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Author Topic: Uploading similars. Does it make sense?  (Read 14813 times)

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« Reply #25 on: March 15, 2012, 14:11 »
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in addition to all the postive reasons mentioned above for submitting similars, there's the additional random factor that what the artist considers their best 3 or 4 may all get rejected by reviewers, while some that the artist rejected could be accepted.


there's some merit in the argument that similars steal from each other and hurt search placement, but there's no actual evidence that a buyer who takes 1 shot would automatically chose a similar if there were only 1.


« Reply #26 on: March 15, 2012, 15:10 »
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Lisa, I told you his head was going to get really big some day from all his fame  ;)

« Reply #27 on: March 15, 2012, 15:57 »
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not a while ago DT rejected a bunch of my pics with a model, total different clothes, total different hair BUT the same actions not even 1 was approved, basically because it was the same model (all other agencies approved 100%)

would they sell? I am sure of that once they are selling all around, its my lose and their too in the end

« Reply #28 on: March 15, 2012, 16:14 »
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Actually, I've decided you're right, Wut.  You should only upload 1-2 of your best from each series. 

(However, I'm going to upload what I want when I want...)

lisafx

« Reply #29 on: March 15, 2012, 17:43 »
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Lisa, I told you his head was going to get really big some day from all his fame  ;)

LOL!  Yep, he's got a swelled head.  Or (someone else's) undersized body ;D

wut

« Reply #30 on: March 16, 2012, 09:48 »
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One more thing someone didn't think about: If you have similars at IS and even link the series together (post thumbs of images from the same series), it really is a longshot to get the P+ file DLed regularly. I just noticed that with I file I just uploaded, it's P+ and got DLed soon after it got accepted. I can only wonder if it would be DLed otherwise, or how many more P+ DLs I would have gotten, have I not almost always uploaded 2 similar files and put just one into P+. Of course I could also wonder if I missed any DLs for not having many similars, but then again my search positions would surely be worse and the best selling file from the series wouldn't be selling as well or wouldn't be selling at all. I might be overthinking it, but the possibilities really are almost endless...

antistock

« Reply #31 on: March 17, 2012, 00:41 »
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I upload similar images...but not too similar.  I'll let the buyer decide what s/he wants.

Interestingly, Photoshelter did a recent interview with the editor of Sports Illustrated magazine.  He accused photographers of not knowing what the client wants and he encourages his own staff not to self edit before he sees the images.  I thought it was kind of funny, but it was interesting hearing that from a magazine editor.

he's 100% correct, but i also blame clients for not giving us any clue as if we had a magic wand.

stock photographers have hardly any talk or contact with stock buyers.
so, how can they judge if a set of photos has a high or medium or low commercial value ?

stock buyers never go in stock forums discussing in depth what they really need, nor they go in droves in photo fairs around the world or write articles in photo magazines or blogs, and if even if they do it' usually useful only regarding their very small niche.

photo editors can also be a nasty bunch of over inflated egos, one will tell you your photo is superb and the other will toss it out of the window, no surprise the photo editor of Sports Illustrated talks like he was the king of the hill, it must be a prerequisite to become photo editor i guess.

« Reply #32 on: March 25, 2012, 10:38 »
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Not sure if it makes sense for many types, but certainly for some.  Buyers often don't know what they want until they see it and the subtle differences between a series of shots lets one grab them.  It makes sense to do a vertical and a horizontal. I dont do many myself but cannot see that it helps or hurts with one exception, and this is a slight off- topic veer to this thread. Sorry. 
I frequently upload a shot along with one or two cropped versions of the same photo.  Of course I lose size potential, but the cropped photos usually outsell the original by a large margin.  So much for the copy space idea, I think it is often a matter of simple eye appeal.

« Reply #33 on: March 25, 2012, 10:44 »
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Not sure if it makes sense for many types, but certainly for some.  Buyers often don't know what they want until they see it and the subtle differences between a series of shots lets one grab them.  It makes sense to do a vertical and a horizontal. I dont do many myself but cannot see that it helps or hurts with one exception, and this is a slight off- topic veer to this thread. Sorry. 
I frequently upload a shot along with one or two cropped versions of the same photo.  Of course I lose size potential, but the cropped photos usually outsell the original by a large margin.  So much for the copy space idea, I think it is often a matter of simple eye appeal.
I can't see a reason for an agency rejecting similars, unless the quality of the whole series is below par. Storage prices are going down, so that's no excuse.

Buyers want a variety and I brought this up before, the agencies "simply" should offer a feature for the contributors to group series during upload, picking one shot that best represents the series. This one shot will appear in search results with a little icon underneath indicating that there are more or that this is part of a series.

I bet buyers would love that and if they like the look of the "main" preview they most likely will check out the rest of the series. Similar to a light box but being a part of the regular image search.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #34 on: March 25, 2012, 11:10 »
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Buyers want a variety and I brought this up before, the agencies "simply" should offer a feature for the contributors to group series during upload, picking one shot that best represents the series. This one shot will appear in search results with a little icon underneath indicating that there are more or that this is part of a series.

Alamy did exactly this (stacks) a while back, but it proved very unpopular and only lasted a few days. I can't remember the reason for all the complaints on the forums.  ::) Anyone remember?

iStock tried something a bit different also a while back whereby the same contributor could only get a max of 6 slots on the front page of the Best Match. Again someone with a better memory might be able to help me out as to whether it was 6 out of 50 or 6 our ot 200. Anyway, the main complaint about that was the specialists who had a wide coverage of a particular subject were being penalised.

« Reply #35 on: March 25, 2012, 11:47 »
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Alamy is still doing that, kind of. They group images, I think based on keywords. Still, all the images show up in the search but you can see underneath how many more are available from that photographer.

antistock

« Reply #36 on: March 30, 2012, 03:05 »
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Alamy is still doing that, kind of. They group images, I think based on keywords. Still, all the images show up in the search but you can see underneath how many more are available from that photographer.

alamy's approach is a sh-it !

it's only keyword based, secondly it's random as the thumbnail they pick up can eaily be the dullest images of the stack so nobody click on it.

imagine having a carefully edited set of tour eiffel photos, by day, by night, color and b/w, the client would only see 1 thumbnail and maybe it's the worst of the pack, all the other to him would be simply invisible unless he clicks but he has no reason to click !

agencies lose nothing from this, but for photographers is a disaster !
thanks god they rolled back to the normal view adding stack as an option.


 

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