Thanks for my time in the Sin Bin !!!!

[John Mitchell]

 

 

 

No wonder some folk here are paranoid

 

Paranoid is the keyword here!  i am about to come out of the sin bin in 5 days, while waiting for time to pass i have been going blind on re-checking images to be uploaded,  and yes i am becoming paranoid, Alamy will not see some images for this reason, there is probably nothing wrong with what i have decided not to upload,  i wonder how many more of us are doing the same.

 

For me time is precious and waiting in the sin bin for a month is frustrating to say the least.

 

I have thousands of images to offer Alamy, unfortunately i feel that most will not see the Alamy site.

 

Paul.

 

 

Fortunately, I've been having good luck with QC lately. However, I now withhold more images than I used to and look for alternate outlets, which is too bad because I would rather send them to Alamy.

[Paul Mayall]

 

John Mitchell

 I now withhold more images than I used to and look for alternate outlets.

 

+1,  i also would like to add more to Alamy in hope that sales might increase, unfortunately Alamy could be getting more than they need,  i sometimes wonder where the threshold is,  maybe 50 million,  then it might even be harder to get images on here.

 

Paul.

[Duncan_Andison]

 

 

John Mitchell

 I now withhold more images than I used to and look for alternate outlets.

 

+1,  i also would like to add more to Alamy in hope that sales might increase, unfortunately Alamy could be getting more than they need,  i sometimes wonder where the threshold is,  maybe 50 million,  then it might even be harder to get images on here.

 

Paul.

 

 

I may have entered the Sin Bin for the first time in nearly 2 years (and about 5k images).... no problem to me, the approx. 200 images sat waiting are already with other agencies and selling 

 

I just move on to other projects (which there are plenty) and continue providing their competitors with fresh shots. In time I'll get around to uploading them here but I generally work a batch and upload it to all, work a batch then.... you get the idea. Going back and re-submitting work that has already gone to everyone else a month or so ago means I have to stop working on the new projects. That won't happen as one outlet shouldn't interfere with the creation of images for everyone else.

 

At the end of the day, it's their party but they can't expect me to rush back and provide them with new images when they've opened the door again..... I'll be too busy partying on down the road 

[John Mitchell]

 

 

John Mitchell

 I now withhold more images than I used to and look for alternate outlets.

 

+1,  i also would like to add more to Alamy in hope that sales might increase, unfortunately Alamy could be getting more than they need,  i sometimes wonder where the threshold is,  maybe 50 million,  then it might even be harder to get images on here.

 

Paul.

 

 

Yes, I can certainly understand if Alamy is starting to get that bloated feeling.

[Paul Mayall]

 

Duncan_Andison

I may have entered the Sin Bin for the first time in nearly 2 years (and about 5k images).... no problem to me, the approx. 200 images sat waiting are already with other agencies and selling  

 

I just move on to other projects (which there are plenty) and continue providing their competitors with fresh shots. In time I'll get around to uploading them here but I generally work a batch and upload it to all, work a batch then.... you get the idea. Going back and re-submitting work that has already gone to everyone else a month or so ago means I have to stop working on the new projects. That won't happen as one outlet shouldn't interfere with the creation of images for everyone else.

 

At the end of the day, it's their party but they can't expect me to rush back and provide them with new images when they've opened the door again..... I'll be too busy partying on down the road  

 

Pretty much the same here,  i have another supplier  with  over 13,000 of my images and selling very well every month,  if Alamy was not so QC happy the same images would be here and hopefully my Alamy sales would be higher.

 

Paul.

[John Mitchell]

 

 

Duncan_Andison

I may have entered the Sin Bin for the first time in nearly 2 years (and about 5k images).... no problem to me, the approx. 200 images sat waiting are already with other agencies and selling  

 

I just move on to other projects (which there are plenty) and continue providing their competitors with fresh shots. In time I'll get around to uploading them here but I generally work a batch and upload it to all, work a batch then.... you get the idea. Going back and re-submitting work that has already gone to everyone else a month or so ago means I have to stop working on the new projects. That won't happen as one outlet shouldn't interfere with the creation of images for everyone else.

 

At the end of the day, it's their party but they can't expect me to rush back and provide them with new images when they've opened the door again..... I'll be too busy partying on down the road  

 

Pretty much the same here,  i have another supplier  with  over 13,000 of my images and selling very well every month,  if Alamy was not so QC happy the same images would be here and hopefully my Alamy sales would be higher.

 

Paul.

 

 

I'm actually not big on submitting a lot of the same images to different agencies. You can easily end up competing with yourself these days. OTOH, there's some truth to that old adage about not putting all your eggs in one basket.

[ReeRay]

Of course it's galling to fail QC and clearly Alamy have raised the bar. I can live with this, but I do wish they would apply the same stringent methods in pursuing late payments, particularly distributors who seemingly pay as they feel fit. Perhaps at the same time, as we are expected to produce a higher level of technically correct material, this could reflect in license values. It just doesn't seem fair to me that higher standards are imposed on the photographer and not elsewhere in the cycle.

[dustydingo]

. . .  the boys in QC often equate motion as in a crashing wave as soft . . .

 

to be fair to Alamy, comments like this are rarely, if ever, supported with 100% crops. All this does is feed the paranoia of many contributors, unnecessarily so in my opinion.

 

I for one do not suffer this paranoia toward something as ultimately non-important as my Alamy submissions--I have my own level of inspection and assessment and it has served me well for years--but as this thread shows, many do, and unsupported statements like this do no-one any favours, imo. So please, if you have examples of such tom-foolery, for the sake of many fellow contributors, show us a 100% crop.

 

dd

[Linda]

I'm in the SIn Bin right now as well.  I,along with two others this time inspected my batch with a fine tooth comb before it was uploaded.So,anxious to see what failed.

 

A few of my past fails were best sellers elsewhere...you just never know.

 

Keep shooting,for someone,somewhere. Many different things to do with interesting images. Many eggs for many baskets! :-)

 

 

 

L

[Duncan_Andison]

 

 

 

 

Duncan_Andison

I may have entered the Sin Bin for the first time in nearly 2 years (and about 5k images).... no problem to me, the approx. 200 images sat waiting are already with other agencies and selling

I just move on to other projects (which there are plenty) and continue providing their competitors with fresh shots. In time I'll get around to uploading them here but I generally work a batch and upload it to all, work a batch then.... you get the idea. Going back and re-submitting work that has already gone to everyone else a month or so ago means I have to stop working on the new projects. That won't happen as one outlet shouldn't interfere with the creation of images for everyone else.

At the end of the day, it's their party but they can't expect me to rush back and provide them with new images when they've opened the door again..... I'll be too busy partying on down the road

Pretty much the same here, i have another supplier with over 13,000 of my images and selling very well every month, if Alamy was not so QC happy the same images would be here and hopefully my Alamy sales would be higher.

 

Paul.

I'm actually not big on submitting a lot of the same images to different agencies. You can easily end up competing with yourself these days. OTOH, there's some truth to that old adage about not putting all your eggs in one basket.

That's the way i look at it. I dont want to be dependant on one agency, manage risk rather than avoiding it. That said, if i had to drop an agency to reduce the number of places i have my work, it is likely that Alamy would have to be the one as they are one of my lowest earners.

 

I hear people mention they have tight quality checking, well, so do i (which is why i havent failed in 2 years) but i guess i am only human and i must have made a mistake. If you apply Alamy approach to speeding, the roads would be a lot quieter as people would lose their licence to drive rather than a 3 point caution.... might not be a bad thing :-) but i do feel it is a little heavy handed... no reward for maintaining good QC of a period of time when you are treated the same as someone who fails a lot?!?

[Paul Mayall]

 

Duncan_andison

 if i had to drop an agency to reduce the number of places i have my work, it is likely that Alamy would have to be the one as they are one of my lowest earners.

 

I understand where your coming from, many are in the same boat,  another reason why i would like to get more passed through QC without that terrible 1 month sin bin thing in the hope of making it worth while being with Alamy.

 

Paul.

[Dyn Llun]

Alamy seems quite unmovable on the sin bin delay. Given that their QC procedure otherwise is very efficient and speedy, (my q.c. times are consistently on or below 24 hours), they must have concluded that this is their way of forcing up the overall technical quality of submissions and subsequently allowing them to speed up the whole process. Their policy and presumably carefully thought out, business plan of taking everything without editing also makes the process speedier. 

 

It is hard on those many here who's technical standards are impeccable, everyone makes the occasional error, particularly after a long day when the peepers may be pooped. (Given the state of my eyes they are permanently pooped)! However, it's Alamy's rules so we make our choices.

 

Even the greatest can let a tiny error through. After a very successful and financially rewarding set of print sales through a prestigious gallery some years ago I treated myself to an original vintage B&W (1940's) print by a very well-known photographer who also sold his work through the same gallery. I had seen the print framed on the wall but after I got it home just in the mount and unwrapped it, I noticed a tiny dust spot in the sky. I could have asked for my money back I suppose, (four figures). No way was the photographer himself going to make another one, (he was long dead), so I spotted it myself quickly and easily to the same standard as any professional printer. Just to show that even the greatest are not infallible. 

[Allan Bell]

Another line of thought is what happens when a contributor does not have access to the news feed.

 

My personal example:

1. Submitted batch to QC then a few days later went out to shoot a news worthy event.
2. Returned home and due to quantity of images took a couple of days to process to my liking and Alamy QC requirements.
3. Realised that batch from 1 by then must have failed.
4. News worthy images from event now on back burner for best part of one month.

Granted it was not an event that was Earth shattering and would have required images that day, or even for two or three days after, but images would have/should have been accessible to customers within a week.

 

Of course if I had access to news feed then the problem would not exist, would it?

 

As I do not usually "do" news events I don't think it worth my while pursuing that avenue either, is it?

 

Allan

[wiskerke]

Alamy seems quite unmovable on the sin bin delay. Given that their QC procedure otherwise is very efficient and speedy, (my q.c. times are consistently on or below 24 hours), they must have concluded that this is their way of forcing up the overall technical quality of submissions and subsequently allowing them to speed up the whole process. Their policy and presumably carefully thought out, business plan of taking everything without editing also makes the process speedier. 

 

It is hard on those many here who's technical standards are impeccable, everyone makes the occasional error, particularly after a long day when the peepers may be pooped. (Given the state of my eyes they are permanently pooped)! However, it's Alamy's rules so we make our choices.

 

<>

 

My experience is that one is not being punished for such an occasional error or even errors.

 

 

wim

[Duncan_Andison]

 

 

Alamy seems quite unmovable on the sin bin delay. Given that their QC procedure otherwise is very efficient and speedy, (my q.c. times are consistently on or below 24 hours), they must have concluded that this is their way of forcing up the overall technical quality of submissions and subsequently allowing them to speed up the whole process. Their policy and presumably carefully thought out, business plan of taking everything without editing also makes the process speedier.

 

It is hard on those many here who's technical standards are impeccable, everyone makes the occasional error, particularly after a long day when the peepers may be pooped. (Given the state of my eyes they are permanently pooped)! However, it's Alamy's rules so we make our choices.

 

<>

My experience is that one is not being punished for such an occasional error or even errors.

 

 

wim

I dont know. It's been about 2 years since my last fail but it looks like I'm entering a month in the sin bin... unless their definition of occasional is different to mine :-)

[John Mitchell]

 

 

Alamy seems quite unmovable on the sin bin delay. Given that their QC procedure otherwise is very efficient and speedy, (my q.c. times are consistently on or below 24 hours), they must have concluded that this is their way of forcing up the overall technical quality of submissions and subsequently allowing them to speed up the whole process. Their policy and presumably carefully thought out, business plan of taking everything without editing also makes the process speedier.

 

It is hard on those many here who's technical standards are impeccable, everyone makes the occasional error, particularly after a long day when the peepers may be pooped. (Given the state of my eyes they are permanently pooped)! However, it's Alamy's rules so we make our choices.

 

<>

My experience is that one is not being punished for such an occasional error or even errors.

 

 

wim

I dont know. It's been about 2 years since my last fail but it looks like I'm entering a month in the sin bin... unless their definition of occasional is different to mine :-)

 

 

Duncan, if you end up in the sin bin after two failure-free years, then there is something sadly wrong with the system IMO.

[Allan Bell]

 

 

Alamy seems quite unmovable on the sin bin delay. Given that their QC procedure otherwise is very efficient and speedy, (my q.c. times are consistently on or below 24 hours), they must have concluded that this is their way of forcing up the overall technical quality of submissions and subsequently allowing them to speed up the whole process. Their policy and presumably carefully thought out, business plan of taking everything without editing also makes the process speedier.

 

It is hard on those many here who's technical standards are impeccable, everyone makes the occasional error, particularly after a long day when the peepers may be pooped. (Given the state of my eyes they are permanently pooped)! However, it's Alamy's rules so we make our choices.

 

<>

My experience is that one is not being punished for such an occasional error or even errors.

 

 

wim

I dont know. It's been about 2 years since my last fail but it looks like I'm entering a month in the sin bin... unless their definition of occasional is different to mine :-)

 

 

Is the error on a X-T1 image, or is the image from another camera?

 

Allan

[Duncan_Andison]

Duplicate

[Duncan_Andison]

 

 

 

 

Alamy seems quite unmovable on the sin bin delay. Given that their QC procedure otherwise is very efficient and speedy, (my q.c. times are consistently on or below 24 hours), they must have concluded that this is their way of forcing up the overall technical quality of submissions and subsequently allowing them to speed up the whole process. Their policy and presumably carefully thought out, business plan of taking everything without editing also makes the process speedier.

 

It is hard on those many here who's technical standards are impeccable, everyone makes the occasional error, particularly after a long day when the peepers may be pooped. (Given the state of my eyes they are permanently pooped)! However, it's Alamy's rules so we make our choices.

 

<>

My experience is that one is not being punished for such an occasional error or even errors.

 

 

wim

I dont know. It's been about 2 years since my last fail but it looks like I'm entering a month in the sin bin... unless their definition of occasional is different to mine :-)

Is the error on a X-T1 image, or is the image from another camera?

 

Allan

Dont know... the batch had xpro1 and t1 shots... I'll find ouy in time i guess :-)

[Rolf Richardson]

So all you QC moaners think YOU'VE got problems!   I've been with Alamy since Feb 2001, until 2012 a 97% pass rate.   Since Feb this year, 7 successive fails, total of about 143 days in the bin.  Is this a record?!!  Still selling OK, but workflow came to a complete stop.   Finally got to talk to someone.   Told that anything taken with the canon 7D stopped down under about f11 will probably be failed for "soft".   So uploaded a batch of 109 images taken with the older 5D, which doesn't self-clean the sensor.   Was eventually given a "partial", 2 out of these 109 with "dust" marks, so difficult to see as to be almost invisible.   Recent 5D batch again in the bin, no doubt again with "dust", in spite of umpteen sky scrolls to eliminate.   The lesson?   Once you have "form" getting out of the bin becomes almost impossible.   

[spacecadet]

Unless subs are now taking over 2 days looks like third time unlucky in 10 weeks for me.

[Alamy]

So all you QC moaners think YOU'VE got problems!   I've been with Alamy since Feb 2001, until 2012 a 97% pass rate.   Since Feb this year, 7 successive fails, total of about 143 days in the bin.  Is this a record?!!  Still selling OK, but workflow came to a complete stop.   Finally got to talk to someone.   Told that anything taken with the canon 7D stopped down under about f11 will probably be failed for "soft".   So uploaded a batch of 109 images taken with the older 5D, which doesn't self-clean the sensor.   Was eventually given a "partial", 2 out of these 109 with "dust" marks, so difficult to see as to be almost invisible.   Recent 5D batch again in the bin, no doubt again with "dust", in spite of umpteen sky scrolls to eliminate.   The lesson?   Once you have "form" getting out of the bin becomes almost impossible.   

 

Sorry Rolf, but this isn't really fair. We've given you as much advice as possible via email and we don't usually offer phone support due to the volume of photographers we have but we have spoken to you on more than one occasion on the phone in an effort to assist you.

 

We did not say that "anything taken with the canon 7D stopped down under about f11 will probably be failed for soft" - but we did say that for the types of shot you're shooting, applying the same techniques you used for film in the past will create issues with digital. For example, shooting landscapes at f22 on your DSLR is likely to cause problems with softness and visibility of dust spots. 

 

We always look to pass rather than fail, but for your recent failures, the dust spots are not "almost invisible", in fact they are quite obvious, (and easily removed in post processing).

 

Alamy

[Gervais Montacute]

I'm getting passed these days in well under 24 hours.  I have tried to rule out the errors of dust spots and blurred images. Anything these days that looks remotely blurred is deleted.

[spacecadet]

Yep, another month for me. A few fails over the years, no delays, then all of a sudden they all cost me a month. Why do I bother?

[Paul Mayall]

I am a photographer and not Alamy therefore i think more to what suits me and perhaps fellow photographers here.

 

Alamy has often changed their rules over time for the benefit of their photographers.

 

I, as i am sure other photographers feel that 1 month out of the system is too much,  it really dose mess up the professional photographers workflows, I feel a more professional approach by Alamy would be to implement  a QC staging,  for example the more failures a particular photographer has the longer time in the sin bin,  starting from 1 week to perhaps 6 weeks.

 

Let's face it there are some good photographers here with great work that unfairly get kicked out of the system because of some small technical defect " perhaps 1 image out of several deliveries",  these photographers should get only 1 week in the sin bin.

 

In a nutshell, the more failures over a given amount of images the longer time in the sin bin.

 

It sure would be nice if Alamy would consider such a plan.

 

Of course Alamy may have already considered this,  however due to extra work load or technical issues it may not be possible.

 

 

Paul.