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Is the "Social" item in the search dropdown new? I don't remember seeing it before and I'm guessing that means images shot with phones. So I suppose doing a search without the dropdown gives everything, "Social" included, and the way to prevent phone images from coming up in a search is to choose "Photographs". 

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3 hours ago, Mark Scheuern said:

 

I just tried two shots from my 11 and that worked. Feels weird. Does the buyer get any indication that it's a phone picture?

 

My phone is an iPhone 11 too and I have had a few photos that I have taken on it accepted, keyworded and on sale now.

The buyer gets no indication of the fact that the photo is taken on a phone (I posted a link to my first earlier in this thread if you want to see for yourself) and I don't see that they should either. If a photo is good enough for what a buyer wants then it really shouldn't matter to the buyer what the photo was taken on.

Edited by Matt Ashmore
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6 hours ago, Mark Scheuern said:

Is the "Social" item in the search dropdown new? I don't remember seeing it before and I'm guessing that means images shot with phones. So I suppose doing a search without the dropdown gives everything, "Social" included, and the way to prevent phone images from coming up in a search is to choose "Photographs". 

 

Don't know if the "Social" option is new, but I hadn't noticed it before. It seems to bring up images from the now-defunct "S...imo", which I didn't contribute to.

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I hope this 'smartphone' upload doesn't get mixed into the current photograph search gallery. Or does that not matter at all?

 

If everything looks good, this could really open up new opportunities for smartphone photographers. We could start shooting in high resolution and embark on personal projects we've always wanted to do, without lugging around a heavy DSLR and multiple lenses. Since my country has a tropical climate year-round, dealing with heat and humidity during outdoor shoots can be a physical challenge. That's why I prefer to shoot light and up-close.

 

The only downside with my smartphone (iPhone 13 Pro Max) is the telephoto lens. The picture quality isn't the best, and I wonder if Alamy would accept those images.

Let's see how this run and I am very excited what Alamy going to announce soon. 

Edited by rickygui
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I don't think that the issue is whether smartphones can produce eminently saleable images that easily exceed current Alamy QC standards in the right hands and right conditions. I can see that with such images there would be no reason to segregate such images from the rest of Alamy, or to present them in a way that they were sub-standard in some way.

 

On the other hand in the wrong hands, with the wrong smartphone, or with the wrong lens/sensor combination at the end of its extreme digital zoom it's very very easy to produce something that wouldn't. The question is more how on earth Alamy are going to police/monitor this new route. Those of us on this forum know what Alamy QC requires and we wouldn't want to risk our hard-earned upload status by putting up anything sub-standard.  Actually I'm not sure I would be able to tell for sure by looking on the 4" screen of my ancient 2016 Iphone SE although it's a decent enough 12MP camera and back in the day Apple were putting posters up on the underground taken with it that looked pretty good to me.

 

So, I think it's more the fact that if Alamy say it's Open Season on Smartphone pictures and there is no way for the buyer to tell if that's where they were sourced then the danger is that the efforts we have all made to produce images of high technical quality will be lost, literally in the mix.

 

 

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20 hours ago, Mark Scheuern said:

Is the "Social" item in the search dropdown new? I don't remember seeing it before and I'm guessing that means images shot with phones. So I suppose doing a search without the dropdown gives everything, "Social" included, and the way to prevent phone images from coming up in a search is to choose "Photographs". 

 

My Stockimo images appear in a search for Photographs as well as a search for Social. Is that what you are finding with the test images you have uploaded... those of you who are trying it out? I wonder what people imagine they are getting if they search under Social. Perhaps Alamy gives some guidance to buyers.

 

Paulette

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1 hour ago, NYCat said:

Is that what you are finding with the test images you have uploaded

Matt Ashmore's test image, 2Y7098G, does not come up under Social, it seems to be only legacy 'S' images at the moment.

Edited by Harry Harrison
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1 hour ago, NYCat said:

 

My Stockimo images appear in a search for Photographs as well as a search for Social. Is that what you are finding with the test images you have uploaded... those of you who are trying it out? I wonder what people imagine they are getting if they search under Social. Perhaps Alamy gives some guidance to buyers.

 

Paulette

 

Thanks, Paulette. The iPhone images I uploaded share some keywords with ones shot with real cameras, uploaded previously. Here's what I'm seeing with searches on those keywords: With no filter at all, I'm seeing all of mine matching those keywords, both phone and camera. With "Photographs", same thing. And, with "Social", none. So maybe "Social" is strictly Stockimo images? What's odd is I thought I was seeing my iPhone images when I searched under "Social", earlier, but maybe I imagined that. 
All a bit puzzling. 

Edited by Mark Scheuern
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7 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Matt Ashmore's test image, 2Y7098G, does not come up under Social, it seems to be only legacy 'S' images at the moment.

Yes, that agrees with what I'm seeing. So it seems that, at least for now, Alamy wants to distinguish Stockimo images from Alamy images, and doesn't want to distinguish phone Alamy images from camera Alamy images. 

Edited by Mark Scheuern
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Thanks, guys. I think I'll wait for some guidance before uploading phone images. I also need to learn the ins and outs of the camera on the iPhoneProMax.

 

Paulette

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3 minutes ago, NYCat said:

Thanks, guys. I think I'll wait for some guidance before uploading phone images. I also need to learn the ins and outs of the camera on the iPhoneProMax.

 

Paulette

You took a class on it, right? You’re a step ahead of me, same phone.

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2 minutes ago, NYCat said:

Thanks, guys. I think I'll wait for some guidance before uploading phone images. I also need to learn the ins and outs of the camera on the iPhoneProMax.

 

Paulette

 

I just bought one a few days ago as an upgrade to my 11, before all this went down. So learning as well. One tip: if you're not shooting RAW, backing the Tone control down tames the iPhone's fondness to excessively lighten shadows and darken highlights. 

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1 hour ago, Mark Scheuern said:

Yes, that agrees with what I'm seeing. So it seems that, at least for now, Alamy wants to distinguish Stockimo images from Alamy images, and doesn't want to distinguish phone Alamy images from camera Alamy images. 

 

When Stockimo started, Alamy were encouraging contributors to apply filters and creative editing. I'm guessing with the new "smartphone" uploads, they want just the same kind of "normal" editing as we would do if we had taken the image with a camera. So my guess would be that that would cause them to make a distinction.

Edited by Matt Ashmore
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2 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

You took a class on it, right? You’re a step ahead of me, same phone.

 

No class. At least not yet. I've started watching a video that looks good but he goes too fast in spots where you are changing settings. A common problem with videos. I may have to search out written instructions. I think you and I are better with those. This is a much more complicated camera than what I had on the iPhone 6 Plus. I can take a class not far from me at an Apple Store. Sometimes it's best to know something before you take those classes so you can ask for a specific focus. They are usually teaching people at all levels of experience. 

 

Paulette 

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I was contributing to Stockimo and it only accepted images from iPhones, so maybe issues of uploading Smartphone images is to do with non iPhones?

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1 hour ago, domf said:

I was contributing to Stockimo and it only accepted images from iPhones, so maybe issues of uploading Smartphone images is to do with non iPhones?

Stockimo was iPhone only because they never got around to making an andorid version of the app.. nothing to do with the phone's capabilities to take a good enough photo.

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5 taken and 5 passed.

Not sure how often I'll use the phone, Samsung S23, as I like using my gear. However, nice to know it works OK. 

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11 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

I took a careless snap and it failed QC- serves me right. Just how that it doesn’t trash my 5 stars.

 

I would not think so.

 

Allan

 

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10 hours ago, domf said:

I was contributing to Stockimo and it only accepted images from iPhones, so maybe issues of uploading Smartphone images is to do with non iPhones?

 

Apparently not as some flagship Samsung phone photos passed. 

 

DXOMark and Digital Photography Review have reviews of cell phone cameras.  1' sensors may be what to look for as the little RX100 Sony cameras with sensors that size that pass QC at roughly similar prices new.  Sort of a toss-up as to which one for the carry everywhere camera. 

 

Lightroom Mobile has good editing including AI presets, and its own camera app.

 

Midrange and budget phones seem to be what is getting the "Unsuitable phone" message without being able to upload.

 

 

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3 hours ago, geogphotos said:

I took a careless snap and it failed QC- serves me right. Just how that it doesn’t trash my 5 stars.

 

What phone are you using, if you don't mind my asking?

 

Strange that your image went into QC. Others haven't reported that. Or have they? Mine was rejected on upload as mentioned above.

 

 

Edited by John Mitchell
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