Author Topic: Alamy which photos sells best? (Read 13815 times)

avr001 · « **on:** January 30, 2019, 14:39 »

Hi, I´m new in stockphotography and I´m a contributor of alamy for three months now. I had my first sale there ($11 so $5.5 net) I´m wondering which photos sell best in this agency.
Thanks in advance

Brasilnut · « **Reply #1 on:** January 30, 2019, 14:55 »

213 pages of topics, mainly about this question

https://discussion.alamy.com/forum/4-ask-the-forum/

dpimborough · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2019, 17:43 »

Quote from: avr001 on January 30, 2019, 14:39

Hi, I´m new in stockphotography and I´m a contributor of alamy for three months now. I had my first sale there ($11 so $5.5 net) I´m wondering which photos sell best in this agency.
Thanks in advance

You'll have to do your own research as we will have no idea what kinds of photos you make.

However you can go look on the Alamy measures on the contributor site to see what sells

avr001 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2019, 09:48 »

Thanks

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 01, 2019, 08:27 »

In my experience anything can sell there - the same kinds of images that sell everywhere else. For the images that I make at least - not sure about other subjects.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #5 on:** February 01, 2019, 11:18 »

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on January 30, 2019, 17:43

Quote from: avr001 on January 30, 2019, 14:39
Hi, I´m new in stockphotography and I´m a contributor of alamy for three months now. I had my first sale there ($11 so $5.5 net) I´m wondering which photos sell best in this agency.
Thanks in advance

You'll have to do your own research as we will have no idea what kinds of photos you make.

However you can go look on the Alamy measures on the contributor site to see what sells

Which in most cases is like closing the barn door after the horses have run off. Be careful of recent sales on Alamy as an indication of future sales, except in broad terms and types of images. Specific keywords and specific subjects, by recent activity and downloads, are very much, yesterday's news.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 01, 2019, 12:13 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 01, 2019, 11:18

Be careful of recent sales on Alamy as an indication of future sales, except in broad terms and types of images. Specific keywords and specific subjects, by recent activity and downloads, are very much, yesterday's news.

Exactly right. Another thing is for sure, if any of us did know exactly the kinds of images to make for maximum profit we wouldn't blab it on a public forum filled with with potential competitors!

ShadySue · « **Reply #7 on:** February 01, 2019, 12:33 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on February 01, 2019, 12:13

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 01, 2019, 11:18
Be careful of recent sales on Alamy as an indication of future sales, except in broad terms and types of images. Specific keywords and specific subjects, by recent activity and downloads, are very much, yesterday's news.

Exactly right. Another thing is for sure, if any of us did know exactly the kinds of images to make for maximum profit we wouldn't blab it on a public forum filled with with potential competitors!

These, plus looking at my own sparse sales, I can't even identify what type of my own images sell best. It seems particularly random, just what a particular buyer wanted at any given time.
Note also that the price is totally based on the buyer discount, not the rarity of the image.
From reading the forum, it seems that the larger value sales tend to be to the US (mostly US content) followed by Live News. But of course, only a very tiny proportion of contributers ever drop into the forum.
I'd venture to say that both by my own records and looking at AoA, wildlife doesn't seem to sell particularly well there.

drd · « **Reply #8 on:** February 01, 2019, 14:29 »

Nothing seems to sell these days/years on Alamy.

pancaketom · « **Reply #9 on:** February 01, 2019, 14:53 »

I wish I knew. In my experience it seems pretty random. Especially when I only look at those for a decent $ amount. Lately it seems like very low value distributor sales for which I get < a few $ and much better "regular" alamy sales which can be at least double digit $ if not triple. Sadly those will get me 20% less soon.

avr001 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 03, 2019, 09:26 »

Thanks a lot for all the replies. Very useful

pkphotos · « **Reply #11 on:** February 03, 2019, 15:10 »

Seagull shots are probably the best selling on Alamy

ole999 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 06, 2019, 17:03 »

Quote from: pkphotos on February 03, 2019, 15:10

Seagull shots are probably the best selling on Alamy

As well as ducks and flowers 😂

AnneS · « **Reply #13 on:** February 07, 2019, 11:22 »

Quote from: drd on February 01, 2019, 14:29

Nothing seems to sell these days/years on Alamy.

I have been consistently selling on Adobe Stock and Shutterstock last year and no bites on Alamy. I've been starting to wonder if anyone does sell there.

Has anyone tried creating images on the "what should I shoot page?" (I'm searching for the Abba jumpsuits and finding a woman to walk a cheetah, but hoping I can make it soon to the Tomb of Mehu.) Seriously, though, is it worth consulting the list for some of the more reasonable items, with reasonable being a relative thing depending on location, budget, etc.?

PrincessFerf · « **Reply #14 on:** February 07, 2019, 12:16 »

I was also curious about the "what should I shoot?" list. There are a few in the list that I can actually get, but wondered if there's much use in putting the effort into it.

ShadySue · « **Reply #15 on:** February 07, 2019, 14:50 »

Quote from: AnneS on February 07, 2019, 11:22

Quote from: drd on February 01, 2019, 14:29
Nothing seems to sell these days/years on Alamy.

I have been consistently selling on Adobe Stock and Shutterstock last year and no bites on Alamy. I've been starting to wonder if anyone does sell there.

Has anyone tried creating images on the "what should I shoot page?" (I'm searching for the Abba jumpsuits and finding a woman to walk a cheetah, but hoping I can make it soon to the Tomb of Mehu.) Seriously, though, is it worth consulting the list for some of the more reasonable items, with reasonable being a relative thing depending on location, budget, etc.?

The list is based on searches they haven't been able to fulfil in the past (last year? not sure how long). However, three of the searches referring to places near me refer to historic legal cases, which may never be searched for again. (one doesn't actually exist any more, but people may have had a historic photo, it was a former children's home which featured in a 'historic abuse' inquiry early last year).

There was also a request for a town in Australia - but when I looked out of curiosity, I saw there were already over 600 photos, mostly high quality, of that town. I don't know whether that meant that someone had looked at over 600 pics without buying any (but their system isn't that informative) - but the potential buyer presumably would then filter down for what they actually wanted.

With the way prices are going on Alamy nowadays, I wouldn't go out of my way to fulfil any of these pics; but if I happened to be passing, why not?

Not Today · « **Reply #17 on:** February 08, 2019, 04:38 »

Quote from: PrincessFerf on February 07, 2019, 12:16

I was also curious about the "what should I shoot?" list. There are a few in the list that I can actually get, but wondered if there's much use in putting the effort into it.

I've covered 3 'needs' with series of images (as many different angles as possible), and so far... no sales on these.
I won't bother covering more for the time being.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #18 on:** February 08, 2019, 08:51 »

Thanks for bringing this up. I didn't know there was a what to shoot, I just looked at recent sales in measures for my own ideas. I found that to be specific and history, not much of a useful indication of the future.

Here's a link so people don't need to search.

https://www.alamy.com/contentresearchtool/whatshouldishoot.aspx

Now I'll bookmark that on my browser.

wordplanet · « **Reply #19 on:** February 11, 2019, 19:23 »

Once I shot specifically based on looking at my Alamy Measures when I saw an image of mine from 2006 show up a for a search of a rather obscure landmark (in a very touristy area) and knew I could shoot a better one since I was heading out on a photo trip and would be staying in that town. This was in 2016. I shot some vastly better images of it, uploaded them, and one sold for $250. It seemed like a good bet since there were only one or two pages of that particular place. I also shot images of the town, which I might not have bothered with, as my shot list was concentrating more on the surrounding vacation spots, but one of those sold for $60. (And I got into two gallery shows with fine art photos I shot of the surrounding area, as well - one of my favorite images I would not have shot otherwise).

The popular landmarks I shot on that trip have also sold on Alamy a few times and elsewhere many times, but other than fine art sales, that $250 ($175 to me) was my best profit for a single sale from that 5-day trip, so it can't hurt to look at the data available in What to Shoot as well as elsewhere on the site.

Magazines usually search well in advance of when they need an image, so that 'historical' data can be useful. I can't imagine that two customers were looking for that location, and I wouldn't have made a trip just to shoot it, but circumstances were perfect as it was right near where I was staying.

And many of the same images and same locations sell for me on Alamy year after year - travel sells best for me there (most sales at best prices - no difference between RF and RM) - so I wouldn't discount looking at what has sold in the past as that same place or concept might well sell again. If nothing else, when you are fresh out of ideas, it never hurts to look.

AnneS · « **Reply #20 on:** February 13, 2019, 13:31 »

Quote from: AnneS on February 07, 2019, 11:22

Quote from: drd on February 01, 2019, 14:29
Nothing seems to sell these days/years on Alamy.

I have been consistently selling on Adobe Stock and Shutterstock last year and no bites on Alamy. I've been starting to wonder if anyone does sell there.

Has anyone tried creating images on the "what should I shoot page?" (I'm searching for the Abba jumpsuits and finding a woman to walk a cheetah, but hoping I can make it soon to the Tomb of Mehu.) Seriously, though, is it worth consulting the list for some of the more reasonable items, with reasonable being a relative thing depending on location, budget, etc.?

Happy to say that the stock photo gods were listening on the forum. Had my first Alamy sale of one of my food photos to Lithuania. Only $2.19, but it's a start. Better than 0.25.

dpimborough · « **Reply #21 on:** February 13, 2019, 14:19 »

Quote from: AnneS on February 13, 2019, 13:31

Quote from: AnneS on February 07, 2019, 11:22
Quote from: drd on February 01, 2019, 14:29
Nothing seems to sell these days/years on Alamy.

I have been consistently selling on Adobe Stock and Shutterstock last year and no bites on Alamy. I've been starting to wonder if anyone does sell there.

Has anyone tried creating images on the "what should I shoot page?" (I'm searching for the Abba jumpsuits and finding a woman to walk a cheetah, but hoping I can make it soon to the Tomb of Mehu.) Seriously, though, is it worth consulting the list for some of the more reasonable items, with reasonable being a relative thing depending on location, budget, etc.?
Happy to say that the stock photo gods were listening on the forum. Had my first Alamy sale of one of my food photos to Lithuania. Only $2.19, but it's a start. Better than 0.25.

Bulk discount Lithuania I had one too and got a crappy 65 cents your $$2.19 will be less 30% to Alamy and less 40% to the distributor so you'll end with something crappy like mine

JAFO · « **Reply #22 on:** February 14, 2019, 20:52 »

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on February 13, 2019, 14:19

Quote from: AnneS on February 13, 2019, 13:31
Quote from: AnneS on February 07, 2019, 11:22
Quote from: drd on February 01, 2019, 14:29
Nothing seems to sell these days/years on Alamy.

I have been consistently selling on Adobe Stock and Shutterstock last year and no bites on Alamy. I've been starting to wonder if anyone does sell there.

Has anyone tried creating images on the "what should I shoot page?" (I'm searching for the Abba jumpsuits and finding a woman to walk a cheetah, but hoping I can make it soon to the Tomb of Mehu.) Seriously, though, is it worth consulting the list for some of the more reasonable items, with reasonable being a relative thing depending on location, budget, etc.?
Happy to say that the stock photo gods were listening on the forum. Had my first Alamy sale of one of my food photos to Lithuania. Only $2.19, but it's a start. Better than 0.25.

Bulk discount Lithuania I had one too and got a crappy 65 cents your $$2.19 will be less 30% to Alamy and less 40% to the distributor so you'll end with something crappy like mine

Same at China and Romania pennies from partners.

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Author Topic: Alamy which photos sells best? (Read 13815 times)

avr001

Brasilnut

dpimborough

avr001

sgoodwin4813

Uncle Pete

sgoodwin4813

ShadySue

drd

pancaketom

avr001

pkphotos

ole999

AnneS

PrincessFerf

ShadySue

Alamy

Not Today

Uncle Pete

wordplanet

AnneS

dpimborough

JAFO

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