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geogphotos

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9 minutes ago, AM Chang said:

Headline
A headline is a brief synopsis or summary of the contents of the photograph.

 

Title
The textual title of the work, or reference name.

 

Source: https://www.iptc.org/std/photometadata/documentation/userguide/#_general_image_content

 

Agencies use these fields in various ways:

 

Example 1:
Headline: Demonstrators take part in a rally...
Title: "abc123" (the same as File Name field)

 

Example 2:
Headline: Demonstrators take part in a rally...
Title: "Place"-Protest

 

Headline: Autumn colors...
Title: "Place"-Weather

 

Example 3:
Headline: Autumn colors...
Title: Autumn colors...
(the same in both fields)

 

andre

 

Thanks. So how is a headline different from the caption? Is a headline just a shorter version of the caption? I can see how a headline applies to news images, but I'm not sure why a non-news image would need one.

 

Still not sure how I would fill out the the "Title" field for PhotoShelter so as to improve SEO. I'll have to think more about that.

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Alamy doesn't use these additional fields and has much better SEO than PS. I can't imagine doing this retrospectively for all my pics - and PS does not offer the option to update by spreadsheet.

 

At times I have felt cynical about the reaction of PS to poor SEO - a tendency to point to deficiencies in what subscribers are doing rather than face the problems at their end. I particularly noticed a collapse in SEO when moving from the old Classic web design to the new ones and think that was down to the lack of text on the pages. 

 

In any case is it really worth all this effort to chase Google Images? - I doubt it.

Edited by geogphotos
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11 hours ago, geogphotos said:

Alamy doesn't use these additional fields and has much better SEO than PS. I can't imagine doing this retrospectively for all my pics - and PS does not offer the option to update by spreadsheet.

 

At times I have felt cynical about the reaction of PS to poor SEO - a tendency to point to deficiencies in what subscribers are doing rather than face the problems at their end. I particularly noticed a collapse in SEO when moving from the old Classic web design to the new ones and think that was down to the lack of text on the pages. 

 

In any case is it really worth all this effort to chase Google Images? - I doubt it.

 

I doubt it too. I've been adding a few "headlines" willy-nilly, but I'm certainly not going to make a make-work project out of it.

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3 hours ago, geogphotos said:

The Photographers Guide to SEO

 

https://blog.photoshelter.com/2020/09/photographers-guide-to-seo/

 

Seems to be available to anybody who provides an email address.

 

 

 

I got that e-mail too. It seems that SEO is the new Holy Grail. 😁

 

That said, I'm looking forward (sort of) to checking out the guide. At least they're not asleep at the helm over at PS.

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55 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I got that e-mail too. It seems that SEO is the new Holy Grail. 😁

 

That said, I'm looking forward (sort of) to checking out the guide. At least they're not asleep at the helm over at PS.

 

 

I'm sure it is useful but probably more so for those who can provide answers to the questions about target audiences and competition. ie) probably not so useful to stock photographers trying to appeal to a global audience whose competitors include all the major stock libraries!

 

And again I am cynical about all the effort involved and the time frames mentioned - it seems like there will always be the suggestion you haven't done well enough and need to do more. Also that Google Images itself is not so wonderful anyway.

Edited by geogphotos
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On 22/09/2020 at 12:42, geogphotos said:

 

 

I'm sure it is useful but probably more so for those who can provide answers to the questions about target audiences and competition. ie) probably not so useful to stock photographers trying to appeal to a global audience whose competitors include all the major stock libraries!

 

And again I am cynical about all the effort involved and the time frames mentioned - it seems like there will always be the suggestion you haven't done well enough and need to do more. Also that Google Images itself is not so wonderful anyway.

 

Google Images is something of a hodgepodge. However, I notice that the "Licensable" badge is appearing on my PS images that do come up in Google image searches since I asked PS to add the necessary URLs to my metadata. It will be interesting to see if all this goes anywhere. No flood of inquiries to report yet. 😉

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  • 4 weeks later...
4 hours ago, geogphotos said:

New 'toys' delayed until mid-December even for the beta versions. 

 

 

https://blog.photoshelter.com/2020/10/photoshelter-websites-updated-plan/

 

Thanks for the link. I only just got around to switching from a "classic" template, which I liked better than the new one in some respects. Hopefully, the latest new toys will be as "amazing" as they say. Encouraging to hear that someone is still at the helm.

 

Still tumbleweeds over at my PS website...

 

 

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43 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Thanks for the link. I only just got around to switching from a "classic" template, which I liked better than the new one in some respects. Hopefully, the latest new toys will be as "amazing" as they say. Encouraging to hear that someone is still at the helm.

 

Still tumbleweeds over at my PS website...

 

 

 

 

The reactions to the blog post by Grover are all fairly positive. I am disappointed to have to wait longer because I've been waiting for these updates - everything has been in  a state of inertia for so long. But given what is going on in the world this is small fry. 

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On 22/10/2020 at 03:37, geogphotos said:

 

 

The reactions to the blog post by Grover are all fairly positive. I am disappointed to have to wait longer because I've been waiting for these updates - everything has been in  a state of inertia for so long. But given what is going on in the world this is small fry. 

 

I am quite peed off with them Ian. I still think they have still, probably, the better system out there but their project management and communication are pretty damned poor. 

 

Its just delay after delay after delay. And would we even have seen a press release on the latest delay if you had not poked them in their blog comments.

 

I am willing to bet none of us will be using the templates in a live environment till next year. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Panthera tigris
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1 hour ago, Panthera tigris said:

 

I am quite peed off with them Ian. I still think they have still, probably, the better system out there but their project management and communication are pretty damned poor. 

 

Its just delay after delay after delay. And would we even have seen a press release on the latest delay if you had not poked them in their blog comments.

 

I am willing to bet none of us will be using the templates in a live environment till next year. 

 

https://paulthompson.gallery/

 

 

 

 

I have some sympathy with your viewpoint. Probably best that I leave it at that. 

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  • 1 month later...

Nearly there....:

 

This from Grover on the blog today

 

Time flies, doesn’t it? The new Site Builder is currently in its initial beta state and will be pushed out to our public servers this week, on schedule. Then we do another round of testing on it.

In the meantime I will have a blog post up this week giving more details about our progress and showing you what it looks like in action.

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Photoshelter is headquartered in Manhattan the epicenter of the early coronavirus pandemic in the US and in a bad way again as is the rest of the country, so I think they've done a lot this year given all that's been going on. But it has been a long wait.

 

Really nice people there. You can call up and get a live person on the phone or, these days, a call back. 

 

I updated my template recently. Would welcome any thoughts. I plan to revamp it more but this is the first go-round. https://www.mariannecampolongophotography.com/index

 

I doubt the google images thing will do much - my direct licensing has dropped in the past few years. 

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It will be interesting to see the new site builder, etc. However, I don't see how technical innovations are going to improve the direct-licensing situation. Most photo-buyers just aren't looking to source images from individual photographers any longer. There are too many other options. Google images hasn't done anything for me yet, but I guess you never know.

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20 hours ago, Marianne said:

Photoshelter is headquartered in Manhattan the epicenter of the early coronavirus pandemic in the US and in a bad way again as is the rest of the country, so I think they've done a lot this year given all that's been going on. But it has been a long wait.

 

Really nice people there. You can call up and get a live person on the phone or, these days, a call back. 

 

I updated my template recently. Would welcome any thoughts. I plan to revamp it more but this is the first go-round. https://www.mariannecampolongophotography.com/index

 

I doubt the google images thing will do much - my direct licensing has dropped in the past few years. 

 

 

Very nice site Marianne.

 

Not sure if intended but the link on the East Coast gallery takes me to lots of other people's work at FAA not just your own. 

 

https://mariannecampolongo.photoshelter.com/gallery/By-the-Sea-East-Coast-Beaches-Boats-Lighthouses/G0000f9mWnIft6m0/

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1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

Very nice site Marianne.

 

Not sure if intended but the link on the East Coast gallery takes me to lots of other people's work at FAA not just your own. 

 

https://mariannecampolongo.photoshelter.com/gallery/By-the-Sea-East-Coast-Beaches-Boats-Lighthouses/G0000f9mWnIft6m0/

 

Thank you - that link is messed up for sure - I'll fix it. Thanks for the head's up. 

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1 hour ago, Marianne said:

 

Thank you - that link is messed up for sure - I'll fix it. Thanks for the head's up. 

 

Yes, very nice indeed. You've put a lot of effort into providing detailed gallery and image descriptions. That seems to really help with SEO. I need to flesh out a lot of mine one of these years.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am thinking of joining Photoshelter to use as a place to host my more "arty" photos (birds, landscapes) and for using as POD. Does anyone here use it for that and have success or are you all mainly using it as another stock agency for primarily online sales?

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Yet another deadline missed? I searched the site for the "end of year" release of templates but could not find anything - anyone hear anything?

 

I did see that they admitted that there were still many users on the old system prior to BEAM. I looked into this and they did not upgrade because the used HTML to integrate into their own websites look and feel and did not upgrade to BEAM because it had no such customisation options. PS promised that customisation features would be coming to BEAM. That was SEVEN years ago. 

I have just gotten used to being disappointed by PS I think. Product is good but I worry of getting an email one morning that the VC money has run out and they are shutting shop like before.

Edited by Panthera tigris
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On 26/12/2020 at 05:27, Cal said:

I am thinking of joining Photoshelter to use as a place to host my more "arty" photos (birds, landscapes) and for using as POD. Does anyone here use it for that and have success or are you all mainly using it as another stock agency for primarily online sales?

 

I've been with PS for over ten years. I used to get print orders now and then, but they have dried up. The last one was in 2017. I find FAA (Fine Art America) to be a better bet for prints. However, the competition is huge. I'm lucky to see one sale per month on FAA now. That said, I wouldn't call my images fine art, so you might have better luck. My direct stock licenses through PS have also evaporated. Image buyers go to stock agencies now rather than to individual photographers. At one time. I actually had regular clients visiting my PS website and I made some very good sales.

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33 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I've been with PS for over ten years. I used to get print orders now and then, but they have dried up. The last one was in 2017. I find FAA (Fine Art America) to be a better bet for prints. However, the competition is huge. I'm lucky to see one sale per month on FAA now. That said, I wouldn't call my images fine art, so you might have better luck. My direct stock licenses through PS have also evaporated. Image buyers go to stock agencies now rather than to individual photographers. At one time. I actually had regular clients visiting my PS website and I made some very good sales.

 

I second that John, that I actually disabled selling a couple of years ago because the selling side was so bad for me I just decided to use it as portfolio and archive :+) 

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16 hours ago, Panthera tigris said:

 

I second that John, that I actually disabled selling a couple of years ago because the selling side was so bad for me I just decided to use it as portfolio and archive :+) 

 

I've considered doing that as well. Actually, at this point I'd like to be able to link each image on my PS site directly to its Alamy page, so that it can be licensed here. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, as the saying goes. 😎

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On 28/12/2020 at 01:31, John Mitchell said:

 

I've been with PS for over ten years. I used to get print orders now and then, but they have dried up. The last one was in 2017. I find FAA (Fine Art America) to be a better bet for prints. However, the competition is huge. I'm lucky to see one sale per month on FAA now. That said, I wouldn't call my images fine art, so you might have better luck. My direct stock licenses through PS have also evaporated. Image buyers go to stock agencies now rather than to individual photographers. At one time. I actually had regular clients visiting my PS website and I made some very good sales.

 

Thanks for your input John. Just evaluating options now I'm starting to amass a decent sized collection. I am mostly Alamy exclusive with some of my other stuff on another POD site that isn't well known. What I'm selling isn't perhaps what you'd call fine art but I'm not totally sure certain images I have are best suited to here, things like ordinary sun rise/sets, landscapes etc. I also do a fair bit of abstract stuff, light trails, roads at night etc and I don't think that would really sell here unless it tells a specific story.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Is anybody sending Archive images to Alamy by ftp from Photoshelter.

 

For me this stopped working months ago, and I have to download and then upload to Alamy.

 

Alamy tells me the fault is not at their end, Photoshelter are looking into it.

 

Maybe it is just me? 

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