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Hello everyone and hope you've had good weekend.
I'm just about to submit some photos to Alamy. The question of quality has been bothering me for a few days now! I have always taken my photos in film but now that I have turned digital (for about 3 years now) I have mostly taken photos in Jpeg! Are these not good for Alamy? Even if I upsize them with the BICUBIC method? They were all taken in high quality and are up to 8MB in size.
Next question is the ones in RAW, shall I just open them in PS and after manipulation (no sharpening of course!!!) save them as TIFF??? This gives me a file of about 60MB.
I used to have a Canon EOS 300D (6MP) so when I open the RAW files taken with this camera PS sets the quality as 6MP. Shall I make this quality even higher? Or leave it at 6MP? Now I have a Nikon D80 (10MP). Shall I make the resolution higher in PS for photos taken in RAW for this camera also?
I basically need some kind of a guide to tell me how to convert RAWs to TIFFs to get best result for Alamy. And also getting the best results from my JPEGs to TIFFs for Alamy.
Any help is appreciated.
PS. Here are 2 examples.
1st Photo
This photo was taken in RAW with Canon 300D 6MP, I opened it in PS then saved it as TIFF. I also put the resolution to 25MP from 6MP in CS. When I zoom to 100% the photo comes out like this (part of the photo). Is this acceptable by Alamy?
2nd Photo
This one was taken with Nikon D80 10MP. I did the same thing for this also. By saving as TIFF. I also put the resolution to 25MP from 10MP in CS. When I zoom to 100% the photo comes out like this (part of the photo).
Hi Matin. Can I suggest that, if you have not already done so, you study this 3-part Alamy guide.
As you will see the minimum size is a TIFF of 48Mb. It sounds to me as if you are saving your TIFFs as 16-bit. This is not acceptable to Alamy... they have to be 8-bit. Your RAW files once converted to 8-bit TIFF will be nowhere near 48Mb (probably nearer 18Mb or 30Mb depending which camera you used) so you will have to significantly upsize them. You can do so in PS using bicubic interpolation. Try to keep it as near as possible to 48Mb as the larger you go the more quality you are likely to lose.
Then once you have your 48MB you are ready for the next step but first I must say: do not sharpen your image at all. You must then save your 48Mb file as a JPEG using maximum quality in PS (level 12). It is then ready for submission to Alamy... they only accept JPEG nowadays, and not TIFF.
I suggest you use Capture One for the RAW to TIFF conversion.
As for your files already in JPEG, I really wouldn't bother. They will already have been sharpened, in camera, to some extent and are unlikely to be acceptable to Alamy.
Hope that helps. 
I agree with CB's comments but just be aware that Alamy have (IMO) upped their QC procedure. About 2 yrs ago I submitted 50+ images all taken on a NikonD100 - I upsized using Genuine Fractals. All images were accepted. More recently (approx 2 months ago) I submitted 90 + images, all taken on a Canon 20D or 5D, and upsized using PS (Genuine Fractals was too slow). Result ? - all were rejected ('interpolation artefacts'). Now, I went to a lot of time and trouble selecting and preparing the images (most were environmental topics) and was amazed when all were rejected for no other reason than quality.
What I suggest you do is follow CB's advice but only submit say 10 images in the first instance. If they are accepted just use the same processing method and submit the rest. Good luck - I'm sure we'd be interested as to how you get on.
Or..... pick up the film camera again & use this for the work that demands high quality files for Alamy submission. I regularly contribute 35mm slides scanned as 8 bit TIFFS at home, cleaned in Elements, file sizes of approx 50MB - I've never had one refused for quality reasons and am near the 500 mark with Alamy now.
No reason you can't run the high quality end results of your film camera (if you still have it!) alongside your digital camera, keeps you creative in the field rather than in front of your computer monitor.
Ian.
Thanks alot for all your help.
I will try and get Capture One.
I will convert my RAWs to TIFFs in Capture One?
Then make adjustments (levels, hue/saturation etc) in photoshop and then upsize in Capture One again? Then convert TIFFs to JPEGs in Capture one again?
Which adjustments should I put the Capture One when converting RAWs to TIFFs?
I have already studied the link you gave me I always save my photos on 8bits.
Anymore help is appreciated.
Thanks.
I wouldn't worry too much about the upsizing process. I have upsized all of the ones I have submitted in PS and none have been rejected. All have been submitted very recently.
Workflow:
Process the RAW image in C1 (helpful tutorial here). Convert to TIFF (8-bit). Open TIFF in PS, upsize using bicubic interpolation and save the TIFF, which will now be much larger. Do not sharpen. Then save as JPEG using level 12.
You are then ready to submit to Alamy.
I would suggest for the highest possible quality you should process your files as 16bit TIFFS in Capture 1 and convert them to 8bit only after you have completed all your resizing and image adjustments. If you can afford it Capture 1 Pro may well be a better option for stock library use as it has the ability to resize at the raw stage which IMHO offers the best quality, but don't forget to disable output sharpening.
HTH Stu
Theoretically that may be so but I have tried both and, even at 100%, I cannot see any difference between 16-bit converted to 8-bit and a TIFF saved at 8-bit ab initio.
So you can save yourself an extra step.
I'd second Stu's recommendation for converting to 16 bit for the best quality.
You can convert the image to 8 bits anytime,but you can't gain back the advantages of working on 16 bit images by going from 8 bit backup to 16.
There are many quality advantages to working with the highest quality original,hence the advantage of creating a 16 bit tiff from your raw file.
Justin.
Quote: You also end up with a file twice as large to work with!
So! That shouldn't matter in the sligtest with a reasonibly modern computer.
If you have sufficient memory installed the difference between working on a 16 bit image versus an 8 bit one is virtually nonexistant.
You mention in your previous post that a direct conversion to an 8 bit file will save a step in the workflow,but then go on to say if you need the benefit of the 16 bit file you can then re-convert the raw file,and no doubt,repeat the whole workflow process again.Seems a completely unproductive and time consuming way to go about things.
A far better option,IMHO is to convert the raw file once, do your editing in Photoshop and then save the 16 bit tiff as your master file(or as an 8 bit file if storage space is an issue),you will then have your master file complete with maximum information and quality.
Creating an 8 bit tiff,jpeg or whatever will take seconds,leaving the high quality file intact.
The ability to convert to, and edit in 16 bits is there for a reason.If you demand the best quality images from your camera,16 bits is the way to go.
Justin
I have tried both and can't see any difference - so I'll stick with my own workflow, thanks! 
Theory and practice are not always the same. Hence why some pros stick to JPEG anyway and don't bother with RAW.
Quote: I have tried both and can't see any difference
Oh right that explains it.You can't see a difference therefore 8 bits must be best.
Perhaps you could drop an informative line to the creators of Capture One and Adobe and let them know their vast amount of experience and knowledge has partly been in vain as having the ability to utilize 16 bits is a complete waste of time as you can't see any difference. ROFLMAO
Well Alamy prefer 8-bit files so perhaps you'd like to drop a line to them, Justin, telling them how disastrous their marketing decision is!
LMAO!! ;-D
They have probably concluded - like me - that the difference is so infinitesimal, it is not worth having.
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