Would really appreciate feedback on what I am doing wrong / where to improve

[Will Lawson]

Hi,

 

I am seventeen years old and after taking photos (mainly of wildlife) for several years decided to try Alamy. I have only uploaded about 60 photos but have noticed that I have no zooms per about 160 views so was wondering if there is something I am doing wrong or something to improve on.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks. 

Edited June 13, 2020 by Will Lawson

[Colblimp]

On 13/06/2020 at 17:39, Will Lawson said:

Hi,

 

I am seventeen years old and after taking photos (mainly of wildlife) for several years decided to try Alamy. I have only uploaded about 60 photos but have noticed that I have no zooms per about 160 views so was wondering if there is something I am doing wrong or something to improve on.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks. 

Hi Will and welcome to the forum.

 

You have to realise Alamy is a long slog - you won't get zooms or sales straight away.  You've 61 pics in your port, Alamy has nearly 207 million images in its port.  Your port is miniscule at the moment.  Upload images regularly which are technically perfect and caption and keyword them correctly and eventually you'll see results.  My first sale came after 4 months and 400 pics so don't be worrying yet.  Good luck!

[Johnnie5]

Check out the "Have you found any Alamy photos" threads to see what sells.  

 

[Steve F]

Hi Will,

+1 to what everyone else has said. I'm really impressed by your macro shots btw.

 

Keywording

Just on keywording, are you using an Auto keyworder? You've got some weird ones in there. I'm just looking at the fly picture WAP8P9. I'm not sure at all about the following key words: animal, beautiful, canon, natural history, pretty, robotic, stunning, understated, under-appreciated'. You don't need to put the camera model, that will never be searched for. We (the Forum members) are generally assuming that CTR still works to place where your photos appear on searches. CTR is a function of the number of views divided by zooms. You'll get a lot of false views on your images if you spam keyword which will pull down your CTR ranking - and thus also how high up your images appear.

 

Also, your captions are generally very good, but sometimes you're missing the Latin name of the animal or the country.

 

Landscapes/Cityscapes

Lighting is very important. I know if you're on holiday or on a day trip somewhere, you might just be stuck with the lighting that you get. But there aren't many subjects that haven't been photographed at least several times already and there's generally a lot of competition. The lighting for Clavell Tower is very flat and so are the photos - have a search for Clavell Tower on Alamy. I don't think your images will stand out from the crowd. You can help this with some editing, like pushing up the contrast for example and a bit of extra saturation, but be careful of just making the photos look garish and unreal.

 

Also, try to get vertical objects vertical in your photos (unless it's a leaning tower of Pisa equivalent). It's instantly noticeable if something is slanted. Ditto on getting horizons horizontal. Not to say that you can't do quirky viewpoints, but make sure it's deliberate.

 

Good luck!

Steve

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Steve F

[The Blinking Eye]

Some of your shots really strike me, such as:

 

You have an obvious knack for color, composition, and light. Strive for those perfect shots and expand you subject matter maybe. I agree with Steve, light is most important! The shots where you have light coming through the moth wings are the best ones. Light gives shape and dimension. Best of luck.

 

 

[Mr Standfast]

Have a look at "all of alamy" in the measures page, see what you have access to that picture buyers are looking for.

 

Don't get disheartened if business slows down for a bit, picture buying tracks with the economy, it might be a bit bumpy for a while.

 

Enjoy the photography, and it will show in your work. Don't be afraid to be critical of your own work and only upload your best pictures. Alamy is a numbers game, but its also the right numbers. Blinky has picked some really strong pictures.

 

Good luck and stay safe. 😉

 

[John Richmond]

At 17 you've a good deal of time to develop your photography.  If your aim is to concentrate on the wildflife side then you need to be aware that there is stiff competition.  Don't be put off by that - we all face it - but it should mean that your aim must always be to at least equal, and ideally better, the existing shots on Alamy.  There is nothing wrong with your existing images - but you'll need a lot more subjects and numbers of shots to generate the views and zooms needed to translate into sales.  I had 600+ on Alamy before my first sale - but I've managed another 1100 in the six years since then.  And yes, I do sell insect and general shots.  Not many, compared to the flower and garden shots, but enough to make it worthwhile taking them.

 

One tip I've found works well on Alamy.  For fauna and flora always add the Latin name to the caption as well as the keywords. For example I'd alter the caption for WAP8T6 from "Common blue damselfly basking in sun" to "Male common blue damselfly, Enallagma cyathigerum, basking in sun".  This duplication seems to improve the chances of an image appearing higher in the search and thus becomng more visible.  It probably also helps to add UK to the keywords because some buyers do specify UK in their search terms.

 

Hope this helps

 

John

 

 

[Marianne]

Nice photos. Especially the wildlife images. Nothing really to add to what the others said except to say welcome to the forum & to Alamy & good luck!  

[Stephen Lloyd]

Will - I'm agreeing with everyone else too - a nice set and you've keyworded a lot of the right things so you could be found if people search. At this point you're in a bit of a numbers game - 61 images up there but a lot less "subjects" - 5 are are of a pigeon, similar number of a specific butterfly. So the number of searches you're going to appear relevant in is still quite limited. Get more online and  with your quality here things will come.

[Cal]

Just keep plugging away. Your photos are good and you are still in your teens with a good enough camera and set of skills so you have a foot in anyway.

 

For me the photography game is a hobby that I am also playing long on - I hope that by the time I am ready to retire I have built a significant portfolio to help with the later years. I'm not even 30 yet, so that gives you some idea of the forward thinking involved. I have found that when I rush the quality of my output starts to flag, which in turn leads to a little frustration. A few days or a week off and I'm ready to go again. It's not instant gratification.

 

I think the key to enjoying it is to not cross the line where it starts to feel like work (unless it actually is).

Edited June 19, 2020 by Cal

[Will Lawson]

Thank you very much to everyone who responded. The responses have been really appreciated and also helpful in telling me to just keep uploading and not get disheartened. 

So, thank you all very much!