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48 minutes ago, TeeCee said:

 

What people are saying here is that this isn't a "learn photography" site - it's a selling site. Any images you submit need to be able to compete with those fabulous images you mention in your original post - you'll do yourself no favours by uploading anything other than excellent, saleable images and in fact, you'll do your ranking (and hence your future sales) no good at all.

 

Get yourself a decent camera - here's a link to the relevant sensor sizes .. what you're using is the tiny thing in the bottom left corner, most folks here use full frame 35mm or APS C to achieve the required quality. A minimum requirement seems to be at least a 1" sensor.

Once you have that, shoot RAW files, and learn how to manipulate those files in Photoshop or Lightroom. (Other software packages are available etc etc)

Finally, make your submissions, it's a tough market, but with skill, determination and patience, you'll make sales. Good luck and happy shooting ...

:-)

Tony

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Tony & Allan

 

Many thanks, sadly we see an ever-increasing number of posts of this nature, which in my mind proves they do not understand  'stock photography' or what this site is about and as you both intimate, and I agree, this is not a place to learn.   I am sure many see it as akin to a get rich scheme.  Plus, past experience shows that after a few questions such posters often disappear and as they do criticise Alamy as being 'unfair' in the QC process!

 

It must put Alamy into an uncomfortable situation as, rightly, they are happy to accept images from any photographer, no need to be a full time professional, provided they have the equipment, skill to use it and can deliver the required quality each and every time; that only comes from experience and an understanding of the equipment, the support software plus keeping a grip of the changes, which appears to be almost every week!

 

I am not one to put anyone down as I have a background in personal development and training, but to ask if a smartphone camera is a good starting place ......

 

Matt

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

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29 minutes ago, Matt Limb said:

 

 

Tony & Allan

 

Many thanks, sadly we see an ever-increasing number of posts of this nature, which in my mind proves they do not understand  'stock photography' or what this site is about and as you both intimate, and I agree, this is not a place to learn.   I am sure many see it as akin to a get rich scheme.  Plus, past experience shows that after a few questions such posters often disappear and as they do criticise Alamy as being 'unfair' in the QC process!

 

It must put Alamy into an uncomfortable situation as, rightly, they are happy to accept images from any photographer, no need to be a full time professional, provided they have the equipment, skill to use it and can deliver the required quality each and every time; that only comes from experience and an understanding of the equipment, the support software plus keeping a grip of the changes, which appears to be almost every week!

 

I am not one to put anyone down as I have a background in personal development and training, but to ask if a smartphone camera is a good starting place ......

 

Matt

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're not putting anyone down. If I cared enough about these "pop up and gone in an instant" newbies I could take it as an insult to the profession, but their naivety is almost cute.

 

You don't get anywhere in this industry, especially in this particular cut-throat field unless you have real passion and I mean passion to the point of obsession, an enormous drive and tenacity, as well as adequate amount of knowledge, skill and some resources to get started. Not just passion for photography that it seems that everyone but Adam has had at some point in their life, but passion and interest enough to care about the whole industry, about licensing, law, infringements, about how to run a business, taxes, VAT and admin, about tech and how to make sales, cultivate business contacts etc.

 

Very few make it into the level of being anything meaningful, even fewer for it to be part-time and only very very few to be a full time gig measured by the western world standards. Photography as we all know is a not one job, it's a constant hustle, ability to adapt, willingness to work extremely hard and be inventive - multiple revenue streams, gift of the gob to get access, to get hired, talent enough for someone to part with cash money for an image when it very often it can be found "good enough" for free or for $0.25 or cut price weekend warriors when it comes to assignments, weddings etc. It isn't a job, it's a lifestyle - there is no vacation, no time for hobbies - photography and family, that's it.

 

It takes real passion to stick it out, to the point that you don't have a choice, you need it, you need it to work out and you need get paid. One has to be able to cope with living month to month, with a sharp knife held to your throat - how many can actually cope with that year after year? The real competition is in fact very limited. So let these cute newbies come with their unrealistic dreams, if one have the time, answer them, if not, just don't - not worth getting stressed/feel insulted or wasting energy on or let's all agree to send them to the best most suitable forum (which is?) and learn to hone their craft first. I'm glad that I never got any help (I'm stubborn as hell and always want to figure stuff out myself), because it has made me confident, confidence to cope or figure out just about anything. The hard way is the right way.

 

However, we all need to start somewhere, but I've never understood the displayed audacity to even think "my stuff is good enough" when you know nothing. Personally I spent years reading, reading, reading, practising, practising, practising you all know the drill - never crossed my mind to earn from it, I just wanted to know EVERYTHING. In the end "they" came to me, which made me start to dare to think the thought. Then in 2002-2003 I left (I actually handed in a letter of resignation and people thought I've gone mad) my job, my very well paid job as an investment banker to follow my passion, with the full backing of my wife. Obviously not for financial reasons, but because when you have real passion for something you almost don't have a choice. Since then, 16 years now, I've hustled, adapted and done whatever it takes, never resting, always learning, always practising - loads of assignments and of course loads of licenses. I will never ever stop learning, because proper passion doesn't fade and I've just about warmed up.

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2 hours ago, TeeCee said:

What people are saying here is that this isn't a "learn photography" site

 

You have nailed it TeeCee. I think others including myself were trying to be a bit more gentle with the OP.

 

I joined Alamy 3rd November 2008 after having been "into" photography for many years. Mostly with film and print, of which a lot was done by myself.

At the time of joining Alamy digital was really making inroads and I was on a steep learning curve with the new technology as well as learning how to produce images for Alamy with the more primitive tools we had then than are available now.

 

It was not until 22nd April 2013 that I decided to join the forums when all my initial problems had already been sorted by self learning (reading and practice) and I was becoming an "Old Timer" on alamy. The reason I joined the forums was to join in the personable banter that was prevalent then and NOT to learn the craft of digital photography.

 

Allan

 

 

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My wife just handed me a camera that her sister has and told me I could use until I can get my own. It's a Sony Nex-5 with 3.5-5.6/18-55 optical steady shot lens. Is this good enough to start with? The lens is pretty large.

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I do not at all see this as a get rich quick scheme, I live in a third world country and both passionate about technology/photography and in need of a small amount of income to upgrade my gear. I think the 'type' you are used to has given you an improper perspective on everyone starting out in the craft.  I'm sorry that has happened, but I assure you I fully realize the amount of work and time one must put into a craft before you become 'good at it'.

 

I think my post is just fine, if you don't wish to participate in it, then I urge you not to.

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Yes, that camera will be fine. It is the sensor that has to be large, not the lens. Do some studying and practicing and you will be on your way. I can see that you are serious.

 

Paulette

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16 minutes ago, wolfcry044 said:

. It's a Sony Nex-5 with 3.5-5.6/18-55 optical steady shot lens. Is this good enough to start with?

Yes.

Many contributors use it, or have done. Plenty will chime in here. But you may be on your way.

16 minutes ago, wolfcry044 said:

 The lens is pretty large.

No, it isn't. You have a lot to learn. You've got used to those pinholes they call smartphone cameras.

 

>small amount of income to upgrade my gear

Even if your images are suitable, it'll be a while before you make enough sales to do that.

 

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I do have a lot to learn, but I'm ready to. I'm a programmer/technician and I learn very quickly and a very passionate and dedicated person. I will be putting my all into learning this new craft. I'm not a fly by night as stated earlier. I would urge who said that not to pass blanket judgements, they are not always correct.

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Although this year I haven't uploaded much to Alamy, photography is still my passion when time allows.  Too late into the field to attempt to make a living at it, maybe if I had started 10 years ago minimum, but enjoy the extra income.

 

Many here (like myself) go back to the film days where we developed our own film (I used to sit on the floor in the bathroom rolling the drum) and developed our own images.  I'm glad to see the back end of chemicals, but the digital age has opened up the industry to everyone with a camera.  But just having the camera and gear won't make you much money.  

 

The online world offers tons and tons of courses and videos (most of them free) to help you learn the art of photography.  If you have the passion (but lack of funds) research the camera you are using, how to use all the options to make your images great. Read, read and read some more.

 

Do all your developing in ACR or Lightroom and then the final work in Photoshop.  I rarely have to do much in Photoshop as ACR pretty much covers everything I need unless I want to remove larger sections or clone something.  I use Photoshop more for my graphics work.

 

With the benefit of online information, you can learn a lot without spending a lot.

 

Jill

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Thank you, I will do that. I've done a crapload of reading thus far and learned a lot. I realize it's not just about reading/learning but practice and an eye for composing good shots. I intent to take all this into account to build my craft. Even if the images don't sell, I'm a web designer and I can figure ways to incorporate my photo's into my designs so they will be useful regardless and I won't have to go pay for photo's as I've done in the past. I've put quite a bit of money into buying photo's for my site designs.

 

Take that into consideration before some of you get upset about the competition, I've paid my stock photography dues.

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Wow, this thread came alive - glad to see you're no shrinking violet wolf!:D

 

As another newcomer to both Alamy and photography, I appreciate all the sentiments expressed here....even the harder ones - perhaps it's a veiled challenge to test our mettle, our staying power if you will, it's precisely reading comments like these over the last few months for other Alamy newcomers, that spurred me on to get better and learn and grow, and not to give up.

And indeed, as has been pointed out, many simply do not respond and promptly disappear. Glad to see you're not one of them - I'm sure we'll be seeing more from you my friend.:)

 

I wish you the very best of luck wolf. :)

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1 hour ago, wolfcry044 said:

Thank you, I will do that. I've done a crapload of reading thus far and learned a lot. I realize it's not just about reading/learning but practice and an eye for composing good shots. I intent to take all this into account to build my craft. Even if the images don't sell, I'm a web designer and I can figure ways to incorporate my photo's into my designs so they will be useful regardless and I won't have to go pay for photo's as I've done in the past. I've put quite a bit of money into buying photo's for my site designs.

 

Excellent attitude, you'll be just fine, however....

 

1 hour ago, wolfcry044 said:
1 hour ago, wolfcry044 said:

 in need of a small amount of income to upgrade my gear.

 

.... a little perspective on what to expect here.

  • Alamy pay just about the highest rates in the stock photo business
  • Average here is approx one sale per month per 1000 quality images in your folio
  • My average sales value is around $30.00 per image
  • By the time Alamy take their commission, and I convert that from USD into £ sterling, that's about £12.00 to me.

Whilst there are folks on here that make a full living out of stock photography, they are extremely few and far between, and have hundreds of thousands of images up for sale, (usually on several sites).  There are rather more folks on here who are full time pro photographers in assorted fields, and stock is a much smaller part of their income.  However, to most contributors, this is an enjoyable hobby, and the odd bit of extra cash is a bonus. If you enter this expecting no more, then you will have a great time with your camera, and a fun time here on the forums too. You have the added advantage of being able to use your own stock within your web design business, what's not to like!

Have fun with that Sony NEX,

Tony

 

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Thanks, I will remember that.

I love this camera, a lot better than my phone for sure. Still trying to get the pictures onto my laptop as my laptops SD card reader is having a driver issue and I didn't get a USB cable with the camera and don't have one on hand, but I've been through all the settings and checked them out, taken some test pictures. Really loving it. Planning on purchasing it from my sister in law in installments. She only bought it when she was in Taiwan because 'everyone had one' but has no idea how to use it, nor any inclination to learn.

 

I'm going to master all the settings and keep researching the art of photography. This is a great deal of fun, and you are right.. what's not to love? Even if I don't make any money at least I've picked up a new useful skill and having a blast doing it. My computer repair skills are next to useless in this country as people don't really own computers here, so I was hoping to get some sort of income from photo's eventually but I realize it will take time. I don't expect a whole lot, it doesn't take much to live in this country anyhow with 53.40 peso per US Dollar. =  )

 

We'll see how it goes, whatever happens, happens as they say. Just going to focus on getting some kickbutt shots and eventually contribute and see where it goes.

 

You are all wonderful, even those of you who were pretty candid and upfront. I understand the annoyance and frustration. As a web designer it always frustrated me when I would hand code site's in notepad and see people throw up easy web builder site's and say "Look what I made!!". Really??? But did you code it and did it take any skill at all to make it???

 

I get it. I don't like doing things the easy way. I like doing it the right and proper way. Probably in most professions, doing things manually may very well be more difficult, but pays off with flexibility and the raw power of having control over every aspect of your element.

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3 hours ago, wolfcry044 said:

My wife just handed me a camera that her sister has and told me I could use until I can get my own. It's a Sony Nex-5 with 3.5-5.6/18-55 optical steady shot lens. Is this good enough to start with? The lens is pretty large.

 

The NEX-5 with 18-55 lens that you mention is fine. My little NEX-3 and 18-55 that I bought secondhand about six years ago have paid for themselves many times over on Alamy.  BTW, you might want to look for a used NEX-6. It has an electronic viewfinder (a huge plus) and is a much better camera than the earlier NEX models. The a6000, which replaced the NEX-6, is better still plus a real bargain if -- like me -- you're on a limited budget.

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Very limited, you have no idea lol. I ran my own company in the United States but I met someone, left the states and moved here. Left my company behind. People are dumping their PC's in the States and going with tablets and mobile devices so my main staple income, computer repair was losing ground anyhow. My server mangement and web design skills are what's keeping me afloat at the moment but it's not much. Thank God Filipino's are so good with finding good deals and living on very little.

 

I'm driven to find a better income not to get rich but for survival. My wife and son depend on me and what I make online is all I have to offer. So yes, I do hope to make an income, but at least it doesn't take much to survive here. The cost of living in the United States was much, much higher.

 

Aside from the obvious need for surviving, I find that I'm extremely passionate about taking photo's. A passion that was left undiscovered until I came here and started taking them. I suppose there's something to say about moving to a new country where everything is different. You want to take pictures of everything you see that the locals find mundane. They look at me strange and say "Why are you taking pictures of THAT!!??" well, it's not mundane where I come from!

 

Moving here has caused me to find a new love. Photography, and I intend on pursuing it to the fullest degree possible!

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Fixed the SD card reader problem, had to go to realtek site and manually download windows 10 drivers. Looking at the photo's now. I set everything to auto for now for a test and my goodness, even on auto these pictures are so much better. I'm excited to go out tomorrow and start getting to know the camera on a more intimate level. =  D

 

No flash on it, but I assume that's not used much anyhow. I read a lot about how camera flash introduces unnatural light to the subject. I have a natural glow light stick that adds a soft light over everything that I plan on using if I need light, to reduce unwanted shadows. I can hold that back from as far as I need so that it doesn't introduce too much unnatural light or glare.

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On 7/10/2018 at 14:22, wolfcry044 said:

Oh, and is there a big difference in Canon and Nikon? What are the Pro's and Con's of both?

 

You buy into a system with your camera bodies.  The standard advice is to figure out which lenses first, then get the camera body that takes those lenses.  Both Canon and Nikon systems have a huge number of lenses going back for decades in the case of Nikon (those will be manual focus, generally).  Most people start with a 16 or 18 to 70 zoom (more or less) which covers most average photographic situations.  Add a 50mm lens or 35mm lens, f/1.8 ish depending on how you shoot (I find with full frame I use 18mm, 35mm, and 55mm all around the same and don't own a zoom at this point, but it is handy to have one.  My usual street camera is 24mm on a crop frame camera and 35mm on full frame.  18mm is my small shop lens -- and where you are probably also has lots of small shops.    I shoot Sony because it's a bit less obvious a camera than Canon or Nikon.  Where I am, nobody knows from Zeiss either. 

 

Best test of a camera is how it feels in your hands.  My favorite camera in the hand was the Nikon D50.  My Sony a7 bodies come close.

 

Canon has some nice lenses that are somewhat cheaper than their Nikon equivalents.  Nikon has perhaps better sensors.   Wikipedia has descriptions of the cameras in both lines.  12MP APS-C (crop frame) is probably the minimum I'd go for. 

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If you like the Sony cameras, the system now has some very nice lenses (though not cheap) and camera bodies from APS-C (I have an a6000 and two A7 full frame bodies, and assorted lenses).  Sony tends to be  generally available and not as big a brand name for thieves as Canon and Nikon.   A good 18-55 lens (I had one on a camera I gave to a friend and I'm tempted to ask for it back) is completely fine for stock photography.  

 

Flash is a whole field in itself.   Start with some reflectors (white cardboard works and is cheap; space blankets can also work).

 

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22 hours ago, wolfcry044 said:

Fixed the SD card reader problem, had to go to realtek site and manually download windows 10 drivers. Looking at the photo's now. I set everything to auto for now for a test and my goodness, even on auto these pictures are so much better. I'm excited to go out tomorrow and start getting to know the camera on a more intimate level. =  D

 

No flash on it, but I assume that's not used much anyhow. I read a lot about how camera flash introduces unnatural light to the subject. I have a natural glow light stick that adds a soft light over everything that I plan on using if I need light, to reduce unwanted shadows. I can hold that back from as far as I need so that it doesn't introduce too much unnatural light or glare.

Don't discount flash - it can be brutal, subtle, defining or overpowering - often utterly essential. You'll rarely see a fashion magazine cover that wasn't shot with flash - it's how and why you use it that counts. The literal translation of photography is painting with light - on occasion you have to supply that light. Nine times out of ten that'll be flash.

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8 hours ago, wolfcry044 said:

Fixed the SD card reader problem, had to go to realtek site and manually download windows 10 drivers. Looking at the photo's now. I set everything to auto for now for a test and my goodness, even on auto these pictures are so much better. I'm excited to go out tomorrow and start getting to know the camera on a more intimate level. =  D

 

No flash on it, but I assume that's not used much anyhow. I read a lot about how camera flash introduces unnatural light to the subject. I have a natural glow light stick that adds a soft light over everything that I plan on using if I need light, to reduce unwanted shadows. I can hold that back from as far as I need so that it doesn't introduce too much unnatural light or glare.

 

The early NEX cameras came with a small removable flash ( HVL-F7S ). You can get one on eBay for under $30. It's fine for fill-flash.

 

Sony also made a larger, more powerful flash for these cameras, but I never bought one since I seldom use flash. BTW, I found that I had to be very careful with the NEX-3 (basically the same camera as the NEX-5). Its contrast-detect AF system has a tendency to focus on the background (back focus). I initially had a couple of QC failures because of this. Often it's best to pick the focus point yourself with the "flexible spot" AF option or use manual focus.

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Wolf,

 

I am breaking a promise that I made to myself to not contribute to this thread again, but

you really do seem like a decent person, it is a bit off putting to me that you are asking

the forum such basic questions, but you are asking nicely and I do wish you the best.

I feel that there is a really important part of contributing to Alamy that has not been

discussed or pointed out to you:  IPTC info.

 

You can have the best DSLR's, the best lenses and post processing skills, but if you

do not master your caption and keywording of the images you make and that do

pass QC, you have wasted your time and are just taking up space on servers. 

 

On Amateurs: Over the years I have seen images, I played a part in bringing them into

the Photo Agency that I was working with at the time, taken by complete amateurs

of an event or person that have made over $75,000 USD in licenses in one day. 

The highest was a set of family photos of a person in the news that was licensed

for over $220,000 to two publications.

 

Spend time looking at the pictures on Alamy,  I do look up anything or event that I am

planning on doing to upload to Alamy before I do it.  Sometimes I just look at subjects

on Alamy for exercise.  In my opinion Alamy is mostly an editorial library so it is good

to look at magazines and online sites to see what people are publishing.  Also looking

at the images on Alamy that were shot in your area.

 

Keep in mind that I am not a "Stock Photographer"  I was recruited to Alamy after

decades of working mostly as a Photojournalist around the world.  I've been impressed

with Alamy during the more than 15 years I been contributing.  I've been a

contributor or worked for a number of the major agencies, most are no longer in

business, over the decades and no agency or library I've done business with has been

better to it's contributors and me than Alamy.

 

PS the D80 is not very good, the D90 at the low end is a much better start.

 

Best,

 

Chuck

 

 

 

 

 

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I have many years of search engine optimization behind my belt. I know how search engine algorithms work generally and how to do keyword research and such and use them without too much repetition or killing the ratio.proximity. That should help when I do end up putting my images up when they are good enough. Of course I'll have to learn what people are searching for when searching for images, it's not quite the same as search engines, but at least I have a foundation to work from. I've been researching what people want from a stock photo site, and I myself have purchased from stock photo site's so I have a general idea, just need to hone my understanding better.

 

Yes, they are basic questions but everyone starts somewhere and I had no idea what I was walking into when I made this post on the forum, it seemed like a nice place for fellow photographers to learn from one another, and if there's one thing that I love doing it's gleaning wisdom from those that are more experienced than I am. Wisdom is best obtained through listening to those with more experience and with more wisdom than we possess in any given area or expertise.

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