http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy An entire Lightstalkers thread via RSS/XML. en-us Anyone willing to tell me their general experience with Alamy? Generally, have you been satisfied with your sales and working with them? You can send a private message if you prefer. Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:54:24 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy I am wondering too, so I am bumping this post. Is someone making a good income out of Alamy? If so, how many pictures did you submit, and how much do you make out of them? Thanks for sharing. Lucas www.pictobank.com www.photoluc.com Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:22:56 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102117 I am not satisified with Alamy's sales. But maybe my photos are not the kind that generates lots of licensing fees.... I kind of use them as a cheap website...I send a link of selected photos to specific potential clients. My opinion: Alamy is great for Alamy but not so great (generally)for you. They don't pitch your work, they won't offer stories to their editorial contacts. They are a passive lot when trying to sell your work but they work hard at selling Alamy. They get a piece of every transaction. Your 100 or 1000 photos are part of their 10 million plus uneditted photo collection. Hummmm...why am I still with them? Doug MacLellan Windsor Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:38:28 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102120 Very satisfied with their sales team. Very pissed off with their ridiculous QC team and it's laughable 'zero tolerance or the whole batch gets it' routine. Do these guys want to sell photos or make excuses for why they can't ? One more thing-even with the newish Alamy Upload you will be waiting AGES for the useless QC team to actually get your stuff on the site and available for sale. Put your time-sensitive news photos somewhere else. Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:54:19 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102143 I haven't sold anything on there and got so fed up about it; here- http://photobumf.blogspot.com/2007/10/beware-beast-alamy-and-its-10-million.html It really comes into its own as a research tool, but as as for making sales - its just not happening... Roger; your stuff is far too good to be submerged in a photographic ocean... James Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:45:18 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102148 I agree with John Watts, having said that my travel pics wouldn't be selling if not for them. I make 10 sales a year from about 200 images from 10 countries or more. It's very important to put a very wide range of images on Alamy if you want to make sales; You'll make more money with 200 pics from 20 countries than 200 pics of the village you live in or the obscure bansha-bansha tribe in Kraplakistan. I don't think social-documentary, story driven work sells well on Alamy, single images with clear captions do. Another thing, hire someone to do the preparation work, it's annoying as hell. Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:16:09 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102191 Thanks Andrew. I'm selling 6 to 10 per month with less than 1,000 very diverse images on Alamy. I have a friend with nearly 4,000 on there and he says he makes up to 3k dollars per month!! A few of mine have been for sales of just $40 so ten sales at that aint going to make me rich. I will start uploading more stuff there soon, but I gave up for a while because of the daft QC rules and the stupid ranking system. Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:46:33 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102193 Yes, I think Alamy is something worth persevering with, their QC has discouraged me in the last 3 - 6 months, loads of rejections which never used to happen in the past. Like it makes a difference for a 1/4 page in a book! Lucas you have it from the horse's mouth, there are loads of photographers on Alamy making money, I'm sure they are a minority who make big bucks but then again they are the ones who have invested the most time, effort and money understanding what sells and getting it on there. Really important is diversity and quality. Since no one edits your work you have to do it very effectively or your sales will suffer. I have a friend who has 1300 pics on the site but only makes as much as me in sales, that's because he puts too many similars and unsaleable material on the site: snapshots from outings with his son, loads of pics from obscure places etc Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:57:43 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102202 Is that the same guy that made $1050 with ONE photo and sent you to bitter disgust, Andrew? (just kidding) Lucas Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:08:11 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102205 No, it's not the same guy, I didn't state his example in the past because his is one not to follow. Who is Mr Ed? From the horse's mouth is an expression which means : from a well-informed and reliable source Example: I got that story straight from the horse's mouth. Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:27:59 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102213 a horse is a horse, of course, of course.... rings a bell? Mr Ed! Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:16:04 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102221 And photographers direct http://www.photographersdirect.com/ Anyone has ever worked with them? Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:48:37 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102234 I've done both Alamy and Photo Direct. I've had about 300 images on Alamy for two years now without a sale. However, I might be a bit behind the curve on keywords and such. I think you have to be some sort of computer/marketing savant to properly prepare and keyword images to make them sell against the other 10 MILLION! images at Alamy. Frankly, I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. If I uploaded all 20,0000+ travel images I have, it would probably take me two years to properly keyword them only to have more than half rejected by the bizarre QC. In that two year timeframe, I'll make a lot more money driving traffic to my site where buyers can purchase images direct. As for PD, I don't really upload images, I just respond to image requests that I can fill. I've made a few sales and actually gotten a couple of assignments from it so, I'll continue to work with them. The whole stock business is sitting on a bit of a bubble right now and I do believe that we're going to see more consolidation, lowering of RM prices, rising of RF prices and a lot of smaller agencies folding as individuals like me take advantage of web 2.0 to market their imagery directly, thereby cutting out the middle man. I make a reasonable sum marketing my images directly and know many others who do. Read this month's PDN and you'll find word is out on this strategy. Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:23:38 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102252 Photographers Direct works better for me than Alamy. The QC takes so long on Alamy and the key wording is so time consuming that it feels hardly worth the effort. PD is much faster. Some rubbish them as being used mostly by time wasters and while this is in part true, there are good sales to be had there and only 20% commission. What is nice is that you deal direct with the picture buyer so, unlike alamy (which has it`s own share of time-wasters i`m sure)you can check if, when someone`s interest in a pic wasn`t matched by a realistic offer, they just didn`t steal it. Alamy sell images then refund after providing the high-res, the images on their site are not watermarked and there are of course 10 million competitors. I`m on both and am willing to put more where ever i can find that is not exclusive and doesn`t sell for pennies (Getty anyone?) Damon Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:32:44 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102253 photoshelter.com Then again if you don't like keywording, may as well look elsewhere Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:04:26 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102269 I've been working with PD for 2 years now and never manage to sell a single photo(only NGO requesting freebies...), but once again never boder to much with keywords. Need to invest more time on it though. Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:49:14 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102280 I gave up on PD ages ago, it looks like everyone has their own best way of selling their pics Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:23:34 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102281 I have been with Alamy for years, with no sales. However,I have had book-covers and made the cover of Black and White Photography Magazine through a partner of theirs, Millenium Images at www.milim.com. Millenium use Alamy to extend their marketing as they are a small company in London.... Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:30:42 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102282 No one like keywording Andrew, but the alamy version is really a hassle. I have nearly a thousand pics at each agency and plan on more as both can be a good place to sell. I have sold more through PD, so far, including some to private collectors that may not look on Alamy. Have also said no to some buyers that wanted insultingly low prices. At least you can say "no" at PD, and your price is as good as your (or their) haggling skills. Both have advantages and disadvantages that is all I wanted to say. Damon Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:00:29 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102333 curious, if anyone could answer this. what kind of pictures tend to sell? Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:15:42 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102334 I've sold wierd stuff, arty stuff, straightforward GV's of landmarks and places,animal pics and even one of myself photoshopped as the devil when I got bored one day-that always sells well and so far I haven't sued myself !! <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45775364@N00/510930612/" title="devil by elinchrom999, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/198/510930612_8cddf4215f_o.jpg" width="586" height="377" alt="devil" /></a> Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:49:46 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102339 Damon, do you put stock images on PD, like on Alamy? In the past I was only answering the requests of picture researchers and that got really frustrating after a while, as they never chose my pics! Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:00:10 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102351 That's frightening stuff John Watts!! Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:01:00 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102352 Hi Andrew, yes i do, pretty much all that I send to alamy also gets sent to PD and I pic the cream for my website. The requests are good at PD and I have sold a few through them but most stuff comes out of the blue. The rating system on PD seems a little fairer than Alamy Rank and my images actually come up at or near the top of searches so i`m more successful. I know people making a good living from Alamy but I`m not one of them. I will not give up on it though but I am first concentrating my energies in putting more stuff on PD which will take days to do before re-keywording and loading up more to Alamy which will take months because of the glacial speed of the QC there. Damon Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:35:12 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102363 bump Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:38:20 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102547 very scary John Watts, or should i say "Prince of Evil"... Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:52:22 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#102548 Re-reading this thread and I have a couple of questions: - Photoshelter and Digital Railroad users say it is better than Alamy. But Alamy is free while you have to pay to be in PS and DRR - what do you have to say to that? - Any tutorial about keywording on Alamy? How do you do your keywords? How long does that take you? - I am right to think Alamy is good for travel (boring) photos, while you should keep great editorial shots out of it? Lucas Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:06:55 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#103712 Lucas, It is free to be in the recently launched Photoshelter Collection (PSC). Keywording is hell but it will probably (hopefully) pay off in the long term, as they are "creating" a very detailed dictionary that should give very accurate search results. Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:07:46 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#103729 Nacho, it is free to be in Photoshelter Collection, but you have to be in Photoshelter to do that, and it is not free, right? Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:55:51 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#103736 "very scary John Watts, or should i say “Prince of Evil”..." Hehe-firstly it's' JR' to my friends,(It's a long story....Watts-Robertson is my surname and part of my family's shameful past!!). That photo was PHOTOSHOPPED-I'm normally much more handsome and only have red eye when lit with on-camera flash,(see post 'Odd Red-eye' by Tim Key). As for the post by Lucas-No, you are not right at all in thinking that Alamy is just for 'boring' travel photos and not great editorial pics. There are some stunning images on there of both genres. Just that you,(and picture buyers), have to wade through an awful lot of crap to get to them. Keywording-there is a tutorial on Alamy about that, it's endlessly discussed on various forums too, but my advice is to pick out a photographer or two you respect/know/know has high sales on Alamy and look through their work, especially looking at the keywords they have used. I would include my pics under the 'crap' section and my keywording is pretty bad so probably best to use someone else as an example!! Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:02:21 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#103739 Type David Hoffman in Alamy, his pics are all social and news and he knows his stuff re. keywording, I think he does pretty well from Alamy, or so he told me. Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:00:51 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#103743 He does pretty well from suing people for copyright breach too apparently ! Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:06:44 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#103746 Lucas, No, you don't have to be in photoshelter to be part of the PSC. I only had a basic (free) account with them, but you can submit to PSC even without that. I think that what they are trying to do is pretty interesting, but they just launched it for buyers a few weeks ago, so we will have to wait and see if they (we) sell. Cheers, Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:29:45 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/alamy#103757