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​Anna,

 

I should also have mentioned that you might want to consider an entirely different system  ---  if you search the forums you'll find that a number of photographers are now using smaller cameras such as the Sony RX100 series rather than their DSLRs.  I'm now using the RX100 III for many of my shots mostly because it saves a great deal of time on cloning out the sensor dust that is a real issue with my Canon 5D Mark II.  To again emphasize  the business end, let me note that the Canon produces better quality photos at 100%, but at any likely size for final use the images are very comparable.  So the time, and hassle, savings is important.

 

Here's a link to one thread on the RX100 III.  If you look through the forums you'll find many others.

 

http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/7444-best-settings-for-sony-rx100-mkiii/

 

Again, don't be in a hurry to buy new equipment until you can answer the question of what saleable images you are passing up because your present equipment won't let you capture them.

 

Robert

 

Thank you everyone but well i guess it's almost summer there's a lot of festival going on first i can go playland and PNE,nght market,aquarium, festivals my kid is my model i will shoot everything on sunny days,i have 8 years Nikon D90 which i would like to Upgrade i can't decide which camera im going to buy,what do u think is the best upgrade

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Things are not as simple though in respect to micro-stock, when you are starting. On Alamy -- 1,2,3 .. how many months?  6 to a year on average?  No sale.  Confidence is lost and you think you'll never sell anything;   but on shutterstock you get sale(s) right away, even if they are just pennies.  So after 4 or 5 months you made 100 bucks on shutterstock and zero on Alamy.  It is only normal to make certain conclusions, even if they might be false on a long run

 

Here is another interesting read:  http://trainerjohnphotography.blogspot.ca/2014/08/my-alamy-experience-part-second.html

 

(There are parts 1, 3, and 4 too in his blog).  I thought this was very interesting;  took him 7 months to make 1st sale, quite modest.  But now he is, according to blog, doing quite well. I believe he is active contributor today.  It is also interesting because he seems to shoot mostly flowers, which according to many, is quite hard to get a sale.   So patience plays a big role.

 

I agree with "shoot what you like and make it look good" & for me this is probably best thing said in this thread.

That'll be me.  I really must do a Part the fifth.

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If you already have an APC Nikon set up, then stay with that.  Image quality comes down to sensor size more than any other thing, so you don't want to go to a smaller sensor camera.  We have a Nikon D3200 in the office which takes pretty good photos, but it's really cheaply built.  If you want to move up to full frame, a used D700 in good shape would be great.  A lot of people really like the D750 as well.  I have a D800, but the files are huge, and it's kind of slow and sluggish for day to day use.

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Personally, I think that learning how to get the best out of the equipment that you have is more important than spending a lot of money on new stuff that might prove to be unnecessary, especially with today's low image prices and low returns. I swapped my DSLR's a few year ago for a compact Sony mirrorless APS-C system, and my back (and bum hip) couldn't be happier. Small is beautiful once again. B)

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I never had the D90 but images from my D80 sell regularly. I suspect I often took better photos with it than I take with my bigger, heavier D7100 and D500. My hands and arms are, of course, feminine and there is always a bit of a strain using the heavier cameras. In any case, hang on to the D90 in case you find it is better for you after all.

 

Paulette

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Anna -- it is still possible to make money from photography. As example, have a look at this:

 

http://www.nagelphotography.com/blog/2017/3/microstock-earnings-through-february

 

I don't know if this is legit of course, but I looked at his portfolio and it is very high quality.  Thing to note is that these amounts are from micro-stock which pays significantly less (but sells comparatively more) than Alamy.  I also believe he sells through his own website as well.

 

Bottom line is:  You have to find a way to stand above the crowd, which is not easy in this age of "smartphone photographers".  It is best done through quality, not quantity as many would suggest.  It is also hard and time consuming work.  Good thing is that once portfolio (and skills!) are developed,  it becomes passive income.

 

In your place I'd suggest keeping day job and treating photography as hobby initially, trying through different agencies (not only Alamy where you are not likely to sell anything first 6-12 months) and then make your own decisions.  At each case, good luck!

 

 

And this is the quality that earns him these $1000 a month. (I assume it is net, but before taxes. He may have a day job or a working spouse.)

From >>5,500 photos with Shutterstock and 2,500 photos with iStock<<

He started around 2010 with stock.

 

Anna,

 

What to do if you do not have that quality (yet)?

Practice practice practice. Those infamous 10.000 hours is no myth.

 

In the mean time: have a look at All of Alamy where all the searches by all the clients are being logged.

You can go back a whole year. (You have to be logged in.) There's a help section on the right hand side.

 

Now I assume you're based in or close to Vancouver.

Set AoA as far back as possible. This month that's May 1st 2016. As a search term choose %vancouver%. (Include the %% - it's a database thing.)

You can click on sales and zooms, but however interesting those are, for the moment you will be looking for views. More precisely the search terms with the least views (just click on it - maybe twice). Everything up to 99 views is a good subject to shoot. 100 views will only tell you the client did only look at the first page of the results.

If you click on the search term, you get to see what there's already there.

Now only go out and shoot if you can do better or at least as good. No strike that: do go out and shoot it, but only upload when your images as good or better.

- Learn how to judge that.

 

Also shoot what you have access to. Your child is an obvious subject. Trawl All of Alamy for what to shoot in the same way as with %vancouver%.

Sign releases.

Access can be things; buildings but also knowledge.

Being a local shooting locally means you can wait for the best opportunity. Like the best weather; the best season; the best light.

 

Maybe also apply with some of those microstock agencies. They do judge your images for quality and saleability. Alamy only judges the technical quality.

Do you use Instagram? If not start now.

Look for photo critique sites online.

 

Don't expect any income the first year. Coffee money would be nice.

However there's always that lottery aspect as well.

For that it's important that your images can be used commercially. So they should be model and or property released.

Canada is a special case when people photography is concerned. This is a overview of property and (commercial or editorial) photography.

 

Oh and your yellow tulip is a daffodil.

Captions and keywords are maybe at least as important as the images, because this is how your images can be seen in the first place. Not the exact good keyword: no view. No views: no sales. Here the wrong views will lead to a lower ranking. putting your images at the back of those 80.000 images that are daily added.

This is why you at first will be concentrating on subjects with less than 100 views.

 

good luck!

wim

wim, thanks so much for these instructions. In different threads, All of Alamy searches were discussed, but never did I see every step of how to do it. And I guess I'm too dumb to figure it out.

After your comprehensive instructions here, the light came on. As a result, I had a good search and found a couple of gaps with little competition. I got all over it and shot two of them last evening. In gorgeous evening light. They are awaiting QC.

Thanks!!

Betty

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Anna -- it is still possible to make money from photography. As example, have a look at this:

 

http://www.nagelphotography.com/blog/2017/3/microstock-earnings-through-february

 

I don't know if this is legit of course, but I looked at his portfolio and it is very high quality.  Thing to note is that these amounts are from micro-stock which pays significantly less (but sells comparatively more) than Alamy.  I also believe he sells through his own website as well.

 

Bottom line is:  You have to find a way to stand above the crowd, which is not easy in this age of "smartphone photographers".  It is best done through quality, not quantity as many would suggest.  It is also hard and time consuming work.  Good thing is that once portfolio (and skills!) are developed,  it becomes passive income.

 

In your place I'd suggest keeping day job and treating photography as hobby initially, trying through different agencies (not only Alamy where you are not likely to sell anything first 6-12 months) and then make your own decisions.  At each case, good luck!

 

And this is the quality that earns him these $1000 a month. (I assume it is net, but before taxes. He may have a day job or a working spouse.)

From >>5,500 photos with Shutterstock and 2,500 photos with iStock<<

He started around 2010 with stock.

 

Anna,

 

What to do if you do not have that quality (yet)?

Practice practice practice. Those infamous 10.000 hours is no myth.

 

In the mean time: have a look at All of Alamy where all the searches by all the clients are being logged.

You can go back a whole year. (You have to be logged in.) There's a help section on the right hand side.

 

Now I assume you're based in or close to Vancouver.

Set AoA as far back as possible. This month that's May 1st 2016. As a search term choose %vancouver%. (Include the %% - it's a database thing.)

You can click on sales and zooms, but however interesting those are, for the moment you will be looking for views. More precisely the search terms with the least views (just click on it - maybe twice). Everything up to 99 views is a good subject to shoot. 100 views will only tell you the client did only look at the first page of the results.

If you click on the search term, you get to see what there's already there.

Now only go out and shoot if you can do better or at least as good. No strike that: do go out and shoot it, but only upload when your images as good or better.

- Learn how to judge that.

 

Also shoot what you have access to. Your child is an obvious subject. Trawl All of Alamy for what to shoot in the same way as with %vancouver%.

Sign releases.

Access can be things; buildings but also knowledge.

Being a local shooting locally means you can wait for the best opportunity. Like the best weather; the best season; the best light.

 

Maybe also apply with some of those microstock agencies. They do judge your images for quality and saleability. Alamy only judges the technical quality.

Do you use Instagram? If not start now.

Look for photo critique sites online.

 

Don't expect any income the first year. Coffee money would be nice.

However there's always that lottery aspect as well.

For that it's important that your images can be used commercially. So they should be model and or property released.

Canada is a special case when people photography is concerned. This is a overview of property and (commercial or editorial) photography.

 

Oh and your yellow tulip is a daffodil.

Captions and keywords are maybe at least as important as the images, because this is how your images can be seen in the first place. Not the exact good keyword: no view. No views: no sales. Here the wrong views will lead to a lower ranking. putting your images at the back of those 80.000 images that are daily added.

This is why you at first will be concentrating on subjects with less than 100 views.

 

good luck!

wim

 

 

Wim,

 

Do you know why is it that the views can be shown as 0 but if you click on that search term images are shown?

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This is why you at first will be concentrating on subjects with less than 100 views.

 

good luck!

wim

 

 

Wim,

 

Do you know why is it that the views can be shown as 0 but if you click on that search term images are shown?

 

 

Good question with a couple of possible answers.

 

- Newer images? Uploaded after or even because of the search?

 

- Images not available for the client who did the search:

-- territorial - I do not see one of the big German agencies' images for instance.

-- contractual - newspapers in the newspaper scheme only see images from contributors also in the scheme.

 

- Filters. This is the most likely: we see most filters used on our own pseudonym summaries, but no filters at all on AoA.

 

wim

 

edit: that German agency: LOOK Die Bildagentur der Fotografen.

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thanks aterra well my QA just finished frozen yeterday an then i upload 60 photos again and got frozen to 10 days again well so stressful it say my photo got soft and lacking i dont know but its a pretty photo its just a blurry background

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thanks a lot for the advices it means a lot

This may sound a bit harsh but it is intended as a positive if blunt comment and I hope you take it as such (positive that is).

 

Passing Alamy QC should not be a problem for any photographer. It should be a trivial exercise for anybody with the right equipment and knowledge of the craft.

 

I think the greatest advice that anybody could give you right now is to become a photographer before you try to make money from it. Looking at your portfolio, it is pretty clear that you do have quite a lot to learn. So first of all learn, learn and learn more about photography. Enjoy the journey and when you really know what you are doing with a camera (including post-processing), then consider trying to sell, taking some of the excellent advice you have received here in relation to stock photography.

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I have a Nikon D800 and the 3 holy trinity lenses. Awesome camera and even more awesome lenses. But most of the time I use either a Fuji X100 or a Sony RX100 MkII. Only get the the big Nikon gear out if there's something planned. Generally I'm not a planner when it comes to photography because there's not enough time in the day. 

I can't recommend either of those two smaller cameras highly enough. Easy to use, quirky in some ways and not that expensive in the second hand market.

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thanks aterra well my QA just finished frozen yeterday an then i upload 60 photos again and got frozen to 10 days again well so stressful it say my photo got soft and lacking i dont know but its a pretty photo its just a blurry background

 

You sometimes you have to be ruthless... you might fall in love with a picture but no matter how pretty it is, if it isn't technically good enough, it will fail in alamy QC.

 

Do you look at images at 100% and check that they are sharp, free of noise and CA at 100%?

Also, do you shoot in RAW? If not, I would stick with the D90 for a while and learn to shoot raw. 

What software do you use? 

 

With regards to the camera.. I started with a D50. I upgraded to a D7000 because like the D50 and D90, it has a built in lens focusing motor so I can reuse my lenses and it fitted my budget. You can get one of those for under £300 (not sure where you're based so I'll leave you to convert this to your preferred currency) from a reputable used camera dealer:

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equipment/used-photo-and-video/used-digital-slr-cameras/used-nikon-digital-slr-cameras/nikon-d7000/sku-662131/

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I loved my D90, brilliant camera.  I upgraded straight from that to full frame - a D700 but bear in mind if you go full frame, you'll have to buy new lenses, unless you were like me and bought full frame lenses from the start.

 

You don't necessarily have to buy new lenses if you upgrade from DX to FX. My D610 has a masking function so I can use DX lenses on this full-frame body. The only difference is the files are a bit smaller than those shot with FX lenses.

 

Good, relatively fast, lenses are a good investment. Several of mine are over 20 years old now. left over from my film days,  and still serve my needs.

 

fD

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Anna,

 

What you consider to be the background may not be what Alamy or a buyer considers it to be.  If any part of what could be considered the subject is not good and sharp at 100%, then don't upload it no matter how much you like the photo.  Unless you know more about what sells than I do, taking a chance on QC failure just isn't worth being locked out on all the images.  Note that blurred backgrounds are perfectly acceptable, just not soft subjects.  QC gets to decide what the subject is, not us.

 

Also, and many beginners make this mistake, don't assume that deleting the failed image gets the job done.   QC only checks a sample of the submission, so others in the set may also be soft but not noted.  When you delete only the one(s) that QC noted, and resubmit the other ones, there is a good chance that QC will find another soft one and fail you again.   Always recheck the entire set that was rejected at 100%, and delete anything that is the least bit doubtful.

 

Most of us have had failures before we learned what would reliably pass, so don't take the first few failures personally.  Just accept that fact that when you are making a normal submission to Alamy, it has to meet their technical QC standards.  Period.  Alamy QC doesn't give you any credit for composition or possible salability. 

 

Also, go over the sky or any other uniform area several time to look for sensor dust  ( also called dust bunnies ).  They are easy to miss, and QC has real talent when it comes to finding them and failing the image.

 

Robert

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I find it really strange that I've never had one QC failure. Bizarre!

Don't get cocky... :D

I actually wasn't being or getting cocky.

 

 

 

The difference being you are a professional sir. ;)

 

In other words you like many here understand Alamy's requirements and how to achieve them. :)

 

Allan

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great thanks Goodmorning everyone I have Photography course online long time ago I thought that i know photography now very well, but when im reading other photographer advice and comment to my portfolio i decided to continue studying thankyou 

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great thanks Goodmorning everyone I have Photography course online long time ago I thought that i know photography now very well, but when im reading other photographer advice and comment to my portfolio i decided to continue studying thankyou 

 

Good for you. It can be hard to hear criticism and you are making it work for you. Good luck in your endeavor.

 

Paulette

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I find it really strange that I've never had one QC failure. Bizarre!

Don't get cocky... :D

I actually wasn't being or getting cocky.

I was teasing....just my Oklahoma humor!

 

Sowweeeeeee. :wub:

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great thanks Goodmorning everyone I have Photography course online long time ago I thought that i know photography now very well, but when im reading other photographer advice and comment to my portfolio i decided to continue studying thankyou 

 

Nobody should ever stop learning - this applies to the most seasoned photographer as well as the beginner. It's all about learning, re-learning, doing new stuff, improving on what you think you know, striving for perfection. When one stops learning, enthusiasm vanishes, stagnation sets in and photography becomes boring. This will be evident in what one produces for oneself or for clients.  There is no destination really, it's all about the journey.

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