Image sizes

[Stargazer]

Hello folks i have been uploading to Alamy for a number of yrs now but havent achieved many sales and i am beginning to wonder if my file sizes are too small.

I usually upload to near the minimum size of 4 mb jpegs.

Do you think this might be my problem and is it possible to delete and resubmit larger file sizes ?

TIA David.

 

[M.Chapman]

27 minutes ago, Stargazer said:

Hello folks i have been uploading to Alamy for a number of yrs now but havent achieved many sales and i am beginning to wonder if my file sizes are too small.

I usually upload to near the minimum size of 4 mb jpegs.

Do you think this might be my problem and is it possible to delete and resubmit larger file sizes ?

TIA David.

 

 

Alamy's minimum size of uncompressed image is 17MB which corresponds to an image containing just over 6 Million Pixels (e.g. 6MP = 2000 x 3000 pixels).  The 4 mb you mention is the compressed jpg size which doesn't relate easily to the uncompressed image size as the level of compression will depend on the subject matter and the quality level selected. If you say what the typical pixel dimensions of your images are then you may get a clearer answer.

 

Personally I don't see any difference in sales between  small images (e.g. 6MP) and larger ones (e.g. 16MP or 24MP) probably because most uses are for A4 or smaller. I've only had a request for a higher resolution image once. Most searches I see don't specify an image size filter either. Other contributors may have different experiences.

 

Taking a quick look at your images I think you may get more success if you put more detail in your captions and keywords. Also - why are your Gull images marked as Public domain and they don't seem to have captions? A lot of you images are perhaps more suited to micro-stock (arty backgrounds etc.) rather than editorial/factual images which Alamy specialise in. 

 

Mark

Edited August 1, 2022 by M.Chapman

[Stargazer]

maybe its my images that dont stand out .

 

 

 

[Martin L]

How many is not many?

Generally the Alamy average is about 1 license per month per 1000 images.

One thing is that you have loads of similars, loads of the same lighthouse, loads of gulls, loads of same style of backgrounds, so your port is in reality about a fifth of the size so on average you would expect about 1 license every 6 months

If you are achieving that then you are doing what is expected

[Stargazer]

Thank you Martin and i agree with you i have too many similar images but if i dont upload them they will never be seen.

[Martin L]

Do you want to license or be seen?

Too many similars will hurt your ranking.

Just pick your best.

[sb photos]

I agree with Mark and Martins comments, I would take note of their comments.

 

I have uploaded and sold many images that just exceed Alamy's minimum open file size, 17.2mb. To give more scope for use now my 'standard' open file size is 4000 pixels on the longest size. I tend to only upload larger images if I think there's a possibility they could be printed large, but certainly for web use, which is most common, the Alamy minimum size is easily sufficient. I also take into account quite a few of my images are uploaded via my phones hotspot and laptop where the speed of a 4G connection is often not ideal so a smaller file size helps.

[Cal]

I have often wondered this myself but have no idea where to go to obtain data that proves either which way or the other (you'd need a massive sample size to start). However, I suspect it is not the case that 6MP images sell less frequently than, say, 24MP ones for stock. A 6MP image will still print large; at 150 DPI it should be more than big enough for a newspaper even printed filling much of the page. For large canvas prints it is a different matter, but Alamy is an editorial and stock agency, not really in the fine art business so it's a different market.

[Harry Harrison]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the ability to filter images by minimum file size in the Alamy search seems not to have survived the website makeover, there isn't a corresponding filter in the new sidebar. Quite a strange omission really but perhaps Alamy don't think it matters either.

 

This out-of-date but still visible Help page tells you what used to be possible:

 

https://www.alamy.com/blog/use-search-filters-alamy