How many images are needed to start making sales?

[spacecadet]

10 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

Irrespective of the above, I use RF if the images contain people or property.

Do you mean RM?

[M.Chapman]

8 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Do you mean RM?

Yes - oops now fixed - thanks

 

Mark

Edited May 31, 2020 by M.Chapman

[Betty LaRue]

Wasn’t there a link on here somewhere recently about a fast food worker’s image being used without her permission? Many of her friends saw it and told her about it.  And the use was objectionable and seemed to put her in an unfavorable light, maybe to do with the coronavirus?
I think the photographer and agency was in the clear since it was editorial usage, but the agency went ahead and removed the image for goodwill.
Imagine the stink or possible lawsuit if it had been used commercially with no release. 
While these circumstances may be rare, I don’t want to roll the dice. The last thing I need is to lie in bed awake wondering that when it’s all dealt with, I’ll have to sell my house to pay damages.

Most of those people who get in your face if they caught you photographing them are the very ones who will sue you if they can. I’m keeping my toes out of that water.

Betty

 

Edited May 31, 2020 by Betty LaRue

[Cal]

On 31/05/2020 at 18:07, M.Chapman said:

 

I think this changed when Alamy added the option to tick "Editorial Only" on RF images. There's a even a tick box filter option on the search results page now to "Show Editorial RF" images.

The buyer contract seems to provide the necessary clauses to cover this.

 

Section 3.1 (Which applies to all image licence types)

3.1.12 Not all of Alamy’s Image(s)/Footage have Releases. It is your responsibility to check that all necessary Releases have been secured (see clause 7.3 below).

 

Section 7.3

You [the image purchaser] must satisfy yourself that all Releases as may be required for Reproduction of the Image(s)/Footage have been secured and are appropriate for your intended use. You are solely responsible for obtaining all such Releases and the Licence is conditional in each case on your obtaining them. If you are unsure as to whether any Releases are needed for your Image(s)/Footage usage, then it is your responsibility to consult with relevant parties. You shall not rely upon any representation or warranty given by Alamy employees or representatives save as set out in this Agreement.

 

So I think there's some protection from the buyers contract, even if the contributor sets RF without ticking Editorial Only, providing the contributor doesn't claim they have releases, when they don't.

 

I couldn't spot any specific restrictions on RF/RM in the contributor's contract, other than these;

 

2.1 You must assign the licence types available on the website to each Image you submit, and must ensure that you understand the implications of each licence type(s) you select.

 

4.6 Where you have indicated that a Model Release, Property Release or any other release of a third party right including without limitation any copyright, trade mark or other intellectual property right, is available. the release must (a) be legally binding and (b) (except as otherwise notified to Alamy via the website or, with the agreement of Alamy, via email) authorise all uses of the Images anywhere in the world including without limitation uses in relation to sensitive issues; you must make the release(s) available to Alamy if so requested.

 

4.10 You will ensure that all Metadata including without limitation captions, keywording, descriptions and Pseudonyms, rights management or other information pertaining to the Images is and will remain accurate and factually correct and does not infringe the copyright or other rights of any third party, and are not defamatory or pornographic.

 

Irrespective of the above, I tend to use RM if the images contain people or property.

 

Mark

 

 

 

Thanks for this, very helpful. I have, on the basis of what has been said in this thread, decided to change the ONE image in my portfolio that is RF and also contained property (but was marked as unreleased) to RM on the basis of playing it safe. I do have other RF images that will be staying, but they are either totally bereft of people/property, are of myself as the model or have brands and icons rubbed out. 

 

I have suspicions that setting certain types of images as RM is basically akin to saying "don't buy me" given people want as much as possible for as little as possible these days, but such is life. I have read the contributor terms (thank you spacecadet) on more than one occasion and I didn't interpret the line "If images contain people or property they need to have the right releases to be sold for commercial use." as a blanket statement of "do not set unreleased images as RF". Regardless of what regular contributors do or know, not all of us are privy to this information and if indeed the legal deal is not to set unreleased images as RF then Alamy needs to state this properly. I get that people are responsible for their own actions (and as a conservative believe me, I feel this way) but I am not psychic. I think this is particularly pertinent given Alamy's default and recommended licencing option is set to RF so this is effectively inviting people to use this option which is borderline reckless if previous claims are true.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Cal

[Gareth Sewell]

Just changed my default to editorial only as most of my photos are going to have brands, products , buildings or people in them.

 

By the way,

Most of my photos are not "optimised" (for keywords and supertags), all of the sales I've had so far have been from non-optimised images.

Anyone on here have consistent sales from non-optimised images or are you mostly making sure that your images have 40+ keywords and at least 8 supertags as well as a good caption?

Thanks.

 

[Mr Standfast]

Hi Gareth, lots of discussion on optimised pictures in the forum, the consensus is that its a bit of a red herring.  Effort put into a good caption, to my mind, is a better investment.

Stay safe.

[sooth]

54 minutes ago, Gareth Sewell said:

Most of my photos are not "optimised" (for keywords and supertags), all of the sales I've had so far have been from non-optimised images.

Anyone on here have consistent sales from non-optimised images or are you mostly making sure that your images have 40+ keywords and at least 8 supertags as well as a good caption?

Thanks.

 

Most of my photos of specific locations don't have more than 12 tags on them. Photos of mine that are more generic, or cover things/concepts that a lot of people may have already covered, will have more tags to describe it; I also find that the longer an image is on alamy, the higher it gets placed in a search, but not always as other criteria will push it down, or pull it up.

 

Just describe it accurately, if you try and "optimize" your photos, you end up possibly sabotaging yourself with irrelevant keywords.

Edited June 30, 2020 by sooth

[Gareth Sewell]

15 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

Hi Gareth, lots of discussion on optimised pictures in the forum, the consensus is that it's a bit of a red herring.  Effort put into a good caption, to my mind, is a better investment.

Stay safe.

Thanks, that's what I thought. I was lucky that some things near me didn't have many photos on here as well so people were obviously were able to find them and buy them.

 

7 minutes ago, sooth said:

For me, buyers seem to be looking for specific things, and locations. Most of my photos of specific locations don't have more than 15 tags on them. Photos of mine that are more generic, or cover things/concepts that a lot of people may have already covered, will have more tags to describe it; I also find that the longer an image is on alamy, the higher it gets placed in a search, but not always as other criteria will push it down, or pull it up.

Thanks, yep, makes sense and is what I'm noticing. Especially with specific locations.

 

[sb photos]

4 hours ago, Gareth Sewell said:

Just changed my default to editorial only as most of my photos are going to have brands, products , buildings or people in them.

 

By the way,

Most of my photos are not "optimised" (for keywords and supertags), all of the sales I've had so far have been from non-optimised images.

Anyone on here have consistent sales from non-optimised images or are you mostly making sure that your images have 40+ keywords and at least 8 supertags as well as a good caption?

Thanks.

 

 

Due to the nature of the images in my port currently they automatically default to editorial. 

 

Out of around 2700 images in my port only around 40 are optimised, these have many conceptual related tags. I have consistent sales, but like everyone wish there were more. Zooms and sales are increasing year by year, even in these troubled times. I just need more images that are relevant to buyers requirements.