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Google figured out how to flawlessly remove stock-photo watermarks
Watermarks are placed on copyrighted images like stock-photos in order to keep people from using them without permission or without paying. And manually removing them requires Photoshop skills, time and being ok with the image not looking its best post-removal. But Google has found a way around watermarks -- work it recently presented at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference.
Getty launches VR group with 12,000 stock images
Getty Images, responsible for many of the stock photos you see on the web, has launched a VR division called Getty Images Virtual Reality Group. The company is betting big that virtual reality via headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive is the future of media, and not a passing fad. The company already has 12,000 360-degree images, but will boost that number considerably at the 2016 Rio Olympics. As the official photo agency, Getty will equip each of its photographers with a 360-degree camera to supplement their regular still cameras.
Adobe Creative Cloud update boosts speed, adds stock photo library
Moving to a subscription-based plan of cloud-run apps allows Adobe to push regular updates, and the company is keen on at least one major update a year for the entire suite. In the 2015 installment, Adobe improved performance with speeds up to 10 times faster than CS6 in some apps. Besides that welcome tweak, the company also announced its own stock photography service: Adobe Stock. As you might expect, Stock is integrated with Creative Cloud apps so you can nab those images easily and CC subscriptions will save you 40 percent on photo purchases. You'll be able to search the Stock library from within apps like Photoshop before placing selections in a mockup. And yes, there is an additional fee required. You'll pay $10 per image or $30 a month for a collection of 10 ($50 if you're not a Creative Cloud user).
500px now lets Prime sellers keep most of the cash from their photos
When 500px unveiled its Prime photo licensing store, it stirred up a hornet's nest -- many photographers were outraged that the image host would keep most of the cash from their sales. Give credit to the company for having a change of heart, though. It just launched Prime in beta, and the royalty rates have become much more favorable. While 500px now sells all photos at a $250 flat rate (instead of a $250 minimum), photo owners get 70 percent of that revenue; unless you regularly sell pictures at higher prices, you stand to earn considerably more per shot. You'll have to get an invitation to the beta to give Prime a chance, but the revamped service could be a sweeter deal if you'd make a pittance from rival photo services.
Getty Images opens up its stock photo vaults for free, legal use with new embed tools
Whether it's @HistoryinPics or just an Imgur-hosted picture posted to Reddit, professional photos are being used everywhere on the internet -- and usually without payment or credit to the original owner. Getty Images licenses out stock photos (including coverage of sports, news and fashion events) for use by the media (cough), businesses and artists, and now it's hoping to get some control back, by letting anyone use them for free. Free that is, as long as they're posted with Getty's new embed feature which, like the ones we've gotten used to on Flickr, YouTube and other internet sites, produces the appropriate HTML to pop the picture in a blog or social media post. At launch, it's specifically designed to tie in with sites like Wordpress and Tumblr, and on Twitter, links produce a card with the image and information. The pictures won't be watermarked, but it also links back to Gettyimages.com and includes attribution for the photographer. It seems like a win-win for everyone, and an admission by Getty that simply trying to paywall access to high quality pics won't keep them from being posted everywhere anyway. Meanwhile, everyone from casual tweeters to those starting great websites for the next ten years just getting their start can access high quality photos without worrying about scary legal letters or getting their account shut down.
500px will sell your photos if it can keep most of the cash
Serious photographers who host their pictures at 500px will soon get to profit from their skills -- if not quite in they way they'd expect. The company has just unveiled Prime, a licensing store that's theoretically more lucrative than many cut-rate stock photo sites. Every image will carry a minimum $250 license fee, and photos will be ranked based on community reactions. A frequently shared photo may stand out from the pack, for instance. There's only one catch. 500px is only giving sellers a 30 percent commission, regardless of the licensing terms -- that's a considerably smaller cut than some pros are used to, and might not be as rewarding as selling the work directly to customers. Prime may be difficult to justify for full-time shutterbugs, then, but it could prove useful to hobbyists who'd like to earn some extra cash with minimal effort.
Buy $2,000 worth of stock photos, get a free iPod Hi-Fi
If you have to buy alot of stock photos, and I know you do , you might want to check out Adobe's offerings. Why is that? Well, between now and July 17, 2006 if you spend $2000, or more, you'll get a free iPod Hi-Fi.You do need to have a valid license to one of these pieces of software: Adobe Creative Suite 2 software, Adobe Production Studio, GoLive® CS2, Illustrator® CS2, InDesign® CS2, Photoshop® CS2, After Effects® 7.0, Adobe Premiere® Pro 2.0, Adobe® Audition® 2.0, or Encore® DVD 2.0, however, chances are if you're using that many stock photos you have Photoshop.
