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Ability to replace one image with another via AIM


Matt Ashmore

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I occasionally upload, caption and keyword an image before then noticing something that I don't like about the image which I should have done better, so I re-edit the image, and re-upload.

I also occasionally re-edit and then re-upload old images given as my image processing skills (and software) have improved since I started submitting to Alamy.

At the moment, I have to email Contributor Services to ask them to swap the old image out and replace it with the new image. I think it would be good if I could simply do this via AIM.. it wouldn't need to be anything fancy.. just a simple web page where I specify the old image ID and the new image ID.

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Hi Matt,

Thanks for your suggestion. It would be difficult for us to manage this, as some users may use it as an "instant delete" tool as we would have no way of verifying that the image was a replacement. 

For situations like this, you can always upload the replacement, drop us an email with details of the original it's replacing and we could then possibly remove the original on your behalf. We wouldn't be able to repeatedly do this though and would be limited to rare occurrences with single images.

Best

Alamy 

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  • 3 months later...

I'd like to add a thought to this...

 

I began submitting images to Alamy in 2006, and during those 11 years I've learned a lot about processing images through Photoshop.  When AIM was introduced I spent  a lot of time working on my existing imagery, adding tags etc. Whilst doing so, I found a number of images which although they've passed QC, could be improved hugely with the post-processing knowledge I've gained over the intervening years to make them far more saleable.

 

It would be a one-off request and I'd be more than happy to add the Alamy's own image number and help in anyway I can to make it an easy task, but  how would Alamy feel about replacing 50-ish images?

 

Or have you any other suggestions how I might do this?

 

Many thanks

 

George

 

 

 

 

 

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Contact CR with your request quoting Alamy reference numbers when you have your replacements ready. They will do the rest for you.

 

Allan

 

 

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On 10/3/2017 at 09:50, George Munday said:

I began submitting images to Alamy in 2006, and during those 11 years I've learned a lot about processing images through Photoshop. 

 

 

I started in 2003 and I am in the process of revisiting my images from the first few years and in many cases I'm sitting here with head in hands going.  Why on earth did I process them like THAT!

 

I'd like to replace a couple of hundred of mine, but I am sure that Alamy would not be happy with me sending them a list of replacements that long.  Perhaps if they could give us an indication of how many they would be willing to do, and how frequently.  (Eg.  2 images at time once a week, or 50 images in on go every 6 months) then we we can concentrate on replacing the ones that are in most need of it.

 

Ian.

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13 hours ago, IanButty said:

 

I started in 2003 and I am in the process of revisiting my images from the first few years and in many cases I'm sitting here with head in hands going.  Why on earth did I process them like THAT!

 

I'd like to replace a couple of hundred of mine, but I am sure that Alamy would not be happy with me sending them a list of replacements that long.  Perhaps if they could give us an indication of how many they would be willing to do, and how frequently.  (Eg.  2 images at time once a week, or 50 images in on go every 6 months) then we we can concentrate on replacing the ones that are in most need of it.

 

Ian.

 

You can always just upload the new version(s), copy the tags and caption and then mark the old image(s) for deletion yourself anyway. You will of course have to wait 6 months for the old image to be removed. Last time I asked contributor services to change one of my images for a newer version, this is all they did anyway... there was no swapping of image IDs done.

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32 minutes ago, Matt Ashmore said:

 

You can always just upload the new version(s), copy the tags and caption and then mark the old image(s) for deletion yourself anyway. You will of course have to wait 6 months for the old image to be removed. Last time I asked contributor services to change one of my images for a newer version, this is all they did anyway... there was no swapping of image IDs done.

 

Matt,

You have just reminded me of something from the old days when I first started with Alamy.  I *think* back in 2004/5 when I need to replace an image the advice was as follows:


1. Upload the replacement image.  Once it is through QC,  note the ID (lets call it NEWID)

2. View the image to be replaced note down its ID (let's call this OLDID) and make a note of keywords, captions and other metadata

3. Caption and keyword the new image include the ID of the old image, OLDID, as one of the keywords and set the metadata as per the old image.

4. Wait for the database to be updated (overnight) so that new image is now visible to buyers.

5. Edit the old image and remove all keywords (tags), Set the the caption to be: "This image has been replaced with NEWID"

6. Mark the old image for deletion.

 

A couple of things to note about the process.

Step 3 - Important to add the old ID as a tag to the new image so that anyone searching with the alamy ID for the image gets the new image coming up on the search results

Step 5 - Removing all keywords from the old image will ensure that the new image not the old image turns up in searches.

Step 5 - Setting the caption to a message to send buyers to the new image makes anyone who has the old image in a lightbox aware of the replacement.  

Step 6 - Marking for deletion has to be the last step as (at the time) it wasn't possible edit captions and keywords after an image is marked for deletion.

 

I think this process will still work today, but I'll give it a go and report back.

 

Ian.

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Perhaps not as simple as Allan suggests, so perhaps I can address this to Alamy directly...

 

I've over 5,000 images on file and there's probably a couple of hundred among those shot ten or eleven years ago that could be improved. However, after carefully reviewing the aesthetics and subject matter I've  whittled it down to about 50 that ought to replace the existing images.

 

Thinking about this problem logically, if I and other members are prepared to spend time re-processing images to improve them technically and aesthetically, then it will make them more commercial and attractive to buyers. The result should be more sales, something that benefits both the contributor and Alamy.

 

So, surely it can't be beyond the abilities of the techno buffs in Alamy to work out a system to replace images that are worthy of sales, yet currently tend to be "passed over" by clients due to the aforementioned  reasons.  Facilitating this can only be a win-win situation.

 

George

 

 

 

 

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