BryanCanon Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Having been a photographer for many years and a long-time uploader to Alamy, now as a new member to this Forum it's good to know that I can get a critique on my images. It could be that my subjects are not widely needed, and naturally would like to see better sales figures (wouldn't we all !!). So here below is the link to my images in Alamy, and I'd appreciate comments, even if they're a criticism – maybe advice as to what I should shoot instead. Thanks Guys and Gals in advance. BryanCanon https://www.alamy.com/contrib-browse.asp?cid={CC389190-9A87-489C-9786-3121BAECA72E}&name=Bryan+Wenham-Baker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 For one, you have 14 shots of the same robin with insect in beak. Pick three of the best, that’s enough. Include one cropped to portrait. Others of your bird images have out of focus twigs/limbs in front, covering part of the bird. I seriously doubt those will ever sell. Purge them. I didn’t look at everything, but I like your insects. I have a few insect images and I don’t believe even one has ever sold. (Well, maybe one...) But I’d sure keep them. I’m keeping mine, you never know. Keep in mind to carefully frame your subject and if stuff is in the way, don’t take it. The camera focuses on the subject and ugly blobs in front ruin it. You have your developing pretty perfect, not too light, not too dark. Before you grab a shot, remember to think how a buyer would use it. If it is a mundane object, they usually won’t. Because there are probably 1000s of them available. Don’t take a shot just because something is there and you can point your camera at it. I have to kick myself sometimes to remember that. You appear to know how to use your camera very well, now you need to be discriminating on what you take pictures of. Then take a horizontal and a vertical. Try to stick to no more than 5 of the same subject, but 1-3 is better. You need a much larger collection to see regular sales. I didn’t look at your tags and captions, but I’m sure someone will. I’m off to learn how to cook a beef roast in my new instant pot! 😁 Betty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanCanon Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 Hello Betty, thanks for looking at my images and I really appreciate your comments. I can see where you're coming from and you've been a big help which will enable me to be more careful in with the images I put into Alamy. Here's a guide I found for your beef roast: Hope it goes well. How do I get a portion? 🍽️ Season roast with salt and pepper liberally. Turn the pressure cooker to saute. ... Pour in beef broth and scrape up any browned bits on bottom of instant pot. Add roast back into pressure cooker, along with the onion powder, garlic and horseradish. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes per pound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 5 hours ago, BryanCanon said: Hello Betty, thanks for looking at my images and I really appreciate your comments. I can see where you're coming from and you've been a big help which will enable me to be more careful in with the images I put into Alamy. Here's a guide I found for your beef roast: Hope it goes well. How do I get a portion? 🍽️ Season roast with salt and pepper liberally. Turn the pressure cooker to saute. ... Pour in beef broth and scrape up any browned bits on bottom of instant pot. Add roast back into pressure cooker, along with the onion powder, garlic and horseradish. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes per pound Very strange. That’s the exact recipe I used except for the horseradish. 😊 I didn’t have any and didn’t care to run to the store. It still turned out very good and tender. I have had horseradish on beef in the past and it was very good. In fact, there is a chain fast food place called Arby’s here that has a “horsey” sauce for their roast beef sandwiches. Also bbq sauce. I always get the horseradish sauce. I need to buy some. I believe you live across the pond, yes? If so, you’re out of luck getting some of my roast beef, lol. Betty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanCanon Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 Well Betty, I'm either a 'psychic' or I looked it up on Google LOL, guess which. Yes, I'm in a town called Ivybridge, in South West England, South Hams, County of Devon. It's just 10 miles East of Plymouth (you know, where the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from to America, Plymouth Massachusetts in about 1620). Good your recipe turned out well. It's ok Betty, I'll go hungry! It's almost a tradition in England to have horseradish sauce with roast beef. My father used to dig the horseradish plant up and grate the roots to make our own sauce, but very strong, more tears than when peeling onions. BTW, trying to get out with the camera, but although we have bright sunshine, winds have been forecast up to 80mph, so will try again tomorrow. Bryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 (edited) 13 hours ago, BryanCanon said: Well Betty, I'm either a 'psychic' or I looked it up on Google LOL, guess which. Yes, I'm in a town called Ivybridge, in South West England, South Hams, County of Devon. It's just 10 miles East of Plymouth (you know, where the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from to America, Plymouth Massachusetts in about 1620). Good your recipe turned out well. It's ok Betty, I'll go hungry! It's almost a tradition in England to have horseradish sauce with roast beef. My father used to dig the horseradish plant up and grate the roots to make our own sauce, but very strong, more tears than when peeling onions. BTW, trying to get out with the camera, but although we have bright sunshine, winds have been forecast up to 80mph, so will try again tomorrow. Bryan It’s windy here, too, but only 40mph. Cool facts about Plymouth. You need to come over here and shoot Plymouth Rock! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock Edited April 27, 2019 by Betty LaRue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanCanon Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 I'd love to, would be a big adventure for me, never been to the States. Thanks for the history. It's 1 at night here, so I will have to save it, read the rest tomorrow. Really good of you Rachel Bryan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Richmond Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 Hi Bryan Just down the road from you in Plymouth (UK). Looks like we shoot some of the same things so I feel a little bit qualified to critique 😊 Watch your captions and keywords. Your keywords seem to be either glut or famine. Too many is just as harmful as too few. What matters are the keywords that buyers within your market are likely to use. Latin names for flora and fauna are a must and I'm glad to see you are using them. But anything ambiguous or not directly relevant to the image / subject runs the risk of showing up in searches for other subject matter, harming your CTR. I'd also expand your captions. You have 150 characters. Use them. My own technique is to write a description which could be used verbatim by a buyer. For my flora and fauna shots I always include Latin name, varietal name if appropriate and common name together with as many of my keywords as I can shoehorn in. Oh, and always strive for accuracy. For example your image RXWAK7, captioned Hazel and cob nut kernels has hazel nuts - but the spiky stuff is sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa and you have five incorrect birch/betula keywords in the list. Additionally, your small white butterfly image EJ03F8 is actually a green veined white, Pieris napi. And try and ID your fungi - buyers will be looking by Latin name. Take and upload more images. 483 in 6.5 years isn't enough to have more than an insignificant presence on Alamy. You're not competing against the full 150 million images here - but you will be competing against many thousands for a lot of your shots. Will they even be seen. You've got diversity. You now need quantity. But always consider what the market is for your shots. Who is likely to buy - books, magazines, newspapers, websites - and what are they looking for? Sometimes it's a direct illustration for an article, sometimes it's more of a concept. Research the markets for your chosen subjects and shoot for what they need, rather than what you like Hope this helps John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanCanon Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 Hello John Nice to know you're a "neighbour"! Thank you so much for taking the trouble to look through my images. I can see where you're coming from regarding keywords. To be honest, I have always been concerned about not having a full 50 keywords in order to get a green 'For Sale' bar right across and that's why I have always tried to fill the quota even with some words that do no exactly fit the image. What's your experience, is it really necessary to always put in 50 keywords? I'm worried that Alamy downgrades images that doesn't completely meet the 'full green' target. I have been concerned about losing out in this regard. Really valuable also are your comments about using more words in the description. Apart from the description, are you saying it's advisable to make suggestions as to where an image might be used. Otherwise I'm not quite sure how I would get nearer to using up a good number of the 150 words. I'm blushing, having mis-named the Pieris Napi !! Thanks again John, I really appreciate what you've written. Bryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 8 minutes ago, BryanCanon said: I'm worried that Alamy downgrades images that doesn't completely meet the 'full green' target That is an entirely natural reaction to this exasperating Discoverability bar, I wondered the same myself. Don't worry, they won't wilfully do this but irrelevant keywords will harm your CTR (click through rate), that's just how their search algorithm works (or rather it is assumed to work since they don't say and may change the inner workings without notice). Lots on the discoverability bar on this forum of which this is the most recent, and unusually it contains a comment from Alamy themselves: https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/11478-discoverable/#comment-209008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanCanon Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 Hello Harry Thanks for that, I can see what you mean, so now I'm going to head for that link. Really appreciated Bryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Richmond Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 Bryan I have 6500 images on Alamy. Not one is 'in the green' as far as discoverability goes. I've no shortage of sales for my portfolio size, 101 so far this year, so it doesn't seem to matter. My images seem to be found easily enough by the buyers without meeting the 'discoverability' criteria. Relevance is more important than quantity in keywording. As far as descriptions go, simply tell a story in up to 150 characters. You've got a good example in your image G31CF4 - Cliffs on pathway down from Roundham Head to Goodrington, Torbay, Devon, England. You've said what it is and where it is, a description that could be lifted by any editor and slotted straight into a usage for that image. Contrast that with your description of MNCR0G - Devon stone wall. The more information section 'Beginning of a new Devon wall being built, near Ivybridge, England' is far more informative but isn't searchable so you lose all the benefits of doubling up keywords in the caption and the keywords section. No need to say where an image might be used - that's for the buyers to decide. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanCanon Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 Hi again John You've really put my mind at rest about those issues, thank you. I'd better get going, full steam ahead with loads more images! All the best Bryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlessandraRC Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 Your botanical output clearly needs help. More specifically, watch out for over exposure. Highlight clipping. What needs to be in focus and is not? Colors such as red and pink and yellow tend to come out over saturated. Desaturate a little bit for more detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanCanon Posted June 13, 2019 Author Share Posted June 13, 2019 Hello Alessandra Thank you very much for taking time to look at my images. Your comments are very helpful and very much appreciated. Regards BryanCanon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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