Chris1603 Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 Hello, Would greatly appreciate a critique of my updated submissions. Still not many pictures whatsoever, but gradually getting there. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 (edited) Hi Chris, Some nice images in there. Your choice of subject matter looks a lot more commercial now. Captions are searchable by clients. And your captions are often too short. Try to make full use of the 150 characters available to you. e.g. McLaren P1 GTR Hypercar - Image ID: 2PN1N5G Is it new, old? Where is it? For example: The McLaren P1 GTR Hypercaris is a sports car produced by British marque Mclaren Automotive. It is a plug-in-hybrid. Seen here at x motor show. Google and Wikipedia are your friend! Stunning, fully restored, Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship Racing Aircraft - Image ID: 2K1CYYE Especially as you don't take a lot of images, you can take time with your captions to be accurate and specific. This image is taken within the cockpit of the dashboard / instrument panel of the plane. Try taking a version of this with your hand in shot 'selecting' something on screen Smart meter is far too small in shot for this image to be used to illustrate a smart meter concept. Don't bother uploading images like this. Your main subject is completely in shadow. You've also got a massive dust spot in the middle of the sky. This would have failed Alamy QC if they had reviewed this image. An unopened Mars bar chocolate bar on plain background - Image ID: 2K819WC How about taking another version in a more realistic setting? And another version where you're unwrapping it. You've also got the same sensor dust spot as the Spanish image above. Make sure you use editing software to check for dust spots and get rid of them. And clean your sensor / lens! 🙃 Good luck, Steve Edited April 18, 2023 by Steve F 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris1603 Posted April 18, 2023 Author Share Posted April 18, 2023 Hi Steve - thank you so much for your time and superb insight! Yes will tweak accordingly this week. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatsyCollins Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 I notice you've put 'no' to 'property' even on pictures featuring brand names or of cars. From my understanding of the term 'property' in this context, those things count as 'yes'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 14 minutes ago, PatsyCollins said: I notice you've put 'no' to 'property' even on pictures featuring brand names or of cars. From my understanding of the term 'property' in this context, those things count as 'yes'. It catches me out sometimes but the 'No' refers to releases, not property. We never get to see if a contributor says whether the image contains property though if they turn up in Vital without releases then they won't have done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatsyCollins Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 55 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said: We never get to see if a contributor says whether the image contains property though if they turn up in Vital without releases then they won't have done. Ah – my mistake! Thanks for explaining. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Ventura Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 7 hours ago, Steve F said: Hi Chris, Some nice images in there. Your choice of subject matter looks a lot more commercial now. Captions are searchable by clients. And your captions are often too short. Try to make full use of the 150 characters available to you. e.g. McLaren P1 GTR Hypercar - Image ID: 2PN1N5G Is it new, old? Where is it? For example: The McLaren P1 GTR Hypercaris is a sports car produced by British marque Mclaren Automotive. It is a plug-in-hybrid. Seen here at x motor show. Google and Wikipedia are your friend! Stunning, fully restored, Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship Racing Aircraft - Image ID: 2K1CYYE Especially as you don't take a lot of images, you can take time with your captions to be accurate and specific. This image is taken within the cockpit of the dashboard / instrument panel of the plane. Try taking a version of this with your hand in shot 'selecting' something on screen Smart meter is far too small in shot for this image to be used to illustrate a smart meter concept. Don't bother uploading images like this. Your main subject is completely in shadow. You've also got a massive dust spot in the middle of the sky. This would have failed Alamy QC if they had reviewed this image. An unopened Mars bar chocolate bar on plain background - Image ID: 2K819WC How about taking another version in a more realistic setting? And another version where you're unwrapping it. You've also got the same sensor dust spot as the Spanish image above. Make sure you use editing software to check for dust spots and get rid of them. And clean your sensor / lens! 🙃 Good luck, Steve I agree with Steve's comments on the top three but I do see unopened products on white sell. I have a bunch and have had decent sales. I would take the background to a more clean white though, I do that in Photoshop. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said: I agree with Steve's comments on the top three but I do see unopened products on white sell. I have a bunch and have had decent sales. I would take the background to a more clean white though, I do that in Photoshop. Thanks. I wasn't saying don't do white backgrounds - my lack of clarification! Additionally do in a natural setting and with you actually interacting with whatever you're shooting if that's sensible. Edited April 18, 2023 by Steve F 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 (edited) 20 hours ago, Chris1603 said: Hello, Would greatly appreciate a critique of my updated submissions. Still not many pictures whatsoever, but gradually getting there. Thank you! Well Chris, I will write what I most often respond to questions from people new to Alamy or stock photography in general: Who, What, Why and How. Not going to write about specific images, some of which appear to me to be a bit dark? but file information. Captions, Keywords, including specific location would be a good idea in my opinion. As I have written many times; Think about a picture researcher or Photo Editor who is looking to illustrate a story. Chuck Edited April 19, 2023 by Chuck Nacke addition 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris1603 Posted April 19, 2023 Author Share Posted April 19, 2023 Thank you all! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxzoomy Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 That dust spot keeps appearing. Until you clean the sensor I would crop it out. With landscapes and big sky I also try to avoid birds in the image, in case Alamy QC thinks the bird is a dust spot. Ken Rockwell advises, I think, not going to a smaller aperture than f11 to reduce the risk of dust spots being too visible. I'm curious if members here think this is good advice. Sometimes we need f36 so it limits the camera if we can't choose that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ognyan Yosifov Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, zxzoomy said: That dust spot keeps appearing. Until you clean the sensor I would crop it out. With landscapes and big sky I also try to avoid birds in the image, in case Alamy QC thinks the bird is a dust spot. Ken Rockwell advises, I think, not going to a smaller aperture than f11 to reduce the risk of dust spots being too visible. I'm curious if members here think this is good advice. Sometimes we need f36 so it limits the camera if we can't choose that. I'd use f36 only for extreme close-ups in the studio but I rarely go above f22. And I know of a very popular photographer and photography tutor famous for using f2.8 or f5.6 for landscapes!!! Edited April 22, 2023 by Ognyan Yosifov 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Ventura Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 7 hours ago, zxzoomy said: That dust spot keeps appearing. Until you clean the sensor I would crop it out. With landscapes and big sky I also try to avoid birds in the image, in case Alamy QC thinks the bird is a dust spot. Ken Rockwell advises, I think, not going to a smaller aperture than f11 to reduce the risk of dust spots being too visible. I'm curious if members here think this is good advice. Sometimes we need f36 so it limits the camera if we can't choose that. Dust spots and birds (that look like dust spots) are easy to clean up in Photoshop. Probably the quickest part of prepping a photo for Alamy. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris1603 Posted April 25, 2023 Author Share Posted April 25, 2023 Checked my sensor and there was a big bit of dust or grit on it. I have now blown that off and will see what improvements are made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted May 6, 2023 Share Posted May 6, 2023 On 25/04/2023 at 18:23, Chris1603 said: Checked my sensor and there was a big bit of dust or grit on it. I have now blown that off and will see what improvements are made. If you check every pic, at 100%, especially in the sky areas, you'll catch all the dust-spots... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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