QC Rank Strategy: by batch or photo?

[Susan Vineyard]

I have lost most of my stars in Alamy and want to gain them back. My last several submissions have passed, but I am curious if anyone knows which counts more, batches or individual pictures. Do we get a bigger ding on our rankings because of all the pictures rejected in a batch?  Does the algorithm say , "Oh, we just rejected one batch, so that's a point off of Susan," or does it say, "We just rejected 20 images, so that's 20 points off Susan?"   I saw a recommendation somewhere to submit in small batches.  If I submit many one or two picture batches that pass, will I gain my stars back more quickly? Does anyone know? Thanks for any insight.

 

 

[Colin Woods]

I don't know but I can't imagine you getting a bigger ding for a batch of 100 images failing than for a batch of 10. What reasons are Alamy giving for failure? Are you checking your photos for dust/blemishes at 100%? What camera are you using? When you know what Alamy want there is no need to be afraid of big batches - my biggest ever was nearly 500 pictures.

[meanderingemu]

1 hour ago, David Pimborough said:

 

 

When I first started with Alamy I submitted only those photos I was pretty sure would pass and I'd do them in small batches of 5 to 10.

 

I'd also wait before submitting the next batch.

 

As to the algorithm I couldn't say.

 

As to your final comment its highly likely that submitting small batches that pass should improve your stars  quickly

 

 

Likely, but i have a feeling batch for Alamy are based on times through QC.  What i mean is that a one day batch of five  images, would likely have the same impact as five daily submission of one image, as they are all combined from Alamy's QC perspective.   

Same would go over week-ends, all going through on Mondays.. 

[spacecadet]

 I just work through images a folder at a time and upload the same way. Before I had five stars it never occurred to me to try to game the system by manipulating batch size. In any case I don't think it makes any difference.

Now I have I still work the same way- as far as I'm concerned my images would still pass QC.

[Klinger]

I had done some test uploads, single images, to see if they passed. Stupid... but anyway, I knew that one image would be looked at closer. Before that I had on rejection in ten years. After testing a couple times and they failed, my rank dropped.

 

I don't know if it was more batches or more images, but I normally only send up 5 - 10 at a time. It took nearly no time to return to 3 stars. So lets say, five batches and I was back. Since then I have been doing what I do, process and upload what I have ready, at the time. I don't play games, trying to guess what the system will do. So some are 10 and a couple 32, recently.

 

Not saying I know anything or have any conclusion about whether it's pictures or batches, but I do know that recovery is pretty fast, not like people are secured to the dungeon walls for long periods of slow review torture. 😉

 

I don't see 5 stars, never have, I don't know if there are people that see 5 and some aren't filled. I have three all three are solid. Maybe someone can expand on that? Is there anyone with four stars? Is the total number of images, possibly related to the 5 stars? Just wondering why some people see that and others still show three.

 

What does this mean, from a different thread:  "new approach to QC rank " is that just the stars or is there something else.

 

[Johnnie5]

i was having failures more frequently before I added an extra step to my process.  I was just checking my photos in Lightroom while I was processing them and then exporting them, renaming them and uploading.  I use Adobe Bridge for renaming but it is also a convenient program to double check your photos. You click on a photo, tap the space bar and navigate your way around the photo with a mouse.  I still find things that I missed in Lightroom but I haven't had a failure in quite some time.  If its just a dust spot I open the photo right out of Bridge and into Photoshop and fix it and save.  I am sure the star ratings are based on your success rate over time so all you can do is stop having failures to get a better rank.  I have five  stars, my last failure was July 2018 for noise and before that November 2017 which was a because of noise and softness on an indoor shot at the Vatican. Now that I have five stars I am even more careful because I don't want to lose it.

[Stokie]

23 hours ago, Klinger said:

I had done some test uploads, single images, to see if they passed. Stupid... but anyway, I knew that one image would be looked at closer. Before that I had on rejection in ten years. After testing a couple times and they failed, my rank dropped.

 

I don't know if it was more batches or more images, but I normally only send up 5 - 10 at a time. It took nearly no time to return to 3 stars. So lets say, five batches and I was back. Since then I have been doing what I do, process and upload what I have ready, at the time. I don't play games, trying to guess what the system will do. So some are 10 and a couple 32, recently.

 

Not saying I know anything or have any conclusion about whether it's pictures or batches, but I do know that recovery is pretty fast, not like people are secured to the dungeon walls for long periods of slow review torture. 😉

 

I don't see 5 stars, never have, I don't know if there are people that see 5 and some aren't filled. I have three all three are solid. Maybe someone can expand on that? Is there anyone with four stars? Is the total number of images, possibly related to the 5 stars? Just wondering why some people see that and others still show three.

 

What does this mean, from a different thread:  "new approach to QC rank " is that just the stars or is there something else.

 

 

Star rating explained here. https://www.alamy.com/contributor/how-to-sell-images/alamy-quality-control/

 

John.

[alphaomega]

I have five stars and maintain a rigid system of checks before submitting in batches varying in size depending of what is usable from a particular session. All pictures are prepared in Camera Raw with only light changes to 16 bit Jpegs in PS Cloud. Never make changes in 8 bit. All images are checked carefully at 100%. If I feel an image is not up to standard at full size I reduce down to 24Mp. If I need to go below 24Mp it is a reject. I then look at every picture again enlarged to fill the full size of my 27in screen. I look first at all the edges and margins and then check the sky from one side to the other and back. I occasionally find blemishes I missed at 100%. I think this is because of the overall view you get of the whole picture. I use FastStone image viewer for this final check, but open up in PS to rectify.  I look out for birds, spots, unsharp, luminance, fringing etc. I never sharpen images in PS. Only contrast type sliders.

[Betty LaRue]

The moral of all the stories is to take good images, learn to process them without adding more noise and artifacts than were already there, and to study, study, and learn, learn, what technical quality Alamy wants. 
Then go over each of your images so carefully that you can submit 100 images at a time without concern of failing. That will take out the question of one at a time or more at a time in submissions. If you feel you must upload one at a time, then you need to stop uploading for awhile and learn what’s needed to be learned.

Of course, even the most careful of us can make an occasional mistake or misreading what we’re seeing during inspection. We are only human, not robots. There are times when we might be distracted or interrupted.

You gotta just wince and move on.  Carefully.

I had my problems in the beginning, and I’m the first to admit it took a brick house to fall on me to learn my lesson. So don’t ever feel worthless and not good enough, it’s a process.

Betty

 

 

[meanderingemu]

8 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

The moral of all the stories is to take good images, learn to process them without adding more noise and artifacts than were already there, and to study, study, and learn, learn, what technical quality Alamy wants. 
Then go over each of your images so carefully that you can submit 100 images at a time without concern of failing. That will take out the question of one at a time or more at a time in submissions. If you feel you must upload one at a time, then you need to stop uploading for awhile and learn what’s needed to be learned.

Of course, even the most careful of us can make an occasional mistake or misreading what we’re seeing during inspection. We are only human, not robots. There are times when we might be distracted or interrupted.

You gotta just wince and move on.  Carefully.

I had my problems in the beginning, and I’m the first to admit it took a brick house to fall on me to learn my lesson. So don’t ever feel worthless and not good enough, it’s a process.

Betty

 

 

 

 

still doesn't address the best road to earning ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating.  Taking your 100 image example, does Alamy consider one upload of 100 per fortnight,  the same as five of 20?

[Betty LaRue]

3 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

still doesn't address the best road to earning ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating.  Taking your 100 image example, does Alamy consider one upload of 100 per fortnight,  the same as five of 20?

No clue. The past couple of years my uploads are smaller. Because of my back, I can’t sit at the computer for long periods. Mine are usually 6-12 images once a week and was a lot less than that for awhile. I’m wondering if frequency counts more than image count.

[Allan Bell]

11 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I’m wondering if frequency counts more than image count.

 

Perhaps you need to multiply the two figures together after a certain period has passed then add the days in the period, divide by 7, add 31, square the answer and bingo.

 

"Sorry no more stars YET."

 

Allan

 

[Betty LaRue]

All I know is that I’ve noticed with my own images, that if I upload something, even a couple of images every week, my images seem to be placed higher in searches. I just ran a test on a couple of really old images, and they were in the first 1-4 pages of a simple search.

When I was immersed in caregiving and lucky to upload something once a month, my images sank.

 

Thats why I’m suggesting it might be possible to also be used in the five star ranking. And I don’t think that you can upload every week for a month and have things change, but a longer-term time.

I remember telling John before his hip surgery to have a folder of finished images ready so he could dribble a few every week throughout his recovery. Is it a proven thing? No. Just my opinion.

I’m also a firm believer in holding my mouth just right and good things will happen.  So Allan, turn one corner of your lips up, stick out your tongue on the other side, and see what happens!

[Allan Bell]

On 05/02/2020 at 16:15, Betty LaRue said:

All I know is that I’ve noticed with my own images, that if I upload something, even a couple of images every week, my images seem to be placed higher in searches. I just ran a test on a couple of really old images, and they were in the first 1-4 pages of a simple search.

When I was immersed in caregiving and lucky to upload something once a month, my images sank.

 

Thats why I’m suggesting it might be possible to also be used in the five star ranking. And I don’t think that you can upload every week for a month and have things change, but a longer-term time.

I remember telling John before his hip surgery to have a folder of finished images ready so he could dribble a few every week throughout his recovery. Is it a proven thing? No. Just my opinion.

I’m also a firm believer in holding my mouth just right and good things will happen.  So Allan, turn one corner of your lips up, stick out your tongue on the other side, and see what happens!

 

Hang on I'll get a mirror. Now where did I put it?

 

Allan

 

[Betty LaRue]

2 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Hang on I'll get a mirror. Now where did I put it?

 

Allan

 

😁

[Klinger]

On 30/01/2020 at 09:05, Stokie said:

 

Star rating explained here. https://www.alamy.com/contributor/how-to-sell-images/alamy-quality-control/

 

John.

 

Thanks I must have missed the reply. I think the OP was asking, how to recover from loss of stars? Is it uploads or batches? (I don't know)

 

I had roughly 1,800 images accepted over years, before I started to "test". And those were single, stitched images. I didn't want to sneak anything past in a batch of 150 or 50. They got reviewed, rejected and I got my answers. When I asked how I could be dropped because of three images, singles, vs hundreds of passed, the answer was essentially, don't worry, just upload and you'll get them back.

 

About ten batches of 1 - 17 images, and I was back at three stars.

 

Good link: I think that answers it.

 

QC Ranks can move up or down based on your QC history and at the discretion of our QC Team. 

 

In my opinion for my work, I'm not going to change anything. When I have some images, I'll upload them. If it's one then one, if it's 101 then 101. 😎

Edited February 8, 2020 by Klinger