Arevik Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hello, I've started to sell images in Alamy in January 2014, so its already one year. I have 333 images in my portfolio. But unfortunately I have 0 sold images for now. Please share your ideas if you think it is worth to continue uploading to Alamy, or it is just waste of time. Was your first year in Alamy successful? Thank you all in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 You have a lot of similars of well-covered subjects so effectively your portfolio is quite small. I made 3 sales in my first year but by the end of that year had over 1000 images up, at a time when there were far fewer images on Alamy. I had four in the next year, so judge for yourself. I'd say you now need a couple of thousand images to make regular sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandyAppleRed Images Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I made a couple of sales in the first two years with a few more on sale than you have. As Spacecadet says, 2,000 is a good benchmark. It took me to around the 2,000 mark to start getting "regular" sales, i.e. 4-5 a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arletta Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 My idea is: - change the 333 into 3333 - first thing! - work on variety, - forget about similarities, no more! - take care of light - many of your images are flat (examples: DTPEWX, E6HN9K, DWE560), - stop spamming keywords, it won't help, really, it can only hurt your sales. I would do some storm in your keywords - delete spam and add more accurate words. Example - DT7X7H background, colorful, country, glass, green, health, healthy, home, house, illustration, orange, pedal (it's just a bike, no details needed), scene, sport, stone, street, texture, transport, transportation, travel, wheel, white, wood What are the keywords doing here? You have only 359 files to edit. Last year I did it on over 2k files. Do it ASAP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaJ Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I just started submitting in May of 2013 and it took 9 months and 321images up before my first licence. So it may take a while, and it depends on when that a particular subject is wanted by a customer. Although my first sale was in after 9 months, it was of a photo I had taken and posted within the first month. Also it would be helpful to have more detailed keywords. For example, I saw a nice photo of yours described as "Old European City at night" but no mention of the city or country. Someone looking for travel images for a specific location will not find that photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I find it takes about six months for newly uploaded pix to start selling (though I just licensed a shot I took two weeks ago...). No idea why! It means that it takes a while to gain a bit of momentum, especially when you add in the time it takes for sales to be reported. Patience... and a LOT more pix... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I have just over 1500 images and I don't think that's enough. I sold 6 on 2013, and 16 in 2014. It's a pretty poor record and there's room to do more. Keep going, keep the head down and think like the buyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanGibson Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I, too, have a very small portfolio. I am building it, but slowly. I have a full time job and other photographic projects going on. For people like us, the main thing on our side is Lady Luck. I had a sale when I had 48 images on sale, and I wi follow all of the very sage advice offered above and build my portfolio as time allows. Not forgetting to always strive to improve the aesthetic quality of my work. Good Luck! We all need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arevik Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Thanks to everybody for so detailed responses. I appreciate you took time to evaluate my portfolio and give so good suggestions. I'm starting to work on suggestions. The first thing to do is to get patience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arevik Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 I, too, have a very small portfolio. I am building it, but slowly. I have a full time job and other photographic projects going on. For people like us, the main thing on our side is Lady Luck. I had a sale when I had 48 images on sale, and I wi follow all of the very sage advice offered above and build my portfolio as time allows. Not forgetting to always strive to improve the aesthetic quality of my work. Good Luck! We all need it. Thank you! I also have a full time job (I'm a systems engineer), and trying to sell my images mainly I would say for pleasure. Sometimes its really very nice to find your photo as a book cover, like this one http://www.edizionidelfaro.it/libri/fede-nuda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arletta Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Congrats on publication! Yes, it's always nice Maybe you can use your full time job to make more images in place on with products you work with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arevik Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Congrats on publication! Yes, it's always nice Maybe you can use your full time job to make more images in place on with products you work with? Thank you! Maybe, that's a good idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Richmond Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Like you, I started uploading to Alamy in January 2014. It took 6 months and 559 images before I got my first sale. From September onwards (3 sales) I've had regular - although not high value - sales and it now stands at 14 in total. As others far more experienced than myself have said, it seems to take both time and numbers before buyers see your work with sufficient regularity to allow regular sales. Accurate keywording is vital, as is a diversity of content within your niche area(s). I did notice one specific problem. You have a shot of a "Juniper" berry. It's not. It's Taxus baccata, Yew. Rather poisonous and definitely neither healthful or herbal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDoug Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I started in March of ’14 and have just over 600 online. Like the OP I have no sales so far, but CTR for the last month is 2.78 so there’s reason to hope. Previously I was with an agent who rejected some photos for some reason I could not fathom and which they would not explain. So I switched to Alamy. The fact that almost half my clicks come from that particular set of images feels like poetic justice, whether they actually sell or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TokyoM1ke Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Huh! Well, i joined up in August '14. I have a tiny portfolio (B&W only) and have one sale (October)! ... and a cleared $13 in my account. Not planning to give up my day job quite yet. The funny thing is that it's probably one of the images I thought least likely to sell. A snapshot out of my bedroom window just after a typhoon passed over Tokyo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arevik Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Like you, I started uploading to Alamy in January 2014. It took 6 months and 559 images before I got my first sale. From September onwards (3 sales) I've had regular - although not high value - sales and it now stands at 14 in total. As others far more experienced than myself have said, it seems to take both time and numbers before buyers see your work with sufficient regularity to allow regular sales. Accurate keywording is vital, as is a diversity of content within your niche area(s). I did notice one specific problem. You have a shot of a "Juniper" berry. It's not. It's Taxus baccata, Yew. Rather poisonous and definitely neither healthful or herbal Thank you very much for correction. I thought it was juniper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Hello, I've started to sell images in Alamy in January 2014, so its already one year. I have 333 images in my portfolio. But unfortunately I have 0 sold images for now. Please share your ideas if you think it is worth to continue uploading to Alamy, or it is just waste of time. Was your first year in Alamy successful? Thank you all in advance. I won't repeat the good, general advice others have given . . . but let me point out two specific things. "Big green snake" and "camel" is not enough information to have in your captions or keywords. You need to identify the exact subspecies and include the Latin name for it. Research is a big part of stock. Also . . . You might consider redoing the post processing on your shot of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. Your image strikes me as sinister. Perhaps you could open the shadows some and add a little color with saturation? I had a shot of her I did at night that sold very well back in the film era. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arevik Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Hello, I've started to sell images in Alamy in January 2014, so its already one year. I have 333 images in my portfolio. But unfortunately I have 0 sold images for now. Please share your ideas if you think it is worth to continue uploading to Alamy, or it is just waste of time. Was your first year in Alamy successful? Thank you all in advance. I won't repeat the good, general advice others have given . . . but let me point out two specific things. "Big green snake" and "camel" is not enough information to have in your captions or keywords. You need to identify the exact subspecies and include the Latin name for it. Research is a big part of stock. Also . . . You might consider redoing the post processing on your shot of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. Your image strikes me as sinister. Perhaps you could open the shadows some and add a little color with saturation? I had a shot of her I did at night that sold very well back in the film era. Good luck. Thank you for valuable opinion. I think you have mentioned some important points to which I unfortunately haven't pay much attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dlmphotog Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Arevik, I think you need more people in your shots. People add scale, context, culture and help to tell a story. People like to see what other people are doing. When I photograph a tourist landmark I shoot the Iconic landmark but also step back and photograph people with the landmark, or people photographing the subject/landmark... Hope this helps, David L. Moore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arevik Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 On the 'big green snake', you seem to be implying it's a pit viper. Looks more like an Emerald Tree Boa to me.....Looks like one, but the keywords show Asian countries. The emerald tree boa is a South American species. So, if the picture has indeed been taken in the wild in Asia, it would probably be a green tree python (Morelia viridis). If it's taken in a zoo, better take a picture of the info board as well.Certainly ain't a pit viper! Cheers, Philippe You are right! I have taken the photo in Asian country - China. But the snake was in zoo. Usually when I take photos in zoo or botanical gardens, I always take photo of the animal, or plant at first, and then I take a photo of the info board, in order later I know what it was. But unfortunately that was not the case for the snake. So I also don't know exact species of the snake. That's why it is "big green snake" . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 On the 'big green snake', you seem to be implying it's a pit viper. Looks more like an Emerald Tree Boa to me.....Looks like one, but the keywords show Asian countries. The emerald tree boa is a South American species. So, if the picture has indeed been taken in the wild in Asia, it would probably be a green tree python (Morelia viridis). If it's taken in a zoo, better take a picture of the info board as well.Certainly ain't a pit viper! Cheers, Philippe You are right! I have taken the photo in Asian country - China. But the snake was in zoo. Usually when I take photos in zoo or botanical gardens, I always take photo of the animal, or plant at first, and then I take a photo of the info board, in order later I know what it was. But unfortunately that was not the case for the snake. So I also don't know exact species of the snake. That's why it is "big green snake" . Been on Alamy for just over a year and have had 6 sales and just over 1400 images. And I have lots of low marketable photos as my favourite subjects are of course those that are totally saturated in the market. I too run two other businesses and haven't even taken any stock shots to speak of since September. Hope to get some tomorrow when I take my son to the Island Airport in Toronto. But look for help here on identifying flora and fauna, lots of great experience to help you if you aren't sure what plant or animal you have. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Is it not possible that there might be a South American snake or two in a China zoo? But, Arevik -- you can't toss the problem of a proper ID over to the client. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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