Permalink 12 June 2007 at 14:37 by Alexandra Bortkiewicz
Posted under Advice and tips
© ImageStateIf you are preparing a portfolio to sell your work, the 'less is more' approach generally works best. A buyer is more likely to remember the one or two impressive images over the other 15 mediocre ones, so best to include just the memorable ones that will linger in the buyers' mind.
Preparing submissions for your stock photography agency should have a similar approach, though with Alamy unlike some other agencies there is plenty of flexibility with what you can send. Alamy often describes itself as a market place and so contributors are encouraged to 'experiment' with different kinds of content and styles, to play that market place. We have grown on that success and become defined as an agency with more then just the mainstream offerings. Image buyers often come to us because they cannot locate the hard-to-find subjects, specialist collections or alternatives of popular subjects. Alamy do not edit submissions and likewise do not dictate what the customer sees.
So this aspect of the process is up to the photographer. Bearing this in mind, a good place to start is seeing what there is on the Alamy website in areas you are specialising - you can start 'editing' your collection even before it is shot! Filling gaps in content is always a good place to start particularly if your collection is more orientated towards the editorial markets. Picture researchers covering this market will be very specific about what they are looking for.
Imagine what your images will look like populated in a page of images on a computer screen. Graphic and easy to read images are likely to be 'pulled out' more by a viewer scanning the page then a flat toned one. In this respect, remember to check histograms and make the most of levels and curves features in Photoshop to apply the best degree of contrast, brightness and saturation to the image. This is important for all markets but particularly essential for appealing to the commercial market.
If you have been selling your collection directly yourself for some time, start with your best sellers - they have a proven track record and we can extend their shelf life by exposure to more markets and territories that provide additional sales.
If you are struggling to keyword an image or cannot visualise its usage, or did not have purpose in taking the images in the first place, the image is probably not worth submitting.
If you wish to supply us with a series of images, it is best to submit a vertical, a horizontal format and a variation with a different nuance or conceptual angle from each shoot/subject area. This is to reduce image redundancy and improve the visual quality of results when a client performs a search.
If you supply us with a series of very similar images, of almost identical compositions with only slightly different exposures; where the expression on the model is the same, or the frame has not really changed, your images are likely to appear further down the sort order. From a client perspective it takes too long to go through the options and do the edit themselves, filtering out the images they don't require. At Alamy we now only accept a maximum of 5 similar frames, however it's recommended to just send in one or two frames at the most.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are some contributors who are so rigorous in editing their collections, desiring the highest perfection to what they send, that they are very likely to omit images that will sell. It's really about trying to find the right balance and maximising the fact that Alamy can effectively access all kinds of markets globally. If you are a specialist you want to reflect the depth and breadth of the collection: primary, secondary and even tertiary tier of subject matter. If you are generalist, keep the collection lively with variety and diversity of situations, and not overloaded with similars.
Knowing what to send will become easier as Alamy release tools and data designed to allow you to analyse how well your work is performing in the market place. This will hopefully answer questions like why a particular collection is not performing so well and which is, so as to know where to best focus future efforts.
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