Stock Photography - where do you go? (Full Version)

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RickP -> Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 3:12:43)

Apart from MS Design Gallery Live and iStockphoto where else do people currently go for free or low-cost photos to use on web projects?



jaybee -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 3:36:29)

quote:

free or low-cost photos to use on web projects?
One word answer.... don't.

There is a huge thread over on Sitepoint at the moment with a bunch of people who are being sued by Getty and Corbis for unauthorised use of their images. Bills are showing up for £2000 upwards.

Many of these people got their images from the free stock sites, some got them as part of purchased templates, some from computer disks in Mags.

Some of the provider sites are/ have been sued. Template providers have dropped associations and the Magazines I contacted to ask about the voracity of their free images have been conspicuous by their silence.

You are safe with the two you mention above just keep a record of what, when and where in case of future come back. iStock is now owned by Getty so if they haven't policed their own baby then I think you'd have a case against them if needs be.

If I can't get what I want from iStock then I grab the camera and go take my own.



Tailslide -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 4:52:02)

Same as Jaybee.

I get most of mine from istock too - there are other sites but they've proved problematical for several of the people on that Sitepoint thread Jaybee has mentioned. $1 and $2 a photo can't really be argued with.



RickP -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 8:37:52)

Thanks all

Seems like a timely question by the looks of things then!

Re...
quote:

If I can't get what I want from iStock then I grab the camera and go take my own.


You've confirmed I'm just being lazy at the moment Jaybee - I can't find two images for a current project so I guess it's time to charge up a dozen batteries for the old Fuji FinePix and go hunting!

... That is, unless anyone happens to have a nice shot of some cctv cameras (with contextual background of some sort) to replace this one here (it's a bit bland). And one of some cable laying/suitable UK road works scene to replace this one - the client doesn't do 'overhead' as displayed - and I liked that image [:(]



jaybee -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 13:16:30)

Phone the client. Ask where his team are laying cables then go take pics. Bespoke images!

There are CCTV cameras everywhere, I'm sure you can find one with an interesting backdrop.



RickP -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 13:21:51)

quote:

Phone the client. Ask where his team are laying cables then go take pics


Now you're getting at me - that's just what my wife keeps telling me [:D]

Trouble is, they may not be doing a cabling job at the moment - but then again... I haven't phoned and asked!

Okay - tomorrow
(maybe)[;)]



jaybee -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 15:05:10)

quote:

that's just what my wife keeps telling me
Yeah I know. We've been talking about you. [;)]



womble -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 15:35:34)

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaybee

If I can't get what I want from iStock then I grab the camera and go take my own.

Same here. Sometimes I use Stock.xchng and Stock.xpert as well, or otherwise I head off out with one of my cameras. I've got an old Olympus and a Minolta that I use for "serious" photographic excursions, along with various filters and stuff I got on eBay, and a little cute, cheap Vivitar that lives in my bag for those times when I see something I just gotta snap.

Can be interesting though because I have problems focusing (my eyes that is, not the camera), so I usually end up with a nice collection of "artistic" out of focus ones! [:D] Probably the best pic I took recently was with the Vivitar of a local landmark for a site. I'd only had it a couple of days, hadn't read the instructions, and couldn't see the screen because the sun was too bright. It was literally a case of point and shoot and hope for the best, and I didn't know if I'd got anything decent until I got home.

Slight tweaking to the contrast in PSP, rotate it a bit to make it a bit more "interesting" (it was a church spire), and it's probably the best pic on the site. I amazed myself!

It's surprising the results you can get with relatively cheap kit. The Vivitar was under £40, and I use Paint Shop Pro 8 - picked it up a couple of years ago on Amazon for around £30. A few tweaks in PSP, and what was an okay photo into something you couldn't tell had been taken with a < £40 camera.




RickP -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 17:05:35)

It's amazing what you can turn out on such occasions Womble, when one just has 'the touch'[;)]

Speaking of cameras, and PSP8...

First off I found this site really helpful with PSP8 a day or two ago.

Last year I bought a Fuji FinePix S7000 - it's got 90% the capabilities of an SLR but only a quarter of the price - I like it[;)]

And today... I've had a graphics design breakthrough... I finally found a good use for a .png. Having made a few attempts at exporting pngs in PSP8 I never found an end image worth using on the web (probably me not doing it right you understand). Today I was getting creative with making a new desktop wallpaper for my PC and wanted a shadowed background - the trouble being with a jpg is that it requires blending to the background colour of the desktop (when used as a centred image and not stretched of course) which I may want to change. I exported as a .png using the alpha transparency thingy setting and hey presto I got a nice shadowed background blending into transparency. It's a big file size, but for this job it's fine of course. I hadn't realised previously that XP desktop supports png files. Well, there you go!



womble -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/5/2007 17:58:07)

Some nice tips there Rick. I also find my PSP for Dummies book invaluable.

You like the Fuji FinePix? I looked at those, but in the end went for a Minolta Dimage 7i - looks more like an SLR, but it's very light, and for the coolness/"I know what I'm doing" (even though I don't) factor, the zoom on it's on the lens, so you look like you're doing highly technical things with focus and stuff even when you're on fully automatic. [:D]

I love my old Olympus Camedia, but it takes Smart Media cards, which were always expensive, but now they're discontinued are extortionate. The biggest I've got is 128mb, and various SM cards are unreadable now. The Minolta takes CF cards, and I've got a 2gig card for that - plenty of room for many pics. [:)] Fortunately both the Olympus and Minolta take 49mm filters, and I can also use the Cokin 'A' filters with them as well. Some things I do in PSP, but for gradients and stuff I still like using filters.

The Vivitar (Vivitar 3105S) is a great little camera, especially for the price, and for general stuff it's okay, but it's fixed focus, so it's not so good for close-up stuff.



RickP -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/6/2007 4:40:04)

quote:

a Minolta Dimage 7i - looks more like an SLR,

The FinePix S7000 also has an SLR style body. We wouldn't look cool enough with one of those little silvery pocket ones would we!

quote:

and for the coolness/"I know what I'm doing" (even though I don't) factor, the zoom on it's on the lens, so you look like you're doing highly technical things with focus and stuff even when you're on fully automatic.

Well, mine has one of those turny dial things on the front - it always puts everything out of focus if you twiddle it, but if you twiddle it back to the same place again all comes right, and I agree it always looks really impressive when you do that.

Neat tips Womble - hope others take note[;)]



jaybee -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/6/2007 5:18:57)

quote:

turny dial things on the front - it always puts everything out of focus if you twiddle it, but if you twiddle it back
To all new visitors -
these are technical terms and we don't expect you to understand them. If you're interested in further info on turny things and twiddling then please email Rick direct.

[;)]



RickP -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/6/2007 10:16:20)

quote:

To all new visitors -
these are technical terms and we don't expect you to understand them. If you're interested in further info on turny things and twiddling then please email Rick direct.


I see... just because we're in an area of expertise here that Jaybee does not grasp the conversation is now off topic [8|] [;)]



jaybee -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/6/2007 10:26:29)

Nooo please carry on, I'm thoroughly enjoying the photographic expertise being discussed. Can't wait for gail to get here and read this. [sm=rotfl.gif]



RickP -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/6/2007 10:38:40)

quote:

Can't wait for gail to get here and read this.


Who's Gail? Does she know much about these things? That site site looks okay for beginners I suppose but no references to the kind of stuff Womble and I are familiar with.



womble -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/6/2007 11:57:03)

You mean it doesn't mentioning turning things and twiddling things? [:D]



jaybee -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/6/2007 12:55:42)

quote:

ORIGINAL: RickP

quote:

Can't wait for gail to get here and read this.


Who's Gail? Does she know much about these things? That site site looks okay for beginners I suppose but no references to the kind of stuff Womble and I are familiar with.

Gail owns that site. Digital photography is her thing. I'm sure she could help you with the turny things and the twiddly bits.



TravelswCharlie -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/7/2007 1:15:24)

quote:

Some of the provider sites are/ have been sued. Template providers have dropped associations and the Magazines I contacted to ask about the voracity of their free images have been conspicuous by their silence.


What's the likelihood of the webmaster getting sued for "innocently" using a photo that turned out to be copyrighted?

Would the owner issue a warning and that would be the end of it unless the webmaster refused to remove the photo... or would they sue right off the bat?




womble -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/7/2007 4:32:48)

If it's Getty they're sueing right off the bat - removing the offending image makes no difference. Other suppliers may be more forgiving, but it's not worth taking the chance.

Unless an image is specifically designated as copyright free (and even then beware), be very careful and seek written permission for anything you use. As Jaybee's said recrntly, if you use sites like iStock, always keep your receipts (in the case of iStock you can see all your downloads in your account area) and be very wary of using 'free' stock images from templates and mags and such like. Even with the legitimatelt copyright free 'free' images you have to be careful because they'll sometimes have restrictions like 'free for personal use' - use them on a commercial or client site and you're breaking the T & Cs.



jaybee -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/7/2007 4:40:18)

I can point you at the Sitepoint thread if you like but there are now around 30 pages of posts on there.

The likelihood is extremely high. If the photo has originally come from Getty or Corbis, and you have no way of knowing if somebody stole it and then made it available elsewhere unless you go through all of the images on both stock sites, they WILL get you. They are using Picscout which scans the web for images and reports back if it finds them.

I don't understand the technology involved but it can apparently get them even if they've been modified, resized, mirrored etc.

There are no cease and desists going out. The first thing that turns up is a demand for payment and it goes to the site owner, not the developer. The amount of the invoice seems to be based on:

For Rights Managed images - the cost price of the images adjusted by the number of months they have been in use on the web.

For Royalty Free images - base price plus some sort of fine.

People who have removed images are also getting bills based on the fact that they had used them in the past. One has just received a bill for £18k

Here's a quote from one of the people on the SP thread who thought they had legally bought their images from another supplier
quote:

I have licenses but in Getty's opinion and by their narrow interpretation of the law the licenses aren't valid.
So that means that we can no-longer trust licenses or suppliers of photographs.


The take on it seems to be, Getty/Corbis sue the site owner who then has to sue the source of the images.



TravelswCharlie -> RE: Stock Photography - where do you go? (2/7/2007 14:14:00)

That's scary stuff!

Thanks for the warnings.




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