Author Topic: News: Alamy allows 'breaking news' uploads (Read 13805 times)

leaf · « **on:** October 18, 2011, 04:44 »

The full details are here on the Alamy blog

Essentially is gives the ability to upload breaking news shots and have the live very quickly. Some of the images will be 'pushed' to agencies so they can use them quickly.

Alamy is still one of my favorite agencies and indeed the first crowd-sourced stock model. AND... they still pay their photographers 60% woo yeah.

travelstock · « **Reply #1 on:** October 18, 2011, 05:20 »

This is good news....

Ed · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2011, 08:19 »

I've applied for the scheme. If I get accepted, I will be leaving Demotix and uploading all newsworthy to Alamy. This is a terrific opportunity and I think they have the resources and backing to give Getty and Corbis a run for the money. They have had some excellent talent join the agency in the last few months.

sarah2 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 22, 2012, 05:30 »

Just wondering how things went! I've been looking to join Demotix but wonder if Alamy would be better for News and Editorial.
No doubt I'd also send up RF to Alamy once accepted etc....
Is either - Demotix or Alamy - worth the effort do you find?

Karimala · « **Reply #4 on:** January 22, 2012, 08:28 »

Since both agencies are rights-managed and non-exclusive (with Demotix offering an exclusive option), you're free to send your images to both Alamy and Demotix, so why not submit to both?

I'm not submitting to Alamy's news program yet, but I sold some editorial over the last year (when I started submitting my older images to the general collection). Three sales out of about 70 images, which I consider pretty good.

gaja · « **Reply #5 on:** January 22, 2012, 09:08 »

Thanks for the tip! Alamy has a very cumbersome uploading process, but I should put them higher on the priority list, since their RPI is one of the best for me.

sarah2 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 22, 2012, 12:02 »

Thanks for that - yes, I guess there's no harm in uploading to both.... So long as there is some action and your Alamy sales sound good to me!

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2012, 10:28 »

Now that Alamy News has been running for a few months, has anyone tried it out? Any downloads?

I live in Indiana where nothing newsworthy ever happens (not necessarily a bad thing) but want to be prepared just in case...

Ed · « **Reply #8 on:** April 10, 2012, 10:51 »

I'm submitting to both Demotix and the Alamy News Scheme. Works fine for me. No sales yet but not too bad for adding to your editorial portfolio.

I'm in a one (major) newspaper town and they refuse to buy from freelancers or stringers. I have licensed various editorial photos through Alamy but only after they've been there for a while and only to national publications in the U.S.

I've noticed that some of my Demotix images have made their way to the Corbis main site. I'm not big on Demotix mostly because their upload process is the worst. Extremely slow, buggy, and not user friendly at all. Alamy with FTP is very seamless to me.

ShadySue · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2012, 10:57 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on April 10, 2012, 10:28

Now that Alamy News has been running for a few months, has anyone tried it out? Any downloads?

I live in Indiana where nothing newsworthy ever happens (not necessarily a bad thing) but want to be prepared just in case...

I just got invited last week. But I don't have whatever fancy phone I'd need to use it (to get the pics there without having to come home to send them), and not convinced the investment would pay off. Pity.

antistock · « **Reply #10 on:** April 11, 2012, 02:40 »

Quote from: Ed on April 10, 2012, 10:51

I'm submitting to both Demotix and the Alamy News Scheme. Works fine for me. No sales yet but not too bad for adding to your editorial portfolio.

I'm in a one (major) newspaper town and they refuse to buy from freelancers or stringers. I have licensed various editorial photos through Alamy but only after they've been there for a while and only to national publications in the U.S.

I've noticed that some of my Demotix images have made their way to the Corbis main site. I'm not big on Demotix mostly because their upload process is the worst. Extremely slow, buggy, and not user friendly at all. Alamy with FTP is very seamless to me.

i don't know where these two agencies are going regarding news/editorial.
never had a single sale on Demotix so far and same on Alamy with a few news pics i tried a long time ago.

let's face, the biggest news publishers probably dont even look at the photo streams coming from demotix or alamy, they're more than happy with their usual suppliers like AP/AFP/Reuters and their local freelancers.

Corbis probably takes some Demotix pics as archive.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 11, 2012, 07:35 »

Thank you all for the information. If I get any pics of breaking news, it sounds like it would be worthwhile to submit to Alamy News just to get it done since it would go to the regular collection anyway. I have a Demotix account but have never submitted. Based on your comments if I do I at least won't have any expectations of sales so if I get anything it will be a plus. It would be interesting to compare those to the micros to see which is likely to give a higher return.

Ed · « **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2012, 08:11 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on April 11, 2012, 07:35

It would be interesting to compare those to the micros to see which is likely to give a higher return.

From an editorial newsworthy perspective, Alamy gives me a much higher return than the micros. I no longer submit editorial images to the micros for that reason.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 11, 2012, 12:22 »

Quote from: Ed on April 11, 2012, 08:11

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on April 11, 2012, 07:35
It would be interesting to compare those to the micros to see which is likely to give a higher return.

From an editorial newsworthy perspective, Alamy gives me a much higher return than the micros. I no longer submit editorial images to the micros for that reason.

Thanks - that is good to know. For the past few months I've been splitting my editorial-type submissions if the images are different enough to test where they would have the highest return - micro RF editorial versus Alamy RM - but my output is too low to have a good enough sample and of course it isn't a direct comparison because it is different images at each place. The few DLs I had at Alamy when I had only about 80 images online have made me more more than some of the micros with hundreds of images over three years, so now I am focusing on increasing my submissions to Alamy - so far, so good. Your experience tells me I made the right decision

steheap · « **Reply #14 on:** April 18, 2012, 09:29 »

I tried the Alamy News Upload process yesterday for some images of the Space Shuttle over Washington DC: http://www.backyardsilver.com/2012/04/space-shuttle-discovery-over-washington-dc/

The upload was great - it bypasses the normal QC (where I have some images sitting in the "long term failed" queue!), and you get to keyword them and put the normal release information into the file. That moves them to "Ready for sale." I finished that around 5pm EST yesterday. I thought they would then quickly move into the main database and be available for sale - no such luck. I checked just now and they are in the same state, and not visible in the main database against typical search terms.

Did I miss a step here? It seems strange to have rapid bypassing of QC and then sit for 24 hours waiting to be available for sale.

Steve

ShadySue · « **Reply #15 on:** April 18, 2012, 09:45 »

Quote from: steheap on April 18, 2012, 09:29

The upload was great - it bypasses the normal QC (where I have some images sitting in the "long term failed" queue!),
Steve

(Off topic) Maybe not: I just had a batch pass this morning, uploaded 5th April. I assumed I was in the Sin Bin. Apparently they had a server problem - it was in the forum this morning.

Sorry - don't know the answer to your actual question. It does seem bizarre though: they specifically said you should have some way of uploading them from situ to get onto the servers quickly. Maybe it's related to the server problem - maybe check the forums (if you haven't already).

steheap · « **Reply #16 on:** April 18, 2012, 09:48 »

Quote

(Off topic) Maybe not: I just had a batch pass this morning, uploaded 5th April. I assumed I was in the Sin Bin too. Apparently they had a server problem - it was in the forum this morning.

Phew - thank goodness. I have had a great run of successful uploads to Alamy and I thought I knew what sort of images they rejected for QC. Perhaps I will be OK!

Steve

steheap · « **Reply #17 on:** April 18, 2012, 10:33 »

Hot off the press update.

I got an email from Alamy news support. It appears that images uploaded via news go into a special section of the database for images taken in the previous 48 hours - my images are there. After 48 hours they go into the main database as general RM images.

Also, one thing that I did wrong - if you use something like Lightroom for keywording and describing, the default categories for the image include Title and Description. If you look at the IPTC fields, there is also one called Headline. Alamy expect you to put the same phrase in Headline for all the batch of related images so that they show together on the site. A new lesson learned!

Steve

ann · « **Reply #18 on:** April 18, 2012, 18:47 »

While images are in LIVE NEWS, they won't turn up in regular searches. (They have to be out of Live News feed a while to show up in regular searches.)

For ex - I also uploaded news photos last night, and within a few minutes, they were visible when one clicked on the "Live News" live link at upper left of Alamy's main page. (They're still there now, but probably will age out soon.)

I also created a Lightbox for that set of photos, and can send it, etc, but when hovering over (or clicking on) an image, "image is not available" appears. I'm guessing that's because an image is available for purchase only through Live News the entire time it's on the Live News Feed.

* BTW, being a space buff, I vividly remember seeing Space Shuttle photos on Live News Feed recently - they probably were yours!

Hope this helps. - Ann

Quote from: steheap on April 18, 2012, 09:29

I tried the Alamy News Upload process yesterday for some images of the Space Shuttle over Washington DC: http://www.backyardsilver.com/2012/04/space-shuttle-discovery-over-washington-dc/

The upload was great - it bypasses the normal QC (where I have some images sitting in the "long term failed" queue!), and you get to keyword them and put the normal release information into the file. That moves them to "Ready for sale." I finished that around 5pm EST yesterday. I thought they would then quickly move into the main database and be available for sale - no such luck. I checked just now and they are in the same state, and not visible in the main database against typical search terms.

Did I miss a step here? It seems strange to have rapid bypassing of QC and then sit for 24 hours waiting to be available for sale.

Steve

steheap · « **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2012, 21:08 »

Thanks Ann!

I'm hoping there is a separate page for sales from "live news"

So far, not a lot of interest on Alamy, although someone did buy 8 prints from my Smugmug site of the image that I put together in Photoshop to represent what it would have looked like if the haze had lifted and the shuttle had flown a bit closer!! (and I didn't upload this to Alamy!)

http://www.backyardimage.com/Americas/Washington/9534652_pBL6sB#!i=1799805129&k=6CSphtJ

Steve

ann · « **Reply #20 on:** April 19, 2012, 02:48 »

Congrats on selling the prints on smugmug!

RacePhoto · « **Reply #21 on:** April 19, 2012, 21:44 »

Quote from: steheap on April 18, 2012, 09:29

I tried the Alamy News Upload process yesterday for some images of the Space Shuttle over Washington DC: http://www.backyardsilver.com/2012/04/space-shuttle-discovery-over-washington-dc/

The upload was great - it bypasses the normal QC (where I have some images sitting in the "long term failed" queue!), and you get to keyword them and put the normal release information into the file. That moves them to "Ready for sale." I finished that around 5pm EST yesterday. I thought they would then quickly move into the main database and be available for sale - no such luck. I checked just now and they are in the same state, and not visible in the main database against typical search terms.

Did I miss a step here? It seems strange to have rapid bypassing of QC and then sit for 24 hours waiting to be available for sale.

Steve

Hey you have an interesting looking back yard. Looks a great deal like Obama's house?

So tell me about the News Upload, because it was by invitation only then it was phone us, then it was some special section, and about now, I gave up trying to understand.

Can you go through the steps you took to get a photo uploaded into the News Section?

I won't be doing anything until June, but maybe if I have "A CLUE" I might get something newsworthy sent in?

Nice photo!

Can you do the idiots guide to submitting a news photo... for me?

steheap · « **Reply #22 on:** April 20, 2012, 08:32 »

Quote

Can you go through the steps you took to get a photo uploaded into the News Section?

I must not have been paying attention - I didn't know there was all this confusion around!

When I look at "My Alamy", I have two upload links, one for Upload Stock Images, one for Upload News Images. I don't recall signing up for news, although with all the pressure of the microstock business perhaps I have forgotten! I certainly didn't have to do anything differently.

When I took my Space Shuttle images, I thought there would be an opportunity if I got them for sale quickly, and so I used an account I already have with Demotix to upload them with a short caption to their site, and I tried this Upload News Images from Alamy. Upload was as normal - a web based page to select files and get them to the site. I then checked "Track Submissions" and after 15 minutes or so, I saw that a message there that they had bypassed QC and were now in Manage Images. I went to that page, and added in some main keywords in the normal Alamy style, and filled in the MR and Property release page and saved the files.

My misunderstanding was that I expected to see them in the main database, but it appears they go straight to a "News section" of the site for 48 hours and then move to the main database after that. In fact, they are now visible in normal Alamy searches.

Lessons I learned afterwards:

You need to fully populate the Title, Description, Keywords and "Headline" fields in your image before uploading. I didn't know about the Headline one - it isn't in the default Lightroom fields and you can find it under IPTC. In Alamy, the headline for a group of shots of the same subject should be the same so that they all appear together. In my case, the Alamy team added this for me as it was missing from my uploads.

I am not sure that you need to "Manage Images" before they go on sale in News. I have a feeling that they go straight from the upload queue into the News section using the information in the file. I can't prove this now, but next time I will check before I add different keywords etc. to the file.

Sales are still few and far between! I sold no licenses on Alamy or Demotix (although I was on their "front page") and my only earnings from the shots were the 8 prints from Smugmug that earned about $35 profit.

Steve

ann · « **Reply #23 on:** April 20, 2012, 17:06 »

You can see what News photos clients find most useful if you check the Live News Feed shortly after Alamy deletes most photos taken 2 calendar days earlier, their time. (unless I'm jumping to wrong conclusion)

For example, it's now after 7 PM my time (NY), and several photos from April 19 are still on Live News Feed. I assume they're still there because clients continue to show interest in them.

--------------
@steheap - You're right - as soon as photos submitted via news route are OK'd by Alamy's news team (which generally takes minutes) they go straight to the Live News Feed, without waiting for contributor to first "Manage Your Images."

As you pointed out, it's important to have the same Caption for all photos covering same event, since then they'll automatically appear together on the feed. In fact, if you then submit other batches - within about 2 hours - and they have same caption, they'll automatically be placed with the earlier batch.

I've noticed that Alamy sometimes tweaks my captions. For example, last night I listed the names of a few well-known people at a political/academic event for the Caption, but Alamy changed it to the name of the event. I appreciate that they do that, since they certainly must have a better understanding of what info is key to potential clients.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #24 on:** April 20, 2012, 23:03 »

Thanks Both. The original plan (maybe aptly called scheme) was people applied for acceptance to the news upload area, based on your collection and the editors approval. I shoot racing and live news and was rejected, so I thought, fine, I'm back to trying to sell news a week after it happens.

Now I'm reading that there's a second direct upload and it's open for all contributors. Great idea Alamy!

So when I get something or next time I upload, I'll look and see.

Thanks for the tips on populating all the data fields, which is opposite of what I do for normal Alamy, where I upload nothing and add all the data, after files are accepted.

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: News: Alamy allows 'breaking news' uploads (Read 13805 times)

leaf

travelstock

Ed

sarah2

Karimala

gaja

sarah2

sgoodwin4813

Ed

ShadySue

antistock

sgoodwin4813

Ed

sgoodwin4813

steheap

ShadySue

steheap

steheap

ann

steheap

ann

RacePhoto

steheap

ann

RacePhoto

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors