I tried to upload some pictures to Eyeem from my computer and it seems like their web upload form does not import IPTC metadata from uploaded files. Am I doing something wrong? Am I really supposed to keyword all my files manually?

It also seems they do not have ftp upload, is it true?

Weirdly enough they do appear to read IPTC, as it seems to heavily influence the keyword suggestions they are giving. They don't outright import IPTC though, making the result pretty much the same as if they had no IPTC implementation at all.

Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on March 28, 2016, 07:32

Weirdly enough they do appear to read IPTC, as it seems to heavily influence the keyword suggestions they are giving. They don't outright import IPTC though, making the result pretty much the same as if they had no IPTC implementation at all.

That is weird. I guess that means they are not interested in attracting dedicated photographers as their contributors. Otherwise I do not see how one can add sizeable portfolio without necessity of manually keywording every single image.

Yes, you are misunderstanding what EyeEm actually is and how it works. First and foremost it's an image sharing community, just like Instagram. They don't have any "keywords", they have "albums" and "missions". In this context having keywords like "isolated on white" don't make much sense. The Market is just an attachment to the community like it is on 500px, only a subset of users are uploading to the market. I have found that the majority of platforms based on mobile communities (Twenty20, Foap) are set up completely different than what we are used to know from traditional agencies. They all struggle with efficient mass upload procedures.

Then again, when you submit images to the EyeEm Market, they are being keyworded internally by EyeEm before being sent over to Getty and Alamy. So there is also no need to keyword your images to the detail. I would submit the most important keywords as albums like specific locations or the name of a fruit or object to provide the keyworders with that information but don't overdo by trying to add 50 keywords (albums) to each of your images individually.

Quote from: PhotoDude on March 28, 2016, 14:49

That is weird. I guess that means they are not interested in attracting dedicated photographers as their contributors. Otherwise I do not see how one can add sizeable portfolio without necessity of manually keywording every single image.

Oh, and I don't know your images, so I don't know if that's the case here but when I read posts like this on MSG it just comes to my mind: I would assert that none of the new platforms is all that interested in photographers who have tens of thousands of pre-keyworded images that are already available on Shutterstock & Co. So for them it isn't really all that interesting to invest time in making that process easier.

I absolutely agree. This is actually something that heralded the decline of 500px: They were about a certain, polished style of artsy photography, and they got traction, and then they invited... us. Not a good idea, if you ask me. If you've found your niche, don't immediately try to break out of it.

I still find the EyeEm implementation of IPTC unfortunate though. The keywords it suggests are actually highly "stocky", with stuff like "built structure" etc. In my opinion, those keywords work for neither stock buyers nor a cool photo community.

If you want to make money selling commercial stock to companies you need producers who create what the normal hobby photographer doesn�t do.

To invest in shooting with models, on location etc...all the useful images, customers like to buy, the photo crowd doesn�t do that.

Artsy pictures are great as prints on the wall but won�t fill an industrial manual, illustrate a medical journal etc...

You need professionals to supply that.

Well, I know quite a few of those professionals who provide that kind of images. But it's been a while since I've seen any of them posting on MSG. And they are typically not the ones stating how much of a loss it will be to a new agency when they don't get to upload their 30k pre-keyworded, non-exclusive images.

(posted by mistake)