Change View Options:

Articles from April 2015

Pond5 Uses Artificial Intelligence To Auto-Tag Images

By Jim Pickerell | 373 Words | Posted 4/30/2015 | Comments
Pond5, has unveiled auto-tagging technology that they claim is the first of its kind in the stock media industry. Built with artificial intelligence, this pioneering feature automatically generates keywords for each photo and video uploaded to the Pond5 platform.

What Is Considered “Fair Use” Of Photographs?

By Jim Pickerell | 242 Words | Posted 4/30/2015 | Comments
The U.S. Copyright Office has created a Fair Use Index to assist creators and user in understanding what is considered “Fair Use.” Fair use is a longstanding and vital aspect of American copyright law. The goal of the Index is to make the principles and application of fair use more accessible and understandable by presenting a searchable database of court opinions.

Shutterstock Panorama

By Jim Pickerell | 338 Words | Posted 4/28/2015 | Comments
Want to know more about the people who are producing images that are licensed at microstock and subscription prices? Shutterstock Panorama is worth a look.

Rights Managed Image Exclusivity and Sharing Sites

By Jim Pickerell | 1485 Words | Posted 4/27/2015 | Comments
Recently, I was asked to comment on whether a photographer under exclusive contract with a stock agency that licensed the work as Rights Managed could simultaneously post the same images on one of a series of social media sites.

ACSIL Footage Expo In New York

By Jim Pickerell | 185 Words | Posted 4/24/2015 | Comments
If you’re interested in stock footage you may want to attend the ACSIL Footage Expo 2015 in Manhattan next week. The event will take place on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 between 10:30am and 5:15pm at the Midtown Loft & Terrace, 267 Fifth Avenue, (29th Street), New York. NY. Many of the major footage distributors will be exhibiting.

The Dilemma When Chasing Unauthorized Uses

By Jim Pickerell | 633 Words | Posted 4/23/2015 | Comments (3)
In order to earn significant money from licensing stock images it is almost mandatory to make the images available through more than one large stock image distributor. But having images with multiple distributors also makes it almost impossible to determine if there has been an infringement. While it is easy enough to determine if an image has been used on the Interne, it is often almost impossible to determine if the image was legally licensed.

Photography As A Career

By Jim Pickerell | 215 Words | Posted 4/22/2015 | Comments (1)
It’s that time of year when high school seniors are waiting for college acceptance letters and thinking about future careers. If you know someone who is thinking about photography as a career you might want to point them to the stories listed below.

EyeEm Gets $18 Million In VC Funding

By Jim Pickerell | 258 Words | Posted 4/21/2015 | Comments
EyeEm has raised $18 million in new venture capital and currently has a community of 13 million photographers across 150 countries.

How To Make Money As A Travel Photographer In 2015

By Jim Pickerell | 111 Words | Posted 4/21/2015 | Comments
PetaPixel has a great story by 30-year-old Brendan van Son about how he has been supporting himself for the last 5 years as a travel photographer/journalist. During that time he has visited almost 80 countries. He provides a lot of very valuable detail for anyone thinking about travel photography as a career.

Major Advertisers Find FOAP

By Jim Pickerell | 236 Words | Posted 4/20/2015 | Comments
Foap, is hosting a NYC photo contest that awards $200 each for the best New York City photos in four different categories. The contest is in partnership with Mastercard

ACSIL Stock Footage Survey: Executive Summary

By Jim Pickerell | 1292 Words | Posted 4/17/2015 | Comments
In March we reported that an ACSIL survey of stock footage distributors concluded that globally $550 million in revenue was generated from the licensing of stock footage in 2014. The 53-question survey was sent to over 400 companies that license stock footage and 90 responded. The following is an executive summary of the results.

Google Formally Charged With Manipulating Search Unfairly

By Jim Pickerell | 466 Words | Posted 4/16/2015 | Comments (2)
The European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections to Google alleging the company has abused its dominant position in the markets for general Internet search services in the European Economic Area (EEA) by systematically favoring its own comparison shopping product in its general search results pages. The Commission's preliminary view is that such conduct infringes EU antitrust rules because it stifles competition and harms consumers.

$15 Per Hour

By Jim Pickerell | 624 Words | Posted 4/15/2015 | Comments
I received a note from a stock photographer who was one of the more successful full-time image producers in the 1990s and early 2000s. He called my attention to a CNN story about “Workers Striking For $15 An Hour.” He is envious of those who will earn $15 per hour for their work. He is looking for a new career because he can no longer earn anywhere near $15 an hour in present value for the time and effort he puts into producing new images.

Licensing Based On Trust

By Jim Pickerell | 1085 Words | Posted 4/14/2015 | Comments
Most Rights Managed stock images can be used in many different non-conflicting ways by a variety of customers. The theory behind RM licensing is that the fee charged to use an image should have some relation to the value the customer receives from the use. RM photographers are encouraged to carefully negotiate, and spell out in detail in a license, the rights and limitations of each use. It is assumed that an honest customer will then track its usage. If the customer wants to make additional use of the same image the customer will then come back and negotiate an additional license. Is that working?

Bridgeman Studio Awards Competition

By Jim Pickerell | 278 Words | Posted 4/13/2015 | Comments
he Bridgeman Studio has launched its second annual Awards competition with a theme of  “The Great Outdoors.”

Does Constantly Adding Images To A Stock Collection Make Sense?

By Jim Pickerell | 1288 Words | Posted 4/10/2015 | Comments (6)
If you’re goal is to earn a significant portion of your livelihood from the images you produce, and you already have a significant number of the best image you know how to produce with all the agencies and distributors who represent your work, does it make sense to regularly add even more images of the same general subjects to these collections?

Pond5 Introduces Backlots and Backlots+

By Jim Pickerell | 271 Words | Posted 4/9/2015 | Comments
Pond5, unveiled two new types of video content today—Backlots and Backlots+. Provided by partner CT Image, these digital backlots allow editors to flawlessly simulate background scenery from 25 of the world’s major cities in their video productions.

Shutterstock Workshops

By Jim Pickerell | 217 Words | Posted 4/7/2015 | Comments
If you’re thinking about submitting images to Shutterstock you might want to check out the next ShutterTalk Live streaming workshop, “Preparing Your First Photo Submission,” on Thursday, April 9 at 11am EST.

Shutterstock Eliminates Daily Download Limits

By Jim Pickerell | 388 Words | Posted 4/6/2015 | Comments
Shutterstock continues to make it easier customers to get the images they need via their subscription products. Until last week customers that purchased a subscription were limited to 25 downloads a day and a maximum of 750 per month for customers in the U.S. and Canada.

Photojournalism: What Is Too Much Post-Processing?

By Jim Pickerell | 451 Words | Posted 4/3/2015 | Comments
A photojournalist’s goal should be to supply the publications they work for with the best possible image that accurately reflects what they saw. If readers are to trust newspapers and magazines they must know that the images and information provided are an accurate representation of what really happened.

EyeEm Market Opens

By Jim Pickerell | 330 Words | Posted 4/1/2015 | Comments
In August 2014 EyeEm announced that it would be introducing a “Market” aspect to its social media site. Market has finally been launched. EyeEm was established in 2011 and currently has over 13 million users who post photos taken with their cell phones and comment on each other’s work. It is unclear how many images are on the site.

Stay Connected

Sign up to receive email notification when new stories are posted.

Follow Us

About This Site

This stock photography news site focuses on the business side of photography with a special emphasis on stock photography. Our goal is to help photographers maximize their earnings based on the quality of their work and the commitment they are prepared to make to the trade. The information provided will be applicable to part-timers as well as full time professional photographers. We’ll leave it to others to teach photographers how to take better pictures.

Jim Pickerell launched his career as a photographer in 1963. In 1990 he began publishing a regular newsletter on stock photography. In 1995 the information was made available online as well as in print and was gradually expanded to a daily service. Click here for Pickerell's full biography.

Top Categories