Dave Colman

I'm still new to all this stock photography so I am not sure about how much these changes will affect me. What I do know is that Alamy has 0 sales for me since jan 21, another site has got me 24 sales in 2 months and another 1 sale within a week of joining with an initial 18 images. Of course they are all selling for peanuts and Alamy has to compete with that but it seems as though the agencies seem to want to offload the 'little' guys and not bother with their small amounts of images.

I'm rather hoping my images will be on the searches very soon. Live in Jiaxing which is where the communist party had 1st meeting 100 years ago and they are celebrating in 2 months time, should be huge and there is a rumoured internet block while it's on. Yesterday I went to Tainducheng which has come up on the wanted list and only 20 minutes away from me. Limited audience I know but I suppose i'm in a fairly unique area.

Another random question to save me making a seperate thread, if I have images of a place on the what to shoot list do I just upload and then tick the box, cross fingers,sit back and wait? Want to get my images seen and they will be alamy exclusives for now, if I get no joy then I will add to other sites in a few month I suppose.

Thanks guys for the input, I am going back over the images and tagging as the whole stock photography is very new for me. I've had 20 sales in 6 weeks on other sites but very little interest here so I suppose the images are of interest to someone. I will keep plugging away.

I'm just looking for ideas to increase exposure. Trying anything and everything I can. My views are ok, increasing a lot recently but zooms are terrible, had 4 in the first couple of weeks and none since. Going back through and retagging but that's a slow process.

I have been playing around with my portfolio, swap images about every week to add a bit of interest. Only recently did I notice the gallery button, do we need to make a gallery, is it a good idea and helps sales?

Panic over, QC passed and i'm ready to crack on with the tagging. Might have just been a bottle neck and it's all cleared now.

I haven't had a single failure so far. As for the stars there are only 3 on my dashboard and 2 are black as they have been since I started in january.

erm, 2/3 stars if that's what you mean. I don't mind how long it takes, just going by previous submissions

Just checking if there are any delays or if it;s my terrible internet here in China. My images usually go through in between 2 and 5 days but currently I have some from 25th feb uploads still awaiting QC.

Just checking if there are any delays or if it;s my terrible internet here in China. My images usually go through in between 2 and 5 days but currently I have some from 25th feb uploads still awaiting QC.

I used to own and run a camera shop and would give customers the same answer every time. What suits you? It's not what gets the best reviews or the one that Bob down the road uses, or Mary in the next street. It is what you need and what does the job you require. Cameras and equipment are tools, they are not a fashion accessory (unless you are Chinese, they love brand names here), remember you take the photo and the tool just records it. I suggest you go in to a shop and try them both, play with the controls and get a feel for what is right.

thanks for the heads up, some sneaked in as a copy/paste. its a tourist hidden gem in the city and character always relates to Chinese writing, it's not words its characters. I have adjusted accordingly. I will have to go back through everything, so many mistakes and errors in my rush to get uploaded before the new year when the internet dies for about 2 weeks with a quarter of the worlds population online.

Thanks, will give it a try, it's not like there's a shortage of people here.

Some advice on my strategy and if you agree with my thinking. I have uploaded a fair few images from my time in China, most of my work is on drives back in UK, and because I have them on another site they are not exclusive obviously. Work I have taken from this week onwards will only appear on here so will be alamy exclusive for that potential few extra pennies. Try to vary my work, take image horizontal and vertical whilst looking for unusual views or subjects. Sensible tagging with variable spelling options. I go through alamy lists every few days looking for views and if the tags are