Upload rate per photographer?

[light_trails]

I'm new to Alamy and have noticed a lot of members' photo counts at least in the thousands, whereas I barely have over 100. I have easily taken tens of thousands of photos since I have been a photographer, but I'm not sure that a lot of them are "marketable". Does anyone have any ideas for uploading more pictures? Or are higher numbers something that happen slowly over time?

 

I guess I'm asking what a typical upload rate would be per photographer: 100 per month? 500 per month? Something else?

 

I'd appreciate any feedback.

[Betty LaRue]

A few years ago, my goal was to upload 100 a month. I did that. I worked my tail off to do it, sandwiched between my regular life.

I don’t shoot a lot of multiples just to ramp up my image count. I try to stick to no more than three of the same subject, although using a vertical, a horizontal, and sometimes a closeup and distant shot. Object being that each is different from the other, so as not to appear as duplicates.

As a result, taking, developing, tagging and uploading 25 a week was rather hard.  I prefer to have a port not filled with 10 shots of nearly the same subject. 

My upload routine these days is more like 10-20 a week. Usually 10. Others hit the high-speed button. It all depends on how much time you can devote to it. If you have a day job, (or a life) , it will be what you can squeeze in. Don’t go for sheer numbers at the expense of saleable images, carefully developed.

Betty

[CHP]

It can vary greatly depending on the type of photographer/subjects being shot (events, lifestyle, nature, etc.), full time vs part time, and other factors.  Also, I believe some contributors you see with high image counts might actually be the combination of multiple photographers.  A favorite expression that you might hear on the forum is that "stock is a numbers game", but I suggest that you not sacrifice quality for quantity (for example, don't upload lots of duplicates just to increase your image count).  Just keep shooting as best you can and upload over time (I call it feeding the pipeline), and the numbers will eventually add up.  You appear to be off to a good start.

 

Clarence

[MarkK]

I just surpassed two years with Alamy and nearing 1500 in my Alamy portfolio.  Considerable time has been put into getting to this point but starting to see some positive results.  Over the two years I took off several months where nothing or very little was uploaded.  The following are the number of photos per month I submitted thus far this year: Jan (11), Feb (129), March (112), April (70), May(61), June (83), July (130), August (172), and Sept (121).  Its definitely a journey and not a sprint.  Best wishes.

[John Mitchell]

I'm averaging about 50 per month these days.

 

UPDATE: Actually, it's more like 60 per month. I'm more prolific than I though I was.

[Colin Woods]

You should let the market judge what is marketable. Its amazing what sells and what doesn't. There was a forum post just recently on "what is the most unusual photo that you have sold". You could create a second pseudonym and upload some of those you think are not marketable and see how they do. One of the most informative threads here is the monthly " have you found any Alamy images this month". Have a look through it and see what is being reported as used. 

[light_trails]

Thanks a lot everyone, your answers have been really helpful

[spacecadet]

Alamy is a British agency. Maybe you'd care to wait until we wake up before signing off!

It largely depends on my travel. I've averaged about 1000/year for quite a while but this year is down to a few hundred because I haven't been too far.

 

[Sally]

It also very much depends on whether you do live news, which can significantly increase your monthly submissions. 

[BobD]

If I were you I would look at the images you have, think of how you would keyword them and then do an Alamy search on those keywords. Look at the quality and quantity then displayed and make a decision if your images would compete. If so then why not take advantage of the resources you have.

[JamesH]

.

[Colblimp]

I've been on Alamy since 31st Dec 2015 and have uploaded

<<<<< this many pics. 

 

I don't upload rubbish (IMO!), but I always think before I press the shutter button.  I prefer news now and most of my uploads are newsy, with just a few stock here and there, when I get time.

 

Uploads this year are: Jan 87, Feb 97, Mar 73, Apr 66, May 121, Jun 148, Jul 130, Aug 50, Sept 65, Oct 110 and counting. 

 

Good luck!

[Richard Tadman]

Slightly off topic but I'd strongly recommend adding the scientific names to your keywords for images of animals and flowers etc. Lots of buyers search using the scientific name as their primary search and your squirrel, parrots and flowers are likely to be omitted.
Good Luck

[Brasilnut]

9,000 images since Sept 2016 so that's what like 360 a month average.

 

I'm a stock photography machine fighting doom and gloom on a daily basis. 

[MandyD]

I'm at about 275 a month so far this year, but had to take a couple months off, so behind where I want to be.

[Robert M Estall]

There's no simple answer to this, many of us operate in very different ways. Many of us had substantial archives which we built up over many years so our first task was to get them up onto the evolving digital market. I probably uploaded 3000 images in my first year but I already had them all captioned and edited, it was just a matter of converting them to the Alamy system. I've been pretty slack about shooting and uploading new material the past couple of years.

Then there are the many amateurs who are just starting out. Your starting collection shows some experience and good technique so you are not a total beginner. You do need to get your numbers up but not at the expense of just throwing images at the market. There may be some truth in the advice that you never know for sure what is going to sell, but that doesn't mean the scatter-gun is going to work for you. If you got 1000 Good imoges up in your first year that would be some doing

[wiskerke]

Yes your images look nice.

However images are not found by looking at them. They are found by keywords. Those have to be perfect too.

Include Latin names for animals. Include the name and place of things.

 

Where is that bridge in PW8N8K? What's the name of that bridge in PW8N95? I found it on Google in 2 seconds.

PWFAB5 are not hex nuts, but air nipples or pneumatic quick couplers.

You get my drift.

 

wim

 

 

[Phil Robinson]

I have a rather arbitrary target of 100 a week. I sometimes do more and if I've done fewer I don't upload substandard pics to reach the 'target'. 

Big news weeks can mean more, rainy, studio-based weeks will usually mean less.

 

You can't stress enough what Wim said above - keywording and captioning are at least as important as image quality these days. You may have some of the greatest photos (and yours are really good) but if nobody finds them, they won't sell.

[Starsphinx]

One of the reasons I joined Alamy was to eventually create (I hope) a consistent trickle income regardless of what I have actually managed that week/month.  My health means in a good week I can take hundreds of photographs (take not upload - most will hit the bin), in a so-so week I can quietly work on keywording a few words at a time - and on the "we dont want to go there" weeks  I will consider it an achievement to get out of bed.  So long as I keep uploading and keywording a reasonable amount hopefully my port will start selling a few regardless of whether that week has been a 30 odd image or a 0 image week

[cbimages]

I'm lucky to load 150 per year, preferring quality over quantity. And I am very fussy about the images loaded and always try to shoot mainly subjects with low representation on Alamy. It seems to work for me with sales numbers increasing very well each year.

[Chuck Nacke]

I would suggest to the OP to look at the Images Found posts in the forum and to search what is already on Alamy

before picking up a camera.  I will add that from my own experience with Alamy for more than ten years

and my decades of working for photo agencies around the world, the most important thing to keep in

mind is the picture and now in the 2010's the IPTC information.  I have also noticed that Alamy does

very well for me with news and not only new images shot for live news, but for images that address

issues that are currently page one around the world.

 

I am very selective on what I upload to my main Pseudonym (my name) and my second Pseudonym

which is for "Stock" that I am experimenting with.

 

If I upload more than 50 images a year I am doing good.  For licenses I run along at around 70+ per

year, but I am not a stock photographer.  I make my money from commissioned corporate photography

now.

 

Chuck

[Phil Robinson]

20 hours ago, Starsphinx said:

One of the reasons I joined Alamy was to eventually create (I hope) a consistent trickle income regardless of what I have actually managed that week/month.  My health means in a good week I can take hundreds of photographs (take not upload - most will hit the bin), in a so-so week I can quietly work on keywording a few words at a time - and on the "we dont want to go there" weeks  I will consider it an achievement to get out of bed.  So long as I keep uploading and keywording a reasonable amount hopefully my port will start selling a few regardless of whether that week has been a 30 odd image or a 0 image week

One of the good / bad things about stock photography is that your month's income has absolutely nothing with how much you do that month.

You can be ill in bed for four weeks and have you best month ever for sales. 

On the flip side, you can have weeks taking the best pics you've ever taken and make no money.

But it sort of averages out. More or less.

[Starsphinx]

3 minutes ago, Phil Robinson said:

One of the good / bad things about stock photography is that your month's income has absolutely nothing with how much you do that month.

You can be ill in bed for four weeks and have you best month ever for sales. 

On the flip side, you can have weeks taking the best pics you've ever taken and make no money.

But it sort of averages out. More or less.

Thats what I am hoping - when I am well I am out taking local news and sports shots - which (in theory - newquest I am looking at you here) bring in money closer to the time they are taken.  It is a sort of 2 pronged approach - and I have to say only possible because of the new Universal Credit.  I could not do this before because of the way old benefits worked.