Author Topic: A question about flowers.. (Read 6874 times)

condra · « **on:** October 15, 2015, 14:53 »

Hi!

Does a flower image have more chance of being accepted if it comes with the species name?

I've read that flower images are over-supplied and don't sell well, but I do have access to some rare and exotic species, which I suppose might have a chance. Unfortunately I don't have access to the names of all of them.

Perhaps I should stick with those where I have the name?

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** October 15, 2015, 15:09 »

If you can only keyword 'flower', you'll be lucky if your images will ever be seen.
Certainly, anyone searching specifically on rarexoticname will never find yours.

Bear in mind that what is rare and/or exotic to you will almost certainly be commonplace elsewhere.

marthamarks · « **Reply #2 on:** October 15, 2015, 17:18 »

I've had some success selling wildflowers from specific places, like iconic national parks. But I always make the effort to dig up the Latin name and include it in the keywords. I honestly don't think they'd sell without that.

condra · « **Reply #3 on:** October 15, 2015, 19:51 »

Thanks folks. I did a search on Shutterstock for some of the flowers I've shot already. Some have dozens of pages of results, while other have only one. I guess I'll focus on those with less competition

seawhisper · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2016, 03:27 »

Well I put the latin name for squirrels and I do find people searching by these names on shutter stock.

Chichikov · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2016, 03:40 »

I sell flowers, plants, herbs, enough often - every day in fact.
I always use the latin name and the (most) common name in the title and i do the same in the keywords list where I also put, as much as possible, the regional and local names.
Without this I think that I would sale nothing.

emjaysmith · « **Reply #6 on:** January 10, 2016, 13:06 »

I doubt if you will ever get a lot of sales on real niche plants due to lack of demand but at least you should get some sales from academics and the people who do need specialist stuff that no one else shoots or has access to.
I do get sales on less popular insect species images, mostly from people with an academic interest.
Much less than commercially popular subjects but still worth doing.
One or two of my rarer animals also sell well, but they tend to be more appealing to people promoting an area.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 10, 2016, 15:06 »

Surprisingly, one of my photos of a plant in my back yard quickly became the top seller in its niche...and I'm sure not a great photographer. I'm looking forward to it flowering in spring so I can get more shots.

Elenathewise · « **Reply #8 on:** January 12, 2016, 17:53 »

Absolutely - include all possible plant names in the keywords, customers often look for a specific plant or flower. I had to adjust the descriptions and keywords from my earlier shots to make sure the flowers are described correctly.

heshixin · « **Reply #9 on:** January 13, 2016, 08:33 »

Well, haven't noticed this. Many popular images are attributed like "Flower" or "Blue flowers". It seems to be enough

Chichikov · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2016, 11:21 »

Quote from: heshixin on January 13, 2016, 08:33

Well, haven't noticed this. Many popular images are attributed like "Flower" or "Blue flowers". It seems to be enough

So "Pink flowers" don't sell?

mlwp · « **Reply #11 on:** January 16, 2016, 12:31 »

Quote from: heshixin on January 13, 2016, 08:33

Well, haven't noticed this. Many popular images are attributed like "Flower" or "Blue flowers". It seems to be enough

How do you know it's 'enough'? There's no way of tracking sales that you may be missing by not identifying the flower. So you really can't say it's 'enough' unless you are happy with your sales and don't really care if there could be more.

ID it if you can as there may be some discerning buyers looking for a particular species or variety.

ComfortEagle2095 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 16, 2016, 22:16 »

I live in Arizona so I have a number of native desert wildflowers and plants in my portfolio. About 20% of them sell very well, the rest rarely or never. I always try to make sure I include all the common names and the scientific names in my titles and keywords.

Looking at the SS Image Gallery Stats gallery it appears that there is rarely a scientific name used to find one of my images. It's only happened twice that I can see. Common names are used more frequently but it's still rare. If a name is recorded as a search term it's usually a generic name like "poppy" or "rose" rather than the type.

Most often recorded search words are things like "cactus" or "shrub" or often a color. "Desert" and "Arizona" (for native species) are also common.

Even so, I intend to continue to put the scientific and common names in the titles and keywords for flower images. If nothing else, I learn something from it.

cascoly · « **Reply #13 on:** January 17, 2016, 15:55 »

while 'flower' or cactus may be most common search, you're competing with 1000x or more pix than with 'opuntia' or other scientific names, so definitely worth while

60D · « **Reply #14 on:** January 21, 2016, 09:16 »

Need a help! Anyone knows the names of attached flowers? Captured them in Amsterdam.

ShadySue · « **Reply #15 on:** January 21, 2016, 09:42 »

1 is a parrot tulip.
3 looks like an allium
4 looks like an aster (which wouldn't normally be out at the same time, so ?)
I wouldn't like to stick my neck out about which exact cultivar!

60D · « **Reply #16 on:** January 21, 2016, 10:30 »

Quote from: ShadySue on January 21, 2016, 09:42

1 is a parrot tulip.
3 looks like an allium
4 looks like an aster (which wouldn't normally be out at the same time, so ?)
I wouldn't like to stick my neck out about which exact cultivar!

Thanks a lot. They all were captured during same time, end of May, last year.

Anyone knows the second one?

Copidosoma · « **Reply #17 on:** January 21, 2016, 12:00 »

2 looks like some sort of anemone

You can use Anemone sp.

60D · « **Reply #18 on:** January 21, 2016, 18:22 »

Quote from: Copidosoma on January 21, 2016, 12:00

2 looks like some sort of anemone

You can use Anemone sp.

Thanks a lot.

PatrickA1 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 12, 2016, 09:40 »

Choosing the name is more important But i think that the last person as he said Anemone sp.Thats look nice and will be easily find by doing less work on your keyword ..

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 12, 2016, 09:47 »

Yes #2 is definitely an anemone and probably Anemone coronaria - it is the only commonly grown, large-flowered anemone that flowers in the spring.

cascoly · « **Reply #21 on:** February 12, 2016, 15:31 »

there are some great sites for nature id

https://uswildflowers.com/

http://www.nps.gov/mora/learn/nature/wildflowers.htm

for mammals:
http://www.ispotnature.org/communities/global/species-browser/mammalia

kunilanskap · « **Reply #22 on:** February 12, 2016, 16:17 »

This app help you to identify flowers

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.likethatapps.garden&hl=en

or

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.thran.flowerchecker&hl=en

easy to use and very helpful

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Author Topic: A question about flowers.. (Read 6874 times)

condra

ShadySue

marthamarks

condra

seawhisper

Chichikov

emjaysmith

Shelma1

Elenathewise

heshixin

Chichikov

mlwp

ComfortEagle2095

cascoly

60D

ShadySue

60D

Copidosoma

60D

PatrickA1

sgoodwin4813

cascoly

kunilanskap

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