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Portfolio review for a newbie


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Hi everyone, I have just started Alamy and would appreciate anyone with experience having a look at my portfolio

I would like to know if I am heading in the right direction and what I can improve upon?

 

https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/esthersportfolio

 

Thanks a lot 

Edited by Esther Hutchcroft
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I like your close ups of bluebells and the use of the "lens ball" is imaginative. The signs are there that you could do well here in time.

 

Reality check - 51 shots is a drop in Alamy's ocean,  unless you get lucky, you are unlikely to make sales until you significantly increase the number of suitable images available.

 

Some of your shots are too dark e.g. T9MR9R, while it's not a good idea to upload dull landscapes such as T6W421. Better to wait until the sun shines or there is dramatic light. Try looking at what is already available on Alamy as you will be in competition with them.

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You have some attractive shots. However, you will need to change your mindset on captioning - you seem to be captioning for a Flickr type site. Alamy sells professional photos to professional buyers and you need to caption and keyword with that in mind. A 'yellow flower' (especially when it's not yellow) is insufficient, you need to identify the flower precisely, including the Latin name. Don't include the location in caption or keywords unless the flower is somehow specific to that location. You can put the location in the optional data tab so the buyer knows where the image was taken, if they need to know.

 

Flower and nature in general are well represented to a very high standard on Alamy and you will have to work hard to break into that sector. Have a browse of the forum, especially the threads on what has sold each month, to get ideas of what else you might be able to shoot which will sell, as well as the nature things you obviously enjoy. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some smashing photography, I like the flowers especially the composition in T8YPD0. Our good friends in the National Trust have a vested interest in commercial photography on their land and take issue with pictures taken of their property appearing on Alamy. T8YPD0 is not property specific so you can probably justify/get away with contributing it, but
I would recommend not drawing the NT's attention to it by mentioning them in the caption. There's plenty about the NT in these forums.

 

In a location like Lynton (T6W41C) it's tempting to try for a landscape shot even when the light is conspiring against you, with some photoshopping you can push the dynamic range, but you are still competing with somone you has stood knee deep in sea weed for an hour waiting for the light. If you are a landscape photgrapher thats your lot and you are stuck with it but as a stock photgrapher you can do what you want! Let your imagination wonder. Accentuate the menacing light and you have the cover of a murder mystery book. Maybe head towards the cafes and ice cream stalls to find a detail you can isolate with a bit of flash or granny in her summer overcoat with a thermos for a lighter travel picture, which still has a sense of place.

 

Anyway enjoy your photography and good luck.

 

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I'll second what Joseph has already said about captioning when it comes to flora and fauna.  Buyers search on Latin names and, for cultivated flora, by varietal names.  You can't avoid the requirement to identify down to that level. For example:  Your bluebell shots should include Hyacinthoides non-scripta in the keywords; T7NDGE is Camassia leichtlinii; T6W412, your pink flowered 'yellow' flower is the flowering rush, Butomus umbellatus; and your dragonfly is an immature female Common Darter - Sympetrum striolatum.  Without that level of detail your images simply won't be found in searches.  Good images - but invisible to most buyers.

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