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I'm guessing you haven't noticed that in the new Alamy image manager each image stays selected unless you click on it again to deselect it after adding captions and keywords. If multiple images are selected any changes you make to the keywords etc is applied to all selected images. I fear your only option is to go back end edit each one individually - ouch.

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You can hardly have "decided" with ten images up.

Select all images, then click on the one with the correct caption to deselect. The blue arrow will disappear.

Then delete each keyword by clicking on the cross. Ctrl-A in the caption window and type a space. Then save and the 9 images will be clear of keywords and caption. Redo as required.

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Thanks, Geoff, perhaps all will become clear tomorrow, then.

 

I did notice that some of my images look darker on here than elsewhere, not sure it's a monitor problem though as they look fine outside of Alamy?

 

To be honest, I have pretty much concluded that I'm not going to pursue stock, it has taken all the pleasure out of photography and the images I like to take are not what the market wants, anyway.

 

 

You're welcome Jan.

 

I have no idea why your images would look darker only on Alamy so I can't help with that I'm afraid.

 

Stock is a slow game and the whole process at Alamy takes time (maybe at other agencies too but I only know about Alamy). You need a fair amount of images to get regular sales, and I know from experience that starting with good photos and only uploading your best is the way to go (I had lots of rubbish on here at first but have culled most of my older images now as I did very poorly at first). If you do that, and keyword accurately, you may start to see sales in a few months. It takes patience though, and we all have days where we feel demotivated. I still get a lot of pleasure out of my photography and when I get a sale, it really does boost my confidence and motivates me to carry on.

 

Don't give up yet.  :)

 

Geoff.

 

Thanks, Geoff. I know it's something that takes time, and I was prepared for the long haul, but I've realised that the time and energy commitment it requires will not be worth it for me.

 

I hope the images I've put up don't strike you as 'rubbish' even if they do appear very under-exposed! Funny, though: I submitted (by mistake, since deleted) a heavily cropped image that was lousy with noise, and it passed QC in only my second, very small submission. Makes me wonder just how rigorous Alamy QC really is.

 

Jan

 

After your acceptance sub, QC may only look at a sample of your images. It's possible for one to slip through, but it's rare.

Pretty dark in general on my monitor too- although some of the images are quite low key, they shouldn't be that low.. Your shadows (or blacks, or both) need to come up.

Edited by spacecadet
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Alamy looks at certain things, but since underexposure doesn't appear to be one of them, they passed.

 

I recently uploaded 3 chocolate cake images. They appeared too dark and I reprocessed them, uploaded them, and asked Contributor services to delete the first set.

I assumed my dark ones could not possibly compete with chocolate cake images from others. They just didn't look good.

 

Basically, that's what it's all about. Competition. You want your image(s) to compare favorably with others. When the update happens and your images can be searched, look at others' work surrounding yours, and see if yours look good in comparison.

 

Stock photography does require dedication. If you have other interests more important, with little time for stock, then you are right. It's not for you.

 

I got into it coming off treatment from breast cancer, and it quickly became a passion. Initially, photography was a fun thing, and I entered a few competitions and had a measure of success. But then, I decided to earn a bit from it, and I do. I still shoot for pleasure. There's no reason the two styles can't coexist side by side.

 

Again, if you resent the amount of work involved, it will never work for you. Right now you are in the "Alamy" learning process. You are frustrated. I suggest you keep learning. Uploading, tagging, and all of that will be picked up with repetition.

 

Keep uploading. Give it a month or two then see how you feel.

 

Betty

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Jan

 

Maybe take photography of what you enjoy the most, after uploading only 20 or so images a few years back I was very demotivated to upload more as I thought they wouldn't sell and the competition is fierce these days. I did eventually sell two out of my initial upload which spurred me on to contribute more. I kept an eye on market trends tried some table top photography but realised my heart just wasn't in taking photos that way. Now I take photos that are part of my daily life (which is a busy one most days) they maybe not highly commercial but to be honest the images I have sold I never thought would. You just never know.

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Jan, your images are darkish / underexposed. I just had a look at the histogram of your gravestones.The curve was far from the optimal nearly filled-out rising and falling one. An automatic adjustment was nearly enough to make it perfect. So, if working without having a calibrated monitor, use your histogram information in your image editor to adjust.

Edited by Niels Quist
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You can hardly have "decided" with ten images up.

Select all images, then click on the one with the correct caption to deselect. The blue arrow will disappear.

Then delete each keyword by clicking on the cross. Ctrl-A in the caption window and type a space. Then save and the 9 images will be clear of keywords and caption. Redo as required.

I can decide when I want, I think. :)

 

My evidently missed point was that with so little material in play it's not an informed decision. 1000 images up for a year would give you a better idea.

I didn't have a sale until I had about 750 images up, and that was when there were a quarter as many images on Alamy.

I hope the other information was useful.

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Jan, your images are darkish / underexposed. I just had a look at the histogram of your grave stones.The curve was far from the optimal nearly filled-out rising and falling one. An automatic adjustment was nearly enough to make it perfect. So, if working without having a calibrated monitor, use your histogram information in your image editor to adjust.

I don't know how you managed to look at the histogram via Alamy, I can't find a way to do that myself! Look, thanks for the advice, but I really don't want to pursue this any further. 

 

 

Easy-peasy  :) - you download the image (temporarily) - and look at it in an image editor, then delete, of course, what would one need it for.

 

In a way, I think you will have a look at this later on, but who knows  :)  - and if so, there is a lot of information about histograms and the use of them on the Internet.

Edited by Niels Quist
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I only resent the amount of work involved if I'm producing images that are too dark and I can't do anything about it (can't afford a new monitor) or if I'm spending a lot of time producing images that will never sell. Would rather just enjoy my photography and take the pressure to sell off myself.

 

 

Sadly, stock photography is a business, and like all businesses, it needs investment in the right equipment to make a success of it. This is especially true of a stock library such as Alamy where you're competing against almost 100 million other images.

 

It's not for everyone, and it sounds as though your inclinations are pulling you away from it. In the circumstances this is probably the right decision. I've always run my photography along two separate streams - work I do for myself and work I do for stock (and very often they overlap). I've been happy to do this for many years and it hasn't yet spoiled my enjoyment of photography, but the moment that it does I will stop.

 

One question, though: if you have an old uncalibrated monitor which is clearly not delivering the goods, how will you be successful with your photography in any field?

 

Alan

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I like the guy on the bicycle photo the best. Your photos are too dark imo. Also, you have on a couple of images with just 4 keywords. Good luck with it all.

 

Also, just as a sidebar, I find it interesting what people like, or think they like, about photos and photography in general. Stock photography included. Most people wouldn't have a clue about why they actually like something. It's usually just a reactive, instinctive thing.

Edited by Gervais Montacute
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Alamy looks at certain things, but since underexposure doesn't appear to be one of them, they passed.

 

I recently uploaded 3 chocolate cake images. They appeared too dark and I reprocessed them, uploaded them, and asked Contributor services to delete the first set.

I assumed my dark ones could not possibly compete with chocolate cake images from others. They just didn't look good.

 

Basically, that's what it's all about. Competition. You want your image(s) to compare favorably with others. When the update happens and your images can be searched, look at others' work surrounding yours, and see if yours look good in comparison.

 

Stock photography does require dedication. If you have other interests more important, with little time for stock, then you are right. It's not for you.

 

I got into it coming off treatment from breast cancer, and it quickly became a passion. Initially, photography was a fun thing, and I entered a few competitions and had a measure of success. But then, I decided to earn a bit from it, and I do. I still shoot for pleasure. There's no reason the two styles can't coexist side by side.

 

Again, if you resent the amount of work involved, it will never work for you. Right now you are in the "Alamy" learning process. You are frustrated. I suggest you keep learning. Uploading, tagging, and all of that will be picked up with repetition.

 

Keep uploading. Give it a month or two then see how you feel.

 

Betty

I've realised that my images look darker uploaded to Flickr, too. So it must be my monitor - it is old - I just haven't really noticed before now.

 

I only resent the amount of work involved if I'm producing images that are too dark and I can't do anything about it (can't afford a new monitor) or if I'm spending a lot of time producing images that will never sell. Would rather just enjoy my photography and take the pressure to sell off myself.

 

You don't necessarily need a new monitor, but you do need the kit to calibrate it properly and also know how to use ICC profiles in a colour-managed system

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It's possible the OP is shooting jpegs and they are only on the computer to upload and be stored.

Possibly not owning any of the usual software that we use to develop. If so, the underexposure, of course, is happening in camera but not being corrected in software.

Ignorance of the histogram is a clue.

 

Underexposure with a camera that can be set to view the histogram while shooting is easy enough to correct before you even take the shot. I do that all the time. But first, study everything you can about the histogram and how it can help. Even if stock photography is dropped, understanding and using the histogram will always advance any kind of photography.

 

Jan, when I first started out, I didn't know aperture, shutter speed, histogram, anything. It's a learning process and most everything to learn can be found online. I was shooting Nikon at the time and joined the Nikonians. The people on the various forums there (mainly the wildlife forum) nurtured me until I was regularly putting out a decent product.

You are probably further along than I was.

Don't feel bad, don't be embarrassed. We all were where you are once.

Betty

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You just need to turn down the brightness of your monitor - a lot. I always advocate hardware calibration but it is not essential, just highly desirable. As you are working mainly in mono, you will get by without hardware calibration and you should be able to use software calibration anyway as a guide. The histogram is your friend so use it.

Edited by MDM
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