I am considering joining Alamy for stock submissions.
First, is this a good idea for somebody starting out like me? I have good quality images and I know they will pass their "Quality Control" but are they the best means to get into stock? I predominantly shoot landscape and a little travel.
Second, I looked at some images they have for licensing, and they certainly are nothing to write home about - average images, technically mainly sound, but with little thought going into composition or quality of light. Should I submit images of a similar, or slightly better level, or should I select some of my better work, hoping that buyers will see the difference? I have noted that many buyers go for the low price, as long as the image is acceptable, and so submitting high quality images may not be useful.
Alamy will take submitions that meet thier QC standards. They do not test for maketability nor do they do any key wording. Alamy is also a generalist agency which tends to sell to the editorial rather than the commercial market. They currently have over 12m images for sale so you have to find a way to stand out in the crowd. Good keywording, high quality and images that are eye catching. Up to you to be your own editor. At the end of the day though if your images aren't out there in the market no one will be able to buy them.
Mark B
Submit only your technically best images. Blame the low prices being paid on the advent of royalty free and microstock marketplaces and the mindset those bring with them.
Alamy has a good reputation but with over 12 million images on-line you will need to have a unique product or hundreds to thousands of images to expect much return. A very successful pro landscape photographer I know has been with Alamy for 3 years and has made only one sale, however he only has about 500 images with them.
Also keep in mind that nature based images do not sell the way they did several years ago. There is a glut of them on the market with many "photogs" willing to give their work away for peanuts or a credit line. Lifestyles and business/industry are still good subjects to concentrate on. Find your own unique niche.
I'm about to take most of my images of Alamy except for the 6 megapixels files from my early days. There's just too much crap there. And any relationship between quality and sales is virtually non-existent.
I just spent some time going over Alamy's site and contracts. For others who might be interested in Alamy, I give the following (corrections welcomed!):
Anyone can join Alamy and send photos. They like jpg's of quality 10 or better. You need to add your own wording and keywords. Alamy can change these if they desire. Alamy can delete your images at will. You have to give at least 45 days notification of pulling images. If they used your images for their own advertising, you have to leave the photos there longer. They don't pay you for images they use for their ads and promos. And like stated, there are over 12 million images there. You need to really understand why someone would want YOUR photo and figure out ALL the appropriate keywords THEY would use to find it and enter them. If they think you used someone else's keyword list, they may delete your images. They are a NON-exclusive site, so you can post your images with other agencies and sell them however you want. You need to let them know when you sell an image out of their system. You can decide the kind of rights for each image and where it can sell. They have distributors who might find and sell your images besides just on the Alamy website. They no longer charge you for image uploads or storage.
It is all up to you to figure out how much time you want to give to getting your images to Alamy and get the keywording and rights all set up. If they never delete your images, then you have a fleeting chance of having your images actually seen and then a lessor chance of getting your image sold due to the mentioned 12 million images and building that are already there.
One extra thought here...if you do have images on Alamy, you might broadcast the fact that you have images in a world wide stock company and that might get you some recognition in your own world and maybe some new work. Those in the know will understand what Alamy is and not give you that much credit.
With Alamy being open to ANYONE with a camera that provides a suitable image, more and more folks are going to jam up their system with so-so images. It will be harder for Alamy to weed out the lessor images as there will be too many images incoming. Buyers will eventually get tired of searching through all the so-so images and go elsewhere to agencies with known quality images. This may cost them more, but they will earn that money back in saved time. Just my opinion.
Stock is a hard thing to do now and getting harder from what veterans say. Your best bet is to pour over stock companies images and find niches where there are not many images to be found. Then, you shoot and offer those and keyword them correctly. People will then maybe find you!
Thank you everyone for the great feedback! I am not going to submit to Alamy, in fact I think I will put a hold on considering stock agencies - doesn't look very good out there!
I agree with Kah. "Bang for your buck" is pretty darn low with Alamy. I've had a few hundred images out there for a year and a half, and have sold 7, none for more than $150. It's actually almost better to go with royalty-free than licensed. I had one "licensed" photo sell for the whopping total of $45. Even worst quality RF is more.
I've been in the process of pulling my photos from Alamy. Takes 3 months from the time you "unsubmit" a photo though. It's way too much work to keyword and the like and the payoff is horrid for that amount of work. Tough to make much when there are 500 photos of every bird species, 2,000 of every famous location, etc. It just isn't much of a money maker for the average nature photographer, with the massive volume they have.
Discussion
7 repliesI am considering joining Alamy for stock submissions.
First, is this a good idea for somebody starting out like me? I have good quality images and I know they will pass their "Quality Control" but are they the best means to get into stock? I predominantly shoot landscape and a little travel.
Second, I looked at some images they have for licensing, and they certainly are nothing to write home about - average images, technically mainly sound, but with little thought going into composition or quality of light. Should I submit images of a similar, or slightly better level, or should I select some of my better work, hoping that buyers will see the difference? I have noted that many buyers go for the low price, as long as the image is acceptable, and so submitting high quality images may not be useful.
Thanks for any comments or suggestions!
Regards,
Christoph
I was under the impression they were not accepting any new photographers.
cheers,
john
Mark B
Alamy has a good reputation but with over 12 million images on-line you will need to have a unique product or hundreds to thousands of images to expect much return. A very successful pro landscape photographer I know has been with Alamy for 3 years and has made only one sale, however he only has about 500 images with them.
Also keep in mind that nature based images do not sell the way they did several years ago. There is a glut of them on the market with many "photogs" willing to give their work away for peanuts or a credit line. Lifestyles and business/industry are still good subjects to concentrate on. Find your own unique niche.
Anyone can join Alamy and send photos. They like jpg's of quality 10 or better. You need to add your own wording and keywords. Alamy can change these if they desire. Alamy can delete your images at will. You have to give at least 45 days notification of pulling images. If they used your images for their own advertising, you have to leave the photos there longer. They don't pay you for images they use for their ads and promos. And like stated, there are over 12 million images there. You need to really understand why someone would want YOUR photo and figure out ALL the appropriate keywords THEY would use to find it and enter them. If they think you used someone else's keyword list, they may delete your images. They are a NON-exclusive site, so you can post your images with other agencies and sell them however you want. You need to let them know when you sell an image out of their system. You can decide the kind of rights for each image and where it can sell. They have distributors who might find and sell your images besides just on the Alamy website. They no longer charge you for image uploads or storage.
It is all up to you to figure out how much time you want to give to getting your images to Alamy and get the keywording and rights all set up. If they never delete your images, then you have a fleeting chance of having your images actually seen and then a lessor chance of getting your image sold due to the mentioned 12 million images and building that are already there.
One extra thought here...if you do have images on Alamy, you might broadcast the fact that you have images in a world wide stock company and that might get you some recognition in your own world and maybe some new work. Those in the know will understand what Alamy is and not give you that much credit.
With Alamy being open to ANYONE with a camera that provides a suitable image, more and more folks are going to jam up their system with so-so images. It will be harder for Alamy to weed out the lessor images as there will be too many images incoming. Buyers will eventually get tired of searching through all the so-so images and go elsewhere to agencies with known quality images. This may cost them more, but they will earn that money back in saved time. Just my opinion.
Stock is a hard thing to do now and getting harder from what veterans say. Your best bet is to pour over stock companies images and find niches where there are not many images to be found. Then, you shoot and offer those and keyword them correctly. People will then maybe find you!
Troup Nightingale
I've been in the process of pulling my photos from Alamy. Takes 3 months from the time you "unsubmit" a photo though. It's way too much work to keyword and the like and the payoff is horrid for that amount of work. Tough to make much when there are 500 photos of every bird species, 2,000 of every famous location, etc. It just isn't much of a money maker for the average nature photographer, with the massive volume they have.