How to submit photos to Alamy
12th April 2009
In: Photography tips
Like most things on Photoshop you just need to know the step-by-step process, as jargon tends to bamboozle you if the instructions aren’t clear. So I hope this will do the trick for you.
Alamy want the photos you supply them with to meet the following criteria:
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 between 48 MB and 200 MB. This means you should make your JPEG file from an 8 bit TIFF file that is at least 48MB. Our maximum size for the uncompressed file is 200MB.
SO HOW DO YOU SUPPLY A FILE THAT’S AT LEAST 48MB?
If you are shooting JPEGS, the 8-bit file is probably only 4 to 10 megabytes in the normal compressed form that JPEGS have. If you open/uncompress the file it is much larger (a 6MP camera creates a JPEG file that opens to about 17.5 megabytes), but that is still well below Alamy's standards. Even a 12MP camera only creates a file that opens to about 35 megabytes (9x14 inches at 300dpi) as an 8-bit file, so don’t worry, it’s not that your camera doesn’t have enough mega pixels.
What you need to do is interpolate (digitally enlarge) you file.
HOW DO YOU INTERPOLATE JPEGS?
1. Whether your original photo was taken as a RAW file, or a JPEG, start by saving it as a TIFF file. Now, carefully edit your file until it looks exactly the way you want it to look.
2. Now click on ‘image’, ‘resize’ and then ‘image size’ like this:
At the bottom of the box it will say one of the following: Bicubic, bicubic smoother, bicubic sharpener, nearest neighbour or bilinear. I told you there was a lot of annoying jargon! Just set it to bicubic smoother, if it’s not already, like this:
3. Increase the image size to a width or height of 5128 on the largest side, the other figure will change to the correct dimension automatically. If your original photo was shot in RAW format your 16-bit TIFF file will show as a 100MB file (approximately). If your original shot was a jpeg then you will have an 8-bit TIFF file that will be around 50MB. You can see this at the top of the resizing screen before you click on ‘OK’.
3. If you shot in RAW format then change the file to 8-bit (from 16-bit) by clicking on 'Image', then the 'Mode selection' and then check the 8 Bits/Channel selection. Your file will now be about 50 MB.
4. Now you save the file as a JPEG at level 12 in Photoshop (highest quality). It will be a 4 to 15mb compressed JPEG that opens up to an 8-bit 50 megabyte file likew this:
You now have a photo that meets Alamy’s specification. However, this does not mean they will automatically accept the photo. This is because the photo needs to look good too. Simply sending a poor photo with the right specification isn’t enough and rightly so. After all your photo may be blurred or poorly exposed. For details about the kinds of things Alamy will be accessing click here: www.alamy.com/stock-photography-guide.asp
If you'd like to know more about photography then I run one-to-one photography classes. Click here to find out more: http://danwaterscreative.photium.com/news15469.html
Alamy want the photos you supply them with to meet the following criteria:
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 between 48 MB and 200 MB. This means you should make your JPEG file from an 8 bit TIFF file that is at least 48MB. Our maximum size for the uncompressed file is 200MB.
SO HOW DO YOU SUPPLY A FILE THAT’S AT LEAST 48MB?
If you are shooting JPEGS, the 8-bit file is probably only 4 to 10 megabytes in the normal compressed form that JPEGS have. If you open/uncompress the file it is much larger (a 6MP camera creates a JPEG file that opens to about 17.5 megabytes), but that is still well below Alamy's standards. Even a 12MP camera only creates a file that opens to about 35 megabytes (9x14 inches at 300dpi) as an 8-bit file, so don’t worry, it’s not that your camera doesn’t have enough mega pixels.
What you need to do is interpolate (digitally enlarge) you file.
HOW DO YOU INTERPOLATE JPEGS?
1. Whether your original photo was taken as a RAW file, or a JPEG, start by saving it as a TIFF file. Now, carefully edit your file until it looks exactly the way you want it to look.
2. Now click on ‘image’, ‘resize’ and then ‘image size’ like this:
At the bottom of the box it will say one of the following: Bicubic, bicubic smoother, bicubic sharpener, nearest neighbour or bilinear. I told you there was a lot of annoying jargon! Just set it to bicubic smoother, if it’s not already, like this:
3. Increase the image size to a width or height of 5128 on the largest side, the other figure will change to the correct dimension automatically. If your original photo was shot in RAW format your 16-bit TIFF file will show as a 100MB file (approximately). If your original shot was a jpeg then you will have an 8-bit TIFF file that will be around 50MB. You can see this at the top of the resizing screen before you click on ‘OK’.
3. If you shot in RAW format then change the file to 8-bit (from 16-bit) by clicking on 'Image', then the 'Mode selection' and then check the 8 Bits/Channel selection. Your file will now be about 50 MB.
4. Now you save the file as a JPEG at level 12 in Photoshop (highest quality). It will be a 4 to 15mb compressed JPEG that opens up to an 8-bit 50 megabyte file likew this:
You now have a photo that meets Alamy’s specification. However, this does not mean they will automatically accept the photo. This is because the photo needs to look good too. Simply sending a poor photo with the right specification isn’t enough and rightly so. After all your photo may be blurred or poorly exposed. For details about the kinds of things Alamy will be accessing click here: www.alamy.com/stock-photography-guide.asp
If you'd like to know more about photography then I run one-to-one photography classes. Click here to find out more: http://danwaterscreative.photium.com/news15469.html
