Critique Please

[Chris1603]

Would be very grateful for a critique of my portfolio. It’s not huge, it’s pretty small ... but what’s there is at least interesting I hope. Thanks in advance.

[AlexG]

Hey Chris,

First of all before I add my opinion, let me just say that I am no expert and my portfolio is rather small as well relative to many long timers here.

There is good variety of images, many objects, scenes and activities which I think are sellable. What can be improved in my opinion is the tagging. In the earlier photos (page 2 as displayed) many photos are under-tagged. For example, the lone elderly cyclist one. You can also add tags like male, man, elderly (on its own), exercise, recreation, method of transportation. Sometimes even tags related to the orientation of the image, like vertical/portrait orientation can be helpful, especially with some landscape scenes that are normally horizontal.

 

Then on most recent photos on page 1,  it seems like the majority of tags are compound tags. While some compound tags help with specificity, you're probably missing out on photos being found if the exact specific terms aren't found. For the squirrel one, you have Swedish mammal, but I think mammal separately coupled with other tags mentioning Sweden will be more effective. Considering decoupling some of the tags. Many of the compound tags are fine, just decide which more generic terms may be more useful as a standalone tag.

 

I hope that helps. Quality of photos is otherwise generally good, bright and appealing. Good luck!

[Chris1603]

Hi Alex, thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to look through my stuff ... it’s greatly appreciated and I’ll make those amendments as you suggest.

[Steve F]

Hi Chris,

+1 to what Alex says about your compound tags and the lack of tags generally. Some of the compound tags are very long which means they're highly unlikely to be searched for by clients. Also your captions (titles) are very short. Alamy says this:

 

"Before you start, think about the potential use of the image and what it’s likely to be sold for, the more accurately you describe your image, the more visibility it will have in customer searches, which will significantly increase your chance of making a sale."

 

Mushroom picking in Sweden Forest - Image ID: 2CTYWGA: there's no one picking mushrooms in the picture. Which forest?

 

Newbury Town Centre, Newbury, UK - Image ID: 2ANRJCM: where in Newbury town centre? Be aware that the location information in the Optional information tab for your photos is NOT searchable by clients. You've got only 6 keywords - you should do 10 as a bare minimum. Are you using super tags? What about the keywords UK, England, Britain, Berkshire, road, street etc? What architectural style are the buildings? Why would someone buy this picture? The architecture / usage of the building? 'Death of the high street' - but you're not showing any closed shops. People shopping - no people in the picture. Are you showing a distinctive landmark?

 

Early Birds Catching Winter Sun Perched in a Rooftop in Newbury, Berkshire, UK - Image ID: 2AG700R. You never know what might sell. But the birds are the subject of the photo and are tiny. Remember that clients only see thumbnails of your pictures unless they zoom them. Also, what type of birds are they?

 

 

Try to think commercially. Why would a client buy a particular picture? What concept, or object, or landmark etc. are you illustrating? How does your photo of, e.g. a red squirrel, compare to others that are available? Put the Latin name of the animal / plant in the caption too.

 

Hope this helps. Good luck,

Stephen

Edited October 5, 2020 by Steve F

[Chris1603]

Cheers Steve, and great points!

 

On the point about the forest location for the mushroom picking, that was deliberately vague as they are highly-prized locations in Sweden ... maybe I need to make that more clear.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Chris1603

[Steve F]

30 minutes ago, Chris1603 said:

Cheers Steve, and great points!

 

On the point about the forest location for the mushroom picking, that was deliberately vague as they are highly-prized locations in Sweden ... maybe I need to make that more clear.

Ah ha, ethical photography! 👍

Yes, I'm sure you can come up with some fancy wording.