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I’m trying to figure out ways to streamline my post-processing stock workflow!
I submit to to several stock sites and uploading to each individual site can be time consuming. Is there anyway that I can bulk upload to all the sites at once? Also is there anyway that I could do it right in Lightroom without exporting? (Like the plugin for Adobe stock.)
Thank you for any suggestions!
Hmm… If you could tell us which particular stock sites you’re interested in bulk uploading to, then we might be able to give some more specific advice. 🙂
I wouldn’t be surprised if other stock sites do have LR plugins, or APIs that would allow you to submit photos en masse. I don’t have an account, but you could check out Lightstock’s API page to see what options they have.
These are the stock sites I upload to.
Lightstock
Adobe Stock
Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Depositphotos
123RFyou could check out Lightstock’s API page to see what options they have.
I’m not understanding the page you linked.
OK, after doing a little research, it looks like FTP is probably the best way to upload bulk to multiple stock photo sites. You’ll still have to upload to each site separately though. Your FTP client can save all the login details so that you don’t have to manually sign in each time, which could speed things up.
I’ve assembled a list of links to instructions for each site below:
- Lightstock: https://www.lightstock.com/partner_faqs#footage9 (No FTP support yet, coming “soon”. Maybe email them about it?)
- Adobe Stock: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html/stock/contributor/help/uploading-content.ug.html
- Shutterstock: https://support.submit.shutterstock.com/s/article/How-do-I-upload-content-via-FTPS?language=en_US
- Dreamstime: https://www.dreamstime.com/ftp_instructions (Warning, the header image is indecent. 🙁 )
- DepositPhotos: https://depositphotos.com/faq/article/360010106174.html
- 123RF: https://www.123rf.com/guidebook/c03s12.htm
I personally use and recommend WinSCP for an FTP client, and like it a lot. Another one that I haven’t used, but that is made specifically for stock photos is Xpiks.
It looks like there are websites set up specifically to help with this sort of thing too, such as: http://www.microstockbridge.com (I haven’t used them, so don’t take this as a recommendation). It looks like they have a LR plugin that will send to all the different sites at once.
If anyone else here has more experience with this stuff, I hope they’ll chime in. I don’t sell any stock photos, so all of this is just from some quick internet research. Hope it helps!
PS: Always use FTPS if you can, (rather than just “plain” FTP). The “S” stands for “secure”, because FTP is not secure by default, and will transmit your password in plaintext which is a very, very bad idea. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you’re better off uploading through the website rather than FTP if they don’t offer the secure FTPS option.
Is upload speed generally faster through a FTP then uploading through the website?
Thank you for all the links to the instruction!
Another thought I had, is it possible to set up something like what an action in Photoshop does? Something that records all the clicks that I do to upload to the sites only each time changing what pictures I choose?
Is upload speed generally faster through a FTP then uploading through the website?
It could very well be, but not necessarily. It all depends on how your network is configured, and how their site is configured. I doubt it will make a huge difference in upload speeds, to be honest.
Another thought I had, is it possible to set up something like what an action in Photoshop does? Something that records all the clicks that I do to upload to the sites only each time changing what pictures I choose?
I think you’re looking for a “macro”. Not sure which would be faster though… From the video tutorial I saw about Shutterstock, it looks like you still have to login after uploading your pics via FTP and submit them for review. So I’m not sure how much FTP would help in that situation.
It looks like WinSCP has a scripting feature that could upload a particular folder of files to multiple locations automatically. It would take some work to get the script setup, but then you could just run it, and it would upload the files to their respective FTP locations. That would definitely save some time! Do you always upload the same photos to all these different sites?
The macro and scripting feature look promising! Thanks for telling me about them!
On all the sites, except Lightstock, I think I’ll still have to add categories, submit for review etc. (depends on the site). But if I could figure out how to upload to all the sites at once that would save a lot of time!
Most of the time I upload the same photos to all the sites. If I have pictures that I think have more of a potential to sell well on Lightstock then I’ll do them exclusive there.
You’re very welcome! I think there’s a good possibility that the WinSCP script could do what you need it to with a little bit of setup the first time around. If you need help with it, let me know, I’ll be glad to assist!
Ok, I downloaded WinSCP and am atempted to login to the sites. On all the sites I got the same error message saying they “rejected SFTP connection, but it listens for FTP”. 🙁
Is it safe to TLS/SSL Implicit or Explicit encryption? Or is it best not to use FTP for these sites?
Attachments:
It won’t work to try to connect to an ftp site with sftp. They’re totally different protocols. Just for fun, see if
sftp.123rf.comworks.
Otherwise, yes, try either explicit or implicit encryption, and stay away from “no encryption”.It said “host sftp.123rf.com does not exist”.
So even though it’s only “plain” FTP, if I use explicit or implicit encryption my passwords will be safe?
It said “host sftp.123rf.com does not exist”.
So even though it’s only “plain” FTP, if I use explicit or implicit encryption my passwords will be safe?
OK, too bad.
Yes, it’s “plain” FTP, but with the explicit/implicit encryption your password should be securely encrypted and transmitted. It’s not as good as SFTP, but it’s a lot better than no encryption at all!
It’s been fun to breeze over this conversation. I think there are a shortage of plugins for LR for uploading stock photos to other stock sites because it would be competition to Adobe Stock.
Once you’ve figured out a faster method of doing it, @blessingscaptured, then please do share it here with everyone! I think this is something I could use too.
microstockbridge.com looks interesting. Will have to check it out.
I just took a closer look at Microstockbridge, and it doesn’t look it is even functional right now unless you have an “invitation code” (whatever that means). But that led me to search for similar sites, which brought me to https://dropstock.io/. This one uses your Dropbox account to sync to multiple stock sites at once, and if you are not a high-volume uploader, you could probably get by with the free version. Again, I haven’t used it personally, so this isn’t a recommendation, just something I came across in my research. 🙂
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