When do you delete pics?

[CarlMillerPhotos]

So... when do you decide that a pic just isn't doing anything and is probably just hurting your chances? Do you have many pics that have had no zooms? Not sure if I should just be patient, try to work on images that are more relevant to stock (or just better quality), or keep tweaking my keywords a bit until I start to score.

 

Still new to the "Stock Market" so open to Clues™. 

 

Thanks!

[Phil Robinson]

About 97% of mine have never been zoomed (complete guess) and a lot of my sales come from images that have lain dormant for years.

I'd be careful about deleting pix judged on their record - do it on quality grounds by all means, but just because an image hasn't been looked at for years doesn't mean it won't sell.

I would certainly recommend keyword tweaking - perhaps the single most important aspect of stock photography these days.

[Martin P Wilson]

I don't delete images. I am only too conscious that a fair few of my few sales are of old, rather boring subjects.  It means I do not have a clue how I would make a decision about what to delete! 

 

That lack of frequent culling may of course be why my sales figures are disappointing

 

I posted my comment just as Phil did, I agree about the keyword tweaks but even that seems to generate diminishing returns, Presumably as the keywords reach some sort of stable state, hopefully approaching optimum (I hope).

[Joseph Clemson]

If a picture was good enough to be uploaded in the first place I reckon it's good enough to have a chance to sell. I've sold pictures for the first time donkeys years after i first uploaded them. I don't ever delete pictures.

 

Edit to add...

 

Though I occasionally say to those who ask that they should delete images which are pretty much identical to ones they already have - lots of similars will indeed harm your ranking over time. 

[John Mitchell]

I don`t delete images either. Recently, I set up a new pseudo and populated it with a couple of hundred images that had been getting little or no attention.The CTR for this pseudo is now very high as I`m getting views and even zooms. Time will tell if this was a workable strategy, but things are looking positive so far.

[Lynn Palmer]

Of my sales only one or two possibly came from zooms and the lag between the zoom and the sale was weeks or months. Also, most of my sales don't come from what I would consider my best images. They are more likely to be from among images I would have considered deleting so as a rule I don't delete.

[nemoris]

I would delete an image if I manage to make a new image of same subject/situation that does the subject more justice than the old, if I am not satisfied with the original pic in first place. 

Or if I have concerns about possible legal issues, if a release would actually have been required etc.

[Niels Quist]

I rarely just delete images unless they are below par and time has made them even more so. However, I sometimes make improvements (as my skills have improved) or shoot a similar better photo and upload. If the image can be judged as an improvement of the existing, I will add the old image ID in the annotation of the new one and ask Member Services to delete the old one, which they will do if the image can be seen as similar and an improvement of the old one. This will be active from the next server update and not after the six months a normal deletion will require.

[Ed Rooney]

There may sometimes be a reason to delete an image, but it's not because you know which ones will sell in the future and which will not. You do not know.

[dov makabaw]

I never delete any pics. If they have no hits after 2/3 years I transfer them into a non performing pseudo so that they are available without undermining my ranking. I have found that even after 8 years without a single zoom I have had sales.

 

dov

[spacecadet]

There may sometimes be a reason to delete an image, but it's not because you know which ones will sell in the future and which will not. You do not know.

Ed, your recent avatars are bordering on the baroque. I don't know what those objects are, though I reckon Tim Burton would have a use for them.

[Bryan]

I've done some soul searching on this one and can't say that I've come to a definite conclusion.

 

I do delete if I produce a better processed image from the same raw file, or if I take the same shot in better light, but otherwise generally not. However even this strategy is not entirely straightforward as I know of a competitor's image, taken in gloomy conditions, that regularly sells.

 

I also know that some of the most commonly used images of scenes in which I have representation are from more tightly edited collections than mine. I've revealed in the past that I once set about purging a series of shots, only to find that one that I had decided to delete had previously sold for a 3 figure sum. I kept it.

 

Searching for images used in the press I occasionally come across a stream of VERY similar shots by the same photographer. How they got through QC I don't know, and surely this is counter productive.

 

Procrastination rules, it's easier to do nothing than to take action......

[dustydingo]

 

There may sometimes be a reason to delete an image, but it's not because you know which ones will sell in the future and which will not. You do not know.

Ed, your recent avatars are bordering on the baroque. I don't know what those objects are, though I reckon Tim Burton would have a use for them.

 

 

While Ed sleeps I'll help him out here . . . they're Fig or Figa sign charms. Not sure if Ed is telling us something

 

dd

[AlessandraRC]

when I upload by mistake more than one copy of one image.

[Ed Rooney]

 

There may sometimes be a reason to delete an image, but it's not because you know which ones will sell in the future and which will not. You do not know.

Ed, your recent avatars are bordering on the baroque. I don't know what those objects are, though I reckon Tim Burton would have a use for them.

 

 

 

Dusty has it right -- those are Brazilian good luck charms that I bought in Rio: figas. As I understand it, you are not "allowed" to buy one for yourself. The thing is to be given one as a gift. Alessandra, being a Carioca, would know more than I about them. 

[dustydingo]

 

 

There may sometimes be a reason to delete an image, but it's not because you know which ones will sell in the future and which will not. You do not know.

Ed, your recent avatars are bordering on the baroque. I don't know what those objects are, though I reckon Tim Burton would have a use for them.

 

 

 

Dusty has it right -- those are Brazilian good luck charms that I bought in Rio: figas. As I understand it, you are not "allowed" to buy one for yourself. The thing is to be given one as a gift. Alessandra, being a Carioca, would know more than I about them. 

 

 

Just be careful showing such in certain parts of Europe . . . their meaning differs a tad in some places 

 

dd