Prepare images
To sell your images on Alamy you must prepare them according to our submission guidelines, outlined below. Our customers like the depth and breadth of Alamy’s content and want to see images of the highest standard. So, whilst we welcome diversity and do not edit, our Quality Control Team check the technical quality of your images to ensure they meet our criteria.
The process
- Prepare your images according to our submission guidelines below.
- For your “test” submission, please send FOUR images. Once your “test” submission has passed Quality Control (QC) you can send as many as you like.
- We check your images for quality, reporting back with the result.
- If your images pass QC, you can annotate them to make them available for sale.
- You can track, annotate and manage your images in My Alamy .
Submitting News images?
Please visit our News picture Guidelines
Submission guidelines
We need:
- Images from at least a 6 megapixel DSLR or more. See here for: Recommended digital camera list
- JPEG’s saved at a high quality setting (i.e. Photoshop level 10 or above).
- Alpha-numeric file names ending in .jpg.
- RGB files, not single channel greyscale or CMYK.
- Uncompressed file sizes of more than 24MB. This means you should make your JPEG file from an 8 bit file that is over 24MB. If you have a camera that is capable of producing an uncompressed 8 bit file of over 24MB then leave it that size.
We do not want:
- Images from compact/unsuitable cameras. We require images from at least a 6 megapixel DSLR. See here for: Alamy unsuitable camera list
- Images that contain a watermark, contain glamour or pornography, or images which infringe the rights of any third party.
- Images that solely feature a logo or trademark - this is a copyright or trademark infringement.
- a series of similar images with almost identical compositions or only slightly different exposures.
We reject images for (Show all):
- Camera shake
The image is blurred or soft because the camera moved when the picture was taken. We reject images with this characteristic if we feel it was not artistically intended or it is unsaleable. Try using a faster shutter speed, steady hand, or a tripod.
- Chromatic aberration
Chromatic aberration
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Click for high-res versionChromatic aberration or ‘coloured fringing’ is shown as magenta/green or red/cyan fringing in areas of an image that have greater contrast. Poor quality optics and extreme wide-angle lenses tend to show Chromatic Aberration especially towards the edge of the frame. To remove this you can use the Chromatic Sliders in the Lens Correction Tool in Photoshop, most RAW conversion software has a similar tool.
‘Purple fringing’ is a similar phenomenon, found in some digital cameras. It is caused by the optical characteristics of the camera sensor, and can extend right across the frame. - Colour cast
Magenta colour cast
Click for high-res versionThe image is tinted with an unwanted colour caused by incorrect white balance on your camera or scanner. Calibrating your monitor regularly can also help prevent colour casts. Although some colour choices can be seen as artistic, we will reject an image if we feel its colour cast makes it unsaleable. - Compression artifacts
Compression artifacts
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Click for high-res versionThe image has a blocky or patchy appearance caused by excessive compression. It is particularly noticeable in areas of flat colour such as skies and can appear as Jpeg "bubbles" around the edges of the image (see example). To minimise these artifacts work on your images in RAW or TIFF format and save as a Jpeg once only. - Data loss or corruption
Data loss or curruption
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Click for high-res versionThe image shows areas of subtle pixilation or zero data. To reduce the risk of this problem burn your CD or DVD at the slowest speed possible and make sure it is verified. Also check the first and the last few images on the disc for problems, as this is where most occur. - Digital camera not suitable for Alamy
Images from a digital camera which is below our recommended specification will show problems such as intrusive coloured (chroma) noise, degradation of image detail and/or interpolation artifacts. We recommend using a pro-level camera with a “true” (non-interpolated) resolution of at least 6 megapixels. Recommended camera list This will give an uncompressed, 8 bit file size of at least 17MB. For more information, please see images from digital cameras.
- Blemishes - Dust, scratches or sensor dust
Sensor dirt
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Dirt and scratches
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Click for high-res versionSmall dark circles on the image are a common characteristic particularly noticeable in areas of flat colour such as skies. To reduce the risk of this occurring, clean your camera’s sensor or the material you intend to scan. You can also remove unwanted marks using the healing brush or clone tool in Photoshop . - Excessive sharpening
Excessive sharpening
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Click for high-res versionThe image appears “edgy” or unsightly artifacts are visible. Sharpening should be applied only once and this is best done at the repro stage. - Excessive similars
A series of similar images which have almost identical compositions or only slightly different exposures. We will only accept a series if the images have very different angles, framing or model’s expressions etc. However, you must tightly edit your images otherwise they will appear further down search results. Customers do not want to spend time editing through your work.
- Film rebate or border
Film rebate visible or not cropped
Click for high-res versionWe do no accept any images with borders, whether they have been deliberately been put there or are from film scans. These must be cropped out. - High contrast
High contrast
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Click for high-res versionThe image highlights are blown out and shadow detail is crushed. - Interpolation artifacts
Interpolation artifacts
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Click for high-res versionThe image exhibits rather intrusive artifacts and degradation of detail resulting in an overall soft look, a “mottled” texture or "jaggies" on edges. These symptoms occur when you interpolate an image beyond the capabilities of the camera from which it came. Our advice for images from digital cameras may help you track down the problem. - Newton’s rings or interference patterns
Newton’s rings
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Click for high-res versionThe image has a circular “rainbow” effect caused when scanning film. The scanning light reflects off of millions of small moisture particles on the surface of the film or glass carrier. Try to clean dirt and moisture off the film or carrier before you scan. The “Fine” setting in digital ICE can also cause this effect. - Noise
Noise
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Click for high-res versionChroma noise gives a mottled, distorted effect that usually contains green and pink/purple colours. It can particularly cause problems on skin tones, skies and shadow areas. Electronic chroma noise is the appearance of distortion within a digital image usually caused by using high ISO levels when shooting. Different cameras are better at reducing the appearance of noise than others, but you should always try and shoot on as low an ISO level as possible. - Noticeable retouching
Noticeable retouching
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Noticeable retouching - cut out
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Click for high-res versionRetouching is obvious in the image. We recommend that you retouch at 100% and double check to ensure that it is not visible. 100% or 1:1 means one screen pixel displays one image pixel. Also retouching at more than 100% is problematic as the image is too enlarged to see any image detail or mistakes.
- Orientation
The image is not the right way up for viewing on a screen. It may be inverted, upside down or at an angle.
- Out of focus
We will reject an image if we feel that is not artistically intended to be out of focus. Also, it must look out of focus at comp size so that it is obvious to our customers.
- Over manipulated
Over manipulated
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Click for high-res versionThe image is clearly over manipulated. Examples are the excessive use of “levels” or “curves” which leave an image looking posterised, “blocky” or with distorted colour. - Poor exposure
Poorly exposed image / histogram
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Click for high-res versionThe image appears rather flat or washed out. Correct exposure ensures maximum tonal range in an image. You can check and adjust the exposure using the histogram in Photoshop (Under Image > Adjustments > Levels).With very few exceptions, we expect the black point of your images to be 0 and white to be 255. However, we will accept images where they are within 5% of this, i.e. Black at level 12 or below, white at Level 243 or above.
- Scanning artifacts
Scanning artifacts - banding
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Scanning artifacts - double edging
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Click for high-res versionCharacteristics include double edging, stripes or banding, particularly noticeable in shadows. For more scanning advice visit images from scanners. - Size
The uncompressed file size of the image is under 24MB. The uncompressed file size needs to be 24MB or above. If you have a camera that is capable of producing an uncompressed 8 bit file of over 24MB then leave it that size. For more information, please see images from digital cameras.
- Soft due to size
Soft due to size
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Click for high-res versionThis is caused by over-interpolating (upsizing) images beyond their capabilities. We suggest you interpolate images to 24MB. If you have a camera that is capable of producing an uncompressed 8 bit file size of over 24MB then leave it that size.. - Soft or lacking definition
The image may appear soft and / or lacking definition for one or more of the following reasons:
- The image has been interpolated beyond its limitations / an unsuitable camera has been used.
- The image is slightly out of focus.
- The image has been over-manipulated (such as overuse of noise reduction) causing degradation in image quality.
- There is slight camera shake / shake that was not evident before the image was upsized.
- A lens with poor optics has been used resulting in loss of fine detail.
- A dedicated film scanner has not been used / poor quality film scanned / image scanned poorly.
- Unsuitable material
Although the technical standard of your work maybe be fine, certain material is not suitable for our target market. This includes, but is not limited to glamour, pornography and images which infringe the rights of any third party. If you shoot this type of content you may have more sales success from an alternative outlet.
This failure reason also applies to watermarked images.
Notes
- We only import the ‘Caption’ and ‘Keywords’ IPTC fields from your images. For more information see IPTC headers in Photoshop.
- Although we do not edit, we strongly recommend that you edit your images yourself before submitting.
Quality Control (QC) policy
We fail images which do not meet our submission guidelines. Check the quality of each image before you submit.
Test submissions
- For your test submission you need to send in (ONLY) 4 images of varied subject matter.
- We check each of the 4 images and they must all pass QC for your submission to be accepted. Do not submit any additional images until your initial test has passed QC.
- If your test submission fails we will give you failure reasons for all images which do not meet our QC criteria.
- Avoid rejection by checking each of your images at 100% with professional imaging editing software such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom.
Ongoing submissions
- Once you've passed your QC test we only check a sample of images in subsequent submissions.
- A submission is defined as any group of media that are awaiting QC at the same time regardless of the day they were submitted (they will all have the status “Awaiting QC”).
- If we fail one image, we will reject all images in all media awaiting QC at that time.
- Media grouped together as a submission will be QC’d together and will have the same QC date in “Track submissions”.
- We will indicate the media which contains the failed image, with an
information icon in Track submissions. - Avoid rejection by always checking each of your images at 100% looking for all possible QC failure reasons.
- The average amount of time for a contributor to wait for their QC outcome is 24 hours – please note that we do not undertake any QC at the weekend.
- QC waiting time is dependent on your QC history, failing QC successive times harms your QC rank meaning that it can take up to 28 working days to receive notification that you have failed QC. Alamy QC - how it works
- Ongoing QC failures can result in your online upload privilege being frozen for six months and in extreme circumstances your account being terminated.
Further help
- Achieving the best results:
- Editing and enhancing your collection
- The Alamy Forum - the answer may be there.
- Resources - photographer tips and a directory of scanning and keywording providers.
- Picture needs - a look at customer trends and example searches.
- QC Help Videos.New