From 300 images online to 6800+ in 2 WEEKS!

[spacecadet]

6 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Wondered if you mean a truncated caption,  cut off in its prime at 150 characters? I don't predate the current AIM but that hasn't stopped me from entering captions that are too long in Lightroom. I use the csv download to find these by entering a new column with a formula to count the characters, anything at 150 is reason for suspicion.

No, I mean captions from a batch usually with just the location that I've omitted to detail individually. The tags are usually correct so they're not a dead loss.

[KevinS]

On 19/11/2019 at 08:35, Joseph Clemson said:

Have you found the costly investment in a drone and training to provide a decent return on stock shooting alone? I have wondered more than a few times whether to enter that particular field.

Joseph,

 

I wondered the same thing when I first started seeing drone photos, and dismissed the idea as being too expensive. But then the idea of a flying camera to get the aerial perspective as well as easy camera positioning was too much for me to resist. I let go of the idea of "cost effective" and took the plunge. Here in the US, I found the process of certification fascinating and not expensive. The only expense beyond equipment, for me, was the exam ($150), which I prepared for by using free materials from the FAA and YouTube. It could be more expensive in the UK, but there are loads of UK drone pilots on the popular drone forum site.

    I started this project before retiring from a full time job, so haven't flown as much as I'd like. A few shots are in my most recent upload here. With over $2K in equipment, this isn't a financial thing for me, but an exciting activity that is squarely within the world of aviation. So far I have only shot some stock, and for that I don't buy insurance. If I ever want to work for someone else, there are apps that allow buying insurance for a few hours. Like the OP, I use Mavic 2 Pro, and the files are very similar to Sony RX 100 series cameras. 

Edited November 20, 2019 by KevinS

[Jon D]

1 hour ago, hdh said:

I was just looking for cat pictures, to see where my first one appears then read this thread again. 

this is a cat from your portfolio and an example how keywords may hurt CTR: 

It has some unrelated keywords:

apple - you will hardly get a zoom on searches with this keyword 

harddrive - neither on this one, unless the cat got an invisible usb port

 ... 

He is WAS a very tech orientated cat... (sadly run over now....),

No but in all seriousness thank you I will amend these tomorrow.

Appreciate the heads up on that! 🙂

[Jon D]

50 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

I find it much more difficult to revise annotations, and keep track of which images have even been revised, after the fact. Even now I come across the odd image with an incomplete caption left over from the original tagging- there's no way to find such images. Getting it right first time and not uploading excess images, is much quicker done first time round, and of course they're not there dragging down your rank.

I totally agree with this, and of course I knew I'd make mistakes getting so many images up so quickly so I'm very grateful that people have spotted the ones I have made errors on. 

I will have to look through many but I will get there eventually! 

I have a large document already on Alamy revisions to make! hahahaha

[Jon D]

12 minutes ago, KevinS said:

Joseph,

 

I wondered the same thing when I first started seeing drone photos, and dismissed the idea as being too expensive. But then the idea of a flying camera to get the aerial perspective as well as easy camera positioning was too much for me to resist. I let go of the idea of "cost effective" and took the plunge. Here in the US, I found the process of certification fascinating and not expensive. The only expense beyond equipment, for me, was the exam ($150), which I prepared for by using free materials from the FAA and YouTube. It could be more expensive in the UK, but there are loads of UK drone pilots on the popular drone forum site.

    I started this project before retiring from a full time job, so haven't flown as much as I'd like. A few shots are in my most recent upload here. With over $2K in equipment, this isn't a financial thing for me, but an exciting activity that is squarely within the world of aviation. So far I have only shot some stock, and for that I don't buy insurance. If I ever want to work for someone else, there are apps that allow buying insurance for a few hours. Like the OP, I use Mavic 2 Pro, and the files are very similar to Sony RX series cameras. 

Totally agree with this, and if you find a special market or area to focus on images and clips will sell!

I have sold 8-10 clips on one subject this month alone just on Blackbox, excluding pond5 etc etc, so you will make $$$ but tbh I just love the perspective photography wise it can give! It's like a whole new world to explore again! 🙂

[Jon D]

34 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

No, I mean captions from a batch usually with just the location that I've omitted to detail individually. The tags are usually correct so they're not a dead loss.

Yes this as well, I have to say though I am surprised at the 150 character limit, it's the smallest on any agency isn't it??

Still I'm sure there's a good reason! 🙂

[Chuck Nacke]

Jon,

 

You are an excellent example of what is "basically" wrong with Stock Photography.  When I make pasta I do not throw it against the

wall and in  my opinion that is what you are doing with images.

 

If and when I shoot a story, I will upload less than ten images out of hundreds.  I know how to edit (select) images, you should learn it as well.

 

I've been contributing to Alamy for over 15 years and I still have less than 1,000 images (main Psydo) up and I have been running at over 70 licenses a year since

2007.

 

But again I started working for NEWSWEEK when I was 19 years old.....

 

P.S. I have a beautiful cat named Bon Jovi, name given to him before I picked him out of the shelter,  I would never photograph him for Alamy.

I have photographed my daughters and those images have been licensed by Alamy many, many times.

 

Sincerely,

 

Chuck Nacke

Edited November 20, 2019 by Chuck Nacke
addition

[hdh]

35 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Jon,

 

You are an excellent example of what is "basically" wrong with Stock Photography.  When I make pasta I do not throw it against the

wall and in  my opinion that is what you are doing with images.

 

If and when I shoot a story, I will upload less than ten images out of hundreds.  I know how to edit (select) images, you should learn it as well.

 

I've been contributing to Alamy for over 15 years and I still have less than 1,000 images (main Psydo) up and I have been running at over 70 licenses a year since

2007.

 

But again I started working for NEWSWEEK when I was 19 years old.....

 

P.S. I have a beautiful cat named Bon Jovi, name given to him before I picked him out of the shelter,  I would never photograph him for Alamy.

I have photographed my daughters and those images have been licensed by Alamy many, many times.

 

Sincerely,

 

Chuck Nacke

Huge thumbs up, Chapeau! 

[Marianne]

I was so proud of myself for adding about 60 new images in the past two weeks. My goal was to add 50 new images this month and I surpassed it. 

 

That drone footage sounds like fun. I'd think that you'd be required to have liability insurance all the time. 

 

Wish I could upload 1,000 new images a year, I'd feel good about that. Like Chuck, I usually upload 10 out of 100-300 shots.

 

Good luck. I'd tone down the icons, but at least you have a large enough portfolio to judge how things are working. Just remember you start with a medium rank and it can go down, so monitor how things are going so all 6K of you images don't disappear from searches. 

 

[MizBrown]

I think it's a fantasy that people looking for a specific image to illustrate an article, Power Point presentation, web site, or book, will find your off topic not relevant photo in a search and be so impressed that they'll note your image ID and find an article to be able to use it.  Most people are going to be skimming the thumbnails looking for something that works with the overall concept of a piece they need to finish this week, or today.

 

If someone is looking for a harddrive or apple, is a cat photo going to be so memorable that if the photo researcher later needs a cat photo, they'll go for yours rather than do a new search which will throw up high rated photographer's work first.  The highest rated photographers don't use irrelevant keywords.  I've noticed that the things that are not appropriately keyworded tend to show up on page 3 or further.

 

 

 

[KevinS]

14 hours ago, Marianne said:

That drone footage sounds like fun. I'd think that you'd be required to have liability insurance all the time. 

Flying a UAV (drone) is incredibly fun; for video, stills, or just to fly. Currently in the US, insurance is not required by the FAA, although at least one state has some sort of requirement. My limited flying has been over rural public lands where visitors are rare. If I should plan a flight where there might be people or property, insurance would make sense. 

Edited November 21, 2019 by KevinS

[Jon D]

10 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Jon,

 

You are an excellent example of what is "basically" wrong with Stock Photography.  When I make pasta I do not throw it against the

wall and in  my opinion that is what you are doing with images.

 

If and when I shoot a story, I will upload less than ten images out of hundreds.  I know how to edit (select) images, you should learn it as well.

 

I've been contributing to Alamy for over 15 years and I still have less than 1,000 images (main Psydo) up and I have been running at over 70 licenses a year since

2007.

 

But again I started working for NEWSWEEK when I was 19 years old.....

 

P.S. I have a beautiful cat named Bon Jovi, name given to him before I picked him out of the shelter,  I would never photograph him for Alamy.

I have photographed my daughters and those images have been licensed by Alamy many, many times.

 

Sincerely,

 

Chuck Nacke

This has really really made me laugh.

A frankly it's a pathetic comment.

I have worked in professional freelance photography for 10-12 years now.

I have a back catalogue of images from pretty much every subject under the sun!

I only found out about stock photography or rather decided to give it my time about 18 months ago and now in that short time I make between $500-$1000 EVERY month (say for the last 8 months)....

That's not failing mate not at all.

 

Just because I've managed to put so many images up doesn't mean I'm doing things wrong it means I have a way of getting images on sale quickly from experience working with people at the Daily Mirror, BBC and many other agencies and sports desks....

I just happen to LOVE what I do and dedicate my time to it.

 

* & to put this in perspective to you about how absolutely ludicrous your comment is.....

I went to the solicitors yesterday to finalise particulars for buying another property locally and EASILY photographed and captured at least 200 images ALL DIFFERENT in the city centre in about 30-40 minutes.

They will go in a RAW folder and will go online when I have time to edit and keyword etc...

 

The fact you have a small portfolio doesn't make you mr business mate, I can go virtually anywhere and create hundreds of images that may be useful to someone! 

Maybe your just not dedicated enough! 😉

Edited November 21, 2019 by Jon D

[Jon D]

9 hours ago, hdh said:

Huge thumbs up, Chapeau! 

Same to you mate frankly! 😉

 

This has really really made me laugh.

A frankly it's a pathetic comment.

I have worked in professional freelance photography for 10-12 years now.

I have a back catalogue of images from pretty much every subject under the sun!

I only found out about stock photography or rather decided to give it my time about 18 months ago and now in that short time I make between $500-$1000 EVERY month (say for the last 8 months)....

That's not failing mate not at all.

 

Just because I've managed to put so many images up doesn't mean I'm doing things wrong it means I have a way of getting images on sale quickly from experience working with people at the Daily Mirror, BBC and many other agencies and sports desks....

I just happen to LOVE what I do and dedicate my time to it.

 

* & to put this in perspective to you about how absolutely ludicrous your comment is.....

I went to the solicitors yesterday to finalise particulars for buying another property locally and EASILY photographed and captured at least 200 images ALL DIFFERENT in the city centre in about 30-40 minutes.

They will go in a RAW folder and will go online when I have time to edit and keyword etc...

 

The fact you have a small portfolio doesn't make you mr business mate, I can go virtually anywhere and create hundreds of images that may be useful to someone! 

Maybe your just not dedicated enough! 😉

Edited November 21, 2019 by Jon D

[Jon D]

8 hours ago, MizBrown said:

I think it's a fantasy that people looking for a specific image to illustrate an article, Power Point presentation, web site, or book, will find your off topic not relevant photo in a search and be so impressed that they'll note your image ID and find an article to be able to use it.  Most people are going to be skimming the thumbnails looking for something that works with the overall concept of a piece they need to finish this week, or today.

 

If someone is looking for a harddrive or apple, is a cat photo going to be so memorable that if the photo researcher later needs a cat photo, they'll go for yours rather than do a new search which will throw up high rated photographer's work first.  The highest rated photographers don't use irrelevant keywords.  I've noticed that the things that are not appropriately keyworded tend to show up on page 3 or further.

 

 

 

I completely agree with this and so I know I have had a few images with incorrect keywords, but that was going to happen in the time frame I was putting them up.

They will be corrected though don't you worry! 

🙂

But thank you for pointing this out! 🙂

[Jon D]

8 hours ago, KevinS said:

Flying an UAV (drone) is incredibly fun; for video, stills, or just to fly. Currently in the US, insurance is not required by the FAA, although at least one state has some sort of requirement. My limited flying has been over rural public lands where visitors are rare. If I should plan a flight where there might be people or property, insurance would make sense. 

It certainly is and I believe the UK has better restrictions than the US, we also don't have sky scrapers etc like you do only in a few cities so things are a bit easier to that regard! 🙂

[Jon D]

9 hours ago, Marianne said:

I was so proud of myself for adding about 60 new images in the past two weeks. My goal was to add 50 new images this month and I surpassed it. 

 

That drone footage sounds like fun. I'd think that you'd be required to have liability insurance all the time. 

 

Wish I could upload 1,000 new images a year, I'd feel good about that. Like Chuck, I usually upload 10 out of 100-300 shots.

 

Good luck. I'd tone down the icons, but at least you have a large enough portfolio to judge how things are working. Just remember you start with a medium rank and it can go down, so monitor how things are going so all 6K of you images don't disappear from searches. 

 

This is each to their own, my actual job role is working in this industry and I have literally about 15-20 thousand images that were dormant on my HDD, that weren't earning a penny.

I haven't simply been able to just add this many images no one could.

I had them on a few other agencies and hadn't dedicated any time to Alamy.

 

* You are doing well if this is not your chosen field work wise etc, it does take a lot of time to add images, keyword them if you literally have a 100 different ones to process.

 

Of course for me I did not I had organised groups on Shutterstock etc and have simply transferred etc 🙂

 You keep up the good work and just enjoy it that's the main thing 🙂

Take care

[hdh]

34 minutes ago, Jon D said:

I completely agree with this and so I know I have had a few images with incorrect keywords, but that was going to happen in the time frame I was putting them up.

They will be corrected though don't you worry! 

🙂

But thank you for pointing this out! 🙂

I just opened a few more of your images every single one had unrelated keywords. 

Generally your pictures are good competition, your keywording is not. 

There is enough advise in this thread already, so I refrain from adding to it and wish you a lot of luck with your endeavours. 

 

[Jon D]

20 minutes ago, hdh said:

I just opened a few more of your images every single one had unrelated keywords. 

Generally your pictures are good competition, your keywording is not. 

There is enough advise in this thread already, so I refrain from adding to it and wish you a lot of luck with your endeavours. 

 

& I have stated that I will get to editing them, but obviously there is a lot, and Rome wasn't built in a day....

I don't understand when the point was made and I agreed, that people are still repeating the same line constantly. That was wrapped up in the first few comments.

 

All that sort stuff will be sorted when I've condemned into categories etc and have made it easier for the buyers more still to find what they are looking for.

🙂

 

Jees, give me time man 😉

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, Jon D said:

This has really really made me laugh.

A frankly it's a pathetic comment.

I have worked in professional freelance photography for 10-12 years now.

I have a back catalogue of images from pretty much every subject under the sun!

I only found out about stock photography or rather decided to give it my time about 18 months ago and now in that short time I make between $500-$1000 EVERY month (say for the last 8 months)....

That's not failing mate not at all.

 

Just because I've managed to put so many images up doesn't mean I'm doing things wrong it means I have a way of getting images on sale quickly from experience working with people at the Daily Mirror, BBC and many other agencies and sports desks....

I just happen to LOVE what I do and dedicate my time to it.

 

* & to put this in perspective to you about how absolutely ludicrous your comment is.....

I went to the solicitors yesterday to finalise particulars for buying another property locally and EASILY photographed and captured at least 200 images ALL DIFFERENT in the city centre in about 30-40 minutes.

They will go in a RAW folder and will go online when I have time to edit and keyword etc...

 

The fact you have a small portfolio doesn't make you mr business mate, I can go virtually anywhere and create hundreds of images that may be useful to someone! 

Maybe your just not dedicated enough! 😉

Chuck calls a spade a spade but it's not personal. You could learn from him.

Maybe stick around a while and get to know the style of contributors before you start running down respected members of this community whom you don't know from Adam?

[Jon D]

19 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Chuck calls a spade a spade but it's not personal. You could learn from him.

Maybe stick around a while and get to know the style of contributors before you start running down respected members of this community whom you don't know from Adam?

Which is absolutely fine, but if you insult someone, expect them to stick up for themselves 😉

Per Mare, Per Terram.

He made assumptions which were frankly poorly inaccurate without knowing me.... It works 2 ways.

Or maybe people could just be nicer to new users and not jump on the "gang up together" bandwagon mate.

I was only asking for advice which I have accepted on every aspect so far without being critical, so there was no need to suddenly critique me in the way he did.

Once bitten comes to mind mate tbh.

 

I'm ALWAYS fair to people, and polite until people are not to me. 🙂

 

[John Morrison]

4 minutes ago, Jon D said:

Which is absolutely fine, but if you insult someone, expect them to stick up for themselves 😉

Per Mare, Per Terram.

He made assumptions which were frankly poorly inaccurate without knowing me.... It works 2 ways.

Or maybe people could just be nicer to new users and not jump on the "gang up together" bandwagon mate.

I was only asking for advice which I have accepted on every aspect so far without being critical, so there was no need to suddenly critique me in the way he did.

Once bitten comes to mind mate tbh.

 

I'm ALWAYS fair to people, and polite until people are not to me. 🙂

 

 

And in the time it took you to write that, you could have uploaded about 500 pix...

[Jon D]

10 minutes ago, John Morrison said:

 

And in the time it took you to write that, you could have uploaded about 500 pix...

Very good very good, but I'm using FTP, it does it the background! As I'm sure you know, 

Just editing and organising me new website to be honest. Stressful times. 10 hours on one page yesterday! lol

*But yes I could be doing far more productive stuff than getting into bickering and squabbling ;-).

[MDM]

26 minutes ago, Jon D said:

Which is absolutely fine, but if you insult someone, expect them to stick up for themselves 😉

Per Mare, Per Terram.

He made assumptions which were frankly poorly inaccurate without knowing me.... It works 2 ways.

Or maybe people could just be nicer to new users and not jump on the "gang up together" bandwagon mate.

I was only asking for advice which I have accepted on every aspect so far without being critical, so there was no need to suddenly critique me in the way he did.

Once bitten comes to mind mate tbh.

 

I'm ALWAYS fair to people, and polite until people are not to me. 🙂

 

 

Don't worry Jon. You are welcome and it is generally a very friendly place here really. 😀. 

 

One thing I would say about your work if it has not been said already - too many similars can have a negative effect on your Alamy rank which can affect your sales. I guess that is what the original one meant when talking about throwing pasta at the wall. He is frequently rude towards people, old and new here,  experienced and novice photographers alike. He will often remove what he has written and aplogise for what he has said. He is highly respected by some because he was once a very well known photojournalist and he has a unique portfolio from his photojournalist days. Importantly Chuck certainly does not speak for the forum. 

 

Best to ignore any bad vibes and move on.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by MDM

[Jon D]

22 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

Don't worry Jon. You are welcome and it is generally a very friendly place here really. 😀. 

 

One thing I would say about your work if it has not been said already - too many similars can have a negative effect on your Alamy rank which can affect your sales. I guess that is what the original one meant when talking about throwing pasta at the wall. He is frequently rude towards people, old and new here,  experienced and novice photographers alike. He will often remove what he has written and aplogise for what he has said. He is highly respected by some because he was once a very well known photojournalist and he has a unique portfolio from his photojournalist days. Importantly Chuck certainly does not speak for the forum. 

 

Best to ignore any bad vibes and move on.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you MDM, 

That's very much appreciated.

It may not seem like it but I have taken every bit of advice on board that I have gotten so far and I will be addressing them all one by one when I have the time to sort my profile professionally etc. I hope to have caught up with all of my images etc and have everything keyworded perfectly in galleries and in folders by February!

Once that is done and sorted I'm happy for people to make judgements, but dear god people GIVE ME TIME! Lmao!

Thanks for your comment, and have a great day!

🙂

I can also see that the group are on the down voting band wagon... -3 

Pathetic excuses for so called men obviously!

Can't even have a conversation 😉

Edited November 21, 2019 by Jon D

[MDM]

16 minutes ago, Jon D said:

 

I can also see that the group are on the down voting band wagon... -3 

 

Can't even have a conversation 😉

 

Yeah for sure the red arrow brigade is firing today 😀. It's a lazy way of expressing displeasure rather than stating why you disagree. There are many of us regulars here who never use them as a matter of principle. Not sure why you are even getting them as you said nothing untoward at all.

Edited November 21, 2019 by MDM