Owen J Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Hi all. Just started with Alamy with a series of coastal images. I'd be grateful for a comment on whether I'm heading in the right direction. Thanks in advance. Owen https://www.alamy.com/search/imageresults.aspx?pl=1&plno=1277882. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) Hi Owen, Looks like a great location for photography and you've got some striking shots. You can see contributors portfolios by clicking on the images number on the left of their posts. I would first keep a look out for published stock photos, particularly from your area. You can see in the image credits whether it's a stock photo, you need to know the names of the major agencies. These are the winners. How do yours compare? I'm particularly thinking composition. The subject, concept or 'story' in your images should be clear. I'm not sure what the subject is here, or what the image is trying to portray. Not a bad image, but too much negative space on the left for me, a more central composition might have worked better. Might have worked as it is, with all three surfers looking to the left, but it's spoiled by the one surfer with their back turned. Too much boring empty space again, main subject is not clear. Similar subject to the previous photo, but this works much better, clear main subject, much larger in frame. I like some of your 'artistic' shots. They are a bit hit and miss, but I think that's the nature of these kinds of shots: This doesn't work for me, main subject is too small, too much boring negative space. This one works much better for me. Good leading line from foreground to background. Not saying you have to stick to the rules, but some things work better than others... If it's monochrome, you can increase the contrast and clarity to make a more punchy image. Some of your captions are a bit short. They are searchable by clients, so try to make the most of the 150 characters available to you. See also: https://www.alamy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Captions-and-Tags-checklist.pdf https://www.alamy.com/blog/tips-for-your-captions-from-the-sales-team https://www.alamy.com/blog/captions-and-tags Hope this helps, best of luck. Stephen Edited December 4, 2023 by Steve F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin L Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 Steve, it wouldn't be photography, art or life without differing opinions I really like the 'lonely' swimmer. Normally you see swimming pools full of people, this gives the impression of early morning or late evening as no people, a feeling of isolation and dedication to a tough training regime. If it was zoomed in to lose the negative space it would lose this impact and just become another photo of someone swimming 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 21 minutes ago, Martin L said: Steve, it wouldn't be photography, art or life without differing opinions True. Maybe I'm not keen on the wires in the foreground. But sometimes you don't like a photo, but you can't express why... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin L Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 1 minute ago, Steve F said: True. Maybe I'm not keen on the wires in the foreground. But sometimes you don't like a photo, but you can't express why... 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 I should add that regardless, the lone swimmer is extremely unlikely to sell for stock. It's more the sort of thing you see in a street photography book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 (edited) 19 hours ago, Steve F said: I should add that regardless, the lone swimmer is extremely unlikely to sell for stock. It's more the sort of thing you see in a street photography book. I think it would have a higher chance of selling on Alamy (largely editorial) if it was in colour. Mark Edited December 6, 2023 by M.Chapman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 On 04/12/2023 at 09:43, Steve F said: Not a bad image, but too much negative space on the left for me, a more central composition might have worked better. Might have worked as it is, with all three surfers looking to the left, but it's spoiled by the one surfer with their back turned. If it were an image to print and hang on the wall then yes! But that "negative space" = "copy space" in the world of stock photography. Some text could be superimposed in that space. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 (edited) Feel free to link to similar published examples, that's not the sort of image I see anywhere... Edited December 7, 2023 by Steve F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 (edited) This might be the monitor that I am looking at the images on not being calibrated or might be a personal taste.. but for me some of the images could do with maybe half a stop more exposure.. maybe move the 'exposure' slider slightly to the right in Lightroom (or whatever software you use)? And/or maybe lift some of the shadows a bit? Edited December 7, 2023 by Matt Ashmore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 6 minutes ago, Steve F said: Feel free to link to similar published examples, that's not the sort of image I see anywhere... I don't have an example immediately at hand... and while I agree that I wouldn't really expect this image to sell, I am also often surprised at images of my own that do sell which I didn't really expect to sell. Ideally you cover all bases and have some images with negative space which can be used as copy space and have images where the frame is filled with the main subject. As it happens, I quite like this image as it nicely follows 'the rule of 3rds'. The children more or less sit on a 3rd in one direction. And the horizon more or less sits on a 3rd in the other direction. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 (edited) 37 minutes ago, Matt Ashmore said: I don't have an example immediately at hand... and while I agree that I wouldn't really expect this image to sell, I am also often surprised at images of my own that do sell which I didn't really expect to sell. Ideally you cover all bases and have some images with negative space which can be used as copy space and have images where the frame is filled with the main subject. As it happens, I quite like this image as it nicely follows 'the rule of 3rds'. The children more or less sit on a 3rd in one direction. And the horizon more or less sits on a 3rd in the other direction. I'm also surprised at what sells. Although I've got a reasonable idea of what probably won't sell.... I thought you were referring to the lone swimmer. The surfing image is better, and probably could sell. Getting a bit technical here. But I don't know where to look with this image, it seems quite imbalanced. One surfer is looking out to sea, ok, good, but they're looking to something out of camera shot. One has got his back turned, can't see what they're doing. One is looking halfway back to the camera, again at something out of camera shot or at the boring sand. The beach on the left has no interest. It's a lot of copy space... Edited December 7, 2023 by Steve F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin L Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 48 minutes ago, Steve F said: The beach on the left has no interest. It's a lot of copy space... Alamys Example 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Standfast Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 Well... Sandy beach image. A landscape format with copy space and a cropped on the right third portrait format for impact. Both work. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 (edited) I agree, overall format is the same. But the orientation of the people, what they are doing and where they are looking has an impact too. Hard to explain. The difference between a snapshot and what looks like an unplanned image but works... But ok. Happy to go with the consensus here, although not keen personally, think it could be better. Edited December 7, 2023 by Steve F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Standfast Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 Got people talking about photography. Rather than probs. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hyde Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 (edited) On 28/11/2023 at 03:49, Owen J said: Hi all. Just started with Alamy with a series of coastal images. I'd be grateful for a comment on whether I'm heading in the right directio Thanks in advance. Owe https://www.alamy.com/search/imageresults.aspx?pl= Edited December 15, 2023 by Steve Hyde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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