Number of keywords

[AsbjornM]

I use Photo Mechanic for adding keywords before submitting images to Alamy.

It happens frequently that there is more than 50 keywords. What happens in Alamy's system with the excessive keywords? Are they still kept in the system and in search engines, or does Alamy  somehow delete some keywords to fit the 50 figure?

AsbjornM

[Niels Quist]

Actually, I don't know whether all keywords beyond the 50 are cut off or put together in one long keyword. But if you cannot see them in the AIM, they are not present.

 

I would sometimes use multiple keywords to create a single tag, e.g. ‘Snowdonia National Park’ or 'two persons' etc.  - and if one of the keywords in a multiword tag is really important you could add this on its own. Cannot remember how long one tag can be, but long enough to cover most of your needs.

 

Niels

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Niels Quist

[AsbjornM]

Thanks Niels-

All keywords are still there, although the heading shows ''50/50'', even though there is another 3-4, or more, listed. So, when on Alamy I usually delete keywords to come down to exactly 50. But that's always a pain, when you have spent time and efforts while in Photo Mechanic to come up with as many decent keywords as possible. And to start counting keywords on each and every image is such a time consuming affair. What I would have liked to know from Alamy is, what happens to the keywords that are in excess of 50. Problem is, Alamy do not answer my question...

 

[Niels Quist]

27 minutes ago, AsbjornM said:

Thanks Niels-

All keywords are still there, although the heading shows ''50/50'', even though there is another 3-4, or more, listed. So, when on Alamy I usually delete keywords to come down to exactly 50. But that's always a pain, when you have spent time and efforts while in Photo Mechanic to come up with as many decent keywords as possible. And to start counting keywords on each and every image is such a time consuming affair. What I would have liked to know from Alamy is, what happens to the keywords that are in excess of 50. Problem is, Alamy do not answer my question...

 

 

That seems to be equivalent to what happened when the new AIM was introduced. Some of my images  contained more than 50 tags from the old system - and they all entered into the new system also showing 50/50. Most of the images have been edited by now to 50 - and multiword tags - but I assume that if they are there they work as tags. What surprises me is that they are accepted when keyworded in Photo Mechanic.

And yes, replies from Alamy take a long time right now - as do the clearing of payments.

Really beautiful Quebec nature canoeing fall images you have there.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Niels Quist

[Harry Harrison]

On 12/05/2020 at 12:30, AsbjornM said:

What happens in Alamy's system with the excessive keywords? Are they still kept in the system and in search engines, or does Alamy  somehow delete some keywords to fit the 50 figure?

Have you tried exporting your data from the AIM screen? That would show you definitively what is in the database for your images and if you are familiar with spreadsheets you can insert a couple of extra columns to 'count' the commas in your tags & supertags columns which can be instructive (when you select a keyword to be a supertag it is moved out of the tags column and into the supertags column).

[Niels Quist]

3 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

Have you tried exporting your data from the AIM screen? That would show you definitively what is in the database for your images and if you are familiar with spreadsheets you can insert a couple of extra columns to 'count' the commas in your tags & supertags columns which can be instructive (when you select a keyword to be a supertag it is moved out of the tags column and into the supertags column).

 

Why do I get this message when trying to download my data:

 

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at ASP.myupload_metadatadownloadhandler_aspx.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)

 

Both in Google Chrome and Firefox. 

 

Not something new, have seen it before. My last download of data was sent from Alamy.

[Harry Harrison]

3 minutes ago, Niels Quist said:

Not something new, have seen it before. My last download of data was sent from Alamy.

Niels, this seems quite common, and sometimes those who have never had this message when downloading suddenly start to get it. Alamy have never said why it happens but those that have reported it and asked them to send their data at the same time have miraculously found the problem has been resolved. 

[Niels Quist]

2 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Niels, this seems quite common, and sometimes those who have never had this message when downloading suddenly start to get it. Alamy have never said why it happens but those that have reported it and asked them to send their data at the same time have miraculously found the problem has been resolved. 

 

- thanks. Will do so again when things are back to normal.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Niels Quist

[Harry Harrison]

5 minutes ago, Niels Quist said:

Will do so again when things are back to normal.

I have a feeling that they did this for someone quite recently so it may not be that difficult for them. Certainly it seems to be at their end rather than anything to do with browsers etc.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[AsbjornM]

Niels; Photo Mechanic is recommended by Alamy for keywording an image before uploading to Alamy. So it seems that whatever number of keywords you include with an image, it is accepted by AIM. I have used PM for years, for my own purposes (instead of Lightroom's organizer), and started about a year ago to use PM as the only way to add keywords to my images before uploading to Alamy. And thanks for your comment on the canoe pictures.

 

Harry; thanks your input. I did one test. I coped all keywords from one image that contained 56 keywords, onto an Excel sheet, and then created columns. It gave me 56 columns, all with text. But you probably meant I should ask for a download of all files from Alamy, like the option they have made available on the bottom of each image's Mandatory page ? I have never tried that, as not sure how it works or what I can use it for...

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

44 minutes ago, AsbjornM said:

I have never tried that, as not sure how it works or what I can use it for...

No, I was actually referring to the download of your entire data which is now potentially a DIY job from your AIM screen, "Send me my data". The lamentably poor explanatory wording doesn't make it clear at all though, and it certainly won't take 24 hours, more like 24 seconds after you click on the button you'll get a download option. There is a glitch, it doesn't work for everyone, it didn't work for Niels, and so they have to contact Alamy to fix it, but it's always worked for me. It's a csv but open it in something like Open Office Calc, Google Sheets or of course Excel (preferably using the UTF-8 coding which preserves foreign characters etc.) and save it as xls or xlsx it can be very useful for seeing what's up there. If you're not a spreadsheet user then some of that will be gobbledygook but it's still worth downloading to see how Alamy have dealt with truncating your PM keywords.

[M.Chapman]

3 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

Niels, this seems quite common, and sometimes those who have never had this message when downloading suddenly start to get it. Alamy have never said why it happens but those that have reported it and asked them to send their data at the same time have miraculously found the problem has been resolved. 

 

I think it's possibly due to a "glitch" in the image database that can occur when images are deleted. After Alamy "repaired" my image data, the number of images in my collection became consistent (between AIM, forum and various search filters), and I could download my CSV data again.

 

Mark

Edited May 21, 2020 by M.Chapman

[Harry Harrison]

7 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

I think it's possibly due to a "glitch" in the image database that can occur when images are deleted. After Alamy "repaired" my image data, the number of images in my collection became consistent (between AIM, forum and various search filters), and I could download my CSV data again.

 

Mark

I see, clearly it's not a priority for 'them' though, pity, it could be easily fixed I would have thought. Assigning a developer to spend 30 seconds improving the text might seem worthwhile, right from the initial "Send me my data" through to "Please note: it may take up to 24 hours for your data to become available. Please check here for updates."

 

I'm sure it puts people off using it.

[Niels Quist]

14 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

I think it's possibly due to a "glitch" in the image database that can occur when images are deleted. After Alamy "repaired" my image data, the number of images in my collection became consistent (between AIM, forum and various search filters), and I could download my CSV data again.

Mark

 

Thanks, will contact Alamy after this tense period.

[AsbjornM]

Thanks to all three of you. I think I will wait until Alamy people (and all the rest of us...) are back in full function, and see if they can answer my first question. I'll also wait with downloading my data, in case I create a problem for myself or my image files. I'm not in a hurry, although this question has been in my mind for quite some time.

[Harry Harrison]

1 minute ago, AsbjornM said:

I'll also wait with downloading my data, in case I create a problem for myself or my image files

Up to you, though absolutely no risk of that, it's just a data export.

[TPP]

On 21/05/2020 at 11:48, AsbjornM said:

Niels; Photo Mechanic is recommended by Alamy for keywording an image before uploading to Alamy. So it seems that whatever number of keywords you include with an image, it is accepted by AIM. I have used PM for years, for my own purposes (instead of Lightroom's organizer), and started about a year ago to use PM as the only way to add keywords to my images before uploading to Alamy. And thanks for your comment on the canoe pictures.

 

Harry; thanks your input. I did one test. I coped all keywords from one image that contained 56 keywords, onto an Excel sheet, and then created columns. It gave me 56 columns, all with text. But you probably meant I should ask for a download of all files from Alamy, like the option they have made available on the bottom of each image's Mandatory page ? I have never tried that, as not sure how it works or what I can use it for...

 

 

Do you know if Alamy supports Photo Machanic's keyword hierarchy or do you have to use flat keywords?