Maybe the option to amend certain details while images are still waiting to go online. Two of the photos I just sent up are exclusive to Alamy - scraped through approval I am pleased to say - but I only noticed AFTER that they could have gone Alamy Exclusive flagged.....
Too late now as I'm not going to risk resubbing.....

is the new upload tool done? i wanna uplaod now..

Less Flash. less dropdown menus. In fact none might be nice.

Three things:

- Please get rid of keyword tiers (like everyone else says), or simplify it (a lot). I suppose all contributors spend a considerable amount of time keywording their work pre-upload. It's exasperating having to do it again post-upload.

- Please PLEASE include an 'Editorial only' option, instead of making us select several different 'restrictions' for the same effect (as explained to me by one of your contributor liaison people). By all means, keep restrictions as an option, but simplify Editorial submissions.

- Let us decide if 'number of people in the image' requires a model release. For instance, blurry backgrounds and shots of legs don't require model releases (generally speaking), but your system automatically selects 'RM' if you indicate that the image contains people and you don't have model releases.

Quote from: icenando on December 04, 2014, 09:37
- Please PLEASE include an 'Editorial only' option, instead of making us select several different 'restrictions' for the same effect (as explained to me by one of your contributor liaison people). By all means, keep restrictions as an option, but simplify Editorial submissions.

Wouldn't that then exclude, for example, - "Internal use and external non-advertising use" ? Which is potentially a legitimate use for unreleased content.

Only one set of keywords

Quote from: mystock on November 03, 2014, 11:57

Quote from: bunhill on November 03, 2014, 11:51

Quote from: mystock on November 03, 2014, 11:48
If you really need to have main and secondary keywords, then you can import the first 8 keywords as "main", without asking for manual intervention of course.

OT/ This would not work for the vast majority of users using Lightroom since Lightroom puts keywords in alphabetical order.

(First, an edit - I meant "essential" instead of "main", my error, sorry).

Then let's make the essential keywords non-compulsory.
Or map them to a different (usually) unused IPTC field.

About the Lightroom alphabetical order, we need to ask Adobe to fix that in version 7.
I stopped keywording in LR for that reason.

I use StockSubmitter only for keywording. Works great and save the keywords in your order. Than, just for my archive in Lightroom I choose "Read Metadata From File". In this way I can find a picture in few seconds using Lightroom but each photo has metadata with keywords in "my order"...:-)
This is just a quote because I was reading at the beginning of this thread about it, we all hope that Lightroom will soon solve this issue. Regarding Alamy I'd love to see an easier process 

Dear ALAMY,

as You can see, we have wrote 5 pages of opinions.
And You?
What did You improve?
Nothing!
Still same Bu++ sh++ upload system...
So, we are waiting.... on better upload system AND more sales.
If You still monitor this thread I wish You  a nice day.
Kind regards.

This thread was started by Alamy a month ago. So, it is impossible to implement such a big changes in that short period of time. Be patient. I respect they will to hear our opinions.
Let's hope they'll actauly do something about it.

I'd love to have an "Alamy Export Plugin" for Lightroom. Or at least FTP Upload so we could use the traditional Lightroom SDK to export from RAW Files directly to an FTP server at Alamy.

Quote from: Redneck on December 04, 2014, 14:54
I'd love to have an "Alamy Export Plugin" for Lightroom. Or at least FTP Upload so we could use the traditional Lightroom SDK to export from RAW Files directly to an FTP server at Alamy.

http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/3417-changes/?p=55710

QuoteThe good news is that we are rolling the FTP option out to all contributors over the next month or so.

I could easily have a few 1000 More Images there But, stock is  {To Me} about cost effectiveness , Uploading to Alamy is simply way to Time consuming. I have told Owners of sites for years "Whoever Makes this Process the easiest, Wins" I can do Hundreds an Hour at 123,P5,SS and DP. I applaud Alamy for this move, Hope it comes sooner than Later. I have a few 100 That passed QC and I just can't take the time to go through this antiquated Process. It's just silly Nowadays especially for those with a Large amount Of files. Also This Large File size thing??? For RF? Why? Thats totally silly also.

Good Luck.

Here is my top 3

1- the option to upload vectors via the site, one at a time (not at least 500, that's ridiculous)
2- the option to upload vectors via the site, one at a time (not at least 500, that's ridiculous)
3- the option to upload vectors via the site, one at a time (not at least 500, that's ridiculous)

Quote from: Rinderart on December 04, 2014, 16:49
I could easily have a few 1000 More Images there But, stock is  {To Me} about cost effectiveness ... I can do Hundreds an Hour at 123,P5,SS and DP.

Yesterday I sold a file at Alamy for $250 (10 year editorial book licence). I get 50% of that. So $125 NET. I would have to make 500 subscription sales at SS (I'm not there) to earn $125 and the US govt would tax me 30%. My average NET return per download in 2014 at Alamy is currently appx $45. (Yes I know that not all microstock sales are subs).



My best selling image there has only 7 sales and has earned me, I think, appx $115 NET. My best earning image there has 1 sale and has earned me appx $130 NET today. Now this is obviously peanuts compared with iStock/Getty combined (or I am guessing SS) where an image which performs well will earn many thousands. But this was not an image which would ever have sold well enough to work as microstock.

I would estimate that appx none of the images which I upload to Alamy will ever make anywhere even vaguely near 500 sales. Does that mean that I should not upload to Alamy ? (Personally I find the process of uploading and keywording to be easy - and it helps me to focus on whether the image actually has any useful narrative).

I agree that it is all about cost effectiveness. That image I licenced yesterday for $250 was a second or third choice selection - what I mean is that it is not one which I initially picked out. That tells me that I need to focus my mind better on what the images I sell tend to have in common. Because I should have spotted it. And I should be shooting more images like it.

I am not arguing against microstock. I have massively enjoyed iStock over the years and have learned a lot from the experience. It's just that I think that some images and subjects work as microstock and others can work really well at Alamy. I think that microstock is cost effective for images which have the potential to sell in volume.

Quote from: bunhill on December 04, 2014, 17:48

Yesterday I sold a file at Alamy for $250 (10 year editorial book licence). I get 50% of that. So $125 NET. I would have to make 500 subscription sales at SS (I'm not there) to earn $125 and the US govt would tax me 30%. My average NET return per download in 2014 at Alamy is currently appx $45. (Yes I know that not all microstock sales are subs).

Yes, these Alamy sales are nice but it's easier to make 500 subs sales at SS (329, actually*) than one large sale at Alamy

*not all subs sales are $.25. In fact, at SS it's quite easy to reach the $.38 tier

Quote from: Rinderart on December 04, 2014, 16:49
I could easily have a few 1000 More Images there But, stock is  {To Me} about cost effectiveness , Uploading to Alamy is simply way to Time consuming. I have told Owners of sites for years "Whoever Makes this Process the easiest, Wins" I can do Hundreds an Hour at 123,P5,SS and DP. I applaud Alamy for this move, Hope it comes sooner than Later.

Even some new sites seem not to understand this. Unbelievable.

Quote
I have a few 100 That passed QC and I just can't take the time to go through this antiquated Process. It's just silly Nowadays especially for those with a Large amount Of files. Also This Large File size thing??? For RF? Why? Thats totally silly also.

Good Luck.

One more suggestion for Alamy: please, do not delete the back log - either voluntarily or in error - when you'll switch to the new upload.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, they're all helpful and it means that you can at least know that what you request will be considered, discussed and (if possible), implemented here at Alamy HQ.

As Dook kindly pointed out - a project for this size of overhaul is massive and big changes take months to develop, test and deploy, not weeks.

That said we do have at least one 'quick win' on the way. As previously mentioned we have begun rolling out FTP upload for all and this should be complete by the end of January. You can check to see if you've got it yet by clicking the upload link from the Alamy dashboard. If FTP has been rolled out to your account, you'll see it as an option. Hopefully vector upload for all will be next but we can't confirm that just yet.

We've begun mapping out how a new, revised process will work and we've got some really exciting features for you that we think you'll love once they're ready.

Thanks again,

Alamy

Thnx for infos.
Regards.

Quote from: tickstock on November 03, 2014, 13:21
Keyword tiers are one of the better things Alamy does, I'd like to see other sites adopt that or something similar.  Spending a few extra seconds making sure our images have good keywords helps buyers find them.  What's more important uploading millions of images as quickly as possible or getting sales?

I agree, despite the extra work.

Quote from: madelaide on December 05, 2014, 22:52

Quote from: tickstock on November 03, 2014, 13:21
Keyword tiers are one of the better things Alamy does, I'd like to see other sites adopt that or something similar.  Spending a few extra seconds making sure our images have good keywords helps buyers find them.  What's more important uploading millions of images as quickly as possible or getting sales?

I agree, despite the extra work.

The order you put keywords in is enough to specify which ones are the most important.
Why not just taking first N keywords as the most important?

Could you please stop to make me extra work. Why do i have to edit the "essential words" and "main keywords" for each single image.

Nothing has changed or?

Your uploading system is in general fine.

THE BIG PROBLEM : Your keywording system ! That is the reason why I´m not uploading at your site anymore. When I pay a keyworder to keyword my images, and then ALAMY messes it all up with the keyword system. Then it´s just not worth it.

Keep your keyword system simple. One field for all 50 keywords, one field for titel and one for descreption. And PLEASE make your algoritm use normal EXIF data, because thats where photographers put the keywords, titel and description. NOT PHOTOSHOPS STRANGE KEYWORDING RATINGS. NORMAL EXIF.

Looking foreward to the change so I can contribute to ALAMY again.

One of the most laborous and boring sites to upload to. Most of the time I just give up after 10 or so thinking I'll come back later and never do. been this way since day One. Ya know guys "whoever makes this the easiest wins" Thats all there is to it.

And...what this  DACS Payback, a non profit organisation set up to distribute money to visual arts for secondary licenses in the UK market.

You want 50% to pay me and your a Non profit?? what am I Missing.

Quote from: Rinderart on July 10, 2015, 22:26
One of the most laborous and boring sites to upload to. Most of the time I just give up after 10 or so thinking I'll come back later and never do. been this way since day One. Ya know guys "whoever makes this the easiest wins" Thats all there is to it.

And...what this  DACS Payback, a non profit organisation set up to distribute money to visual arts for secondary licenses in the UK market.

You want 50% to pay me and your a Non profit?? what am I Missing.

Alamy will do all the work for you with DACS and take 50%, if you don't want the hassle.  Or look in the alamy forum and there are lots of threads about how to fill in the DACS form on their site and then you keep 100%.