Questions About B&W Film Photography

[MisoPiso88]

I have just joined Alamy and have been shooting B&W film photography for over 40 years.  I have digitized all my negatives and plan to put some up on Alamy to sell.  I have tried to upload a few but they get rejected because they do not have metadata.  Can I not contribute to Alamy if I shoot with a film camera?  Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mr Standfast]

 

Requirement to have exif is for the first 3 images only. It's so QC can check your camera. Alamy are set up for digital camera submissions, once you have passed qc, you have more lattitude.

 

This thread has lots of info and opinions about scanning. Lots to read and it will help in framing further questions.

 

and this one

 

 

 

Good luck.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Mr Standfast

[Harry Harrison]

I suspect that Alamy aren't going to welcome scans for your first submission and possibly not for subsequent ones unless the images are of historical interest and couldn't have been shot on digital. I think the vetting process for those first 3 images is expecting images shot on a digital camera with the accompanying full EXIF.

 

However if you've been shooting for 40 years then I imagine you could have many suitable images, there is an official route for uploading 'Archival' images but you need to apply for that by providing a link to a gallery of sample images first. Personally I don't know if they accept new contributors solely on the basis of archival images but I guess you could ask them. I know a lot of contributors on this forum seem to do well from historical images that they have scanned from film.

 

Images uploaded via the Archival route have the following information below the image on the 'zoom' screen "This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage" so that potential buyers don't necessarily expect technical perfection. That might possibly be annoying if you've taken a great deal of time retouching your digitised images. On the other hand I do know that many contributors do upload scans at a respectable resolution via the normal route (i.e. not archival), say over 5000-6000 pixels on the long side, whereas others choose to downsize them to close to the 3000 x 2000 pixel minimum and carefully use noise reduction so their film origins are not obvious. 

 

EXIF isn't necessarily all that useful as a lot of good lenses for camera 'scanning' will be manual enlarger or macro lenses so won't provide any, or it will simply display your scanner if that's what you use.

[Mr Standfast]

33 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

I suspect that Alamy aren't going to welcome scans for your first submission and possibly not for subsequent ones unless the images are of historical interest and couldn't have been shot on digital. I think the vetting process for those first 3 images is expecting images shot on a digital camera with the accompanying full EXIF.

 

However if you've been shooting for 40 years then I imagine you could have many suitable images, there is an official route for uploading 'Archival' images but you need to apply for that by providing a link to a gallery of sample images first. Personally I don't know if they accept new contributors solely on the basis of archival images but I guess you could ask them. I know a lot of contributors on this forum seem to do well from historical images that they have scanned from film.

 

Images uploaded via the Archival route have the following information below the image on the 'zoom' screen "This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage" so that potential buyers don't necessarily expect technical perfection. That might possibly be annoying if you've taken a great deal of time retouching your digitised images. On the other hand I do know that many contributors do upload scans at a respectable resolution via the normal route (i.e. not archival), say over 5000-6000 pixels on the long side, whereas others choose to downsize them to close to the 3000 x 2000 pixel minimum and carefully use noise reduction so their film origins are not obvious. 

 

EXIF isn't necessarily all that useful as a lot of good lenses for camera 'scanning' will be manual enlarger or macro lenses so won't provide any, or it will simply display your scanner if that's what you use.

 Better answer than mine!

[Harry Harrison]

1 minute ago, Mr Standfast said:

Better answer than mine!

Not a bit of it, I was talking through my hat anyway as I don't upload scans, I'd quite like to though. I've also got B&W negatives going back 40 years, longer in fact, but I had the annoying habit of generally leaving out anything that might date them, like cars for example. I thought that it made them 'timeless', in fact it made them 'useless', for Alamy at least!

[sooth]

https://www.alamy.com/registration/archive_upload_apply.aspx

[Rebecca Ore]

I've been uploading scans both color and black and white.  One upload of six photos were all scans.  This is one of them.  I don't list them as archival.

 

 

First three have to show that you have a competent digital camera.   After that, make sure the scans are as good as what your digital camera can do.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Rebecca Ore

[Harry Harrison]

On 14/07/2023 at 16:19, MisoPiso88 said:

I have tried to upload a few but they get rejected because they do not have metadata.

I see that you are up and running with your 3 images accepted, I can't tell if they are digital or not of course. Were your scans rejected for not having EXIF metadata after these had already been accepted? If so then that is interesting but it is understandable that Alamy pay close attention to uploads from new contributors for an undisclosed probationary period and so perhaps they feel that they want to view the metadata for this reason. I had batches rejected early on but then I've always uploaded digital images with full metadata and in my case it was because of sensor spots. If you are uploading scans through the normal route they will need to be completely free of dust spots etc.