Similars -- what are they?

[John Mitchell]

We hear a lot about "similars" on Alamy, but what exactly are similars? Are two images of the same subject -- e.g. a building -- taken from different angles similars? Are vertical and a horizontal shots of the same subject similars? What is your understanding of the term "similar" as it pertains to Alamy? 

[spacecadet]

Not landscape and portrait, nor different angles- I must have dozens of those. Just very, er, similar. Maybe the sun came out and you took another.

These two, maybe.

 

Come to think of it, those are the similarest images I have.

[IanGibson]

I accidentally uploaded the same batch twice recently and contacted CR to see if anything could be done as I didn't want a QC fail for similars.

 

They replied;

 

...By excessive similars we mean lots of images all the same, whereas your submission is 2 of each and obviously a mistake...

 

I'm not sure what they mean by lots. I would guess more than 4 or 5 almost identical images. And I don't know whether you could upload 1 image and have it pass, then another and so on till you have hundreds of almost identical shots. Not that I'm suggesting anyone does that, of course!

[John Richmond]

My take?  If a buyer could crop shot B from shot A it's a similar. If the caption and keywords are identical and the subject matter the same it's a similar - even if the actual shots are very different they could all come up in a keyword search.  I'm always mindful to select only a handful of images to represent a subject even though I may have many more.  If I get better shots of the same subject I think I'd cull what I consider my inferior shots rather than have too many similars.  Having said that masses of similars obviously works for some contributors.  Try a search on Aloe bainesii for a good example.

[Sultanpepa]

Mark's images above are similar but it's not something that he repeats over and over. Some people have maybe ten or more all taken from a slightly different angle or zoom. If this is repeated throughout a collection this is where I think QC will step in.

[John Mitchell]

Mark's images above are similar but it's not something that he repeats over and over. Some people have maybe ten or more all taken from a slightly different angle or zoom. If this is repeated throughout a collection this is where I think QC will step in.

 

Right, I'd say that Mark's two images are similars -- same scene and roughly the same composition, but different lighting.

 

Perhaps "repeats" would be a better term to use since it's more restrictive than "similars."

[Betty LaRue]

If you are shooting birds, for instance, and you take 3 shots of it perched on the same branch, if the pose changes (profile, head 3/4 turn, etc, I will often select several. But I will usually offer portrait and landscape.

 

Same with butterflies since they constantly fly from flower to flower, wings caught spread open showing the topside pattern, profile with wings closed showing a completely different underwing pattern.

Same subject, different poses, different crops.

When I shoot buildings, I try to get a closer up, a zoomed out and a portrait if I can. The blessing of shooting good Fuji zooms. Hopefully, I don't have anything that looks almost identical in my port.

Betty

[Niels Quist]

Alamy's own description of similars in Failed images reasons:

 

Excessive similars
Series of similar images with almost identical compositions or only slight differences.

 

- and it only goes for all batches in the actual, total submission.

 

It should probably really, really be a problem if Alamy would comment your port. Alamy's  CTR and ranking system is dealing with this and punishes you if you have too many. But we still have the possibility of different pseudonyms.

[spacecadet]

 

Mark's images above are similar but it's not something that he repeats over and over. Some people have maybe ten or more all taken from a slightly different angle or zoom. If this is repeated throughout a collection this is where I think QC will step in.

 

Right, I'd say that Mark's two images are similars -- same scene and roughly the same composition, but different lighting.

 

Perhaps "repeats" would be a better term to use since it's more restrictive than "similars."

 

I did think twice about submitting both, but the feel is a little different- they were taken a quarter of an hour or so apart and the light had improved a little- and it's not the commonest of subjects and I'm on page 1 of the search for it, so CTR isn't much of a problem.

[vpics]

Another expression is "near frame". Some photographers upload five images of the "same" image were only minute details are changed. Eg a person stands in the same position but only an arm movement or a small background detail changes. 

[Ed Rooney]

The core question with similars is how we define the terms "excessive" and "too many." I don't feel that returning to a major subject to do another shoot should be regarded as similars. Other togs will be visiting those subjects and so to a buyer a number of those images could be seen as similars.

 

Some photographers find it very hard to edit their own material. I try to keep similars from a shoot down to three, and more often submit only one. Portrait and landscape? Sure, I shoot both when possible, but most of the time it is not. But vertical and horizontal frames are not similar.  

[Betty LaRue]

The core question with similars is how we define the terms "excessive" and "too many." I don't feel that returning to a major subject to do another shoot should be regarded as similars. Other togs will be visiting those subjects and so to a buyer a number of those images could be seen as similars.

 

Some photographers find it very hard to edit their own material. I try to keep similars from a shoot down to three, and more often submit only one. Portrait and landscape? Sure, I shoot both when possible, but most of the time it is not. But vertical and horizontal frames are not similar.

 

Agreed, Ed. Returning or capturing a subject you've shot before can work. Buyers DO search for newly shot subjects. Buildings are razed, suffer damage, trees around it taken out, name changes and such.

[John Mitchell]

Alamy's own description of similars in Failed images reasons:

 

Excessive similars

Series of similar images with almost identical compositions or only slight differences.

 

Thanks for unearthing that nugget. I guess it about sums things up.