Jill Morgan Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 I am considering switching most of my RM images to RF editorial only. Be interesting to see if that makes my image a little more appealing to photo editors, knowing they can use it again and again over someone else's RM image that might be slightly better, but they have to buy for every use. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 It's an interesting quandary that I'm also considering. In all likelihood, I might just leave my current images as they and submit most new images as RF (be they with the editorial only option selected or not). Over time, I will hopefully then get some kind of a comparison and can choose to change the license of the older images later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeCee Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 The very nature of editorial photos (in particular news) makes regular re-use fairly unlikely. And to do so means them creating and maintaining a half-decent searchable database of images available for re-use. Staffing levels are tiny on papers these days, so I'm thinking that in view of the tiny amount they pay per image, whoever's on the desk that day will just buy what's needed, RF or RM. Just my two penn'th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilwen Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 For those that Make Dacs claims I think RF are excluded because they don't identify use as being in the U.K. So if you switch RM To RF you'll lose part of your income Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lewis Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Hi All Please don't race to the bottom . Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baco Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 This is probably a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway as I'm new to this. Isn't the RF/RM set depending on what options we pick when we're categorizing the picture (if there are people or not, if we have model releases or not, etc)? Follow up, if you don't mind, if RF stands for Royalty Free, how does one make money from it? I understand these might be very basic questions, hoping someone has patience to answer them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 Hi All Please don't race to the bottom . Jon We are already there. Burying one's head in the sand isn't going to keep us from sinking into it. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 This is probably a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway as I'm new to this. Isn't the RF/RM set depending on what options we pick when we're categorizing the picture (if there are people or not, if we have model releases or not, etc)? With regards to your follow-up question, Wikipedia says Follow up, if you don't mind, if RF stands for Royalty Free, how does one make money from it? I understand these might be very basic questions, hoping someone has patience to answer them With the new Manage Images, the rules appear to have changed with regards to selecting an RM or RF license. So you can have an image with people in but no model releases and still sell RF. With regards to your follow-up question, wikipedia says: "Royalty-free, or RF, refers to the right to use copyright material or intellectual property without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use or per volume sold, or some time period of use or sales." So an RF image isn't free... a user still has to buy the image in the first place. They just don't have to pay again for subsequent uses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baco Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Be careful if you go to Manage Images through Measures. Clicking on legacy images seems to make them default to RF even if they were RM to start with. This doesn't seem to be happening to legacy images looked at through Manage Images directly. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. I think it's more likely down to the fact that you only have 154 images. There are some 94 million images on Alamy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baco Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. I think it's more likely down to the fact that you only have 154 images. There are some 94 million images on Alamy. It's quite possible, though the site where I have those 57 sales claims to have 100 million pictures. I'll keep on uploading and see what happens. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ann Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Be careful if you go to Manage Images through Measures. Clicking on legacy images seems to make them default to RF even if they were RM to start with. This doesn't seem to be happening to legacy images looked at through Manage Images directly. Pearl WHAT?! That must be a Glitch in the new Manage Images, I trust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Hi All Please don't race to the bottom . Jon +1 Cheers, Philippe I don't like to think of myself as a lemming, but this down-the-hill march is something to consider. A tai chi crawl might be better than a quick run though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Be careful if you go to Manage Images through Measures. Clicking on legacy images seems to make them default to RF even if they were RM to start with. This doesn't seem to be happening to legacy images looked at through Manage Images directly. Pearl WHAT?! That must be a Glitch in the new Manage Images, I trust. I have not seen that. I did try though. Like others have said, it is possible to switch to RF with unreleased people and unreleased property. All without ticking the editorial only box. wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
York Photographer Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Can't see any advantages, as they pay the same regardless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 For those that Make Dacs claims I think RF are excluded because they don't identify use as being in the U.K. So if you switch RM To RF you'll lose part of your income My thinking as well. Anything that I think might be of interest to a magazine or book publisher will stay as RM. Alamy seems very good at sorting out flexible usage terms for their customers. Also, it doesn't sound as if RF prices are any better than RM. To me, RF still feels like tossing images to the wind. Guess I'm old-fashioned. That said, I am making more images RF than I used to -- e.g. backgrounds, abstract designs, generic nature shots, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 For those that Make Dacs claims I think RF are excluded because they don't identify use as being in the U.K. So if you switch RM To RF you'll lose part of your income My thinking as well. Anything that I think might be of interest to a magazine or book publisher will stay as RM. Alamy seems very good at sorting out flexible usage terms for their customers. Also, it doesn't sound as if RF prices are any better than RM. To me, RF still feels like tossing images to the wind. Guess I'm old-fashioned. That said, I am making more images RF than I used to -- e.g. backgrounds, abstract designs, generic nature shots, etc. What you said, John. My RF is minuscule compared to RM, yet I've made more RF sales percentage wise than RM. Or at least as many. I'm not talking overall sales, but like if I had 100 RF and made 4 sales this year, that would be 4% of my RF port. I'd have to sell a lot more RM to reach 4% of my RM. Guess I need to do the real math. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baco Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. I think it's more likely down to the fact that you only have 154 images. There are some 94 million images on Alamy. It's quite possible, though the site where I have those 57 sales claims to have 100 million pictures. I'll keep on uploading and see what happens. Thanks again. Don't want to be rude, but what did they pay per image? ...... .... .. No need to answer. Cheers, Philippe No offense taken, and I'll answer anyway. Most were sold for 25c, and others more. My point was not the amount of money I was making, only the fact that it was actually selling. That's why I asked those questions - what am I doing wrong to have zero sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baco Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. I think it's more likely down to the fact that you only have 154 images. There are some 94 million images on Alamy. It's quite possible, though the site where I have those 57 sales claims to have 100 million pictures. I'll keep on uploading and see what happens. Thanks again. Don't want to be rude, but what did they pay per image? ...... .... .. No need to answer. Cheers, Philippe No offense taken, and I'll answer anyway. Most were sold for 25c, and others more. My point was not the amount of money I was making, only the fact that it was actually selling. That's why I asked those questions - what am I doing wrong to have zero sales. This business isn't about having a high number of sales, it's about having "serious" money in the bank. Of course you have many microstock sales ........ you give them away for ...... FREE (or do you call 25 cents "selling"?) This is the main reason why the stock market has collapsed and prices are in a downward spiral like Manfred von Richthofen's triplane on 21 April 1918. Your images don't sell because your port shows typical microstock stuff of which the market is totally over-saturated. Alamy is mainly editorial. Cheers, Philippe Depends on how many times one sells for .25. Like you said, it's about real money. "Alamy is mainly editorial." - I get that now, but I have also sold editorial images on other sites, not just the typical stock photos. As for the comment about the market collapsing and being over saturated, those that know what they're doing and are good at it will continue being so. With the advancement of technology of course more and more people want to join in the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeCee Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. I think it's more likely down to the fact that you only have 154 images. There are some 94 million images on Alamy. It's quite possible, though the site where I have those 57 sales claims to have 100 million pictures. I'll keep on uploading and see what happens. Thanks again. Don't want to be rude, but what did they pay per image? ...... .... .. No need to answer. Cheers, Philippe No offense taken, and I'll answer anyway. Most were sold for 25c, and others more. My point was not the amount of money I was making, only the fact that it was actually selling. That's why I asked those questions - what am I doing wrong to have zero sales. This business isn't about having a high number of sales, it's about having "serious" money in the bank. Of course you have many microstock sales ........ you give them away for ...... FREE (or do you call 25 cents "selling"?) This is the main reason why the stock market has collapsed and prices are in a downward spiral like Manfred von Richthofen's triplane on 21 April 1918. Your images don't sell because your port shows typical microstock stuff of which the market is totally over-saturated. Alamy is mainly editorial. Cheers, Philippe Depends on how many times one sells for .25. Like you said, it's about real money. "Alamy is mainly editorial." - I get that now, but I have also sold editorial images on other sites, not just the typical stock photos. As for the comment about the market collapsing and being over saturated, those that know what they're doing and are good at it will continue being so. With the advancement of technology of course more and more people want to join in the ride. The stock market has suffered terribly in recent years, entirely due to people being willing to "sell" photos for 25 cents. Despite that, the average sale here on Alamy remains at (approx) $50.00. This is down from ten years ago, when my average sale was about $175.00. It's the very existence of microstock sites that has created that situation...... The main difference between Alamy and microstock sites, is that this is where some people actually do make money. For me, it's a small percentage of my photography work, for others, it's a very large and highly profitable one. If you are to sell on Alamy, you'll need to produce regular submissions of highly saleable work, at which point, your sales value will increase by around 2000% Not a bad increase, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baco Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. I think it's more likely down to the fact that you only have 154 images. There are some 94 million images on Alamy. It's quite possible, though the site where I have those 57 sales claims to have 100 million pictures. I'll keep on uploading and see what happens. Thanks again. Don't want to be rude, but what did they pay per image? ...... .... .. No need to answer. Cheers, Philippe No offense taken, and I'll answer anyway. Most were sold for 25c, and others more. My point was not the amount of money I was making, only the fact that it was actually selling. That's why I asked those questions - what am I doing wrong to have zero sales. This business isn't about having a high number of sales, it's about having "serious" money in the bank. Of course you have many microstock sales ........ you give them away for ...... FREE (or do you call 25 cents "selling"?) This is the main reason why the stock market has collapsed and prices are in a downward spiral like Manfred von Richthofen's triplane on 21 April 1918. Your images don't sell because your port shows typical microstock stuff of which the market is totally over-saturated. Alamy is mainly editorial. Cheers, Philippe Depends on how many times one sells for .25. Like you said, it's about real money. "Alamy is mainly editorial." - I get that now, but I have also sold editorial images on other sites, not just the typical stock photos. As for the comment about the market collapsing and being over saturated, those that know what they're doing and are good at it will continue being so. With the advancement of technology of course more and more people want to join in the ride. The stock market has suffered terribly in recent years, entirely due to people being willing to "sell" photos for 25 cents. Despite that, the average sale here on Alamy remains at (approx) $50.00. This is down from ten years ago, when my average sale was about $175.00. It's the very existence of microstock sites that has created that situation...... The main difference between Alamy and microstock sites, is that this is where some people actually do make money. For me, it's a small percentage of my photography work, for others, it's a very large and highly profitable one. If you are to sell on Alamy, you'll need to produce regular submissions of highly saleable work, at which point, your sales value will increase by around 2000% Not a bad increase, eh? It's quite a motivating picture for sure I'll keep at it and one day that turnaround might appear. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarsierspectral Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Thanks Matt, appreciate your answer! I'm guessing one of the reasons I have not made a single sale is due to the license I have set for my pictures. I guess I should change a whole lot to RF. Don't get me wrong, my portfolio is average at best, and only has 154 pictures, but with a similar sized portfolio, I've made 57 sales on another site. Different customers, and many other factors, but 0 sales here is a bit disheartening. I'm trying to understand how Alamy works and what I can do to improve (well start making really) sales. I think it's more likely down to the fact that you only have 154 images. There are some 94 million images on Alamy. It's quite possible, though the site where I have those 57 sales claims to have 100 million pictures. I'll keep on uploading and see what happens. Thanks again. Don't want to be rude, but what did they pay per image? ...... .... .. No need to answer. Cheers, Philippe No offense taken, and I'll answer anyway. Most were sold for 25c, and others more. My point was not the amount of money I was making, only the fact that it was actually selling. That's why I asked those questions - what am I doing wrong to have zero sales. This business isn't about having a high number of sales, it's about having "serious" money in the bank. Of course you have many microstock sales ........ you give them away for ...... FREE (or do you call 25 cents "selling"?) This is the main reason why the stock market has collapsed and prices are in a downward spiral like Manfred von Richthofen's triplane on 21 April 1918. Your images don't sell because your port shows typical microstock stuff of which the market is totally over-saturated. Alamy is mainly editorial. Cheers, Philippe Depends on how many times one sells for .25. Like you said, it's about real money. "Alamy is mainly editorial." - I get that now, but I have also sold editorial images on other sites, not just the typical stock photos. As for the comment about the market collapsing and being over saturated, those that know what they're doing and are good at it will continue being so. With the advancement of technology of course more and more people want to join in the ride. The stock market has suffered terribly in recent years, entirely due to people being willing to "sell" photos for 25 cents. Despite that, the average sale here on Alamy remains at (approx) $50.00. This is down from ten years ago, when my average sale was about $175.00. It's the very existence of microstock sites that has created that situation...... The main difference between Alamy and microstock sites, is that this is where some people actually do make money. For me, it's a small percentage of my photography work, for others, it's a very large and highly profitable one. If you are to sell on Alamy, you'll need to produce regular submissions of highly saleable work, at which point, your sales value will increase by around 2000% Not a bad increase, eh? It's quite a motivating picture for sure I'll keep at it and one day that turnaround might appear. Cheers. You should also close your microstock accounts or at least delete the same images you have here and there. Why would anyone buy your images here as they can get them on microstock for 25c? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baco Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Why would anyone buy your images here as they can get them on microstock for 25c? @tarsierspectral (I quoted just that part as the text was getting long) You have a point, but that's assuming the same picture would sell here just as well. Of course from a buyer's perspective 25c is more appealing, but who's to say they wouldn't search for a similar picture to keep it at the 25c price? I'm new at this game, and I'm still trying to understand the needs of the different sites, etc. I'm not in it for the money, or I'd be going crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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