Author Topic: 500px - I'm confused (Read 17475 times)

PZF · « **on:** July 23, 2015, 10:43 »

Mulling new options to try for some photos. Given the microstock situation at the moment, something needs to be done! 500px though completely confuses me. Even their FAQ are unclear so I'd be grateful if somebody could confirm what I think I understand ie:

It seems you upload LARGE files to 500px but fairly small (!) thumbprints get shown. If you enable your shop, the photos automatically go on sale in 500pxPrime - not sure size of display, but diddly watermarks (sigh!)....!

Also: It seems you HAVE to use the 50px standard licence for sales. Is that RF, RM or something different again? Basically - can existing RM images go to 500px? Or just RF?

Cheers.....a few facts will help the mulling......

trek · « **Reply #2 on:** July 23, 2015, 11:53 »

Regarding feedback:
With all due respect, the lack of an automatic watermark option across all display platforms is simply lame.

polar · « **Reply #3 on:** July 23, 2015, 12:28 »

Quote from: nuno on July 23, 2015, 11:24

Hi PZF,

I'll try to clear up some confusion here, but always feel free to email [email protected] directly.

As with any stock photo site, we need you to upload the high-res versions of your photos. We display thumbnails and watermarked versions on the photo page on prime.500px.com. Since 500px is ALSO a photo community your photos also live there on your 500px profile page and photo pages. You can choose to watermark those photos as well (or not depending your preference on how you want your photos displayed).

I'm still confused about the watermark situation. From previous reading on these and other forums, I was under the impression that the images on prime.500px are drawn from what the photographer posts on 500px and the watermarks are added in prime, leaving the original images on 500px unwatermarked. There was some discussion about the fact that if you wanted the 500px images watermarked, you had to upload them with your own watermarks and your post above seems to confirm this. But doesn't that mean the watermarks would be embedded in the images for sale on prime? And wouldn't the prime photos be double-watermarked?

Some people suggested uploading two sets of images to 500px -- low-res watermarked images for viewing on 500px and high-res unwatermarked images to be mirrored on prime. This would require a lot of extra work and unless the high-res images can be hidden on 500px (i.e. only visible as watermarked images on prime), it would be pointless.

I'd appreciate it if you could clarify these issues for me. I very much agree with others who've said the simplest solution would be for you to automatically watermark all the images from the get-go. Agreed, they're not bullet-proof protection against theft but that's no reason not to provide as much protection as possible.

Also, I'd like to know whether you offer image exclusivity or artist exclusivity. I'd be interested in the former, but not the latter.

polar · « **Reply #4 on:** July 23, 2015, 12:34 »

As a matter of curiosity, why do you have to force everyone into a photo-sharing community? I did that with Flickr for several years but I'm done with it. I'm interested in your photo-marketing site and I'd prefer to concentrate on that and not be bothered with the other.

cobalt · « **Reply #8 on:** July 23, 2015, 13:36 »

Checkbox for watermarking, this is very good news. Do i still have to upload two sizes or will the full size be downsampled for the community section?

I'd really like to try it and i am a big community addict.

cobalt · « **Reply #10 on:** July 23, 2015, 13:55 »

Excellent! i would like to test 500pix because so many people ask me about it. Most artists won't make it into stocksy, because it is a small agency that cannot take 20000 people.

But you guys could 😀

rimglow · « **Reply #11 on:** July 23, 2015, 14:03 »

Excuse me, but is this your idea of a watermark?

If so, it is completely useless! Watermarks need to be up to the standards of even the small microstock sites. It is a priority, industry wide, and the first thing new sites get right.

cobalt · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2015, 14:20 »

Oh.

Can i adjust the size and the placement of the watermark?

somethingpretentious · « **Reply #13 on:** July 23, 2015, 14:27 »

Please make the photo sharing community part optional. You will likely miss out on some top photographers if you do not.

cobalt · « **Reply #15 on:** July 23, 2015, 14:34 »

Can you let us know here when it will be possible? I've had really bad experiences on my website although my first watermark was large and was right in the centre. Now i have a very visible pattern that covers everything.

It is ugly, but it works.

I am sure you can come up with something tasteful.

polar · « **Reply #16 on:** July 23, 2015, 14:39 »

Quote from: nuno on July 23, 2015, 12:40

Quote from: polar on July 23, 2015, 12:28

I'm still confused about the watermark situation. From previous reading on these and other forums, I was under the impression that the images on prime.500px are drawn from what the photographer posts on 500px and the watermarks are added in prime, leaving the original images on 500px unwatermarked. There was some discussion about the fact that if you wanted the 500px images watermarked, you had to upload them with your own watermarks and your post above seems to confirm this. But doesn't that mean the watermarks would be embedded in the images for sale on prime? And wouldn't the prime photos be double-watermarked?

Some people suggested uploading two sets of images to 500px -- low-res watermarked images for viewing on 500px and high-res unwatermarked images to be mirrored on prime. This would require a lot of extra work and unless the high-res images can be hidden on 500px (i.e. only visible as watermarked images on prime), it would be pointless.

I'd appreciate it if you could clarify these issues for me. I very much agree with others who've said the simplest solution would be for you to automatically watermark all the images from the get-go. Agreed, they're not bullet-proof protection against theft but that's no reason not to provide as much protection as possible.

Also, I'd like to know whether you offer image exclusivity or artist exclusivity. I'd be interested in the former, but not the latter.

What we've done recently is enabled a checkbox in the upload / photo manager interface to allow you to specify if you want the 500px watermark on your photos. We take the original and apply the watermark on the Prime site automatically and depending on your preference watermark on the 500px site. It won't double watermark and simply applies two different watermarks to two different versions. If you upload a watermarked photo (where you've added the watermark yourself) AND you select the option to watermark, then yes your photo will be double watermarked and ultimately rejected in the marketplace since we need unwatermarked versions.

We offer image exclusivity, and do not insist on artist exclusivity.

Thanks for this information. However, I agree that the watermark is inadequate. It provides no more protection than no watermark at all, especially for exclusive images. I'm really interested in trying 500px but this watermark situation has to improve first.

This is really why I asked about the community participation issue. There are some incompatibilities between photo-sharing and photo-marketing and this watermark issue is one of them.

Regarding community participation, I have another question. I understand that participation can increase your visibility among potential buyers but it's also time-consuming and it's hard to quantify the benefits. This was the reason I left Flickr. I agree with others who say you should separate the two services or at least let those who are only interested in photo-marketing opt out of the other.

As things stand now, what I'd like to know is whether community participation affects the results when a buyer types a keyword into the search box on 500px prime. Does a photographer's community participation influence whether his/her image comes first on page one or last on page 50?

trek · « **Reply #17 on:** July 23, 2015, 15:04 »

First of all I appreciate 500px listening to us and interacting in this forum. Secondly the water mark needs to centered and real.

I'm really only interested in licensing. I do not upload to flicker or bother with facebook and all the rest. Views mean nothing to me. If I join 500px I'd prefer to opt out of the "photo sharing community".

nuno · « **Reply #18 on:** July 23, 2015, 15:42 »

You do not need to be an active participant in the community to license photos and there's no bias for people who are commenting or liking / faving more than others. However, photos that are popular in our community will of course, organically, have higher visibility and SEO traffic.

500px is primarily a photo community site. We didn't want to create a new company or abandon what we had already bulit. We're the same company, doing the same community site stuff we did before (and always will do) but now with a licensing platform tied to it due mostly in part by the demand of buyers in our community who wanted to legitimately license content. It's not for everyone and as a photographer, there are a few platforms I don't have the time for or don't want to participate in too. I think that's completely normal.

The comments regarding the watermark are being heard loud and clear and we'll continue to work on it for sure. As I mentioned before, on this forum everyone wants watermarks, on other forums and channels people hate watermarks on 500px photos. We're trying to find a balance and it's not perfect and maybe never will be.. but we'll continue to work on it.

Anyka · « **Reply #19 on:** July 23, 2015, 16:04 »

I have this pop-up note in my agenda : "check Prime 500px for watermark situation". It pops up every 2 or 3 months, but as long as their watermark is a tiny logo in a corner, I keep clicking it away in my agenda ...
If ever this gets solved, I will upload a batch of my best stuff, to test the waters

jarih · « **Reply #20 on:** July 23, 2015, 16:19 »

I just load few my images there. And you are right, watermark is too nonexistent for right purpose. I hope too that you can fix it.

And yep, it's an photo community site, first take off the "I like" email notes or you can get them a lot in a short time

rimglow · « **Reply #21 on:** July 23, 2015, 16:55 »

Quote from: nuno on July 23, 2015, 15:42

500px is primarily a photo community site. We didn't want to create a new company or abandon what we had already bulit. We're the same company, doing the same community site stuff we did before (and always will do) but now with a licensing platform tied to it due mostly in part by the demand of buyers in our community who wanted to legitimately license content. It's not for everyone and as a photographer, there are a few platforms I don't have the time for or don't want to participate in too. I think that's completely normal.

Here's an idea. Branch off into a Stock department. Let the community dabble in their licensing without watermarks. But get serious about selling real stock images, to the big ad agencies. That's where the money is. Your site is attractive, and has the interest of the photographers in this forum. But your lack of a genuine watermark is a deal breaker. Have a stock division and the "community" wouldn't be bothered. You would have a new community of stock photographers that have decent watermarking. How about 500pxstockphotos? I will make you a deal on rights to the domain name.

You must have some interest in stock photography or you would'nt be here.

oscarcwilliams · « **Reply #22 on:** July 23, 2015, 17:03 »

Also the drop down to show photos from your portfolio are way to slow. It needs to be fixed ASAP.

polar · « **Reply #23 on:** July 23, 2015, 17:28 »

Quote from: nuno on July 23, 2015, 15:42

You do not need to be an active participant in the community to license photos and there's no bias for people who are commenting or liking / faving more than others. However, photos that are popular in our community will of course, organically, have higher visibility and SEO traffic.

500px is primarily a photo community site. We didn't want to create a new company or abandon what we had already bulit. We're the same company, doing the same community site stuff we did before (and always will do) but now with a licensing platform tied to it due mostly in part by the demand of buyers in our community who wanted to legitimately license content. It's not for everyone and as a photographer, there are a few platforms I don't have the time for or don't want to participate in too. I think that's completely normal.

The comments regarding the watermark are being heard loud and clear and we'll continue to work on it for sure. As I mentioned before, on this forum everyone wants watermarks, on other forums and channels people hate watermarks on 500px photos. We're trying to find a balance and it's not perfect and maybe never will be.. but we'll continue to work on it.

I appreciate your efforts to accommodate both sides of this debate. It speaks well of your company that you listen to and interact with users and potential users. That's rare these days.

But as I mentioned before, there are some inherent incompatibilities between photo-sharing and photo-marketing and this is one of them. As far as I can see, there doesn't appear to be any realistic way to resolve this incompatibility except to allow the two sides to function in a way that best suits their (very different) fundamental purposes. Not if you want to attract photographers who are primarily or solely interested in licensing.

Thanks for confirming that community participation is not a factor in search ranking for licensing purposes.

PZF · « **Reply #24 on:** July 24, 2015, 01:29 »

To me 500px looks more like at art site than what we have come to think of as a stock site. Is that so?

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Author Topic: 500px - I'm confused (Read 17475 times)

PZF

nuno

trek

polar

polar

nuno

nuno

nuno

cobalt

nuno

cobalt

rimglow

cobalt

somethingpretentious

nuno

cobalt

polar

trek

nuno

Anyka

jarih

rimglow

oscarcwilliams

polar

PZF

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