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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: gejam on November 19, 2010, 12:51

Title: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: gejam on November 19, 2010, 12:51
Is it?
With 5000 photos it might seem like a big task.. What are you guys doing? and what are your thoughts on missing out on sale platforms?
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: lisafx on November 19, 2010, 14:20
I started Alamy about a year and a half ago with around 5k images.  And yes, it was a big task. 

It seems to be worth it though, IMO.  If it helps you decide, they make me around the same $ as BigStock each month.
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: LSD72 on November 19, 2010, 14:52
I am hoping its worth it. I have been working an getting more images up there across 3 Pseudos. Over 100 images now with about 10 more in backup to load. Got to shoot new stuff since I am not loading over my Micro stuff there.

Got Naomi and Wynonna Judd coming into town tomorrow.. so gonna get them too..lol. Thing called the Santa Train. Tomorrow will be the first time the rode it together to pass out gifts from a train.  So editorial will be the word tomorrow.

Sunday will be a walk about day downtown and so forth.. so maybe more shots to upload after that.

My views are coming up significantly... so waiting on the sales to trickle along but still a long ways to go.
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: madelaide on November 19, 2010, 16:07
It's a big task especially because their keywording philosophy is very different.
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: lagereek on November 21, 2010, 02:53
It's a big task especially because their keywording philosophy is very different.

Had a brief look at youre port, nice!!  although Im not sure if they will sell well at a place like Alamy.  Alamy tend to be either heavy-duty stuff or just English, Scotish, Irish, countrysides,  BUT!  I could be wrong.
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: madelaide on November 21, 2010, 11:13
Had a brief look at youre port, nice!!  although Im not sure if they will sell well at a place like Alamy.  Alamy tend to be either heavy-duty stuff or just English, Scotish, Irish, countrysides,  BUT!  I could be wrong.
I don't know if it would sell as much as the Brit subjects - indeed, always on demand - but other countries also have a demand, and I suppose also less availabilty.
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: microstockphoto.co.uk on November 24, 2010, 12:36
Alamy tend to be either heavy-duty stuff or just English, Scotish, Irish, countrysides,  BUT!  I could be wrong.

They failed me once a few years ago - and rightly so, since it was possibly the first site I tried, with no stock experience at all.

Now I decided to retry the Alamy test after reading this, I sent in four heavily bucolic pictures of Scottish countryside from my last trip to Glasgow and Cardross and passed the test! Thanks

Not sure when I will find the time to upload many pictures to Alamy, but it's cool being in  :)
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: RacePhoto on November 30, 2010, 01:16
They don't judge content just the quality of the photographs. (http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/300/beatdeadhorseg.gif) If you got rejected it had nothing to do with stock or what you were shooting. They were 48MB back then, now 24MB - which should make it easier for new people. I spent a heck of a lot of time making my images bigger for no apparent reason, other than the industry standard for magazines.

They aren't the same as Micro and what most people here are used to. Buyers aren't looking for girl with a headset, business handshake or slices vegetables isolated on white. Don't expect to sell the same RF stock micro on Alamy. It's just not the same at all.

Alamy tend to be either heavy-duty stuff or just English, Scotish, Irish, countrysides,  BUT!  I could be wrong.


They failed me once a few years ago - and rightly so, since it was possibly the first site I tried, with no stock experience at all.

Now I decided to retry the Alamy test after reading this, I sent in four heavily bucolic pictures of Scottish countryside from my last trip to Glasgow and Cardross and passed the test! Thanks

Not sure when I will find the time to upload many pictures to Alamy, but it's cool being in  :)
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: microstockphoto.co.uk on November 30, 2010, 14:14
They don't judge content just the quality of the photographs.

Well, three years ago my pictures were pretty bad both for quality and content  :D
Title: Re: Go Alamy or not, is that the question?
Post by: RacePhoto on December 01, 2010, 01:14
They don't judge content just the quality of the photographs.

Well, three years ago my pictures were pretty bad both for quality and content  :D

As I've repeated (see the dead horse above) I got accepted at IS and SS. I still don't know how or why. :D

Here's one more oddity to consider. Images that get rejected for assorted reasons, color balance is a good example, and some other vague "microstock" review reasons, are accepted and on Alamy just fine. Doesn't mean anyone will buy them, but they are online and potentially selling, where the rejections from IS and SS would only be available to someone looking at my computer! ;)

Honestly I think no one new should be allowed to join Alamy and old photos that compete with mine should all be removed. Shearing the competition would be just fine with me. However I'm forced to be honest... Alamy is a good alternate outlet for your "artistic" and creative images and a completely different market than Micro.

So someone who does well with micro may sell nothing with 5000 images on Alamy. It's important to keep that in mind when someone says they make $X on micro and sell one image on Alamy a year. The buyers are different, the uses are different and as pointed out, the licenses are sometimes different. You aren't going to sell many vegetarian tofu imitation beef patties, at a steak house. That's about the difference between Micro and Alamy sometimes.