MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Photo Critique => Topic started by: Chris Kelleher on August 14, 2017, 13:50
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Hello,
So I have had some images sitting out on ShutterStock and Alamy for a while, but didn't sell much at all because of the very limited volume of what I uploaded.
I have just started going through and uploading images that I have back in July, and now have about 1,000 uploaded. My goal is to add a couple hundred more each month, between what I already have and new images I take. For July to Mid-August, I've had about 100 downloads so far.
Most of my images are a combination of travel, family/kids and some news/events. I haven't shot anything specifically for stock, but may try doing so shortly to improve my downloads.
Here are links to my portfolios:
https://www.shutterstock.com/g/kelleherphoto?language=en (https://www.shutterstock.com/g/kelleherphoto?language=en)
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/E1349071-7A31-4A93-85F4-CE7AE9CC3A6B/1/Chris%20Kelleher.html (http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/E1349071-7A31-4A93-85F4-CE7AE9CC3A6B/1/Chris%20Kelleher.html)
https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/206494827/Chris (https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/206494827/Chris)
Please let me know what you think. I have been a little surprised at what sells and what doesn't so far.
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"Please let me know what you think. I have been a little surprised at what sells and what doesn't so far."
The reason why you're surprised is that you need to better understand what is commercial and what isn't. Look at the ones that are selling and concentrate on uploading more of them from your existing inventory. On your new photo sessions spend the time producing more of these sellers but not copies- look for different settings or uses. The majority of my best sellers aren't artsy due to having a lot of copyspace available.
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The reason why you're surprised is that you need to better understand what is commercial and what isn't. Look at the ones that are selling and concentrate on uploading more of them from your existing inventory. On your new photo sessions spend the time producing more of these sellers but not copies- look for different settings or uses. The majority of my best sellers aren't artsy due to having a lot of copyspace available.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. Yes most of my images are tightly shot, so that is something I need to work on to allow for plenty of copyspace area to be available.
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Your keywords need work.
I only looked at https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sea-gull-watching-food-opportunities-while-677416906?src=MMp-NdcP4ynzloHbkXKd_w-1-24
You have called it a Sea Gull. ::)
Honestly, I googled American gull black head white eyering and instantly got Laughing Gull, which confirmed what I thought.
So you need to have Laughing Gull and Leucophaeus atricilla. You should also have USA, US, American.
I have no idea which of these meanings of Kittyhawk you were imagining, so it has to go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Hawk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Hawk) I presume you didn't mean http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kitty_Hawk (http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kitty_Hawk)
If you were thinking of Kittiwake, don't bother, your pic isn't a kittiwake.
Other words you shouldn't have on that photo:
blue, bluebackground, bluesky (does that exist as one word?), naturalhabitat (ditto), clouds, flight, fly, pier (it might be a pier, but someone looking for a pier wants more evidence of that), harbor (ditto), dock (ditto), Nagshead (is there a meaning for that other than an RSPB reserve in England or a fairly common pub name?), seashore, beach, sandpiper (totally different family of birds), wildfowl (that covers ducks, geese and swans, not gulls), waves, migration (no evidence of migration), shore, sky, water, waves,
The above are all indisputable.
There are others which SS has split egregiously, but I don't know if there's anything you can do about that. Someone who submits on SS should be able to advise (e.g. sea coming from sea and gull; banks coming from Outer Banks etc. Can they be held together by keywording "Outer Banks"? It's why SS search can be very inaccurate.
Also, worth considering: perch and perched: Gulls don't perch, they stand. Perching is for passerines which curl their toes round twigs (or wires).
Feather, beak, eye, wing: all birds have these. Someone searching on e.g. feather almost certainly wants to see e.g. an isolated photo of a feather, not a whole bird in which you can't distinguish a feather.
On Alamy, be careful of uploading too many similars: historically that would affect your click through rate, which would affect your Alamy Rank, which is how high your files will show in a search.
However:
Alamy Rank changes from time to time, and
CTR is only one element in your AR.
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Most of my images are a combination of travel, family/kids and some news/events. I haven't shot anything specifically for stock, but may try doing so shortly to improve my downloads.
Hi Chris,
Alamy:
I see you've submitted a lot of images to the Alamy Live News, such as the Kendall's Crusade fundraising event. It's difficult to say how big this type of event is and whether it would attract some buyers. There's also quite a bit of similars which as stated above may affect your ranking.
As for the RF stuff you're duplicating on Micros, that's generally not a good idea. Commercial micro type images generally don't do well on Alamy as many of the buyers are editorially-types looking for specific places and events (which you have supplied). There's also the chance that a buyer may get the same image for much cheaper (so far not much evidence to support this but it's an inkling). That's nothing in comparison with licensing the same image RM at Alamy (example: Image ID: JHX93Y) and RF at Shutterstock (example: Stock photo ID: 678457027). Just don't do it as it's against the Contributor Contract(s).
SS
The good news is that you have a lot of model released images of children which can be difficult to obtain. These automatically make them more premium. However, I don't get the kids stuff...I can see you're going for candid authentic shots but they appear more like snapshots to me with the exception of some lucky moments that appear more commercially interesting (playing in swings, playing in snow). It seems like you're just shooting everything and hoping to catch something special...then submitting everything. You need better selection and eliminate the trashy images (kids with weird expressions and/or too crops at the very least).
The strongest evidence that they're snapshots are, for the most part, the weird angles and tight crops on the kids. Then there's just more snapshots of beaches with harsh sunlight.
However, the pumpkin stuff may be interesting although you do need to shoot wider.
I don't blame you, SS letting is letting in all sorts of junk that they would have rejected 1-2 years ago. It's become a joke. Look at this image (Stock photo ID: 675367726) soooo clearly OOF :o makes me upset how much QC standards have dropped.
I mean, look at the attached image. Is that an image of a train...it's just a lamp post with an overexposed sky. Why does it need to be editorial and the key wording is just wrong. As for commercial value, extremely questionable.
Ok i'm done. I admire your tenacity to keep submitting but it's too much quantity and not enough quality.
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Your keywords need work.
I only looked at https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sea-gull-watching-food-opportunities-while-677416906?src=MMp-NdcP4ynzloHbkXKd_w-1-24
You have called it a Sea Gull. ::)
Thanks for the feedback Sue. I had keywords for a sea gull that I copied for that image, but I should have obviously done some research to ensure I am starting with the correct type of gull.
Right now I am using the 'QuickMeta' tool in Stock Submitter, which seems to work ok for the most part, but isn't perfect. Certainly something I need to work on getting better at, and I probably need to take more time to get this right so they so up in the searches as buyers would expect them.
If anyone has any other pointers to the best keywording workflow that would be great.