Order of uploaded subject matter

[Tawna Brown]

Does the order at which I upload images matter? i.e. what if one day I upload 40 travel-type of images from Tuscany, and then the next week I upload 25 images of the arctic, and then the next week I upload a collection from a mining operation, and then another week later, I continue to add more Tuscany images, etc?  Is it better if I focus on one large subject matter all at once- upload them all, and then move on to the next subject matter?  

 

When a client comes across one of my images and then clicks to see all of what is in my collection, are the images organized in any specific way, or will they show up in the order that they were uploaded, i.e. chronologically? (In which case, if I don’t stick to one subject matter or specific location at a time, then it might look really messy when a client sees my library.)   The problem for me is that I can't possibly upload all images on one subject matter first...(I've been to Italy 12 times, and have 1000s of images).  I feel that I would be better off with uploading images that represent a cross section of subject matter, and then return at a later date to continue adding to those particular categories that I've already started with... Does that seem logical?

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this matter!

[Allan Bell]

See next post.

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Allan Bell

[Allan Bell]

10 hours ago, Tawna Brown said:

Does the order at which I upload images matter?

 

No.

 

Allan

 

[John Morrison]

11 hours ago, Tawna Brown said:

Does the order at which I upload images matter? i.e. what if one day I upload 40 travel-type of images from Tuscany, and then the next week I upload 25 images of the arctic, and then the next week I upload a collection from a mining operation, and then another week later, I continue to add more Tuscany images, etc?  Is it better if I focus on one large subject matter all at once- upload them all, and then move on to the next subject matter?  

 

When a client comes across one of my images and then clicks to see all of what is in my collection, are the images organized in any specific way, or will they show up in the order that they were uploaded, i.e. chronologically? (In which case, if I don’t stick to one subject matter or specific location at a time, then it might look really messy when a client sees my library.)   The problem for me is that I can't possibly upload all images on one subject matter first...(I've been to Italy 12 times, and have 1000s of images).  I feel that I would be better off with uploading images that represent a cross section of subject matter, and then return at a later date to continue adding to those particular categories that I've already started with... Does that seem logical?

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this matter!

Your pix end up in a huge Alamy 'stew.' You have to think in terms of the Alamy collection... not your collection.  Alamy uses a variety of algorithms to determine where pix appear in a search, and there's no way to ensure that your pix appear together... or that your favourite images rise to the top.

 

The only thing you can do, to promote your own pix, is to add good (ie realistic, appropriate) captions and keywords. Good luck!

Edited January 12, 2021 by John Morrison

[Steve F]

11 hours ago, Tawna Brown said:

Does the order at which I upload images matter? i.e. what if one day I upload 40 travel-type of images from Tuscany, and then the next week I upload 25 images of the arctic, and then the next week I upload a collection from a mining operation, and then another week later, I continue to add more Tuscany images, etc?  Is it better if I focus on one large subject matter all at once- upload them all, and then move on to the next subject matter? 

 

Tawna, I'm sure most of us upload like this. It doesn't matter.

[meanderingemu]

the order doesn't matter, however you can influence which one the clients are more likely to see in specific search with proper use of Caption, KW and SuperTags, use these to your advantage. 

 

Nothing worse than reviewing your daily search review and see clients got some barely relevant images when you have better fit because you didn't caption and KW efficiently.   

 

 

 

[wiskerke]

Of course it matters. All other things being equal, your images will turn up in the order you have uploaded them, newest first. Only after some have been licensed the order changes.

Some have reported that in certain cases the order changes after images have been zoomed.

 

wim

[meanderingemu]

 

but to answer OP's question, how often will a customer will go through someone's portfolio looking for image?

 

 

I would assume most views are from word and subject searches, but i may be wrong. 

[wiskerke]

1 minute ago, meanderingemu said:

 

but to answer OP's question, how often will a customer will go through someone's portfolio looking for image?

 

 

I would assume most views are from word and subject searches, but i may be wrong. 

 

Yes, but for a given keyword like Tuscany, you want your best image coming up first.  The same for a key phrase.

Btw this is why one should not upload 40 images of one subject. Especially not when starting out with an archive to choose from.

 

wim

[Tawna Brown]

3 hours ago, wiskerke said:

Of course it matters. All other things being equal, your images will turn up in the order you have uploaded them, newest first. Only after some have been licensed the order changes.

Some have reported that in certain cases the order changes after images have been zoomed.

 

wim

Thank you @wiskerke. I'm not sure if I'm doing my "replies" properly here, this is my 1st one.  I should have clarified that I was referring to how my images appear when someone is looking through my particular collection/portfolio, whatever you want to call it. I like to be organized, and if someone found an image of mine that they liked in their regular Alamy search, they may end up being curious and clicking on my profile so they can see all of my images, and if they are all mixed up, I guess the only way around that is to upload "like-content" all at once.... but this really doesn't do anything in the end, does it? However, your comment about why one shouldn't upload 40 images of one subject at the same time..... I'm still not so clear on this.

 

I am quite the newbie, and will have more questions, but i won't go overboard:)  I just want to figure out where i should begin and what a good workflow would be.  (ie. where to start with my subject matter, and how far to go with it.... just upload some of that subject matter now, or just do bit by bit, etc). I've got 1000s of high quality professional images from around the world, and a great deal from the region of Canada i come from (which is fairly unique and less photographed because of its remoteness) - so I have a lot to work with... and am eager to get back into it:)

Edited January 12, 2021 by Tawna Brown

[meanderingemu]

On 12/01/2021 at 10:06, wiskerke said:

 

Yes, but for a given keyword like Tuscany, you want your best image coming up first.  The same for a key phrase.

Btw this is why one should not upload 40 images of one subject. Especially not when starting out with an archive to choose from.

 

wim

 

 

but this can be managed with the five permutation of Caption (C), Keywords(KW) and SuperTag (ST)

 

 

I just did a test, and this is the order they appeared

 

C+ST

C+KW

ST

C

KW

 

the middle 3 were on same page of a 900 results search.

 

interesting to see that SuperTag preceded caption only in this test.  I'll do a few more.    

 

 

[wiskerke]

1 hour ago, meanderingemu said:

but this can be managed with the five permutation of Caption (C), Keywords(KW) and SuperTag (ST)

 

On 12/01/2021 at 15:39, wiskerke said:

All other things being equal, your images will turn up in the order you have uploaded them, newest first.

 

Yes and then things are not equal.

 

However the most important instrument we had: the different ranking of pseudos has been disabled.

It was seen as cheating or gaming the system in stead of being a remedy for an omission of the system.

People have long been complaining about why there was no way to change the order in which images appeared. Causing them not to upload valuable extra images, because the newer ones would bury the best ones.

This problem exists now more than ever. Creative keywording can only solve a little bit. And only just for some of the keywords.

But it's indeed all we have now.

 

wim

[wiskerke]

1 hour ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

but this can be managed with the five permutation of Caption (C), Keywords(KW) and SuperTag (ST)

 

 

I just did a test, and this is the order they appeared

 

C+ST

C+KW

ST

C

KW

 

the middle 3 were on same page of a 900 results search.

 

interesting to see that SuperTag preceded caption only in this test.  I'll do a few more.    

 

 

 

Have you included sales and/or zooms?

 

wim

[Tawna Brown]

2 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

but this can be managed with the five permutation of Caption (C), Keywords(KW) and SuperTag (ST)

 

 

I just did a test, and this is the order they appeared

 

C+ST

C+KW

ST

C

KW

 

the middle 3 were on same page of a 900 results search.

 

interesting to see that SuperTag preceded caption only in this test.  I'll do a few more.    

 

 

oh @meanderingemu, this is a completely other language for me. Would it be too much of a bother for you to explain for me what exactly you did for this test, what were you testing? I don't understand.  When I start uploading, I'm just going to upload. I've never had a rejected image before, so I will upload 10 at a time perhaps, and more throughout the day.... and work bit by bit. And just hope that my images get seen somehow... as I don't think they really fall into the category of searchable subject matter for Alamy's clients. (So I am going to likely focus on other more popular content matter where there is more competition- subjects that people actually search for).

[Tawna Brown]

53 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

However the most important instrument we had: the different ranking of pseudos has been disabled.

 

@wiskerke what do mean by this? Can you give me an example of the problem?

[wiskerke]

36 minutes ago, Tawna Brown said:

@wiskerke what do mean by this? Can you give me an example of the problem?

 

In the past one could use one pseudo for generic images and one for images that would be likely searched for with one or very few keywords. Plus possible hero images. That worked remarkably well. However because someone's rank got higher in the course of the year much was done by Alamy to quell that, because it was seen as cheating or gaming the the system.

So after each re-ranking my #1 pseudo rose, but after each re-jigging of the ranking algorithm my #1 pseudo fell considerably, to rise again after a few re-rankings. (I am a tiny contributor btw, but with nice sales.)

So in stead of recognizing there was a flaw in the system and that contributors who had some images of a higher potential were not gaming the system, but providing clients with a certain category of images they were looking for, Alamy chose to lump all pseudos into one ranking. Which is now the ranking of the contributor and not the pseudo. (There's much more to it, with more weight to the individual image allegedly.)

All this is from before you joining Alamy, so you would never have encountered the problem.

 

My pseudos are still largely intact. Which may be foolish. But if you want to have a look, here they are: #1 and #2.

 

wim

[Tawna Brown]

23 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

In the past one could use one pseudo for generic images and one for images that would be likely searched for with one or very few keywords. Plus possible hero images. That worked remarkably well. However because someone's rank got higher in the course of the year much was done by Alamy to quell that, because it was seen as cheating or gaming the the system.

So after each re-ranking my #1 pseudo rose, but after each re-jigging of the ranking algorithm my #1 pseudo fell considerably, to rise again after a few re-rankings. (I am a tiny contributor btw, but with nice sales.)

So in stead of recognizing there was a flaw in the system and that contributors who had some images of a higher potential were not gaming the system, but providing clients with a certain category of images they were looking for, Alamy chose to lump all pseudos into one ranking. Which is now the ranking of the contributor and not the pseudo. (There's much more to it, with more weight to the individual image allegedly.)

All this is from before you joining Alamy, so you would never have encountered the problem.

 

My pseudos are still largely intact. Which may be foolish. But if you want to have a look, here they are: #1 and #2.

 

wim

Sorry to keep on you with this one @wiskerke, I don't know what a pseudo is, but i'm guessing that you're using two different profiles/accounts? And why would you do this? I'm a Newbie remember!  (By the way, you have great content! I could get lost going through your images, traveling from place to place:)

[wiskerke]

8 minutes ago, Tawna Brown said:

Sorry to keep on you with this one @wiskerke, I don't know what a pseudo is, but i'm guessing that you're using two different profiles/accounts? And why would you do this? I'm a Newbie remember!  (By the way, you have great content! I could get lost going through your images, traveling from place to place:)

 

Thank you for your praise!

 

A pseudonym is just a name you choose to present your image under. One account can have maybe hundreds of pseudonyms. Honestly some contributors have hundreds of pseudos.

Sometimes just to keep some order in their portfolios, sometimes to woo clients or to deceive them (or us). Women have male pseudonyms and the other way around. And some have both male and female ones.

How to make a new pseudo? In AIM select an image; go to the upper left hand corner and click on the + button next to Pseudonym.

There's a filter named Pseudonym in the task bar. Which explains why somebody would use it to keep order in a big portfolio.

 

wim

 

[Normspics]

On 11/01/2021 at 19:10, Tawna Brown said:

Does the order at which I upload images matter?

An interesting question one I had never thought about, thanks for asking it.

 

@wiskerke Thanks Wim for the information you have given I have learnt something more today.

[MizBrown]

Basically, unless you've been around for a while and an art/photo director can recognize your name, no buyer will search on your name but may look at "other photos by this contributor."   Searches are generally for illustrations of a commissioned article, calendar, website, or stills used to illustrate videos.  In some cases, an assistant has done a very broad search and hands off best possible image IDs which get search for by image ID number later.   The question for key words is "what is this an illustration of?" 

 

I did a deep dive through "All of Alamy" once and don't remember seeing any searches for photographers by name though I did see searches for particular message IDs fairly often.   Keep an eye on how often your photos show up in searches and how appropriate they were to the search.

[John Mitchell]

On 15/01/2021 at 09:25, Tawna Brown said:

Sorry to keep on you with this one @wiskerke, I don't know what a pseudo is, but i'm guessing that you're using two different profiles/accounts? And why would you do this? I'm a Newbie remember!  (By the way, you have great content! I could get lost going through your images, traveling from place to place:)

 

I have four pseudos -- one mainly for travel-related images, a second one for more generic (mixed bag)  images, a third one for "design" images (mainly RF), and a fourth one for historical/archival  images. There is of course a fair amount of unavoidable content overlap among my pseudos. However, they do help keep me more organized (not my strong suit).  Be careful with choosing names for your pseudos if you decide to create some. I have one pseudo name that I don't particularly like, and I'm more or less stuck with it. A lot of contributors don't bother with pseudos. Nothing wrong with that.

Edited January 16, 2021 by John Mitchell

[Tawna Brown]

On 16/01/2021 at 11:40, John Mitchell said:

 

I have four pseudos -- one mainly for travel-related images, a second one for more generic (mixed bag)  images, a third one for "design" images (mainly RF), and a fourth one for historical/archival  images. There is of course a fair amount of unavoidable content overlap among my pseudos. However, they do help keep me more organized (not my strong suit).  Be careful with choosing names for your pseudos if you decide to create some. I have one pseudo name that I don't particularly like, and I'm more or less stuck with it. A lot of contributors don't bother with pseudos. Nothing wrong with that.

Thanks @John Mitchell; I haven't signed in to this discussion forum for awhile, hence the delay in my response! So it says you have 8385 images, is that under one of your profiles (is that a pseudo? You have 4 different "accounts"/names, each with their own collection of images, but they are all linked to the same alamy account on the backend? Or are they all completely separate accounts?)  Any issue with calling my account name my name (Tawna Brown)?  I understand the desire to be organized and to keep things separate, but at the same time, you might have a client that likes some of your work, and then wants to see your other work (they may just be curious), but will they not be able to see it if it's not connected to the same profile name (pseudo)?  (They might like your overall style, and you may have repeat clients, but they may be missing out on your other images if they are listed under another name... I realize most clients will be searching images by keyword however).  

 

[Tawna Brown]

On 16/01/2021 at 08:18, MizBrown said:

  Keep an eye on how often your photos show up in searches and how appropriate they were to the search.

Thank you @MizBrown. i still have to get familiar with where to go/what to look at to see how my photos show up in searches and how appropriate they were to the search... whereabouts do I go to see this? I am sure I've been there before, but I'm just slowly slowly getting back to this, and until I begin uploading again for some time, I have quite the learning curve to get over!

[Tawna Brown]

On 15/01/2021 at 10:45, wiskerke said:

 

Thank you for your praise!

 

A pseudonym is just a name you choose to present your image under. One account can have maybe hundreds of pseudonyms. Honestly some contributors have hundreds of pseudos.

Sometimes just to keep some order in their portfolios, sometimes to woo clients or to deceive them (or us). Women have male pseudonyms and the other way around. And some have both male and female ones.

How to make a new pseudo? In AIM select an image; go to the upper left hand corner and click on the + button next to Pseudonym.

There's a filter named Pseudonym in the task bar. Which explains why somebody would use it to keep order in a big portfolio.

 

wim

 

Thanks again @wiskerke! Would it be better to set up these pseudonyms prior to getting back to stock photography and uploading many many pics, or is it more difficult to do this afterwards? Also, you mentioned there's a filter named Pseudonym in the task bar, which explains why someone would use it to keep order in a big portfolio... i can't find that... sorry! Are you able to send me a screen shot to visually direct me to this spot? 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Tawna Brown
I tagged the wrong person.

[MizBrown]

2 hours ago, Tawna Brown said:

Thank you @MizBrown. i still have to get familiar with where to go/what to look at to see how my photos show up in searches and how appropriate they were to the search... whereabouts do I go to see this? I am sure I've been there before, but I'm just slowly slowly getting back to this, and until I begin uploading again for some time, I have quite the learning curve to get over!

 

This shows up in your dashboard, under Alamy Measures, which has Your Images and All of Alamy (often abbreviated AOA or AoA.

[John Mitchell]

6 hours ago, Tawna Brown said:

Thanks @John Mitchell; I haven't signed in to this discussion forum for awhile, hence the delay in my response! So it says you have 8385 images, is that under one of your profiles (is that a pseudo? You have 4 different "accounts"/names, each with their own collection of images, but they are all linked to the same alamy account on the backend? Or are they all completely separate accounts?)  Any issue with calling my account name my name (Tawna Brown)?  I understand the desire to be organized and to keep things separate, but at the same time, you might have a client that likes some of your work, and then wants to see your other work (they may just be curious), but will they not be able to see it if it's not connected to the same profile name (pseudo)?  (They might like your overall style, and you may have repeat clients, but they may be missing out on your other images if they are listed under another name... I realize most clients will be searching images by keyword however).  

 

 

I have one account only in my own name. No problem doing that and then creating pseudos. Good question about repeat buyers finding you. I try to keep the subject matter in each pseudo as similar as possible so that they can find me. But who knows how well that actually works. Interestingly enough, not long ago, a travel guide publisher licensed two of my images from two different pseudos. Could have been just a coincidence or perhaps some linking of pseudos goes on behind the scenes. I don't know.