little. 

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