Jill Morgan Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I have been on Alamy for over a year, and I do have to admit my first few hundred images leave a lot to be desired - mostly in the PP. It struck me this morning when looking at "my images" this morning for the weekend views. I had one zoom on Friday of a pic from way back in July of last year, when I first joined. I figure I got that because there were only 13 pics of the subject and I had 8 of them. But the PP was terrible. Image overall too dark and too many dark shadows. The content is good, but the PP very poor. As my PP skills have gone leaps and bounds in ACR, I know I could improve on many of the images from awhile ago. Is it worth the time and effort to redo and resubmit, then simply strip the old images of all keywords till they are deleted? I keep mulling this over. Some I could retake that are local, but most of them I could not. I think this might be a good idea, especially on images such as the just zoomed one as there are not many pics of the subject. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Probably its worth doing, I have done so myself. I had the same, shots that just looked rotten. I figured that if they looked poor to me then they would look poor to others. I went back to the RAW files and did them again. None have sold, but at least I don't have those dark and flat images any more. Its also important as Alamy is a professional outlet and its up to us to ensure that everything that appears under our names is as good as we can get it. Once I realise that an image is sub-standard then I redo it or dump it. Knowingly leaving sub-standard images in my account makes me look bad, and it makes Alamy look bad in their turn, which helps no-one and can only hurt. When I got to about 5-6000 shots I went back and over a few weeks looked at what I submitted early on, and probably 1000 images were deleted there and then. Col Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Robinson Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I'm doing that right now. Some of mine from the past have very poor colour saturation and very low contrast. When I haven't got any new photos to go through, or need a change, I go back through my old travel stuff and redo the ones with most potential. I also find, when going back to my drive fill of RAW files, that there are some I didn't bother processing back then and are worth doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 To be honest I wouldn't bother. In the time it takes me to reprocess 100 photos I could be out taking 100 fresh up-to-date new ones that stand just as much chance of selling. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I tend to agree with Alan. Just leave them there and move on. That's what I do. If Alamy had 300 contributors rather than 30K (or whatever the number is now), I might feel differently about sullying my reputation. P.S. The last time I deleted an image, "improved" it, and resubmitted it, the image failed QC and I spent a month in the you-know-what. Now I just leave well enough alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I share Alan's thinking . . . but I share Phil's thinking, too. As a policy, I believe in moving forward. (Of course those who read my blog wouldn't think that of me, since I write so many memoirs.) Also my PP often looks better to me in my older images than in my more recent ones, a result of spending time in the sin bin, perhaps. If I were going to rework PP, it would only be on images I consider special. I surely would not mess with images that have sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I redid the post work on a couple of dozen sellers from my first year of moving from scanning to digital capture (20D camera). I chose sellers since I knew the work would be on files that already showed promise. It was probably more for seeing my progression in post work rather than to add significant value. Certainly wouldn't bother with images which had shown no client interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Robinson Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I wouldn't do pics I can take again, but I'm concentrating on foreign travel - places I can't see myself getting back to for a while. I'm only doing pics that a) have potential and don't live up to that potential due to my lack of Photoshop expertise at the time. Others I find are getting deleted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 I wouldn't do pics I can take again, but I'm concentrating on foreign travel - places I can't see myself getting back to for a while. I'm only doing pics that a) have potential and don't live up to that potential due to my lack of Photoshop expertise at the time. Others I find are getting deleted. Those are the ones I want to work on. Might wait till I am back in my snow prison this winter (almanac says this winter will be as evil as last winter) and have nothing else to keep me occupied. Hate to lose a sale on something that simply wasn't chosen do to poor post processing. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IkonographyCollection Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I'd just pick a few that were zoomed and not sold. Partly it is my skills improving, but also the software improvements since my old ones are 10 years old now. I've reprocessed one seller but kept the original one too. I think that the new processing is better, but I'm not a buyer. They may have preferred the grittier, blown out style of the original. I have to remind myself that my biggest seller is a photo that I was about to relegate to a "less than steller" pseudo when it sold for a huge price the first time. I haven't been tempted to reprocess that image and the licenses and periodic renewals keep on rolling in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I don't think the Alamy RPI justifies doing any post - old or new. Having got that off my chest ... yes I do, quite a bit, particularly with old scans. The reason for that is that I distribute all my non-exclusive work, and hope to expand this operation, so need to have well turned out images that will be selected. This often means starting from scratch and rescanning. Also - bearing in mind that the only constant is change, it is worth working on a portfolio of images, old and new, that you are deeply happy with. Opportunities, when thay arise, tend to vanish the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I don't even look at my first few hundred pics. It's almost like I suddenly found the contrast slider. Deep shadows, under exposed and some added contrast and saturation for good measure. *holds head in hand* Oh my I wonder what I'll be like in the next few years, probably criticising my current work lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Before I began using Lightroom, I would alway try the auto fixes in PS: Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color. Half the time a visual event would happen. I still check what Auto Contrast will do. Back in film days, I favored Kodachrome 25 over the faster Kodachromes because of 25's good shadow detail. When I (we all) switched to Fuji Velvia it was the shadow detail and connivance of processing rather than the highly saturated color that I found attractive. Jill, I've experienced the harsh Canadian winter while visiting my son in Montreal. We don't get that level of cold here in NYC, but I've been promising myself to spend a winter month scanning slides (only special ones) for a long time now. I'm wondering if anyone scans slides for submission to Alamy anymore? Edo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Robinson Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I wouldn't do pics I can take again, but I'm concentrating on foreign travel - places I can't see myself getting back to for a while. I'm only doing pics that a) have potential and don't live up to that potential due to my lack of Photoshop expertise at the time. Others I find are getting deleted. I do wish you could type without it being turned into a . Argh, see what I mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Before I began using Lightroom, I would alway try the auto fixes in PS: Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color. Half the time a visual event would happen. I still check what Auto Contrast will do. Back in film days, I favored Kodachrome 25 over the faster Kodachromes because of 25's good shadow detail. When I (we all) switched to Fuji Velvia it was the shadow detail and connivance of processing rather than the highly saturated color that I found attractive. Jill, I've experienced the harsh Canadian winter while visiting my son in Montreal. We don't get that level of cold here in NYC, but I've been promising myself to spend a winter month scanning slides (only special ones) for a long time now. I'm wondering if anyone still scans slides for submission to Alamy anymore? Edo Montreal even gets it worse than us. Last winter was like God saved all the snow that we didn't get from the previous 5 years and then decided to dump it all in last winter. I had 8' snow drifts at the end of my driveway. Winter started in November and lasted till April. Normally we don't start getting snow till just before Christmas and usually ends in Mid-March. The thought of having to relive that winter again this year makes me think those Canadian Snowbirds that head to Florida for 5 months may have the right idea. I will save up all this work for the days spent in the white prison walls. Maybe the Almanac is wrong and winter won't be quite so evil this year. I have my fingers and toes crossed. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Before I began using Lightroom, I would alway try the auto fixes in PS: Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color. Half the time a visual event would happen. I still check what Auto Contrast will do. Back in film days, I favored Kodachrome 25 over the faster Kodachromes because of 25's good shadow detail. When I (we all) switched to Fuji Velvia it was the shadow detail and connivance of processing rather than the highly saturated color that I found attractive. Jill, I've experienced the harsh Canadian winter while visiting my son in Montreal. We don't get that level of cold here in NYC, but I've been promising myself to spend a winter month scanning slides (only special ones) for a long time now. I'm wondering if anyone still scans slides for submission to Alamy anymore? Edo I spent over a year scanning slides (2008-2009) for Alamy. It wasn't exactly a lot of fun. However, it turned out to be a very worthwhile project. My scans have made me a considerable amount of money on Alamy, and they remain among my best sellers. I haven't submitted any scans for a few years, though, and I'd be reluctant to do so now due to my ongoing case of sin bin paranoia (Rehab didn't help). P.S. Not all Canadian winters are harsh. Bamboo and even a smattering of palm trees flourish year-round here in Vancouver. Montreal is another story, though. I remember it well. Brrrrr... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Ed (whoops, I mean Edo), what kind of scanner do you have? I used Nikon Coolscan 4000 to scan my 35mm slides for Alamy. The quality is fine, even with Digital Ice (a real boon) enabled. Didn't do any downsizing and never had a QC failure. The Nikon is a clunky and stubborn beast, however, and not very dependable. My last repair set me back $500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clupica Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 ... I've been promising myself to spend a winter month scanning slides (only special ones) for a long time now. I'm wondering if anyone still scans slides for submission to Alamy anymore? Edo What are using to scan slides?? It seems that most of the currently available systems are fairly low end and I'm worried about the quality of the scans. Oops, Phil just asked the same question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clupica Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I've been thinking about this since the thread first appeared and here is what I was pondering. If an image has never been viewed then reprocessing is wasted effort. I wish we had access to more than a year of our data, that would help. If an image has never been viewed than I need to think about why that is, not whether or not it needs reprocessed. If an image has never been viewed, I need to look at it and see if I can add better keywords. If an image has been viewed, I need to review the keyword that triggered the view. I have been reviewing keywords lately and I've found that words that make sense aren't always good keywords. For example, I have an image with a woman who is standing around looking bored. She is wearing a wedding ring. The image came up in a search of "woman bored wedding". The "wedding ring" tag on the image has nothing to do with the image really. What I'm saying is that using Alamy measures to refine your keywords may be a better use of time than reprocessing old images unless the image is quite special. If it has to compete with 10'000 other images of the Eiffel Tower, it;s not really worth the time unless it's some how better ? different than the 10k already there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 "What I'm saying is that using Alamy measures to refine your keywords may be a better use of time than reprocessing old images unless the image is quite special. If it has to compete with 10'000 other images of the Eiffel Tower, it;s not really worth the time unless it's some how better ? different than the 10k already there." -- Charles Maybe. Yet I have a run-of-the-mill shot of the Spanish Steps in Rome that has sold three times for good prices. What subjects we choose to capture depends on many many things. You can shoot things I can't and I can shoot things you can't. Each of us has to decide what we can and wish to shoot ourselves. Edo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DickJ Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Edo, Almost 40% of my images on Alamy are scans from slides I shot from 1960 until 2005. I set out to digitize my slides and I am barely into them. I have a Nikon Coolscan 9000 that is attached to an XP machine because of the lack of support for new drivers. I continue to upload scans that I think are decent enough to pass QC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 1960 . . . when I got my first ever Nikon F. Never own a camera before that. I have a Nikon Coolscan IV and a Honeywell Repronar in boxes around here somewhere. I see winter scanning in my future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clupica Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 "What I'm saying is that using Alamy measures to refine your keywords may be a better use of time than reprocessing old images unless the image is quite special. If it has to compete with 10'000 other images of the Eiffel Tower, it;s not really worth the time unless it's some how better ? different than the 10k already there." -- Charles Maybe. Yet I have a run-of-the-mill shot of the Spanish Steps in Rome that has sold three times for good prices. What subjects we choose to capture depends on many many things. You can shoot things I can't and I can shoot things you can't. Each of us has to decide what we can and wish to shoot ourselves. Edo Agreed. I have a picture of the Eiffel Tower that has sold a couple of times. I wouldn't presume to know what people should shoot, or even reprocess. I'm just saying that, for my time, I think refining my keywords would be time better spent than reprocessing images I already have on Alamy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 "What I'm saying is that using Alamy measures to refine your keywords may be a better use of time than reprocessing old images unless the image is quite special. If it has to compete with 10'000 other images of the Eiffel Tower, it;s not really worth the time unless it's some how better ? different than the 10k already there." -- Charles Maybe. Yet I have a run-of-the-mill shot of the Spanish Steps in Rome that has sold three times for good prices. What subjects we choose to capture depends on many many things. You can shoot things I can't and I can shoot things you can't. Each of us has to decide what we can and wish to shoot ourselves. Edo Agreed. I have a picture of the Eiffel Tower that has sold a couple of times. I wouldn't presume to know what people should shoot, or even reprocess. I'm just saying that, for my time, I think refining my keywords would be time better spent than reprocessing images I already have on Alamy. I'm always refining my keywords. But refining keywords on a poorly processed image, that could be a good image, is also a waste of time unless the image is properly processed. No one will zoom on it if its too dark or flat whether the keywords are superb or awful. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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