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Stockimo now you can upload photos from your iPhone to sell on here


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I have recently been researching my wife’s great grandfather’s working life as a photographer working from the 1870s onwards.  In the early part of his career he was working as a portrait photographer using the wet plate process.  When the dry plate was invented it was a revolution, a bit like digital when compared with film.  Suddenly, photography was so much easier to do and there was a great increase in the number of photographers setting up as professionals.  But there was an great increase in markets for professional photographers, too, and the standard of living for photographers went up.

I started out as an industrial photographer, using 5 x 4 and 6x6 in 1970.  Over the years the market changed and I adapted, firstly with architectural photography, then landscape, continuing to use large and medium format.  There were always good markets paying well.  If one market dried up another could be found...... until digital came along!  Fortunately, I am now retired and can now indulge myself shooting personal projects.  But I really sympathsise for those continuing in the photographic profession, as diversifying is not as easy as it was, and renumeration is now so poor.

I now enjoy using digital cameras, with their versatilty and easily-achieved quality.  But now that ‘everyone and their dog’ can now use a digital camera or camera phone, the continuing downward trend of prices that results from oversupply is very worrying.  

Alamy has not helped with their implementation of iphone image sales.  There really must be a clear distinction between iphone images, and the ‘quality’ images that have been through the traditional QC, as there is between Archival/Reportage, and the general collection.  Also, Alamy, is it feasible to have some distinction on pricing between iphone images and ‘quality’ images?  Otherwise I think it inevitable that prices will drop further when millions of iphone images are on the Alamy site.

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I just hope Alamy will not loose more clients than they'll gain by going the mediocre route. I truly wonder what Alamy's archive will look like in two years time, now that every 10 year old apparently got the message on his facebook that they can earn a few dollars AND perhaps see their "piece of art" published. Well, I certainly would have liked the idea to be a "pro photog" at the age of ten ;)

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

See to be honest Philippe the photography snobbery and dividing it up into classes theme in this thread is actually embarrassing. Most people are assuming that all that's going to be uploaded to Stockimo is pure dross. That's probably thee most offensive mindset to have and not to mention that it shows real fear of the unknown and a stubbornness to go with the flow or accept it.

 

Why is it so difficult to absorb that someone with an iPhone can't be classed as a photographer, let alone a 10 year old one? My 14 year old daughter uses my camera sometimes. I embrace it, I let her do what she wants. With the theme of this thread I should be telling her to get better gear, take pics for over ten years and then come back to get your 'photographer' badge. 

 

There's a few that need to get off their high horse and come back down to earth. It's not the same world it was 10 years ago. It's starting to sound a lot like a gentleman's club in here where the women and children are retired to the colouring in room while the experience of man and his photography is glorified and no-one should be allowed in. 

 

 +1

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What disappoints me is once again Alamy is following the rest. According to James West . Only if you’d been on a mission to the moon would you have missed the phenomenal success of Instagram .. Wouldn't it be nice for once to see a thread start "Wow thats a great idea no one else is doing that". He says "Smartphone Photography is everywhere" seems to me it has been for years but only now does Alamy decide to  feed from the trough.  Lets face it for the 50% Alamy gets, most of us earthlings could manage to follow the rest.

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So today as is said in past comments i would try it today. So today I was in raining/overcast typical London day, took a photo on my friends iPhone 4 not sure if it was a "s" yes I used a iClone! (Feel like I deserve a gold medal) and never again! The image quality was both thumbs down. I didn't even attempt to submit it.

 

I remember when sony Ericsson brought the c905 out with 8MP sensor the same year I brought my first DSLR a sony alpha a350 then I came up with a crazy idea for my art project. i was about 13 at the time. I remember comparing them both to the same picture same setup as close as I could do for the same tests at the time. Still the DSLR was better! its still the same with my current setup vs mobile.

 

 

My old palm pre 3 had a better feeling camera but unfortunately that phone is deceased. I have a s4 honestly that camera is really nice, okay there are faults but hey you can do manual if you root it (might be standard now, not sure). I'll only submit photos to my facebook on it and really any future phone camera I use.

I will still drag my Alpha around....

 

Don't get me wrong I support this idea (please see my previous comments to see what I mean) maybe I will upload photos from my phone if alamy will support other phone(s) and other O.S. e.g. Andriod and windows, since some windows phones can produce far better and higher quality shots than an iPhone.

 

I'm still going to stick with my Alphas or whatever DSLR regardless of what happens

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Do Lee filters, in fact do any filter manufacturers make filters for iPhones ?  If not , where does this leave all the creative landscape photographers ?   Do they have to find a library that appreciates their work, or do they sell their own images to clients who appreciate quality ?  

 

Very likely. I'd already set up a couple of direct contacts to sell mountain imagery.... I think I'll be moving towards expanding this this year as well as working on more creative imagery that I've been sending elsewhere.

 

I was working on a batch of Istanbul shots for here but my heart isn't in it. I think I'll move on to my studio stuff again. To be honest, I don't know why I'm getting so frustrated with this place, it's not like I get much from them compared to elsewhere. In fact, they've probably done me a favour!

 

 

Alamy have certainly done me a favour as they have caused me to accelerate my decision making and other plans. As you say, my angst wasn't justified by the returns Alamy is now giving me; a few years ago, OK.

 

 

I've managed to get access to an iPhone to test the system and uploaded a few images last night. From now on this is the only way I'll submit images to Alamy as it's easier than QC and avoids the sin bin. The normal way is too much work for too little return.

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Looks like the old RF debate might rear it's ugly head again.

Just had a look at Stockimo RF only and it raises the question in that if anyone and his dog goes down this free for all route then there are going to be some serious breeches of RM/RF scenarios.

 

Although I think that this episode in Alamy's progression is ill thought out and very likely to have an initial negative effect on customers I have downloaded the app and uploaded a few old photos off of my camera roll.

 

Having just spent 4 days lugging my D3 around Cyprus and with my soon to be redundant RX100 still with Sony cos' I think it's crap, I would like to point out that all I needed was my iphone with it's very limited camera and 2 minutes every now and then to upload to Stockimo.

 

What saddens me is that although Alamy is prepared to drop it's standards and subsequent reputation in favour of mass image overload, and even more dross, is that I have a considerable amount of photos that I have taken over the last 40 ish years that I can't use. These include shots taken during the Falklands crisis on 35mm film, various shots of the Phantoms and Buccaneers etc on the last but one Ark etc. Also, in recent years, walkabout shots taken on various digital 6mp compacts such as my press days best friend  Fuji F30 thats take better shots than the modern RX100 (imo).

 

And......it's great opening the floodgates but what happens when the taxman starts to go through the lists of casual contributors (and I am sure he eventually will) to all these people that are earning an income from Alamy/Stockimo? There will be taxes to pay, national insurance class 2 that was not deferred because of not registering etc. Still I suppose it will help alleviate the national debt sooner or later.

As for me. I enjoy Alamy, it gives me an outlet for my holiday snaps (even more so now) but it is only a small fraction of my photography income so for my it really does not matter. My serious kit earns it's money on a regular basis but as far as Alamy is concerned once my considerable backlog of Canada, Dublin, Cyprus, London China and Japan et al then it is the iphone for me. I suspect the same for many others and therefore it will be Alamy's loss when it hits 100 million + iphone images with only c40 million high quality images taken with 'real' cameras.

Stockimo should be totally seperate from the Alamy archive. Good idea but horrendously implemented.

 

rant over

Andy

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Stockimo is inceasing by 1000/day, not a flood yet, fingers crossed that it remains a slow and inconvenient process compared with batch uploads.

The compact I had in 2006 could have beaten the current offerings. I'd have too much professional pride to upload most of the stuff that is up at the moment.

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The ones I uploaded were of the same subject but they had to be uploaded, captioned and tagged one by one with no way of batching them or retaining the caption or tags to use on the next one etc.

 

I couldn't resist putting them into photoshop to manipulate and crop before putting them back onto an iPad to upload.

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If I can upload an image taken with an iPhone and it's of acceptable quality, why can't I now upload (and have accepted) a scan from an old Olympus Trip 35 at a similar quality?

 

I truly don't understand the difference . . .

 

dd

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If I can upload an image taken with an iPhone and it's of acceptable quality, why can't I now upload (and have accepted) a scan from an old Olympus Trip 35 at a similar quality?

 

I truly don't understand the difference . . .

 

dd

 

Perhaps Alamy want to create a curated collection of contempory, up to date and unusual images. Maybe they don't want it filled up with non QC compliant images from everyone's back catalogue going back to the dawn of digital photography and earlier!
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Do Lee filters, in fact do any filter manufacturers make filters for iPhones ?  If not , where does this leave all the creative landscape photographers ?   Do they have to find a library that appreciates their work, or do they sell their own images to clients who appreciate quality ?  

 

Very likely. I'd already set up a couple of direct contacts to sell mountain imagery.... I think I'll be moving towards expanding this this year as well as working on more creative imagery that I've been sending elsewhere.

 

I was working on a batch of Istanbul shots for here but my heart isn't in it. I think I'll move on to my studio stuff again. To be honest, I don't know why I'm getting so frustrated with this place, it's not like I get much from them compared to elsewhere. In fact, they've probably done me a favour!

 

 

Alamy have certainly done me a favour as they have caused me to accelerate my decision making and other plans. As you say, my angst wasn't justified by the returns Alamy is now giving me; a few years ago, OK.

 

 

I've managed to get access to an iPhone to test the system and uploaded a few images last night. From now on this is the only way I'll submit images to Alamy as it's easier than QC and avoids the sin bin. The normal way is too much work for too little return.

 

 

What sort of return do you envisage from this?

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Do Lee filters, in fact do any filter manufacturers make filters for iPhones ?  If not , where does this leave all the creative landscape photographers ?   Do they have to find a library that appreciates their work, or do they sell their own images to clients who appreciate quality ?  

 

Very likely. I'd already set up a couple of direct contacts to sell mountain imagery.... I think I'll be moving towards expanding this this year as well as working on more creative imagery that I've been sending elsewhere.

 

I was working on a batch of Istanbul shots for here but my heart isn't in it. I think I'll move on to my studio stuff again. To be honest, I don't know why I'm getting so frustrated with this place, it's not like I get much from them compared to elsewhere. In fact, they've probably done me a favour!

 

 

Alamy have certainly done me a favour as they have caused me to accelerate my decision making and other plans. As you say, my angst wasn't justified by the returns Alamy is now giving me; a few years ago, OK.

 

 

I've managed to get access to an iPhone to test the system and uploaded a few images last night. From now on this is the only way I'll submit images to Alamy as it's easier than QC and avoids the sin bin. The normal way is too much work for too little return.

 

 

What sort of return do you envisage from this?

 

 

Not much really but I don't earn that much from Alamy going the long way round. This would just be an easy way to get stuff up that might buy me a coffee now and again.

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If I can upload an image taken with an iPhone and it's of acceptable quality, why can't I now upload (and have accepted) a scan from an old Olympus Trip 35 at a similar quality?

 

I truly don't understand the difference . . .

 

dd

 

 

In my view, the development is not about cameras, or stock, or licenses, or fees. I think it's about markets, speed, and access to new suppliers. The pictures created with smartphones are different to those created by people using Olympus Trip 35s or Canon 5Ds, or to those made by "photographers". Smartphone pics are about real life, provided by people who are "in life" (rather than by those "photographing" life). This is visual "life-sharing", and that is something very different. Smartphone pictures that are extremely easy and fast to source in any situation, there are no (almost) technology barriers, and content is likely to be very different to stock created by "photographers". There are also MANY more potential suppliers, and these suppliers don't have to be "photographers" (in the older sense...have interest, have equipment etc). 

 

I see this as the next step that connects us all, not just photographers, to the world of picture sharing in professional media.

 

Mark

 

ps. I don't have a smartphone, but I am tempted, not for income expectations, but to try out some TOTALLY new approaches I would not do with my film or digital cameras. Somehow, the development is becoming interesting.

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If I can upload an image taken with an iPhone and it's of acceptable quality, why can't I now upload (and have accepted) a scan from an old Olympus Trip 35 at a similar quality?

 

I truly don't understand the difference . . .

 

dd

 

Perhaps Alamy want to create a curated collection of contempory, up to date and unusual images. Maybe they don't want it filled up with non QC compliant images from everyone's back catalogue going back to the dawn of digital photography and earlier!

 

 

Perhaps . . . okay, so I'll not use a backlog of Olympus Trip pics, but I'll go out and take some "contemporary, up to date and unusual images" with my Olympus and scan and submit them (if I can find it) . . . now what's the difference?

 

Why, I'll even filter it to buggery to make it look like an iPhone pic, as if that really means anything . . . so seriously, what is the difference?

 

dd

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If I can upload an image taken with an iPhone and it's of acceptable quality, why can't I now upload (and have accepted) a scan from an old Olympus Trip 35 at a similar quality?

 

I truly don't understand the difference . . .

 

dd

 

Perhaps Alamy want to create a curated collection of contempory, up to date and unusual images. Maybe they don't want it filled up with non QC compliant images from everyone's back catalogue going back to the dawn of digital photography and earlier!

 

 

Perhaps . . . okay, so I'll not use a backlog of Olympus Trip pics, but I'll go out and take some "contemporary, up to date and unusual images" with my Olympus and scan and submit them (if I can find it) . . . now what's the difference?

 

dd

 

 

 

You and I can't submit our film and digital images via the smartphone channel. We can't submit at the same speed, volume, or effort. Perhaps we don't have our cameras at hand when we see the urinal explode at the local restaurant.......whatever. Unless you and I have our cameras everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE, in all (or at least most) life situations, then the smartphones may open up different opportunities.

 

Fact is, many people who are not photographers have smart phones. They have these phones in situations where they are unlikely to have a camera. That means more opportunity.

 

I have small cameras (Leica Ms). But I can't carry these everywhere either (but more places than my old Canons). I can carry my phone almost everywhere.

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If I can upload an image taken with an iPhone and it's of acceptable quality, why can't I now upload (and have accepted) a scan from an old Olympus Trip 35 at a similar quality?

 

I truly don't understand the difference . . .

 

dd

 

Perhaps Alamy want to create a curated collection of contempory, up to date and unusual images. Maybe they don't want it filled up with non QC compliant images from everyone's back catalogue going back to the dawn of digital photography and earlier!

 

 

Perhaps . . . okay, so I'll not use a backlog of Olympus Trip pics, but I'll go out and take some "contemporary, up to date and unusual images" with my Olympus and scan and submit them (if I can find it) . . . now what's the difference?

 

dd

 

 

 

You and I can't submit our film and digital images via the smartphone channel. We can't submit at the same speed, volume, or effort. Perhaps we don't have our cameras at hand when we see the urinal explode at the local restaurant.......whatever. Unless you and I have our cameras everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE, in all (or at least most) life situations, then the smartphones may open up different opportunities.

 

Fact is, many people who are not photographers have smart phones. They have these phones in situations where they are unlikely to have a camera. That means more opportunity.

 

I have small cameras (Leica Ms). But I can't carry these everywhere either (but more places than my old Canons). I can carry my phone almost everywhere.

 

 

"Opening up different opportunities" has nothing to do with it . . . I may take up the exact same opportunity, through good luck, with my Olympus Trip . . . so why can't I submit it?

 

In other words, again, what is the difference between an iPhone image and my hypothetical scan of a "contemporary, up to date and unusual image" taken with an Olympus Trip 35?

 

There is none, as far as I can see . . . this isn't about the image, it's about . . . what? I'm still mystified.

 

dd

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Eclectic - that's the word I've been looking for - not necessarily contemporary, up to date or unusual - just about anything that is relevant in time to news, views, or fashions - incorporating archive material when the relevance is high and using just about any camera to get it.

 

I'll not be buying an Iphone, but if I come across a news story and my trusty compact is not close to hand I'll shoot it on my mainly-telephone-but-with-a-camera device, Bluetooth it to my Mac and upload it to News and send it all-round to Nat and Provincial Press - it is not what you've got - it is how you use it - isn't it ?

 

The only drawback I can see is that the tag-line for the image lacks the trendy name, but then my images are targeted for their markets and not reliant on someone chancing across them......

 

Dinosaur - probably, still selling well, definitely !

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As far as I can see, the Stockimo images are not going straight out to market as I thought they would be at first. They are still to be rated and then have to wait on the database update in the morning before appearing.

 

So if you got the exploding urinal it would be better to go the news route.

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So if you got the exploding urinal it would be better to go the news route.

 

Perhaps have a shower first . . .

 

dd

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I take my Fuji X-E1 almost everywhere; if I chanced on a news event I can upload immediately through the news channel, perhaps even using my smartphone. Not sure how I would caption it etc without a laptop though. I can do it with another news agency as I could caption after upload using the browser.

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As far as I can see, the Stockimo images are not going straight out to market as I thought they would be at first. They are still to be rated and then have to wait on the database update in the morning before appearing.

 

So if you got the exploding urinal it would be better to go the news route.

.......if that is right you are already about 24hrs behind mine which should be captioned, keyworded and already in the picture desk browser......

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