Author Topic: Adobe's Categories (Read 7594 times)

guy · « **on:** March 23, 2019, 12:56 »

I've been pretty satisfied with the upload process after switching over from Fotolia to Adobe, but I find their categories kind of lacking.

Fotolia may have had a bit too many, although I found their drop-down menus pretty easy to navigate when picking a category.

I think a happy medium would be somewhere in the middle but, right now, I feel like Adobe is missing some pretty key ones.

Any thoughts?

davidbautista · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2019, 13:09 »

Are they useful for something?

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Pauws99 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2019, 13:32 »

Personally I rather doubt buyers use categories to search by much....but its only my theory. Would be interesting to know from people who do actually buy?

davidbautista · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2019, 13:34 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on March 23, 2019, 13:32

Personally I rather doubt buyers use categories to search by much....but its only my theory. Would be interesting to know from people who do actually buy?

Or Mat

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Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2019, 14:17 »

I can't see much value for categories when you have such huge collections (SS especially, but also AS).

The sites must have some stats on whether anyone ever clicks on them as a way to browse. And if they did, I'd have to imagine that a quick translation into a few important keywords would allow on the fly category searches without any need for the contributor to do anything.

cathyslife · « **Reply #5 on:** March 23, 2019, 18:00 »

I was a graphic designer and frequently bought images (as well as being a contributor). I never used categories in a search.

swisschocolate · « **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2019, 18:15 »

I also had subscriptions on Shutterstock and Dreamstime for my projects, and never used categories.

Dodie · « **Reply #7 on:** March 24, 2019, 09:46 »

I always thought that categories are more useful for the search algorithm (similar images) than for buyers.
I could be very wrong though.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 24, 2019, 10:37 »

Quote from: Dodie on March 24, 2019, 09:46

I always thought that categories are more useful for the search algorithm (similar images) than for buyers.
I could be very wrong though.

That makes sense maybe that helps explain their use

swisschocolate · « **Reply #10 on:** March 24, 2019, 16:24 »

Thank you Mat for confirmation! I'm doing exactly that.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #11 on:** March 25, 2019, 11:41 »

Quote from: davidbautista on March 23, 2019, 13:09

Are they useful for something?

Quote from: Pauws99 on March 23, 2019, 13:32

Personally I rather doubt buyers use categories to search by much....but its only my theory. Would be interesting to know from people who do actually buy?

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on March 23, 2019, 14:17

I can't see much value for categories when you have such huge collections (SS especially, but also AS).

The sites must have some stats on whether anyone ever clicks on them as a way to browse. And if they did, I'd have to imagine that a quick translation into a few important keywords would allow on the fly category searches without any need for the contributor to do anything.

Quote from: cathyslife on March 23, 2019, 18:00

I was a graphic designer and frequently bought images (as well as being a contributor). I never used categories in a search.

Quote from: MatHayward on March 24, 2019, 16:21

In my personal workflow I spend no time at all selecting categories. Adobe Sensei does a good job picking the most appropriate category in almost all situations and as I understand it, there is little value in the category with regard to generating sales. My recommendation is to leave the category to Sensei and spend extra time on keywording as that is the most effective way to improve visibility of your content.

-Mat

Well that's either a full house or a straight flush?

I never cared much for the importance opinion that some place on categories. There could be too many or too few, it's just a general term.

If you love CV you'll probably love more time wasted on categories, that and my opinion is, buyers don't use them very often. The agencies could drop categories and it wouldn't make a difference. Oh wait didn't one try that and people got all upset because we only had one choice to waste time filling in?

Read what Jo Ann wrote: The search covers the same keywords and more specific details. Plus the agency could do away with us entering them and have the software decide.

guy · « **Reply #12 on:** April 06, 2019, 10:57 »

Thanks for the input guys! I guess categories are probably a leftover relic from the way stock search engines first started out. I won't waste time worrying about them.

dragonblade · « **Reply #13 on:** April 25, 2019, 08:57 »

Out of curiosity, how did people conduct searches at physical stock photography agencies decades ago before the days of the internet? I guess it would have been similar to libraries? I vaguely remember those index cards at libraries - perhaps stock agencies used a similar system. And for footage (particularly film footage like 16mm etc) - how did clients make selections about which clip to choose? Was there like a projector room for film screenings? I'm quite intrigued by this.

cascoly · « **Reply #14 on:** April 25, 2019, 09:54 »

Quote from: dragonblade on April 25, 2019, 08:57

Out of curiosity, how did people conduct searches at physical stock photography agencies decades ago before the days of the internet? I guess it would have been similar to libraries? I vaguely remember those index cards at libraries - perhaps stock agencies used a similar system. And for footage (particularly film footage like 16mm etc) - how did clients make selections about which clip to choose? Was there like a projector room for film screenings? I'm quite intrigued by this.

i started in stock in the 70s - in those days you would send your slides to the agency. clients would submit a request and the agency would physically go to their files to select slides that might work and send those to the client. each agency had their own filing system and most of the knowledge was what the staff remembered.

the big problem was your slides might spend most of their time being sent to different cients w/o ever making a sale and the companies ofte didnt make duplicates as there was a lt of quality loss with dupes. footage was probably even more difficult to deal with.

the upside was you'd get $100 - $500+ per slide accepted.

in the 90s i worked with a seattle agency that was one of the first to sell CDs with images - they'd put 100 640x480 images on a disc & sell for $150-$300!

dragonblade · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2019, 10:46 »

Quote from: cascoly on April 25, 2019, 09:54

i started in stock in the 70s - in those days you would send your slides to the agency. clients would submit a request and the agency would physically go to their files to select slides that might work and send those to the client. each agency had their own filing system and most of the knowledge was what the staff remembered.

Gosh, that system is so different to what I expected. Seems kind of risky too with a lot of trust placed in the postage / courier services and the clients themselves who got to inspect the slides and hand them back.

In around the late 90s / early 2000s, I was considering submitting some slides to physical stock agencies. At the time, I wasn't aware of the online agencies like iStock etc. I was reluctant because it meant someone else would have possession of my valued slides.

cascoly · « **Reply #16 on:** April 26, 2019, 10:31 »

yes, it was quite different and seemed a bit risky, but i never lost a slide in 20 years. i often made duplicates before submitting so that i'd be able to use them it slideshows.

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Author Topic: Adobe's Categories (Read 7594 times)

guy

davidbautista

Pauws99

davidbautista

Jo Ann Snover

cathyslife

swisschocolate

Dodie

Pauws99

MatHayward

swisschocolate

Uncle Pete

guy

dragonblade

cascoly

dragonblade

cascoly

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