Gallery5 Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 I have more than 6 thousand images in Alamy. Part of it is a landscape, nature. Some photos from world famous places like «Yellowstone park», «Arches park», etc. Strangely, none of them has been sold. Why is this happening? It may Alamy buyers not be focused on this kind of pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Yarvin Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Why is this strange? World famous locations are the most over supplied subjects in photography. Indeed, landscape photography is one of the most competitive activities out there. Check your ranking and see how far you are from the top of typical searches and then take a look at how many searches for your subjects there are. The ratio between the number of searches and the number of images available will tell you what you need to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 As Brian says there are 52,596 results for the former and 24,484 for the latter. You have no sales because they are popular, not in spite of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 A good question, and good advice from Brian and Mark. I would suggest that you work on a unique personal style for famous places that are close to your home. Make it your own unique style. Stand out from the avalanche of images. This way you will not have as much of the competition that Brian and Mark refer to. Once you develop that unique style, close to home where there are no travel costs, then you could travel further afield. There are photographers that shoot travel images within a days drive from home. They do not really travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Yarvin Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Bill, I've met such people too. Instead of "travel" photographers, they are regional specialists. Indeed, the notion of "travel photographer" seems like something from a hundred years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 I've found that adding a human element to landscape and 'famous places' images can help them sell -- e.g. include people looking at the ruins, speaking with a guide, marveling at the view, etc. in the image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 This is the competition. Or this when set to Creative. wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 This is the competition. Or this when set to Creative. wim Yup, the competition is YUGE! These must be very difficult times for landscape photographers looking to make a living from their work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Lots of searches though on AoA set to Jan 1st 2016 till now: 35 pages/100 for %landscape%. It looks like some of the few landscape images I have could do with the keyword landscape ;-) Thank you for alerting me. wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Ventura Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 I've found that adding a human element to landscape and 'famous places' images can help them sell -- e.g. include people looking at the ruins, speaking with a guide, marveling at the view, etc. in the image. I completely agree with John, all my photos of well known national parks, that have sold, have been with people interacting with the park. That is not saying that pictures without people won't sell but my experience is that with people, they have a better chance. At least mine have a better chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 I've found that adding a human element to landscape and 'famous places' images can help them sell -- e.g. include people looking at the ruins, speaking with a guide, marveling at the view, etc. in the image. I completely agree with John, all my photos of well known national parks, that have sold, have been with people interacting with the park. That is not saying that pictures without people won't sell but my experience is that with people, they have a better chance. At least mine have a better chance. I have some images from the heavily-photographed Mesa Verde region of Colorado that -- much to my surprise given the competition -- have produced several good sales on Alamy. They all had people in them. Here's one that has licensed: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Just looked at my last 30 sales, none were exclusively landscape in the conventional sense. The nearest shows a tractor ploughing a field in a rural landscape. 19 of those 30 sales were of locally taken shots. I have relatively few shots with landscape in the keywords, and they don't sell well. A quick check shows only one sale ever for a straight, people free, landscape shot. One that made it into a guide book includes people. We're all different, I'm a jack of all trades, nothing too humble or mundane escapes my camera. I do this because I like doing it and to make money, I can't afford to be narrowly focused or precious about subject matter, but that's not to say that a specialism won't work, it clearly does for some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 There are many conventions attached to landscape pix, when shooting and, subsequently, viewing. Conventionally ‘beautiful’ landscape pix - of the kind that turn up in photo mags - may not have so much sales potential (apart from photo mags!). Better to have people in them (foreground/middleground), to illustrate various kinds of rural recreation. Or illustrating specific environmental issues (land use, threatened landscapes, building projects, flooding, etc)… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Having looked at some of your landscape images and in my humble opinion they are in general good but just do not seem to POP. Maybe a bit more colour and midtone contrast may help. JMO. Others will differ in their opinions. Allan PS Just looked at some of my images and should take my own advice too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Yarvin Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Alan, excellent advice, we should all listen to ourselves a bit more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webby Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Allan, that was my initial thoughts on looking through "Gallery5"'s portfolio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Elliott Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 This is the competition. Or this when set to Creative. wim Yup, the competition is YUGE! These must be very difficult times for landscape photographers looking to make a living from their work. Just casually browsing the forum and saw someone had marked this as a down arrow? Why on earth would they do that? Trying to make a living as a fully fledged; full-time and no other specialism apart from landscapes is nigh on impossible unless you add in other elements such as doing workshops/ tours and things such as magazine work. As someone who is a landscape photographer I realized very early on that diversification is the keyword here. You've got the numbers but the quality? Yes and no is the answer I see from the brief glance. Composition has to be way tighter. Too many similars from what I saw too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Rohn Engh (Sell and resell your photos), the guru of stock photography, was writing in the 1980s advising budding stock photographers that scenics including landscape, flowers, wild life and generally the sort of images loved by photo mags were not the way to stock success. It has not got easier to sell those pictures in the 35 years since with the increased competition, everyone and their dog is producing such pictures. But what to take, now that is the question! But who has the answers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSnapper Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 "But who has the answers?" Book your place on my workshop in Cirencester on March 18th.... km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helsbells20 Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Does not appear to be many recent landscapes in your portfolio KM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrumu Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 About a third of the pictures which I licensed so far are landscapes and cityscapes without people in the foreground. (The other two thirds of my licenses are objects, trains, cars/trucks, people). Christoph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSnapper Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 I was responding to this:"But what to take, now that is the question!" I dont do landscapes, but i have sold over 6000 images here. km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 I just checked the landscapes in my portfolio against sales. Landscapes with people sell more than landscapes with no people. Gonna change my approach. Thanks John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSnapper Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 landscape + something red = more engagement think Paris, Texas... km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 I just checked the landscapes in my portfolio against sales. Landscapes with people sell more than landscapes with no people. Gonna change my approach. Thanks John. Beacause they tell a story, they illustrate an idea, which is exactly Rohn Engh's point. For Alamy especially we should be thinking illustration, not pretty picture. Editorial wants something that tells part of the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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