Is it even worth the trouble?

[BentBach]

Hello

 

Some years ago I took some photos of a villa of great historical value. The kind of photos many people would want to see well into the future. The villa has just been bulldozed.

 

Unfortunately the setting of the camera was 1920 + 1080 not shot in raw but jpg. This means about 2.1 mp or A5 at 300 dpi. The photos would find use mostly in books and magazines. 

 

I am willing to get professional involved (photoshop) and spend a reasonable amount of money to get through Alamy quality control in the category which doesn't live up to Alamy's normal standard. 

 

Is it, in your opinion,  just hopeless and I'm wasting my time and money or do you see a way forward. ?

 

BentBach

 

 

[Roger Johansen]

Do you only need to resize the picture? Or what did I miss?

[spacecadet]

An image that small is very unlikely to upsize to 6MP well enough for QC.

If you have a fair number of archival images, try the archival route, which bypasses QC.

http://www.alamy.com/registration/archive_upload_apply.aspx

However, I see you're new here. If you only have the odd few you may need to earn your spurs by passing QC regularly first. I didn't ask for archival privileges until I'd had 5 or 6000 images through QC.

[wiskerke]

On 10/14/2017 at 23:44, BentBach said:

Hello

 

Some years ago I took some photos of a villa of great historical value. The kind of photos many people would want to see well into the future. The villa has just been bulldozed.

 

Unfortunately the setting of the camera was 1920 + 1080 not shot in raw but jpg. This means about 2.1 mp or A5 at 300 dpi. The photos would find use mostly in books and magazines. 

 

I am willing to get professional involved (photoshop) and spend a reasonable amount of money to get through Alamy quality control in the category which doesn't live up to Alamy's normal standard. 

 

Is it, in your opinion,  just hopeless and I'm wasting my time and money or do you see a way forward. ?

 

BentBach

 

 

 

Are you sure there is any interest in these?

For the rolling year Alamy contributors can check all subjects that have been searched for on Alamy.

If you would give one or two keywords, we can check for you.

 

+ what Spacecadet said.

 

wim

[spacecadet]

OP, heed Wim. "great historical value" doesn't necessarily translate into sales.

There may be plenty of CC images around, although a buyer may prefer a licence which offers some exclusivity, so I'd still submit if I could.

[Bill Kuta]

Have you done a keyword search to see if Alamy already has images of this place?

[spacecadet]

7 minutes ago, Bill Kuta said:

Have you done a keyword search to see if Alamy already has images of this place?

.......I should have said "assuming there aren't a lot of images of it already up", although if there's only a page or two I wouldn't worry.

[wiskerke]

2 hours ago, spacecadet said:

.......I should have said "assuming there aren't a lot of images of it already up", although if there's only a page or two I wouldn't worry.

 

Unless the quality is better...

Anyway, it's a good lesson to all of us: always make sure you're (also) recording RAW.

 

wim

edit: yes I have that T-shirt too.

[BentBach]

5 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

Are you sure there is any interest in these?

For the rolling year Alamy contributors can check all subjects that have been searched for on Alamy.

If you would give one or two keywords, we can check for you.

 

+ what Spacecadet said.

wim

The villa in it self is architecturally quite interesting but  what makes the photos of the villa of historic / literary importance  is that  Lawrence Durrell lived there while staying 

in Alexandria and started writing the Alexandria Quartet and where he met many of the characters ending up in the books. There were plans to turn Villa Ambron into a Lawrence Durrell museum but a housing developer bought it and bulldozed it a few month ago. 

 

There are many Lawrence Durrell photos of totally nondescript houses where he otherwise lived like in Corfu or Cyprus. There are no photos available on the market of the Villa Ambron. No one has lived there the last 15 to 20 years and it's quite a harrowing looking building now,  for a beautiful example of a villa build in the 1920's Alexandria.

 

I took the photos for a blog not for a photo stock company like Alamy with high quality demands. Never-the-less I am sure there will be interest for the photos detailing part of Lawrence Durrell's life in Alexandria.

 

BentBach.

 

 

 

 

[BentBach]

4 hours ago, Bill Kuta said:

Have you done a keyword search to see if Alamy already has images of this place?

Yes I have done keyword search on Alamy and other photo stock companies. There is perhaps 30 or more photos of Lawrence Durrell, where he lived around the world but non of the villa where he stayed in Alexandria and soaked up the atmosphere that eventually became his most famous work the Alexandria Quartet. Someone is writing a new biography of LD and would most likely want photos of where he stayed in Alexandria - at present my photos are the only ones (including the interior) known to exist.

[BentBach]

6 hours ago, spacecadet said:

An image that small is very unlikely to upsize to 6MP well enough for QC.

If you have a fair number of archival images, try the archival route, which bypasses QC.

http://www.alamy.com/registration/archive_upload_apply.aspx

However, I see you're new here. If you only have the odd few you may need to earn your spurs by passing QC regularly first. I didn't ask for archival privileges until I'd had 5 or 6000 images through QC.

My God 5000 to 6000 photos! I have read up on photography the last week or so and start realizing there a bit more to take quality photos than just push a button. A photographer is like an artist but painting with his camera. Lots of respect.

[BentBach]

6 hours ago, Roger Johansen said:

Do you only need to resize the picture? Or what did I miss?

I don't think resizing alone will do the trick and there are limit to how much you can upscale the photo before it becomes blurry. I am looking for the Goldielocks spot, where the upscale is just right, as many MB's as possible while not being too blurry. When that spot has been reached manipulate the 10 - 15 photos I have of the villa to their Sundays best and then see what Alamy says.

[wiskerke]

3 hours ago, BentBach said:

Yes I have done keyword search on Alamy and other photo stock companies. There is perhaps 30 or more photos of Lawrence Durrell, where he lived around the world but non of the villa where he stayed in Alexandria and soaked up the atmosphere that eventually became his most famous work the Alexandria Quartet. Someone is writing a new biography of LD and would most likely want photos of where he stayed in Alexandria - at present my photos are the only ones (including the interior) known to exist.

 

Here is one image of the Villa Ambron on Alamy.

However without the keywords Villa or Ambron. ;-)

 

There have been some searches, but not a whole lot for Lawrence:  9 for the rolling year including misspellings.

Some more for Gerald:  around 100. Some for the family though. No mentioning of Alexandria; a lot of Corfu.

No searches recently for Villa Ambron or Ambron Villa.

My guess is that the market for images of that house probably briefly occurred around the time of demolishing it. The attention seems to have been mainly local in Egypt, where many newspapers reported it, including before and after pictures.

But despite this, there have been no searches around that time on Alamy.

 

There may well have been some searches in previous years of course.

 

I would consider putting the images on Wikipedia in a small size.

 

As for whether they could be uprezzed - what camera were you using and have you tried it yourself?

 

wim

[Roger Johansen]

14 hours ago, BentBach said:

I don't think resizing alone will do the trick and there are limit to how much you can upscale the photo before it becomes blurry. I am looking for the Goldielocks spot, where the upscale is just right, as many MB's as possible while not being too blurry. When that spot has been reached manipulate the 10 - 15 photos I have of the villa to their Sundays best and then see what Alamy says.

Ok I see

[Sally]

 

 

16 hours ago, BentBach said:

My God 5000 to 6000 photos! I have read up on photography the last week or so and start realizing there a bit more to take quality photos than just push a button. A photographer is like an artist but painting with his camera. Lots of respect.

Not as many as that needed. I got archival rights a while ago, but what you have to do is make a sample available to Alamy, e.g. In a Dropbox folder so they can see what they're like.

[confused]

It appears the standard is to reject images ; no idea how to get accepted. I have images that have won ie highly commended in international Salons rejected as soft and no definition to much noise etc

 So given up as the standard is to high for me  

[BentBach]

18 hours ago, wiskerke said:

I did notice the one photo of Villa Ambron a week ago or so but when I   looked again before writing my comment it was gone - or rather I didn't look well enough.  My camera was a Samsug wb350f. A camera which  were more than good enough for its original purpose.  1080 + 1920. Not much to work with. The Wikipedia route sound like a good idea, hoping someone will use them so I can get a bit of money from the copyright infringment :-)

 

18 hours ago, wiskerke said:

Here is one image of the Villa Ambron on Alamy.

However without the keywords Villa or Ambron. ;-)

 

There have been some searches, but not a whole lot for Lawrence:  9 for the rolling year including misspellings.

Some more for Gerald:  around 100. Some for the family though. No mentioning of Alexandria; a lot of Corfu.

No searches recently for Villa Ambron or Ambron Villa.

My guess is that the market for images of that house probably briefly occurred around the time of demolishing it. The attention seems to have been mainly local in Egypt, where many newspapers reported it, including before and after pictures.

But despite this, there have been no searches around that time on Alamy.

 

There may well have been some searches in previous years of course.

 

I would consider putting the images on Wikipedia in a small size.

 

As for whether they could be uprezzed - what camera were you using and have you tried it yourself?

 

wim

 

[BentBach]

19 hours ago, wiskerke said:

I don't know my reply to you  looking like a posting posted by you.  (or that just the way it is posted here on Alamy)  

 

Originally I did a search "stock photos Lawrence Durrell" and then >  IMAGES. There are some 150 photos related to LD. Alamy. Getty Images. Shutterstock. And that's where you'll see a lot of nondescript houses, none of them as interesting as the Villa Ambron photos. In my opinion of course. It's true there are other photos from Villa Ambron but not from the interior. but for a single of some stairs. At least if these houses are offered on photo stock agencies - why not of Villa Ambron

 

 

 

Quote

Here is one image of the Villa Ambron on Alamy.

However without the keywords Villa or Ambron. ;-)

 

There have been some searches, but not a whole lot for Lawrence:  9 for the rolling year including misspellings.

Some more for Gerald:  around 100. Some for the family though. No mentioning of Alexandria; a lot of Corfu.

No searches recently for Villa Ambron or Ambron Villa.

My guess is that the market for images of that house probably briefly occurred around the time of demolishing it. The attention seems to have been mainly local in Egypt, where many newspapers reported it, including before and after pictures.

But despite this, there have been no searches around that time on Alamy.

 

There may well have been some searches in previous years of course.

 

I would consider putting the images on Wikipedia in a small size.

 

As for whether they could be uprezzed - what camera were you using and have you tried it yourself?

 

wim

 

[BentBach]

6 hours ago, Sally said:

They did write to me that they would be interested in hosting the photos. Then I got another mail asking what camera I used and got the reply it's not good enough for Alamy it had to be taken with a dslr camera. :-(

 

Not as many as that needed. I got archival rights a while ago, but what you have to do is make a sample available to Alamy, e.g. In a Dropbox folder so they can see what they're like.

 

[wiskerke]

2 hours ago, BentBach said:

I don't know my reply to you  looking like a posting posted by you.  (or that just the way it is posted here on Alamy)  

 

Originally I did a search "stock photos Lawrence Durrell" and then >  IMAGES. There are some 150 photos related to LD. Alamy. Getty Images. Shutterstock. And that's where you'll see a lot of nondescript houses, none of them as interesting as the Villa Ambron photos. In my opinion of course. It's true there are other photos from Villa Ambron but not from the interior. but for a single of some stairs. At least if these houses are offered on photo stock agencies - why not of Villa Ambron.

 

1 hour ago, BentBach said:

I did notice the one photo of Villa Ambron a week ago or so but when I   looked again before writing my comment it was gone - or rather I didn't look well enough.  My camera was a Samsug wb350f. A camera which  were more than good enough for its original purpose.  1080 + 1920. Not much to work with. The Wikipedia route sound like a good idea, hoping someone will use them so I can get a bit of money from the copyright infringment :-)

 

> I don't know my reply to you  looking like a posting posted by you.  (or that just the way it is posted here on Alamy)  

If you start your answer underneath the quote-box, it will come out OK.

 

> Samsug wb350f

Yes that's unfortunate: this sort of cameras with tiny sensors is not accepted by Alamy. Some other stock agencies may have different criteria though.

The exception on Alamy is the already mentioned archival route.

 

> Wikipedia

You could of course self-publish on a website or blog, but the purpose would be to somehow advertise the fact that you have these images and what they look like.

The downside of publishing them on Wikipedia (Wikimedia) is that they would be free for all uses including commercial. So no infringement chasing. That's why I suggested small sizes.

 

Upsizing: I would suggest to try ACR in Lightroom or Photoshop first.

 

wim

[BentBach]

On 10/17/2017 at 17:17, confused said:

It appears the standard is to reject images ; no idea how to get accepted. I have images that have won ie highly commended in international Salons rejected as soft and no definition to much noise etc 

 So given up as the standard is to high for me  

Do they at all use humans to sort through all these thousand of photos they receive daily or some clever algorithm? It must be very dishearthening to get otherwise highly acclaimed photos rejected.

[BentBach]

On 10/17/2017 at 23:11, wiskerke said:

Excellent advice. Thank you.  I will rethink the whole project to see if is worth the trouble - although chancing the photos to b&w halftone photos is also a possibility. I just a new book with halftone photos of such poor quality you could almost count the pixels.

On 10/17/2017 at 23:11, wiskerke said:

 

 

> I don't know my reply to you  looking like a posting posted by you.  (or that just the way it is posted here on Alamy)  

If you start your answer underneath the quote-box, it will come out OK.

 

> Samsug wb350f

Yes that's unfortunate: this sort of cameras with tiny sensors is not accepted by Alamy. Some other stock agencies may have different criteria though.

The exception on Alamy is the already mentioned archival route.

 

> Wikipedia

You could of course self-publish on a website or blog, but the purpose would be to somehow advertise the fact that you have these images and what they look like.

The downside of publishing them on Wikipedia (Wikimedia) is that they would be free for all uses including commercial. So no infringement chasing. That's why I suggested small sizes.

 

Upsizing: I would suggest to try ACR in Lightroom or Photoshop first.

 

wim

 

> I don't know my reply to you  looking like a posting posted by you.  (or that just the way it is posted here on Alamy)  

If you start your answer underneath the quote-box, it will come out OK.

 

> Samsug wb350f

Yes that's unfortunate: this sort of cameras with tiny sensors is not accepted by Alamy. Some other stock agencies may have different criteria though.

The exception on Alamy is the already mentioned archival route.

 

> Wikipedia

You could of course self-publish on a website or blog, but the purpose would be to somehow advertise the fact that you have these images and what they look like.

The downside of publishing them on Wikipedia (Wikimedia) is that they would be free for all uses including commercial. So no infringement chasing. That's why I suggested small sizes.

 

Upsizing: I would suggest to try ACR in Lightroom or Photoshop first.

 

wim

 

[spacecadet]

On 19/10/2017 at 20:57, BentBach said:

Do they at all use humans to sort through all these thousand of photos they receive daily or some clever algorithm? It must be very dishearthening to get otherwise highly acclaimed photos rejected.

It's done by humans. Awards cut no ice here- Alamy edits only for technical quality, not content.

[Inchiquin]

On 10/17/2017 at 16:17, confused said:

It appears the standard is to reject images ; no idea how to get accepted. I have images that have won ie highly commended in international Salons rejected as soft and no definition to much noise etc

 So given up as the standard is to high for me  

 

Alamy is not an international salon. Here's a suggestion: why not try to find out what the standard is and then work towards meeting it? That's what people who want to succeed in life do.

 

Alan

[vicky allum]

I do not own a DSLR camera now,and use my Panasonic Lumix DMC G3 for all my photos on Alamy and so far been very lucky to have most of them approved,i still feel alamy is one of the best photo stock selling sites ,so i will keep persevering till one day i hope i get a sale. keep trying Bentbach ,and maybe invest in a DSLR or one like mine.