From 300 images online to 6800+ in 2 WEEKS!

[John Morrison]

22 minutes ago, Jon D said:

Pathetic excuses for so called men obviously!

 

Hey... some of us are pathetic excuses for women. Let's have no discrimination on the forum, please...

Edited November 21, 2019 by John Morrison

[Jon D]

53 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

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.

Thank you I have tried not to.

Nevermind on a plus side I have just finished and made my new website live after a lot of work making it compatible with mobile and desktop! 

YIPPPPPPEEEE 

Onwards and upwards

(I'd neglected my last for about 6-7 years and finally my name came available in .Com...., Only a decade wait! LMAO)

[Jon D]

54 minutes ago, John Morrison said:

 

Hey... some of us are pathetic excuses for women. Let's have no discrimination on the forum, please...

That really did make me laugh out loud!

At least you didn't say gender neutral, fluid or binary  ..... because then you would have truly lost me! 😕😂

[NYCat]

1 hour ago, Jon D said:

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 😉

 

I object strongly to the whole red arrow business so I have given you green ones to even things out in your "reputation". some red arrow people object to that but I think they should just speak up rather than firing anonymously. Alamy thinks the red arrows help to keep us from falling into huge fights and I must say the old forum was much less friendly than this one.

 

Paulette

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

Not sure why you are even getting them

Not from me but probably for comments such as this

 

3 hours ago, spacecadet said:

pathetic comment.

 

and this

2 hours ago, Jon D said:

Pathetic excuses for so called men

and this

4 hours ago, Jon D said:

Same to you mate frankly!

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by spacecadet

[KevinS]

Jon D,

 

Looked thru your images and I think you'll do well here. (Website looks good, too!)

 

When I first got here the forum was a great resource as I learned about digital photography and online stuff. After 10+ years there is less for me to learn and I know what some members will say before reading their post. Knowing this has saved me from reading tons of text when I do drop in here.  

Edited November 21, 2019 by KevinS

[Jon D]

2 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

I object strongly to the whole red arrow business so I have given you green ones to even things out in your "reputation". some red arrow people object to that but I think they should just speak up rather than firing anonymously. Alamy thinks the red arrows help to keep us from falling into huge fights and I must say the old forum was much less friendly than this one.

 

Paulette

I t is a bit strange in an adult world, but hey ho ay! 

I appreciate your upvote though so thank you that's kind of you! 🙂

Take care Paulette 🙂

[Jon D]

1 hour ago, KevinS said:

Jon D,

 

Looked thru your images and I think you'll do well here. (Website looks good, too!)

 

When I first got here the forum was a great resource as I learned about digital photography and online stuff. After 10+ years there is less for me to learn and I know what some members will say before reading their post. Knowing this has saved me from reading tons of text when I do drop in here.  

I understand completely what you are saying Kevin! lol

Thank you, I hope so I'll be putting effort into getting things corrected and in proper order.

I still don't expect sales till Jan at the earliest but it doesn't stop me checking daily! haha

 

Thank you on the website too that has been frankly a pain in the arse but it was along ling time overdue.

I'm currently doing metadata for pages and SEO..... zzzzzzzzzzz

Take care mate

[KevinS]

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

I know that Alamy will only accept such work from a properly CAA authorised operator.

Joseph,

 

I've looked at the contract and found no reference to this. Are you thinking of another agency? My aerial images are getting accepted here without having to reference my FAA Remote Pilot Certificate. 

Edited November 21, 2019 by KevinS

[Chuck Nacke]

OK Jon,

 

I apologize, my original response was a bit harsh and NEVER did I disparage your talent as a photographer, I was only trying to make a point

about editing or selecting.

 

Yea, I've been in the business (magazine and corporate around the world) for four decades, but I AM NOT the final word on Stock photography.  On this forum I speak only for myself and from my own opinion, which often people do not understand.  There are many photographers who know ALOT more than I about stock photography,  I am trying to learn in my old age and if it was not for Alamy I would have very little to do with modern photography.

 

While I did not make my point well and you felt that I attacked you and your work, I did not intend to, but many realized my point.

 

I am happy that you feel that you are doing well with stock and wish you and Alamy all the best in the future.

 

PS Jon I have over 10,000 watts of strobe equipment, 2,000 watts battery powered with more than a dozen Wizards.  I know what I am doing, except for "stock"

 

Chuck Nacke

Edited November 21, 2019 by Chuck Nacke
addiion

[Jon D]

26 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

OK Jon,

 

I apologize, my original response was a bit harsh and NEVER did I disparage your talent as a photographer, I was only trying to make a point

about editing or selecting.

 

Yea, I've been in the business (magazine and corporate around the world) for four decades, but I AM NOT the final word on Stock photography.  On this forum I speak only for myself and from my own opinion, which often people do not understand.  There are many photographers who know ALOT more than I about stock photography,  I am trying to learn in my old age and if it was not for Alamy I would have very little to do with modern photography.

 

While I did not make my point well and you felt that I attacked you and your work, I did not intend to, but many realized my point.

 

I am happy that you feel that you are doing well with stock and wish you and Alamy all the best in the future.

 

PS Jon I have over 10,000 watts of strobe equipment, 2,000 watts battery powered with more than a dozen Wizards.  I know what I am doing, except for "stock"

 

Chuck Nacke

Apology accepted mate, we move on.

Life's too short to bitch about meaningless crap ay,

 

Right so I have a burning question, why don't you submit more of your work here? I too have done my fair share of studio stuff, but haven't seen it as, or that it would be of any use for Stock, is that your reasoning to Chuck??

Only asking out of curiosity, nothing more.

 

It does seem in this game that numbers do matter. 

I know a guy who has 55,000 (yes that number is correct) VIDEO CLIPS and he makes a LOT of money per month and he swears that number is key in Stock and I can't argue he does well.

 

& if Im frank most of what he sells is crap, that my 12 year old boy could film.... LMAO

So it would appear that numbers definitely play a large part in the photography stock world too..... "Surely" anyway

[Marianne]

I'm still blown away by how many photos you uploaded so quickly. Knowing you already had them up elsewhere though makes it easier, but it is still a huge number. 

 

I have a huge backlog I try to get to in between other things but seriously this month I added about 100 to another site (well, about 105, 100 accepted and another 20 pending right now), 60 here (uploaded and accepted), and maybe 10-25 on various other sites, snd I felt really good about that. Hoping to get another 50 together by the end of the month. Now, that includes some new work that I processed, some concept ideas (photo illustrations) that I did from scratch, and even some new stuff I shot, as well as older work I hadn't gotten around to processing before.

 

For the past two months I've been working on adding images primarily to a site that does not accept editorial work, so that slows things down there, as I have to do a lot of cloning out logos etc where possible or just stick to nature and concept images. I mostly shoot travel so, while all those shots are fine for Alamy, they are not all appropriate for the other site. I also still have a large number of RM images here, particularly images that I've licensed as RM in the past and images that sell frequently as "fine art" either in galleries or via other sites, since, by offering them as RM  here I can protect them from being sold cheaply for "personal use" here ... but that means I can't upload them to most other sites since most now only want RF....so  ... it's complicated

 

....perhaps more complicated than it needs to be... I'd have 1,000s up if I just uploaded the same photos everywhere. Sometimes I think I spend more time agonizing over where each batch should go than actually processing and keywording. 

 

Much of what I shoot professionally isn't the type of work that lends itself to stock. But I'm hoping to get a lot more of the stuff that is up online. 

[John Morrison]

18 minutes ago, Jon D said:

It does seem in this game that numbers do matter. 

I know a guy who has 55,000 (yes that number is correct) VIDEO CLIPS and he makes a LOT of money per month and he swears that number is key in Stock and I can't argue he does well.

 

& if Im frank most of what he sells is crap, that my 12 year old boy could film.... LMAO

So it would appear that numbers definitely play a large part in the photography stock world too..... "Surely" anyway

 

Yes, I think we're all in agreement that "crap" sells, so the more "crap" we upload, the more money we'll be making. You seem to be getting the hang of this stock business...

[MizBrown]

1 hour ago, John Morrison said:

 

Yes, I think we're all in agreement that "crap" sells, so the more "crap" we upload, the more money we'll be making. You seem to be getting the hang of this stock business...

 

There there's that new girl in town, the one in California who has fewer than 300 photos up and three sales already, one a second licensing of one of the first two.  Someone pointed out she does excellent keywording, and I pointed out that she got to the right distance for protest marches, wide enough for context and close enough for individual faces to be fully showing expressions.

 

My impression is that what really matters is filling an editorial hole right now and being up to the various place's usual standards for what they're willing to take.

 

I had another former gringo ask me if I would upload his photos and keyword them for half the income.  I said that I'd show him how to do it.  I'm still working on keywording myself.

 

I had one photo that I almost didn't upload, but decided to since it was bringing itself to my mind's eyes.  It licensed, not for very much at all, but it did fit someone's space in a presentation, web site, or whatever. 

 

My first book editor had been an Analog editor (Ben Bova) who said there were things he rejected with almost tears in his eyes because the stories just weren't Analog stories.  When he became fiction editor at Omni, he could take some of them.  Companies have styles; magazines have styles; books have styles.  If what you do gets into their search and fits what they're looking for, they'll license it.  If not, not. 

 

 

[Joseph Clemson]

16 hours ago, KevinS said:

Joseph,

 

I've looked at the contract and found no reference to this. Are you thinking of another agency? My aerial images are getting accepted here without having to reference my FAA Remote Pilot Certificate. 

 

Hello Kevin,

 

What I think I had in mind was Alamy's blogs on the subject of legal use of drones for commercial photography. Looking at it again and taking into account what you are saying, it looks like Alamy clearly expects drone submisions to comply with regulations (CAA in the UK, and presumably other regulatory provisions elsewhere)  but they don't actually take any steps to make sure individual contributors or particular submissions comply with regulations. As with so many things at Alamy, the responsibility lies with the photographer and relies on their professionalism. 

[Jon D]

9 hours ago, Marianne said:

I'm still blown away by how many photos you uploaded so quickly. Knowing you already had them up elsewhere though makes it easier, but it is still a huge number. 

 

I have a huge backlog I try to get to in between other things but seriously this month I added about 100 to another site (well, about 105, 100 accepted and another 20 pending right now), 60 here (uploaded and accepted), and maybe 10-25 on various other sites, snd I felt really good about that. Hoping to get another 50 together by the end of the month. Now, that includes some new work that I processed, some concept ideas (photo illustrations) that I did from scratch, and even some new stuff I shot, as well as older work I hadn't gotten around to processing before.

 

For the past two months I've been working on adding images primarily to a site that does not accept editorial work, so that slows things down there, as I have to do a lot of cloning out logos etc where possible or just stick to nature and concept images. I mostly shoot travel so, while all those shots are fine for Alamy, they are not all appropriate for the other site. I also still have a large number of RM images here, particularly images that I've licensed as RM in the past and images that sell frequently as "fine art" either in galleries or via other sites, since, by offering them as RM  here I can protect them from being sold cheaply for "personal use" here ... but that means I can't upload them to most other sites since most now only want RF....so  ... it's complicated

 

....perhaps more complicated than it needs to be... I'd have 1,000s up if I just uploaded the same photos everywhere. Sometimes I think I spend more time agonizing over where each batch should go than actually processing and keywording. 

 

Much of what I shoot professionally isn't the type of work that lends itself to stock. But I'm hoping to get a lot more of the stuff that is up online. 

I have this down to a T now Marianne, I have a little system in place that helps me get it just right (obviously not perfect as others have noticed I have made mistakes, but they are my mistakes not the system).

Don't forget all of those commercial images have already been edited so there is no need for that.

I also thankfully have 350mb + internet and roughly a 40-60mb upload, that makes a huge difference.

It's just literally catching up.... & a lot of copy and pasting!

 

Yesterday for example I edited through the 200 images I took in about 20-30 minutes (don't need long for Stock I keep it basic), some images I will remove logos etc but I'm pretty good in photoshop and have an iMac next to my MacBook to make that process a bit quicker too.

I think I had close to 70 images in that batch at the end and they will be up today, uploaded in about 5 minutes and now in QC.

 

My Keywords etc just need refining as I said before I have, well now a 260+ page document that cover most subjects so that helps!

That's a little of my work flow, but I presume it's much the same as many others! Lol

 

I have all of my stock in certain folders and uploaded in batches to get them in a "rough order" to Keyword etc...... 

I honestly didn't think it was that fast I thought I can improve on that!

 

When it comes to certain individual images etc that I have just taken, the process takes a lot lot lot longer....

 

I now have over 1000+ Skateboarding images to go through and edit to some degree, and upload, it's difficult because of the graffiti and stuff like that.

 

Do you have any preference on here from Commercial or Editorial on here?

On places like Shutterstock I am about 50-50 in sales??

But here I expect different I think....

[Jon D]

8 hours ago, MizBrown said:

 

There there's that new girl in town, the one in California who has fewer than 300 photos up and three sales already, one a second licensing of one of the first two.  Someone pointed out she does excellent keywording, and I pointed out that she got to the right distance for protest marches, wide enough for context and close enough for individual faces to be fully showing expressions.

 

My impression is that what really matters is filling an editorial hole right now and being up to the various place's usual standards for what they're willing to take.

 

I had another former gringo ask me if I would upload his photos and keyword them for half the income.  I said that I'd show him how to do it.  I'm still working on keywording myself.

 

I had one photo that I almost didn't upload, but decided to since it was bringing itself to my mind's eyes.  It licensed, not for very much at all, but it did fit someone's space in a presentation, web site, or whatever. 

 

My first book editor had been an Analog editor (Ben Bova) who said there were things he rejected with almost tears in his eyes because the stories just weren't Analog stories.  When he became fiction editor at Omni, he could take some of them.  Companies have styles; magazines have styles; books have styles.  If what you do gets into their search and fits what they're looking for, they'll license it.  If not, not. 

 

 

That's the thing about being in the UK I hate, we don't have protests, high rise sky scrapers and pretty much nothing bad ever happens unless it's in London..... LOL,

So for news etc you aren't really onto a winner! & if you were are in London there would be thousands of journalists trying to get the same spot at the same time!

I used to live in Essex, which is right by London and frankly it was horrific! 

I now live much nearer the country, or at least somewhere that has access to many different things but still there is very limited newsworthy stuff to capture!

It's pretty disappointing for that anyhow!

But we do have some beautiful countryside and a lot of Poverty mixed in so that always sells! LMAO

[Jon D]

26 minutes ago, Joseph Clemson said:

 

Hello Kevin,

 

What I think I had in mind was Alamy's blogs on the subject of legal use of drones for commercial photography. Looking at it again and taking into account what you are saying, it looks like Alamy clearly expects drone submisions to comply with regulations (CAA in the UK, and presumably other regulatory provisions elsewhere)  but they don't actually take any steps to make sure individual contributors or particular submissions comply with regulations. As with so many things at Alamy, the responsibility lies with the photographer and relies on their professionalism. 

It's an approach a lot more agencies should do frankly rather than treat us like idiots, but then I get the need for it more in the US, their cities are not like ours! 

They make ours look like hamlets! lol

[Jon D]

Oooh and bonus I've woken up to another sale! 

Yippppeeee, not for much but they all count! 🙂

I certainly wasn't expecting 2 in the first few weeks so ahead of schedule and very happy! 🙂

[KevinS]

6 hours ago, Joseph Clemson said:

 

Hello Kevin,

 

What I think I had in mind was Alamy's blogs on the subject of legal use of drones for commercial photography. Looking at it again and taking into account what you are saying, it looks like Alamy clearly expects drone submisions to comply with regulations (CAA in the UK, and presumably other regulatory provisions elsewhere)  but they don't actually take any steps to make sure individual contributors or particular submissions comply with regulations. As with so many things at Alamy, the responsibility lies with the photographer and relies on their professionalism. 

Thanks for tracking this down! My interest in UAV photography was always commercial, so I got certified right away. Not true for many would-be pilots. The blog post isn't totally correct (maybe a bit out of date). It doesn't cost thousands of dollars and a long time to get certified (at least in the US). Once I discovered that, I moved ahead, and got certified in 2-3 weeks for $150. 

Edited November 22, 2019 by KevinS

[Klinger]

On 21/11/2019 at 03:33, Jon D said:

& 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 😉

 

I'd want to try a different way of putting the keyword issues, which might make more sense for your large effort.

 

It's easier to fix something in advance than to go back and fix them after. Easier to find the sets and review.

 

One of the quotes you might appreciate that applies to the situation is this.

 

"Why is there always enough time to fix things later, than there is to do it right now?"  😀

 

The reality is that taking the time to do things right the first time will, in the long run, take significantly less time and result in a higher quality product, and less effort... than it does to do things over. I find it easier to edit before upload, so that data is always correct, within the IPTC data of an image.

 

I know many of us have different views and personal opinions of keywords, which seems to trickle over into similar images. Here's mine, take them or leave, just adding to the conversation. I only use words that are prominent in the image, and specific words that apply. I might add a conceptual word here and there. With only obvious keywords, I won't get as many wrong hits. I don't expect someone looking for a whale to download my image of a whale, just because they saw it, if I had an inadvertent keyword included. Or of course for some people, who spam up their keywords with irrelevant, hoping for views.

 

I'm like others here, I only select the best of a shoot to upload. Filler is just "I have more images" which doesn't directly relate to more sales. I try to pick only the best to edit and upload. I think that in rough numbers only 5% of what I shoot for stock, ever gets edited and uploaded. Sometimes, a small project, one shot is all.

 

I admit I am a minimalist when it comes to keywords and image numbers. Doesn't mean I insist I am perfect or 100% correct, just that that's the way I perceive the system at Alamy to work best. Less is more   😉

[Jon D]

1 hour ago, Klinger said:

 

I'd want to try a different way of putting the keyword issues, which might make more sense for your large effort.

 

It's easier to fix something in advance than to go back and fix them after. Easier to find the sets and review.

 

One of the quotes you might appreciate that applies to the situation is this.

 

"Why is there always enough time to fix things later, than there is to do it right now?"  😀

 

The reality is that taking the time to do things right the first time will, in the long run, take significantly less time and result in a higher quality product, and less effort... than it does to do things over. I find it easier to edit before upload, so that data is always correct, within the IPTC data of an image.

 

I know many of us have different views and personal opinions of keywords, which seems to trickle over into similar images. Here's mine, take them or leave, just adding to the conversation. I only use words that are prominent in the image, and specific words that apply. I might add a conceptual word here and there. With only obvious keywords, I won't get as many wrong hits. I don't expect someone looking for a whale to download my image of a whale, just because they saw it, if I had an inadvertent keyword included. Or of course for some people, who spam up their keywords with irrelevant, hoping for views.

 

I'm like others here, I only select the best of a shoot to upload. Filler is just "I have more images" which doesn't directly relate to more sales. I try to pick only the best to edit and upload. I think that in rough numbers only 5% of what I shoot for stock, ever gets edited and uploaded. Sometimes, a small project, one shot is all.

 

I admit I am a minimalist when it comes to keywords and image numbers. Doesn't mean I insist I am perfect or 100% correct, just that that's the way I perceive the system at Alamy to work best. Less is more   😉

That's sound advice! 🙂

But I think the "few" people noticing the odd keyword that they wouldn't use is probably creating a scenario that 6500 out of the 7000 I now have are wrong that isn't the case at all.

Once I've organised them into February and have them in location I will go through them in batches, categories etc etc and then as I've said have them all done by February! Until then I'm about 90% happy with all 7100 images currently on. There's always gonna be one or two....(hundred.... lol), but I also need to wait and work out what Keywords are "relevant" to Alamy.... because they may not be the same as shutterstock etc 🙂

[MizBrown]

11 hours ago, Jon D said:

That's the thing about being in the UK I hate, we don't have protests, high rise sky scrapers and pretty much nothing bad ever happens unless it's in London..... LOL,

So for news etc you aren't really onto a winner! & if you were are in London there would be thousands of journalists trying to get the same spot at the same time!

I used to live in Essex, which is right by London and frankly it was horrific! 

I now live much nearer the country, or at least somewhere that has access to many different things but still there is very limited newsworthy stuff to capture!

It's pretty disappointing for that anyhow!

But we do have some beautiful countryside and a lot of Poverty mixed in so that always sells! LMAO

I'm in Nicaragua.  Getting shot during protests is a possibility.

 

 

[Jon D]

12 minutes ago, MizBrown said:

I'm in Nicaragua.  Getting shot during protests is a possibility.

 

 

Meh, I used to be in the Royal Marines I've had the absolute privilege to be deployed to virtually all the sh1tholes in the world and be shot at.....

Sadly and I mean sadly I didn't know what a camera was back then! LMAO....

If ONLY.... I could have made a killing... pun intended 😉

 

[Jon D]

14 minutes ago, MizBrown said:

I'm in Nicaragua.  Getting shot during protests is a possibility.

 

 

Stay safe though please 🙂