Jim Keir's Lightroom Alamy Bridge (LRAlamy) Plug-in

[Craig Joiner]

2 hours ago, Tim Jones said:

Thank you for your help and answers. I will look into Lightroom as beyone Alamy I am looking for a more organised way to see my images on PC. One more question, the plugin discussed here allows tag's, does it include any othre Alamy fields such as location, number or people etc?

Yes, everything in the new Image Manager can be seen and (mostly) edited in Lightroom. Off the top of my head only the restrictions and license type cannot be edited in Lightroom. It also shows basic sales info (number of sales and total $ for each image) too. It can be synced both ways so any changes made in LR can be synced back to Alamy and any changes made on Alamy synced to LR. It's also able to retrospectively match existing images on Alamy with images in your LR catalogue, provided your file names haven't changed drastically since you uploaded them to Alamy.

As you can tell from this thread, the Alamy plugin is in a state of flux at the moment due to changes going on behind the scenes at Alamy but Jim is actively working on it so it should hopefully settle in soon but you might want to spend some time familiarising yourself with LR before trying the plugin.

7 hours ago, Zigzagmtart said:

Some might disagree but I cannot imagine doing any type of stock photography without using Lightoom.  There is a learning curve, and the workflow is much different than a typical Photoshop workflow but IMHO it is well worth the time involved in setting it up and learning it. 

I couldn't agree more.

[Zigzagmtart]

3 hours ago, Craig Joiner said:

but you might want to spend some time familiarising yourself with LR before trying the plugin.

+100 on that.  I love Lightroom and would not be without it, but it does take some work to set up.  There are so many options in the preferences that it takes some real thought to get things the way you want.

A few tips from hard won experience:

1) Organize your image library on disk first, before you even install Lightroom.  All images should be under a single directory.  Photos, Images, My Stuff, doesn't matter but all in one place.  Note that Lightroom will accept any number of directories but if all images are in one place it greatly improves organization and also back up.  All of mine are on a network server under a pictures share.  Then everything is organized by year and then day.  So even without Lightroom's catalog I still have a basic organization.

2) Once you install Lightroom you then just tell it to 'ADD' those images in place and your catalog gets built with that organization structure.

3) The LR import dialog can be confusing.  It gives options for: Copy as DNG, Copy, Move and Add.  The big difference is Move or Copy will pull your images from their current location and put them where you want within your data structure.  Add leaves them in the same physical location but adds them to the catalog.  Usually for memory cards you would use Copy.  For your initial import you would use Add assuming everything is where you want.   I never use Move and use Copy as DNG only for my Sony camera.  The Pentax already shoots in DNG.

4) The key to LR is PRESETS.  Once you figure out how to do something build a preset for that and you never have to figure it out again.  For example my import preset: Copies the files from the SD card into the file structure on the server, applies a metadata preset with my name and copyright info, applies a develop preset that gets me 80% of the way done with processing, renames the files to my naming structure which is yyyy.mm.dd@hh.mm.ss.{camera#}, and makes a second copy on the local attached external hard drive for backup.

5) Note that in #4 the import preset applied a develop preset and a metadata preset.  So nested presets, cool huh?  Before that works, you need to build your develop preset and your import metadata preset so that when you build your import preset you can just assign the other two.

6) If your camera has GPS builtin use it, and then use the Map module in LR.  Cannot tell you how many times I've looked at a picture I've taken with no idea what the name of the building is.  But 60 seconds of checking using the map module and I have it located and named.

7) Lightroom will do automated backups if you tell it to.  I do at every close.  But it backs up only the catalog and it's data, NOT your pictures.  You need to back those up separately.  Your pictures are NOT in the LR catalog.  The catalog is just an index that points to your pictures.  But if your pictures are organized under a single directory then backup is easy.

Hope that helps and good luck getting set up.  Honestly, allocate yourself a solid week, get a good book on LR and do nothing but work on learning it and setting it up.  If you try to do it piecemeal and do work at the same time you WILL get frustrated.

[MDM]

9 minutes ago, Zigzagmtart said:

+100 on that.  I love Lightroom and would not be without it, but it does take some work to set up.  There are so many options in the preferences that it takes some real thought to get things the way you want.

A few tips from hard won experience:

1) Organize your image library on disk first, before you even install Lightroom.  All images should be under a single directory.  Photos, Images, My Stuff, doesn't matter but all in one place.  Note that Lightroom will accept any number of directories but if all images are in one place it greatly improves organization and also back up.  All of mine are on a network server under a pictures share.  Then everything is organized by year and then day.  So even without Lightroom's catalog I still have a basic organization.

2) Once you install Lightroom you then just tell it to 'ADD' those images in place and your catalog gets built with that organization structure.

3) The LR import dialog can be confusing.  It gives options for: Copy as DNG, Copy, Move and Add.  The big difference is Move or Copy will pull your images from their current location and put them where you want within your data structure.  Add leaves them in the same physical location but adds them to the catalog.  Usually for memory cards you would use Copy.  For your initial import you would use Add assuming everything is where you want.   I never use Move and use Copy as DNG only for my Sony camera.  The Pentax already shoots in DNG.

4) The key to LR is PRESETS.  Once you figure out how to do something build a preset for that and you never have to figure it out again.  For example my import preset: Copies the files from the SD card into the file structure on the server, applies a metadata preset with my name and copyright info, applies a develop preset that gets me 80% of the way done with processing, renames the files to my naming structure which is yyyy.mm.dd@hh.mm.ss.{camera#}, and makes a second copy on the local attached external hard drive for backup.

5) Note that in #4 the import preset applied a develop preset and a metadata preset.  So nested presets, cool huh?  Before that works, you need to build your develop preset and your import metadata preset so that when you build your import preset you can just assign the other two.

6) If your camera has GPS builtin use it, and then use the Map module in LR.  Cannot tell you how many times I've looked at a picture I've taken with no idea what the name of the building is.  But 60 seconds of checking using the map module and I have it located and named.

7) Lightroom will do automated backups if you tell it to.  I do at every close.  But it backs up only the catalog and it's data, NOT your pictures.  You need to back those up separately.  Your pictures are NOT in the LR catalog.  The catalog is just an index that points to your pictures.  But if your pictures are organized under a single directory then backup is easy.

Hope that helps and good luck getting set up.  Honestly, allocate yourself a solid week, get a good book on LR and do nothing but work on learning it and setting it up.  If you try to do it piecemeal and do work at the same time you WILL get frustrated.

I agree with a lot of this but I don't agree with Point 1. It is not necessary, may be impractical, undesirable or even impossible to have all images in a single directory. It will be impossible if the image collection is too large for your drive. I have my image collection spread over three different drives and there is no problem. Lightroom can keep track of where images are stored, offline or online. If you move the images or change the folder names, then it is a simple matter of pointing Lightroom in the right direction and it will find the images again.

Otherwise great advice. Martin Evening's Lightroom book is excellent.

 

[Zigzagmtart]

12 hours ago, MDM said:

I agree with a lot of this but I don't agree with Point 1. It is not necessary

You are correct and if the portfolio is too large for single drives then there is of course no choice.  Lightroom really does not care, the preference for single drives is to make backup easier and to present a cleaner look in the folder view.  But as you say, it is not necessary.  Just preferred, IMHO, if it is possible.  Mine are under a single directory on the server which has an 8tb raid array.  Which appears as a single drive despite it being six physical drives. 

And, yes Martin Evening's book is excellent.  Another one I have used is "Adobe Lightroom - the missing Manual" by Victoria Brampton.  Completely different style but a nice 'quick tip' sort of reference.  Adobe also has a lot of good videos on their site: http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/lightroom-training-videos

[Sally]

This has been another really helpful thread on the forum. I would not have know about the Bridge download otherwise. I've downloaded it and read the manual, and used it successfully to upload some photos. What I am wondering is whether/how it might be possible to match all of the previous photos I have uploaded. Unfortunately when exporting as jpegs, I changed the names, so the photos on Alamy don't match with the ones in Lightroom. Even trying to manually enter the Alamy reference into the appropriate box in Lightroom does not trigger a match (and I don't really fancy doing this for every image anyway). I may have to accept that the hundreds of photos already on Alamy won't be matched, but is there a clever way to do this? Tried the support pages and can't see anything that would help.

[Craig Joiner]

54 minutes ago, Sally said:

What I am wondering is whether/how it might be possible to match all of the previous photos I have uploaded. Unfortunately when exporting as jpegs, I changed the names, so the photos on Alamy don't match with the ones in Lightroom. Even trying to manually enter the Alamy reference into the appropriate box in Lightroom does not trigger a match (and I don't really fancy doing this for every image anyway). I may have to accept that the hundreds of photos already on Alamy won't be matched, but is there a clever way to do this? Tried the support pages and can't see anything that would help.

If the only difference is a fixed suffix or prefix that is missing at one end then you might be able to account for this in the plugin using the options in the matching section.

If that doesn't work I believe you can change filenames in Lightroom to match Alamy, run the plugin to match images and then change the filename back and the Alamy reference sticks. Bit of a fiddle but as a one off exercise it should work. Best test it on a couple of images first though!

Alternatively Alamy used to provide a spreadsheet of all your metadata and it was possible to manually update all your filenames in the spreadsheet to match Lightroom then send it back to Alamy who would apply the changes to their system. It's how I matched all my images just before the new image manager went live but last I heard Alamy had yet to update their spreadsheet system since the changes. Probably worth an email to Alamy to see if it is now possible to make bulk changes by spreadsheet.

 

[Sally]

3 hours ago, Craig Joiner said:

If the only difference is a fixed suffix or prefix that is missing at one end then you might be able to account for this in the plugin using the options in the matching section.

If that doesn't work I believe you can change filenames in Lightroom to match Alamy, run the plugin to match images and then change the filename back and the Alamy reference sticks. Bit of a fiddle but as a one off exercise it should work. Best test it on a couple of images first though!

Alternatively Alamy used to provide a spreadsheet of all your metadata and it was possible to manually update all your filenames in the spreadsheet to match Lightroom then send it back to Alamy who would apply the changes to their system. It's how I matched all my images just before the new image manager went live but last I heard Alamy had yet to update their spreadsheet system since the changes. Probably worth an email to Alamy to see if it is now possible to make bulk changes by spreadsheet.

 

That's helpful, thanks.  A few ideas i will try.

[Sally]

On 4/26/2017 at 3:48 PM, Gilwen said:

4. You can use various functions to Set the Metadata or Fetch the Metadata from Alamy.  This makes it easy to update your images data should you need to.( I think there may still be some errors with these until Jim gets the working properly with the new AIM).

 

I

Interested in trying to do this since I've got better at processing photos as time has gone on.  is it done with 'Fetch' or 'Set' or does one 'Upload' again? I cant' see anything in the manual about it.

[Craig Joiner]

14 hours ago, Sally said:

Interested in trying to do this since I've got better at processing photos as time has gone on.  is it done with 'Fetch' or 'Set' or does one 'Upload' again? I cant' see anything in the manual about it.

It's only metadata (keywords, captions etc.) that can be updated by the plugin. You cannot replace images on Alamy with newer versions. You would have to upload re-processed images as new images and delete the images on Alamy you are replacing.

[Sally]

1 minute ago, Craig Joiner said:

It's only metadata (keywords, captions etc.) that can be updated by the plugin. You cannot replace images on Alamy with newer versions. You would have to upload re-processed images as new images and delete the images on Alamy you are replacing.

Ah, Ok, thanks.

[louisb]

I know this thread was last visted some time in June. I recently upgraded to Lightroom CC Classic - the latest version - and for the first time downloaded the LR Bridge software.

 

I've installed it but Alamy steadfastly returns an 'error 500' and refuses the connection. Is anyone familiar with this problem and have any pointers?

 

I would really love to get this plug-in working.

 

LouisB

[Sally]

On 01/11/2017 at 13:18, louisb said:

I know this thread was last visted some time in June. I recently upgraded to Lightroom CC Classic - the latest version - and for the first time downloaded the LR Bridge software.

 

I've installed it but Alamy steadfastly returns an 'error 500' and refuses the connection. Is anyone familiar with this problem and have any pointers?

 

I would really love to get this plug-in working.

 

LouisB

My experience of Bridge so far is that the authors are constantly having to update it to keep up with Alamy changes, so it's worth checking you have the absolute latest version. It's also worth contacting the help on th Bridge website. I have found them quick to respond. 

[Jim Keir]

Hi,

 

I'm the author of this plugin. I wasn't monitoring these forums before so missed the previous discussions.

 

Firstly, I've started uploading a series of videos on how it works (YouTube) Hopefully these will let people see what the deal is without having to actually install it. So far there's in-depth demos of uploading new photos, and exchanging metadata in both directions. I'll be doing more in the near future so if anyone thinks there's other things that need covered please let me know.

 

More importantly, if you do have problems then please, please let us know at the official support site or on support (at) lightroom-plugins.com otherwise nothing will change! It does occasionally need changes to accommodate something on Alamy's servers but that's done as soon as possible after we're notified. 

[James Hodgson]

Hi Jim,

Looking forward to watching these videos, and using the plugin more over the next month as I focus a bit more on alamy when some of my other work winds down.

Regards

James

[Thomas Kyhn]

I've just installed the demo. It appears to have detected one more sale than what is listed on the Alamy dashboard – so it is actually ahead of the dashboard?

[James Hodgson]

6 minutes ago, Thomas Kyhn said:

I've just installed the demo. It appears to have detected one more sale than what is listed on the Alamy dashboard – so it is actually ahead of the dashboard?

That sale should show tomorrow after the update. If you do a download sales report for today you should be able to see the details.

JH

[Thomas Kyhn]

3 minutes ago, James Hodgson said:

That sale should show tomorrow after the update. If you do a download sales report for today you should be able to see the details.

JH

 

Thanks for the info. It did indeed show up in the sales report.

[Martin Carlsson]

@Jim Keir and others

 

Anyone else having problems installing the Alamy LR Plugin after a fresh install and update to LR8? Frustrating as I lately has really started to depend on this plugin.

 

https://i.postimg.cc/wTPJcy4h/Alamy-Plugin.jpg

[Jim Keir]

There was a problem reported yesterday which would have affected Lightroom 6 and older, which was fixed within a few minutes of being reported. I've seen your support email and will be replying to that in the next few minutes. 

 

[chris_rabe]

I still need to figure out the syncing option. Had a look for some documentation once, but either didn't look hard enough or what I was after wasn't there

 

I'm probably not getting the most out of the plugin as it stands, but at least it makes the labours of getting it up on site easier

[Martin Carlsson]

@Jim Keir

 

Jim did fix it on the first go with the very little info that I had provided - 1st class customer care! Thank You Jim!

 

And for those that don't use the plugin yet, do yourself a favour and do - once familiar with it it becomes an exceptional, time-saving, productivity-enhancing must have if even just semi-serious about Alamy. 

[Jim Keir]

I've been planning to do some explanation videos for some time - what is it needs more explanation?

[chris_rabe]

1 minute ago, Jim Keir said:

I've been planning to do some explanation videos for some time - what is it needs more explanation?

I literally have no idea how to sync anything

 

I have it set up for uploading, but all those Alamy folders that it creates... well, they are totally unused right now - I created my own sub folder to manage for now what is uploaded, accepted, etc.

 

I'm a developer by day, so normally don't struggle to figure these things out, but this is like Greek to me

 

I also, to be fair, have not invested huge amounts of time in trying to work it out yet - always photos to be editing and uploading!

[Martin Carlsson]

7 minutes ago, chris_rabe said:

I literally have no idea how to sync anything

 

I have it set up for uploading, but all those Alamy folders that it creates... well, they are totally unused right now - I created my own sub folder to manage for now what is uploaded, accepted, etc.

 

I'm a developer by day, so normally don't struggle to figure these things out, but this is like Greek to me

 

I also, to be fair, have not invested huge amounts of time in trying to work it out yet - always photos to be editing and uploading!

 

It all became "very clear" to me after having read the manual properly one time + a few times having to go back to it, but reading it properly did the trick.

[Russell]

Quote

Alamy folders that it creates.

Do you mean "folders" Chris, or are you referring to the "collections" such as "all uploaded", "category missing", etc.

 

These are incredibly useful, in fact I didn't realise what a powerful tool "Collections" were in LR until I started using the bridge. They are (mostly) populated when you "fetch" your data from Alamy.