My non-exclusive portfolio in IS is very limited for many reason:

1. it is a waste of time (the time to submit 1 picture on IS is the same to submit 5 pictures on SS)
2. the % is offensive
3. PP is a tricky backdoor
4. Videos' prices are insulting

I'm waiting next payment to decide if:

1. Go ahed slowly as did 'til now
2. close my account
3. stop uploading and leave the pics in

Revenues on IS for the entire month of october are less than half day on SS

IMHO:
First improvement is allow a single field for keywording, where the first five or six words are the most relevant. The reason why is a pain, for me, to submit photos in Alamy, is that after keywording and uploading, I have to move all my keywords in the manager. The result of this double work is, often, a lack of precision and sharpness in the keyword: I can't spend too much time to remove or add one single word from a single file in a batch job.
Alternative is: give as the tools to keyword offline according to the Alamy stress system

Second point is not related to keywording, but I really need this: when I upload to Alamy, nobody can use the same router, because, also if I go to check the newspaper online, the Alamy upload stop to work and delete the picture from the list. We cannot interfere with the connection.
I really need an ftp port to upload other than news.

Last, but this is just a toy for the moment: why don't activate the geolocalisation, reading the exif automaticaly?

Hoping in a better upload and keyword future with Alamy..

Sincerely Yours

Franz

Well, I know that my pictures are not the best for microstock, because I'm a photojournalist, most part of my shot are without release, and this means that I upload marginal shot from my work. The fact is that I cannot understand why pictures that are refused for three or four times, when, at last, accepted, become best sellers. There is - for my way - a discrepancy between what is accepted (50 pictures of a nurse wearing gloves, i.e.) and what the customer buy. But I'm not complaining: is part of this game and I accept it.

Significant, for me and my small portfolio, means 0 (zero) pictures sold this month. I'm uploading on iStock few pictures per month because is almost a waste of time compared with other gencies and the commission is worthy of a usurer. The only "satisfaction" came from patner sites, but this month were still not updated.

Quote from: Red On on October 13, 2014, 17:08

Please, don't sell news on microstock agencies, we can't destroy photography and photographers more than this.

i don't think there will be ever space for News on micros as the money is just not there.

amateurs will upload the odd iphone shot here and there but will soon realize it's not sustainable moneywise.

Well, just to expose the problem: last year for a mistake, some of my pictures of a vernissage in an important museum, were uploaded on DP. They sold immediately three pictures for .60 each, and have seen one of them published in a magazine that spend not less than 130$ (regular base-fare) for a picture. I have informed DP, but they told me that was bought by the magazine under subscription. This is the trend: if magazine and newspaper can buy pictures so cheap from micros, well, the pros will go home.

With my sport editorial I follow this principle :

Right after the even is shot  :
 - put it to local country news agency
 - put it to alamy
 - put it to my own stock database website

 - after some time I put it to SS. Because news after one week is worth only for stock noone even rememer it. Maybe I loose some cash here because it is not distributed asap, but what I see, Im selling there images half a year after the event happened.

So this is just my preference, to avoid selling hot pictures for nothing.

That's the right commercial way to everybody

Quote from: Red On on October 13, 2014, 17:08

I try to revitalize this topic, because I'm basically a photojournalist, editorial is my bread and meat and cheese and fuel etc...
What I want to say is that is absolutely ridicoulous the price that microstock sells news or editorial pictures.

To produce a news picture is expensive; to produce a news picture you have to be qualified; to produce a news picture you have to work daily on it (I mean that amateur can just have a lucky shot, but cannot schedule events and planning their life on this kind of photography).

Please, don't sell news on microstock agencies, we can't destroy photography and photographers more than this.

Oh but it depends. I sell some "news" and editorial on Microstock, especially on Shutterstock, and if the image is something that people come back to or that can be used as a true "stock" image for recurring events and/or as an abstract to describe a place or an institution, then the image makes me several hundred dollars over its lifetime.

Is that worse than what would have happened in traditional stock editorial photography? Tell you what, I don't care. Why don't I care? Because I am an amateur, maybe a semi-pro, and the high and haughty editorial photography world would never let me in. So what choice do I have? My education, my primary profession, my travels and pure dumb luck have given me access to some high value editorial locations, and I am a decent photographer with an eye and a passion for a good editorial image. So I will sell them at the agencies that will have me. It's that easy.

That's right: I'm talking about "News" photography, and not generic editorial ph. News are the kind of photography that expire in a week or less their journalistic value.

I'm pretty sure microstock is one thing I could never become addicted to....

I totally agree. When I was photographer I spent all my life shoting around the world and was completely addicted on reportage, then the market was invaded by microstock, I'm now involved in this industry, and from really well paid fun, photography became a low income job. No addiction

It's a "very expensive option" if you only  want 25 microstock images.  It's about $80 per image, not 22c an image.

Should be the minimum price considering our work. The fact is that microstock industry is engaging a commercial war where the only victims will be photographers and photography. Don't forget that iStock is paying 15% of commission to the newbies. One-five!! Less is not possible to find in any other business. If the MS agency are plenty of amateur, ready to have 10 bucks per month, will never be possible to change the situation.

I heve seen important exclusive photographs sold for few bucks by "big players". I have seen the fall of the general quality of the photographs in this industry (I'm not thinking of technical quality, but conceptual, artistic, creative, communicative and all the kind of quality that is not depending by the gears and hardware) because the market was opened to amateur that are happy to see 20$ at the end of the months, and the clients are happy to save money. Alamy is plenty of this pictures, but they don't sell for cents. That's enough. This is a political vision.

RedOn, you can send your quirky pictures to Alamy, but there's no way you can stop them selling for micro prices (at least, non-sub micro prices), as it's all down to what deal the buyer has with Alamy.

Well, I don't think to produce quirky images (in microstock I sell mostly sterotypes), but my best images will not licensed for few money. It's very easy to delete a account. This summer I was called by the picture editor of a mass-circulation newspaper asking my pictures on Yazidis in Iraq. They propose to pay 15 Euro gross bill. I simply refused to publish for thise ridicoulos price. Then I was called by the director of a small monthly magazine (2,500 copies printed), and I sold three pictures for the same price: 15 Euro. It is no matter of microprices, but micro diffusion of the media and adequate price compared to it.

If you are a professional photographer and Alamy is part of your busines, this means that you'll upload an average of almost 50 perfect pictures per week as I do, including livenews. In this case every batch will be reviewed in no more than 36 hrs. If you fail QC the delay will be longer