MicrostockGroup

I have been accepted to Alamy months ago, but didn't upload anything after that because of the lack of watermarks.

Now that I plan to finally start making images ready for them, I would like to know what is people's experience with RF vs RM there.  Most of what I will upload will be travel images, either urban or nature or wildlife.  My tendency is to have all of those as RM, but I would like to know people's experiences.

For those of you who have been having sales in Alamy, what are your experiences with RM in Alamy?

Regards,
Adelaide

So if I'm reading this right, you submit the same RF pictures to Alamy that you do to other sites... do you mean other micro sites or are they other macro sites.  I know with PSC you couldn't sell a picture on their site if it was listed for less than $50 anywhere else.  Is Alamy not the same?

I have separate portfolios for macro and microstock.  The images I will upload to Alamy are my macrostock ones, which I sell at TSS/MyLoupe, FP and Shutterpoint (a mix of RM and RF in the first two, the later only takes RF).  If I sell RM in one place, I remove the image from where I have it as RF, and vice-versa.


Yes, I also set some generic ones as RF, especially when it's plants or animals.  Places and famous landscapes I prefer to set as RM.  But I'm not sure this is the best strategy.

Regards,
Adelaide

Never had a sale at MyLoupe. 

Sales at Shutterpoint are erratic, but I've had some and got some payouts. But in case you don't SP, it's a site in which you have to pay for storage. I've won some free space in one of their contests, so I'm staying there for one year, at least. Months ago they introduced an optional license similar to the microstock sites', and since then I noticed a decay, only selling the images I set at the microstock model, which are the ones I have in microstock sites only. The ones I consider my macrostock portfolio I don't sell at their "standard" license.  If you want to know more about them, click here.

Regards,
Adelaide

Hi Adelaide,
 Alamy sells 60 - 70 percent (L) licensed images.. RF will probably sell quicker and seem to show higher in the searches, but also can hinder as well.. If you are attached to the shot or it is unique I would sell as Licensed, although licensed can actually sometimes be less $$ depending on usage or could be a butt load of money if it is a cover on a huge print run.. RF is a flat fee, but you could get the mother of all sales with a Licensed.. So it is really up to you.. My first sale on Alamy was RF of a Irish landscape =) so you never know.. Editing tightly, keywording well and quality is your ticket to success..

I think Micro images on Alamy hurts the Photographers in the long run.. Yeah you might sell a couple of micro images there for some $$ but you also devalue Alamy and sooner or later you won't have Alamy, you just have another Micro when they decide they can't hold their price structure anymore.. I'm not saying do it or don't do it, because they don't have a rule against it, I'm just saying think about yours and everyone elses' future as Photographers and try to help keep our business and good sites like Alamy going.. Micros are great and Macros are great and they both have their place, but if you don't respect what they are and exploit the loop holes for a quick $$ you only are hurting yourself and your fellow photogs in the long run.. Just some food for thought..

 Good luck Adelaide with your Alamy port, you have great work so I'm sure you'll do well..

i agree with tubed. i have selected images only with Alamy. in fact, sometimes , i even shoot specifically for Alamy, even though they do not expect exclusiveness from you.
Alamy is diplomatic, perharps being british, and places no harsh words like Photoshelter  regarding microstock images, and we know how well that got Photoshelter.
as tubed said, it's really to your own interest , isn't it?
devalue your images with microstock, and soon you will have only microstock to sell your images for pittance.  to many, selling a thousand dl for a dollar is as good as selling 20 dl at a 50 a shot.
do we really value our images to be worth a dollar? once a buyer knows he can get your images for a lot less, there is really no way you can expect a sale of anything more.

wow, holgs. to be honest, i never even check the whole script on licenses.
could it be that many of us don't really know what we are giving away,
or just don't care?

good point , holgs. thanks for pointing it all out to me, i am having a lot of second thought about micro now.

 Well in theory, yes I think this does have some validity to it.. But this poses the argument that designers and others actually strictly follow the guidelines with RF licenses.. Really I being a designer and knowing lots of others, whether they buy from micro or other places, RF is pretty much free reign of usage.. I really doubt that many designers even read the licenses.. So like I said it's kinda a valid argument if you believe that everyone follows the rules.. I'm not really saying that anybody putting up micro on Alamy should be shot   or anything like that.. Really I'm just saying think about how your actions will affect yours and others future.. I personally like being able to choose to send some images to Macro and others to Micro.. I'd like to think there is a future for both, but we as a photography community need to watch out and care for our outlets for distributing.. If we all load up Alamy with Micro images what do you think it will become? Micro?

Well, yes I guess in theory that could be one way to do it.. But just like you upsize your images to get onto alamy, what's to stop the designer from buying your micro image and upsizing it? Or if they only need a websize from Alamy? or 1/8 pg? It's ultimately up to you.. I was just throwing some what if in the future scenarios out there.. It's a free world (for the most part)..

I totally see your point and I agree with it. Overloading Alamy with micro is a Bad Thing (tm).
Another argument: only uploading a version of some micro best sellers to offer them to a wider public with a wider licence, hence a "better" product in terms of what you can do it with it?

Since I'm new, I'm just trying to understand all the possible combinations, don't shoot me yet

 Again just the way I think and everyone has their own twist to life, but I think that would be better than just uploading all micro images in your port.. I guess just use your best judgement..


 Me personally I think that that would be the conciencious thing to do.. I would say that if you put the stuff up on Alamy, and then decide to delete it from the micros, if it is on both for a couple of months it won't kill anybody.. I guess the point I have been trying to make all along is just to be conciencous, not necessarily like Mr. rule follower.. Really it's just like this to me - if we all watch out for our industry and do things to help it grow and prosper and don't undercut for a quick $ then we will all have more to enjoy for longer, no more no less.. I want to be able to have something still worth doing in 5 years, but that depends on us the photographers and how we treat our industry.. I don't think a few of the better micro images on Alamy is going to kill anybody either, I'd just hate to see the search results pulling up all the same images in all the same searches..

Adelaide: my user name on SP would have been the same as on the other sites. I deleted my account some time ago after my subscription expired so there wouldn't be any images on there now.

Basically my problem there wasn't the lack of sales - I got enough to justify the subscription to the site, but it was that I couldn't justify uploading my whole portfolio there given the cost of doing so time-wise, and for the $$$ on subscription that would have been required.

Their full commercial license goes well beyond most extended licenses on microstock sites in that it allows for unlimited number of copies to be printed and sold - that is they can download and pay for an image once, and sell it forever after. Most other EL sales have a limit to unit numbers. The SS enhanced license doesn't allow for resale of images. In any case, I've opted out of those licenses on those sites that allow for resale of my images. 

Interesting thread but I don't think this answered the original question. What subjects work there?