Jump to content

Thank you Alamy


Recommended Posts

There are bugs in how the legacy images transferred. Those have been well documented. I've been working hard to fix those images, but the slog is long and hard.

I decided to upload new images, and other than it taking about 10 times as long, Alamy, your new MI is a breeze for new images.

 

I have templates set up in Bridge for keyword sets for common images. This avoids other photographers' problems with copy/paste. Those images that happen to be unique, I select and tag in Bridge. I'm careful to put my most important tags first.

 

Upon uploading, my tags arrive perfectly. Singles and phrases. It is just a quick thing to select similars and then select supertags and all other attributes.

 

I had 80+ images ready to go on sale in about 1 hour 45 minutes. This would have taken me 5-10 times as long as that the old way. There is no way I could have done them in one go.

 

Again, Alamy, thank you. The map thing doesn't work well, but otherwise, I'm happy.

 

Betty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no doubt that applying the metadata beforehand is the way to go for new images. But I think with all the bugs and basic design flaws that the new system is a big disappointment. It was meant to be an improvement and I don't think there are too many contributors who think that is the case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no doubt that applying the metadata beforehand is the way to go for new images. But I think with all the bugs and basic design flaws that the new system is a big disappointment. It was meant to be an improvement and I don't think there are too many contributors who think that is the case.

The above way I do it cut down prep hugely. The old way, i would only have been able to prep 15-20 at a go before I went brain and body dead.

All I know is before, when I had to move tags around in boxes, it took me 5 days of mind-numbing work to do 100 images.

Today, that would be about two hours.

 

It suits MY style of work to a T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately Lightroom exports keywords in alphabetical order, however they are entered. If one has, as I do, a large structured keyword collection in Lightroom, and uses Lightroom to export the .jpg images for upload, the tags will be in the wrong order. The work that has gone into the keywords in Lightroom over several years will mean users will not abandon it just because Alamy changes its system of image management.

 

Keyword order was easy enough to fix in the old version by cutting and pasting. It is not Alamy's fault that Lightroom's keyword management on export is sub-optimal in this respect, but these days I would imagine that huge numbers of contributors use Lightroom including for keywording and Alamy should have allowed for this and easier keyword re-ordering in the design of the new system.

 

Graham

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

There is no doubt that applying the metadata beforehand is the way to go for new images. But I think with all the bugs and basic design flaws that the new system is a big disappointment. It was meant to be an improvement and I don't think there are too many contributors who think that is the case.

The above way I do it cut down prep hugely. The old way, i would only have been able to prep 15-20 at a go before I went brain and body dead.

All I know is before, when I had to move tags around in boxes, it took me 5 days of mind-numbing work to do 100 images.

Today, that would be about two hours.

 

It suits MY style of work to a T.

 

And mine too Betty. Yes, there are bugs, but like you, I've been able to speed up my workflow many times over, so I'll add to those thanks if I may.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately Lightroom exports keywords in alphabetical order, however they are entered. If one has, as I do, a large structured keyword collection in Lightroom, and uses Lightroom to export the .jpg images for upload, the tags will be in the wrong order. The work that has gone into the keywords in Lightroom over several years will mean users will not abandon it just because Alamy changes its system of image management.

Keyword order was easy enough to fix in the old version by cutting and pasting. It is not Alamy's fault that Lightroom's keyword management on export is sub-optimal in this respect, but these days I would imagine that huge numbers of contributors use Lightroom including for keywording and Alamy should have allowed for this and easier keyword re-ordering in the design of the new system.

Graham

+1

 

I also use LR and have a comprehensive keyword hierarchy that I have built up over the years. It does not work well wth the new IM. We need some way of moving the tags around. Plus there are other flaws which need addressing.

 

Pearl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would also like to thank Alamy for the new software, and Wim for all his helpful suggestions.

 
IM works well for me, now that I am used to the interface. Faster easier. Even with my past submissions. It is a lot of work to go back over 15,000 images, but that would be the case with any piece of software.
 
I also like the Alamy change of thinking on RF with people and property.
 
My collection is old enough that it is like a house that needs renovating. If you do not renovate periodically, the house starts to fall down around you. The old house is also not in sync with your present lifestyle.
 
Today I will be reviewing my collection of Toronto skylines. Deleting because some are out of date, changing any RM to RF, and adding supertag phrases to the ones that survive the cull.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I would also like to thank Alamy for the new software, and Wim for all his helpful suggestions.

 
IM works well for me, now that I am used to the interface. Faster easier. Even with my past submissions. It is a lot of work to go back over 15,000 images, but that would be the case with any piece of software.
 
I also like the Alamy change of thinking on RF with people and property.
 
My collection is old enough that it is like a house that needs renovating. If you do not renovate periodically, the house starts to fall down around you. The old house is also not in sync with your present lifestyle.
 
Today I will be reviewing my collection of Toronto skylines. Deleting because some are out of date, changing any RM to RF, and adding supertag phrases to the ones that survive the cull.

 

 

Why would you delete the old skyline images? Someone doing an article on the changing skyline might need the older images to show how quickly the skyline changes.

 

Jill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until Alamy fixes and allows reordering of keywords, perhaps you all who keyword in LR can just open the image into Bridge and do it there.

Since I don't do it in LR, maybe I'm not understanding the complications. You want searching ability in LR. So if your image is tagged with a couple of the most important words in LR, they can be searched within LR.

Then open into Bridge and build the rest of the tag field around those couple of most important tags because they won't be in alphabetical order and will play nicely with MI.

 

Am I all wet here, and missing something important?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until Alamy fixes and allows reordering of keywords, perhaps you all who keyword in LR can just open the image into Bridge and do it there.

Since I don't do it in LR, maybe I'm not understanding the complications. You want searching ability in LR. So if your image is tagged with a couple of the most important words in LR, they can be searched within LR.

Then open into Bridge and build the rest of the tag field around those couple of most important tags because they won't be in alphabetical order and will play nicely with MI.

 

Am I all wet here, and missing something important?

 

I use Bridge as well.  What I don't understand is, that image order has always been an Alamy thing, so why would anyone want upload their keywords alphabetically?

 

Jill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until Alamy fixes and allows reordering of keywords, perhaps you all who keyword in LR can just open the image into Bridge and do it there.

Since I don't do it in LR, maybe I'm not understanding the complications. You want searching ability in LR. So if your image is tagged with a couple of the most important words in LR, they can be searched within LR.

Then open into Bridge and build the rest of the tag field around those couple of most important tags because they won't be in alphabetical order and will play nicely with MI.

 

Am I all wet here, and missing something important?

 

As I said Betty, LR is set up with a complex keyword hierarchy which I have built up over a long time.  I only have to tick one keyword such as Manchester and it puts in England, UK, Europe etc.  That's a fairly simplistic example.

 

Also if I keyword outside of LR but later import metadata, perhaps because I have made a change to the file in CS, the keywords will be imported and it will completely mess up the hierarchy.

 

All we need is the ability to order the keywords, made necessary by the way Alamy's search engine works.  Is that too much to ask?

 

Pearl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand, Pearl. I was just trying to figure out a workaround until Alamy hopefully makes a fix. It would be nice if LR changed from ordering tags alphabetically. I don't understand why they do that.

 

I remember years ago I tried out a software that was supposed to be great for organizing images and keywording. But it made all my carefully ordered keywords go alphabetically and I didn't purchase it for that reason. I assume there's a reason for doing it that I don't understand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for my ignorance but I'm missing something. If I keyword a RAW image in LR, then export it as a .jpg, then upload it to Alamy, are those keywords uploaded too?

 

To date I've always keyworded after QC (I've a small no of images), but the other way would be preferable.

 

And if I don't use the LR keyword field, is there another IPTC field I should use?

 

Much appreciate your feedback, thanks.

 

Russell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use Lightroom but with Jim Keir's plugin, I know he's working on updating the plugin for the new IM. But I'm finding it works fine, using the old fields. Also I've adapted the export functions for set and fetch metadata to enable me to either keyword on the desktop on Lightroom and transfer to Alamy or to fetch the metadata when I've been keywording etc. on the iPad when on the road. Works fine.

 

Also I seem to have read somewhere in one of Alamy's posts that keyword order is not important with the new search engine.

Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also I seem to have read somewhere in one of Alamy's posts that keyword order is not important with the new search engine.

Richard

 

This is a quote from Alamy's latest blog about tagging

 

"Try to avoid adding alphabetical lists of tags. Proximity of one tag compared to another used in a multi-word search can have an effect on where it appears in the sort order, which is why we’d recommend adding phrases / multi-word tags where appropriate."

 

According to this word proximity is important and yet they make it difficult to achieve.

 

Pearl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 
I also like the Alamy change of thinking on RF with people and property.
 

 

Can you elaborate on this, Bill. I'm a slow learner in these matters and don't really understand what the new thinking is.

 

 

I suspect that what Bill is saying is that stating that an image has unreleased property or people in it no longer forces a RM license on you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 
I also like the Alamy change of thinking on RF with people and property.
 

 

Can you elaborate on this, Bill. I'm a slow learner in these matters and don't really understand what the new thinking is.

 

 

I suspect that what Bill is saying is that stating that an image has unreleased property or people in it no longer forces a RM license on you.

 

 

Right, but what is the "new thinking" behind this change? That's what I'm nut sure about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for my ignorance but I'm missing something. If I keyword a RAW image in LR, then export it as a .jpg, then upload it to Alamy, are those keywords uploaded too?

 

To date I've always keyworded after QC (I've a small no of images), but the other way would be preferable.

 

And if I don't use the LR keyword field, is there another IPTC field I should use?

 

Much appreciate your feedback, thanks.

 

Russell

 

When you export you are given the choice of including your keywords or not. They used to go into the Comprehensive field in the old image manager and you had the opportunity to move them into other fields in a different order. Lightroom has the keywords alphabetical. That can be useful if you are checking to see if you remembered to add a word but it is not good for Alamy.

 

Paulette

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't he say "change of thinking?"

Yes, he did indeed. My bad. Change usually implies something new (FBFW), though.

 

Questions come to mind -- e.g. Are the changes just an attempt to make things easier for contributors or part of a bigger shift away from RM licensing? The former sounds good, latter I'm not so sure about.

 

P.S. I haven't uploaded any new images since the new MI arrived (too busy fiddling with old ones). It looks as if things should be easier, but the proof will be in the pudding, as they say. I use Photo Mechanic for keywording. It allows me to take "snapshots" of groups of relevant keywords and phrases from a master list and apply them to images. If everything gets imported as planned and converted to tags by the new MI system, then I'll be adding my 'Thank You' note. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for my ignorance but I'm missing something. If I keyword a RAW image in LR, then export it as a .jpg, then upload it to Alamy, are those keywords uploaded too?

 

To date I've always keyworded after QC (I've a small no of images), but the other way would be preferable.

 

And if I don't use the LR keyword field, is there another IPTC field I should use?

 

Much appreciate your feedback, thanks.

 

Russell

 

I'm not on the new IM yet, so can't comment on keywording with it, but I have always keyworded my images in Photoshop (not Lightroom) before uploading because :

 

1) It means you can submit your images to other Agencies without having to keyword them all again

2) Keywords are imported by Alamy in the exact order you entered them in Photoshop, all you have to do is cut & paste the main keywords into the right box in the Alamy IM (old version)

 

By not keywording before upload, you are basically putting all your eggs in one basket. You may be quite happy with Alamy now but it is not good business to assume that this will be the case forever. You may well be with Alamy forever, but if you part company you will have to keyword all images again. I'm not aware of anyone who has managed to get a file with keywords of their images from Alamy.

 

Marc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I would also like to thank Alamy for the new software, and Wim for all his helpful suggestions.

 
IM works well for me, now that I am used to the interface. Faster easier. Even with my past submissions. It is a lot of work to go back over 15,000 images, but that would be the case with any piece of software.
 
I also like the Alamy change of thinking on RF with people and property.
 
My collection is old enough that it is like a house that needs renovating. If you do not renovate periodically, the house starts to fall down around you. The old house is also not in sync with your present lifestyle.
 
Today I will be reviewing my collection of Toronto skylines. Deleting because some are out of date, changing any RM to RF, and adding supertag phrases to the ones that survive the cull.

 

 

Why would you delete the old skyline images? Someone doing an article on the changing skyline might need the older images to show how quickly the skyline changes.

 

Jill

 

 

 

I would only keep an old skyline if it was obviously historical.

 

For instance if it was taken before the 50 year old CN Tower was built. I always operate on the assumption that modern city skylines have a 5 year lifespan. 5 years is too old to sell as up to date, and not old enough to sell as historical.
 
A client, unfamiliar with Toronto, might buy a 12 year old image and then regret it later. Many smart clients will pass on them due to age, and that will lower my CTR.
 
There is not an obvious enough contrast between the skyline of 2005 and 2017 for the use you suggest.
 
I still have all of the 2005 images on a hard drive, so maybe in 2050 I will take them out of retirement and reupload them to Alamy.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.