Why QC takes 25 days? Should submit less pictures?

[Marcin]

Hi,

 

When I upload few pictures - it's fast. 24 hours as you write on average. But when I upload more pictures in the batch QC takes forever! Right now I've been waiting for 25 days (since 6th of May to be precise).

 

Are there any rules saying "do not upload more than 5, 10, 15 pictures or you will wait untill your hair is grey"? Is there something I did not see about the recommended batch size? Or should I just learn from this lesson and never ever upload more than a few pictures?

 

All best

 

Marcin

[Niels Quist]

25 days is most likely not a waiting time. One of your images has failed QC and you are in the bin for 28 days or so. One failed image and any other images waiting for QC will fail also. So in a few days find the culprit and check all your images once more before upload.

 

The failure can be very annoying, but this is according to Alamy rules and meant to make you double check your images before uploading as only a fraction of your images will be checked by QC. You will learn to appreciate the way this is working.

 

Niels

[spacecadet]

Here we have it- a 28-day stretch for a (presumed) first-time fail. QED.

[M.Chapman]

One of your images has failed QC and you are in the bin for 28 days or so. 

 

Niels

 

"You are in the bin"

 

To clarify - If Alamy find a QC fail in your batch of submitted images, they will make you wait up to 28 days before telling you. If you have a good QC record (many batches passed without problems), the delay may be shorter.

 

As Neils says - "The failure can be very annoying, but this is according to Alamy rules and meant to make you double check your images before uploading as only a fraction of your images will be checked by QC. You will learn to appreciate the way this is working."

[dustydingo]

Is the belief that first time failures don't have the same 28 days (give or take) wait for notification as everybody else naught but an Alamyth?

 

dd

[spacecadet]

Is the belief that first time failures don't have the same 28 days (give or take) wait for notification as everybody else naught but an Alamyth?

 

dd

It didn't apparently apply a few years ago. I used to get failure notifications in a few days until the Big Bang in 2014.

[Ace]

However many you put through in a batch you need to have a routine that checks every photo at 100%

 

It doesn't matter if you upload 5, 50 or 250 as long as you check at 100% for any flaws.

[Kumar]

Just play a game as you wait for Alamy's final verdict on yr submission. Study your submitted images one more time at 100% and mark out suspected failures (if any) ... and then see whether Alamy's verdict does tally with your own (in case it turns out to be a fail). In my case, whenever a failure has occurred, the QC has always been right in fact. QC's consistency has sure made me wiser. I now submit only small batches. I've observed that if I tend to go beyond 20-30 per submission, there is a tendency to let go minor flaws - invariably caught by QC. Though this may not be a problem with most others, it surely is with me !

[Marcin]

I have no problem with checking my pics. But if I failed why they wait so long with a verdict? Should be much better for everyone if I get a feedback right away, correct, upload again and done! I just cant beleve they wait a month with announcement

M

[spacecadet]

I have no problem with checking my pics. But if I failed why they wait so long with a verdict? Should be much better for everyone if I get a feedback right away, correct, upload again and done! I just cant beleve they wait a month with announcement

M

Everyone here, except you apparently, knows this QC policy. It encourages scrupulous checking. Perhaps some systemic problem has got into your workflow as it did into mine.

 

Here's a reminder:

 

If you fail QC, your submissions will be stored in our batch fail queue where you’ll have to wait 28 working days for your failure reason.

 

http://www.alamy.com/blog/alamy-qc-how-it-works

[Russell]

 

Should be much better for everyone if I get a feedback right away, correct, upload again and done!

 

If Alamy adopted your suggested approach then you would effectively be transferring the responsibility (and more importantly workload) for your image quality from yourself to Alamy. I'm sure you can understand how quickly QC would be overwhelmed by repeated submissions until the batch was clear of QC issues. {Note: QC doesn't check every image, so in a large batch there could be several failures which will not be picked up until the batch is re-checked and a previously un-reviewed image is selected for checking}

 

As a pro or at least semi-pro photographer the responsibility for the quality of your images rests solely with you - hence the "sin-bin" procedure.

[John Mitchell]

I have no problem with checking my pics. But if I failed why they wait so long with a verdict? Should be much better for everyone if I get a feedback right away, correct, upload again and done! I just cant beleve they wait a month with announcement

M

 

It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's the way Alamy works.

 

If it's any consolation, most of us felt the same way as you do when we had our first vacation in the Sin Bin Hotel.

[Betty LaRue]

If you had a fail, then was immediately notified of the fail and uploaded again, you would have no incentive to carefully check your work. You'd just upload again, figuring If one failed there would be no harm to you. But lots of harm putting the burden on Alamy.

 

The way Alamy does it, making you wait 28 days, that wait hurts. Those images aren't on sale.

I remember once uploading a batch that was relative to a holiday coming up. It failed, and I missed having my relevant images considered. Darn!!

That makes me check my images carefully. I recently uploaded 208 in a batch and they were approved in under 24 hours. Closer, in fact, to 12-15 hours.

But....I checked them at 100% while developing in Lightroom, opened them up in PS for final tweaks and checked again at 100%.

I converted them to jpegs and put them in an upload folder. Yup, I did one final 100% check before uploading. Along the way, I found CA, I found pieces of trash that needed removal, I found tiny birds in the sky that is in danger of being thought a dust spot by QC.

If I'd needed to fix something in that 3rd review, there would have been a fourth. Only when I have a perfectly clean inspection will I upload.

That said, I'm not immune. Sometimes I mess up. I inadvertently uploaded an image that was not up to par during my inspection. When done, I intended to delete it. But I was called away from the computer, and later on, thinking I'd deleted it, uploaded it. Double darn, spent time in the sin bin. My fault, my fault.

Just has a batch of 25 approved in under 24 hours yesterday morning, and another of 18 this morning. QC is giving me some love.

[John Mitchell]

Regarding your question about uploading fewer images at a time, it might help. I tend to submit no more than a couple of dozen images because I find smaller batches easier to check -- and recheck -- for technical problems.

 

Good luck

[AlessandraRC]

 

I have no problem with checking my pics. But if I failed why they wait so long with a verdict? Should be much better for everyone if I get a feedback right away, correct, upload again and done! I just cant beleve they wait a month with announcement

M

Everyone here, except you apparently, knows this QC policy. It encourages scrupulous checking. Perhaps some systemic problem has got into your workflow as it did into mine.

 

Here's a reminder:

 

If you fail QC, your submissions will be stored in our batch fail queue where you’ll have to wait 28 working days for your failure reason.

 

http://www.alamy.com/blog/alamy-qc-how-it-works

 

 

 

Excuse me but I am not very acquainted with this either. So that makes two. The text referred to in the link is ambiguous and up for interpretation. It is not really very clear who has to wait for 28-days and why. 

[AlessandraRC]

The way Alamy does it, making you wait 28 days, that wait hurts. Those images aren't on sale.

 

 

I wish I could say with certainly that this makes any difference whatsoever. At the moment the images stored in my HD are making the same amount of money as the uploaded ones. 

[Niels Quist]

Please don't make this so awfully difficult - it isn't - and regarding the size and number of  batches to upload before the images are QCed: If handling large batches containing many images is difficult then upload small batches instead. I upload batches of 1-10 perhaps, whenever the images are ready - a small batch of 1 image to enter the queue and then continue with small batches or even a single image whenever the images are ready. You can continue uploading small batches until the images have been QCed - then you will have to start again. I have never understood the one large batch and then wait until passed QC idea, it doesn't suit my way of working.....

[Betty LaRue]

Niels, if one has a fail, has to wait 28 days, why not keep shooting, developing and putting them in one folder until it is quite large? These were several shoots, each shoot developed, inspected, then added to the folder.

The only thing I didn't do is upload, because I couldn't (shouldn't) until the time was up. All the uploads before and since the large one was done in batches of 10-30 and sailed through except for that one batch I failed to delete the noisy image when I thought I did.

 

Since I had 28 days, I had ample time for shooting, developing, and inspecting multiple times.

And once I was out of the sin bin, I sure wasn't going to upload those 208 images in dribbles.

Uploaded all 208...approved in under 24 hours and on sale in 7 days.

To each his own. Everyone has their own way of working. All I did is state mine.

I do like your idea of a placeholder, though. that is, if one isn't in the sin bin.

[hdh]

 

 

I have no problem with checking my pics. But if I failed why they wait so long with a verdict? Should be much better for everyone if I get a feedback right away, correct, upload again and done! I just cant beleve they wait a month with announcement

M

Everyone here, except you apparently, knows this QC policy. It encourages scrupulous checking. Perhaps some systemic problem has got into your workflow as it did into mine.

 

Here's a reminder:

 

If you fail QC, your submissions will be stored in our batch fail queue where you’ll have to wait 28 working days for your failure reason.

 

http://www.alamy.com/blog/alamy-qc-how-it-works

 

 

 

Excuse me but I am not very acquainted with this either. So that makes two. The text referred to in the link is ambiguous and up for interpretation. It is not really very clear who has to wait for 28-days and why. 

 

I believe this rule is pretty clear: 

Quote from link: "If you fail QC, your submissions will be stored in our batch fail queue where you’ll have to wait 28 working days for your failure reason."

 

Please note it states "working days" - so this is nearly 6 weeks! 

 

Fortunately I have not been in the sin bin yet - so no first hand experience on this side.

My work queue is similar to Betty's, checking the images multiple times at 100% before I finally upload. 

[Niels Quist]

Betty - it wasn't only about your post - and it was late night - it didn't sink in that you were in the bin at the time - I thought more of the concerns about large, single batches I often read about - I thought of spreading the idea of uploading single images or very few at a time - and more of these uploads before QC. And you are right - everyone has their own way of working... 

[Betty LaRue]

Gotcha, Niels.