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Agency Based Discussion => Alamy.com => Topic started by: substancep on May 30, 2016, 13:21

Title: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: substancep on May 30, 2016, 13:21
Does anyone have any tips on how they keyword the images in alamy? I have quite a lot of images that have been approved by QC, but the thought of having to manually put the keywords into three different categories for each individual image is very discouraging. How do you guys deal with this workflow?
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: apeman on May 30, 2016, 13:28
I tend to do keywording in Lightroom now. That way, anywhere I happen to upload the image to, the keywords will be there already.
It's also handy to do it in Lightroom when you have multiple images with a simple subject; Metadata can simply be synced.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: substancep on May 30, 2016, 13:30
I tend to do keywording in Lightroom now. That way, anywhere I happen to upload the image to, the keywords will be there already.
It's also handy to do it in Lightroom when you have multiple images with a simple subject; Metadata can simply be synced.

I was talking more about the three types of keywords they have, the main, essential, and comprehensive keywords. Do they really matter, or can you just leave all the keywords in one category?
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: apeman on May 30, 2016, 13:34
I usually only enter in the first two categories. Afaik, Lightroom keywords appear in the second category. I copy the most important ones to the primary box and move on.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: Mantis on May 30, 2016, 14:16
Essential key words have the most weight. Main keywords has less but I use it every time. I don't use the comprehensive keyword fields.  There is also a batch system if you have similar images.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: Dook on May 30, 2016, 15:46
They promised a new keyword tool. I've been waiting... and waiting... and waiting...
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: unnonimus on May 30, 2016, 17:21
only 15% of my portfolio ever sells, so it is easy to only add the keywords to the best portion of the portfolio, and skip the rest or leave them for later.

the other options is to send them a csv and ask them to add it to your account.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: ShadySue on May 30, 2016, 17:27
only 15% of my portfolio ever sells, so it is easy to only add the keywords to the best portion of the portfolio, and skip the rest or leave them for later.
Why would you bother to upload at all if you were just going to skip keywords?

What is 'best' is the file the buyer wants - can you really accurately predict it?
If you know the 15% which will sell, why bother with the rest?

To the OP, I only upload a little batch at a time, which makes the managing more bearable. If I process any meantime, I put them in a folder called 'next' and can upload these while 'managing' the most recently accepted batch.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: dpimborough on May 31, 2016, 03:22
Always add your keywords in the image file metadata using Lightroom or photoshop or what ever software you use.

Don't forget to add plurals such as dog, dogs, cat, cats as Alamy's search does not handle plurals like for example Shutterstock.

As to essential keywords it's only a short section and if you put your critical keywords first in the metadata you can simply copy and paste those into the essential keyword box.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: Dumc on June 03, 2016, 06:27
I don't want to open a new topic so I'll just ask here.

So I finally reached payout on Alamy (yay!) and want to know, do I have to request payout or is it automated at the end of the month?
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: noodle on June 03, 2016, 06:30
Its automatic
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: Dumc on June 03, 2016, 06:32
Thanks.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: jgolby on June 17, 2016, 19:51
Rather than start a new topic I'll post here too. Despite Alamy's rise up the results chart I find it a huge burden to submit to them due to thier keyword system.

I know I should but I do not save keywords to files, instead uploading to one of the other major sites, keywording there and copy/pasting across to others. I find submitting to Alamy with the three tier system so time consuming even for a handful of photo's I tend to procrastinate and avoid.

If anyone has any tips/advice I would love to hear.
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: Mr Nobody on June 17, 2016, 20:43
Rather than start a new topic I'll post here too. Despite Alamy's rise up the results chart I find it a huge burden to submit to them due to thier keyword system.

I know I should but I do not save keywords to files, instead uploading to one of the other major sites, keywording there and copy/pasting across to others. I find submitting to Alamy with the three tier system so time consuming even for a handful of photo's I tend to procrastinate and avoid.

If anyone has any tips/advice I would love to hear.

create a file in word for your keywords is my first tip. You will be more efficient when you need to go back to that images with keywords saved.  Upload small batches to Alamy (i.e., 10 images) to make the task less painful. iStock is similar in being a pain in the butt to upload files. 
Title: Re: Any tips on keywording/workflow?
Post by: stockastic on June 19, 2016, 09:02
Alamy has been promising to streamline this process since, I think, the last Ice Age.