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Just wondering, do images uploaded as stock have greater long term sales potential than those submitted as live news, which ultimately transfer into stock?

In other words, as live news images are not subject to the strict quality control governing other images, are clients less likely to trust one?

And if that were the case, is there any value in deleting live news images that haven't sold within three days (or choose a suitable period here), then resubmitting the same images later as stock?

All thoughts gratefully received...

:)

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24 minutes ago, TeeCee said:

Just wondering, do images uploaded as stock have greater long term sales potential than those submitted as live news, which ultimately transfer into stock?

In other words, as live news images are not subject to the strict quality control governing other images, are clients less likely to trust one?

And if that were the case, is there any value in deleting live news images that haven't sold within three days (or choose a suitable period here), then resubmitting the same images later as stock?

All thoughts gratefully received...

:)

 

Just jumping in to follow this thread. Noob trying to learn.

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33 minutes ago, TeeCee said:

Just wondering, do images uploaded as stock have greater long term sales potential than those submitted as live news, which ultimately transfer into stock?

In other words, as live news images are not subject to the strict quality control governing other images, are clients less likely to trust one?

And if that were the case, is there any value in deleting live news images that haven't sold within three days (or choose a suitable period here), then resubmitting the same images later as stock?

All thoughts gratefully received...

:)

 

No reason to delete your news images. If you maintain quality they'll become great stock images, often with other qualities. However, many would like to edit the captions when they have become stock. Often the longer news caption will contain words you wouldn't like to be searchable. However, I often don't care.

Niels

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I edit the captions but I never delete any of my live news shots. Some of them do very well as stock. Last month, I had two images sell that were originally uploaded as live news in 2012.

 

However, I only submit "soft" news (e.g. festivals and the like), not "real" news that is probably more time-sensitive.

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I've never sold a Live News pic despite something like 20 attempts. Anyway, last week I submitted this one (Easyjet's 20 year anniversary sprayed on one of its planes) which I think will be excellent as stock as it will age well. What do you think?

 

 

an-easyjet-airbus-a320-214-taxiing-at-milans-linate-airport-the-airplane-KCR191.jpg

 

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On 10/7/2017 at 19:33, funkyworm said:

You never know if yesterdays news may become tomorrows.

 

For example... the pier you have a photo of a sunset behind becomes subject of a planning debate to demolish/renovate. The politician you have a photo of canvassing does something silly. Feather pillows are shown in a study to be better for sleep. The shipping company of a ship you have images of announces profits/losses/bankruptcy.

 

Also for many images the news value turns into historical value.

 

The main reason I can think of for deleting is if you are taking photos of the more or less same subject on different days. Or if you have images of the same subject which are better.

 

Very good, that's given me a new perspective on things. :)

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I had the following mail communication with Alamy news team (I put the mails in order and removed names & emails, but the content is unchanged). Still not clear to me what the difference is:

 

From: news@alamy.com [mailto:news@alamy.com] 
Sent: Saturday, September 30
To: Michael Jacobs
Subject: Alamy Live News: Stock Images to the News Feed
 
Hi Michael, 
Thanks for the images you have uploaded to the News Feed.
However, we feel these are more suited to the general stock collection than news.
Please review our news guidelines regarding uploading to the news feed and our requirements for a news image. http://www.alamy.com/contributor/how-to-sell-news-images/best-place-to-sell-live-news-images/
We will remove these images and put them through the Quality Control queue. If you continue to upload stock images to the Live News feed, we will revoke your news privileges. 
If you ever need a bit of photo inspiration you can check out our News lightbox bit.ly/1pveK8L.
You can also find us on twitter @alamynews we regularly tweet picture needs. 
Kind regards,

Alamy News Team


From: Michael Jacobs
Date: Saturday, 30 September 2017
To: Alamy Live News <news@alamy.com>
Subject: RE: Alamy Live News: Stock Images to the News Feed
 
This is news? http://www.alamy.com/news/#BHM=foo%3Dbar%26qt%3D%26pn%3D1%26ps%3D120%26aoa%3D1%26news%3D%26sports%3D%26entmt%3D%26Videos%3D%26bb%3D1%26md%3DOL5836054%26dt%3D%26gid%3D{0FC50BAB-14EC-4C41-98B7-9407E72B84A3}%26destxml%3D%26imglst%3D%26orderby%3DDT%26newsseq%3D%26userid%3D%26rand%3D1506776197369
 
My pictures depict what is happening on the holiest day of the year, for Jews, in Tel Aviv. Isn't that news?
 
What, if I add "weather" In the description, it will become news?
 
You can send them to QC, I'm confident they will pass. I treated them like any other stock image.

From: news@alamy.com [mailto:news@alamy.com] 
Sent: Saturday, September 30
To: Michael Jacobs
Subject: Alamy Live News: Stock Images to the News Feed


Hi Michael,
 
Weather is always in the news :)
 
It was not clear that these pictures showed the holiest day of the year in Tel Aviv, as the caption only stated the name of the building.
 
It’s your image so you know what it’s about, but a picture editor seeing it for the first time will be completely lost unless you help them out with accurate captions which answer the basic questions:
 
•    What is happening in the picture?
•    When did it take place?
•    Where did it take place?
•    Why did it take place?
•    How did it come about?
 
The caption needs to be in this format: town/city, country, date (in format 01st April, 2015.), description, credit.
 
For example: Los Angeles, USA. 1st Apr, 2015. Elton John trips over as he walks along the red carpet at the 101st Grammy Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles, USA. Credit: John Smith/Alamy Live News.
 
Kind reards,

 

Alamy News Team

From: Michael Jacobs
Date: Saturday, 30 September 2017
To: Alamy Live News <news@alamy.com>
Subject: RE: Alamy Live News: Stock Images to the News Feed

Hi Alamy News,


Thank you for your reply.

The phrase in your mail "If you continue to upload stock images to the Live News feed, we will revoke your news privileges." disturbed me a bit. I have *** on QC – more than 6000 photographs and the few Live news submissions also passed (except on one occasion, where I had to update the titles).

So I wouldn't like to have a bad record because of this submission. I do feel that my description was accurate: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. 30th september 2017. Yom kippur - Ayalon highway. Michael Jacobs/ Alamy live news. Yom kippur is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur

I do feel the photographs can be regarded as Live News, but if you feel otherwise it's your call ofcourse.


Kind greetings,

Michael

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21 minutes ago, Michael_Jacobs said:

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. 30th september 2017. Yom kippur - Ayalon highway. Michael Jacobs/ Alamy live news

 

Maybe you need to be a bit more "wordy".. assume the reviewer/editor doesn't know what Yom kippur is so your caption could read:

 

"Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. 30th September 2017. A view of the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv on the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur. Michael Jacobs/ Alamy live news"

 

21 minutes ago, Michael_Jacobs said:

We will remove these images and put them through the Quality Control queue

 

.. I really wish they wouldn't do this. News images are by nature often uploaded quickly, potentially with no QC performed by the photographer if they are taken and uploaded in the field (maybe using a smartphone). 

 

Most of the news I submit is "soft news" like UK Weather. There is always the risk that the the news team might not regard some of it as newsworthy.. in which case I would prefer they just drop it rather than pushing to stock QC. If I want the images considered as stock, I can upload them again myself.

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Matt,

 

 

You're right on both points.

 

I hope in the future Alamy news will ask me to clarify my captions and in case they feel it's not news, will ask the contributor if they want to send the photos to QC...

 

As said, I treated the pictures as any other submission and they did pass QC... 

 

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1 hour ago, Michael_Jacobs said:

I do feel that my description was accurate: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. 30th september 2017. Yom kippur - Ayalon highway. Michael Jacobs/ Alamy live news. Yom kippur is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur

 

I had to google that as I didn't know that Yom Kippur was the holiest Jewish festival. 

It's usually better to add a more detailed caption, especially if it's an event abroad.

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17 hours ago, Brasilnut said:

I've never sold a Live News pic despite something like 20 attempts. Anyway, last week I submitted this one (Easyjet's 20 year anniversary sprayed on one of its planes) which I think will be excellent as stock as it will age well. What do you think?

 

 

an-easyjet-airbus-a320-214-taxiing-at-milans-linate-airport-the-airplane-KCR191.jpg

 

 

This strikes me as very topical now but it will grow increasingly less so as time passes. Still, this doesn't mean you should remove it. It will gain some historical significance and you never know what a buyer might need.

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1 hour ago, Michael_Jacobs said:

Matt,

 

 

You're right on both points.

 

I hope in the future Alamy news will ask me to clarify my captions and in case they feel it's not news, will ask the contributor if they want to send the photos to QC...

 

 

I looked up the photos and all they show are a stretch of empty road.

 

They make sense when you realise that all motorised transport stops on Yom Kippur. But I only learned this from somebody else's photo. You don't explain any of it. As others have said, your captions need to be much more informative. Plus Alamy deals with lots of news submissions and they can't be expected to handhold photographers who skimp on the basics.

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Kukkudrill,

 

 

I realize that my description wasn't complete. I've only send a few batches to news...  didn't now they required lengthy descriptions. In the future if I send something to news I will.

 

But:

1) this thread is about difference between whats news and what is not? 

2) if Alamy news decides that captions aren't sufficient shouldn't they ask for a correction?

3) and shouldn't they ask the contributor if they want to send it to stock QC?

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Just now, Michael_Jacobs said:

Kukkudrill,

 

 

I realize that my description wasn't complete. I've only send a few batches to news...  didn't now they required lengthy descriptions. In the future if I send something to news I will.

 

But:

1) this thread is about difference between whats news and what is not? 

2) if Alamy news decides that captions aren't sufficient shouldn't they ask for a correction?

3) and shouldn't they ask the contributor if they want to send it to stock QC?

The newsdesk's job is selling news images, not correcting captions. That said if the image qualifies they will often re-write the caption to be more suitable for the feed, and they're the experts. Unfortunately there's no way for them to read between the lines if the caption is deficient, and that's what happened in your case. I wouldn't have made the connection between Yom Kippur and an empty road and you can't expect the newsdesk to.

The sanction of sending them to QC if rejected is an incentive to use the news upload properly. It's in the contract.

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56 minutes ago, Michael_Jacobs said:

Kukkudrill,

 

 

I realize that my description wasn't complete. I've only send a few batches to news...  didn't now they required lengthy descriptions. In the future if I send something to news I will.

 

But:

1) this thread is about difference between whats news and what is not? 

2) if Alamy news decides that captions aren't sufficient shouldn't they ask for a correction?

3) and shouldn't they ask the contributor if they want to send it to stock QC?

 

I think the point is that it is the caption that makes the image news. Take this image which, at time of writing, is on the Alamy Live News Feed...

 

Southport, Merseyside, Sunny in Southport. 10th October 2017. UK Weather. Dog walkers stretch their legs as some Stock Photo

 

This to all purposes is just a couple of people walking their dog on a beach... big deal... why is this news?

Well... the caption reads:

 

"Sunny in Southport. 10th October 2017. UK Weather. Dog walkers stretch their legs as some lovely warm autumn sunshine beams down on to the golden sands"

 

So this all of a sudden becomes clear to an editor that this image could be used to illustrate an article on today's weather in The UK. We can see from the description, in case we didn't know, that it is autumn and that it is sunny (which it plainly isn't where I am).

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Quote

This strikes me as very topical now but it will grow increasingly less so as time passes. Still, this doesn't mean you should remove it. It will gain some historical significance and you never know what a buyer might need.

 

True. In addition, I can also go back to this image anytime and clone out all the logos/trademarks and make it into a pure commercial generic airplane shot of an Airbus A320-200.

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