MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: PaulieWalnuts on February 24, 2018, 11:12
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Got contacted by yet another vulture asking for free images in trade for name credit. You can't blame them for trying. If I walked into a gas station and said "LOVE your gas. It's amazing. Could I fill up my tank and in exchange I'll put your company logo in my car window?" and almost all gas stations said yes, I would ask every gas station I went into. And that's the problem. So many photographers say yes that people think it's normal to approach any photographer and ask for free usage.
So I had a thought. What if more photographers were turned into sellers so the answer to vultures would always be no. It would increase competition. Would it also decrease vultures and effectively increase buyers?
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Got contacted by yet another vulture asking for free images in trade for name credit. You can't blame them for trying. If I walked into a gas station and said "LOVE your gas. It's amazing. Could I fill up my tank and in exchange I'll put your company logo in my car window?" and almost all gas stations said yes, I would ask every gas station I went into. And that's the problem. So many photographers say yes that people think it's normal to approach any photographer and ask for free usage.
So I had a thought. What if more photographers were turned into sellers so the answer to vultures would always be no. It would increase competition. Would it also decrease vultures and effectively increase buyers?
I think the answers here to free photo requests, have all been good. If someone wants a free photo, I want some of their service or product free in return. I'll put a compliment on my website and give them credit. I'm sure that they will accept in fair trade, the exposure I give them for the exposure my name on a photo they use will get me. Funny how that usually ends the conversation and they go away.
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Got contacted by yet another vulture asking for free images in trade for name credit. You can't blame them for trying. If I walked into a gas station and said "LOVE your gas. It's amazing. Could I fill up my tank and in exchange I'll put your company logo in my car window?" and almost all gas stations said yes, I would ask every gas station I went into. And that's the problem. So many photographers say yes that people think it's normal to approach any photographer and ask for free usage.
So I had a thought. What if more photographers were turned into sellers so the answer to vultures would always be no. It would increase competition. Would it also decrease vultures and effectively increase buyers?
I think the answers here to free photo requests, have all been good. If someone wants a free photo, I want some of their service or product free in return. I'll put a compliment on my website and give them credit. I'm sure that they will accept in fair trade, the exposure I give them for the exposure my name on a photo they use will get me. Funny how that usually ends the conversation and they go away.
The answers here on MSG are good. But what about the other gazillion photographers outside of MSG/Stock on Facebook, Instagram, etc who are happily giving stuff away. When you tell the vulture no they move on looking for their next victim. If there were no more victims the vultures would either need to do without or pay up.
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The best reponse I have seen from a shooter when someone says they will give them "exposure or credit" is to offer them a free photo to use after they get 3 or more referrals to buy their photo services.
Regarding people who give away photos for free, that has been going on forever. You can't stop it. If they make that much of a dent in your income, then you will be the one who has to change. That's just the way it is. Not all photos are equal anyway and if someone is determined not to pay, then they will spend their time finding that freebie. Why chase after those dollars that are never going to be spent anyway?
The fact is, no one owes us business. We have to go out and get it. Its just harder now is all.
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Got contacted by yet another vulture asking for free images in trade for name credit. You can't blame them for trying. If I walked into a gas station and said "LOVE your gas. It's amazing. Could I fill up my tank and in exchange I'll put your company logo in my car window?" and almost all gas stations said yes, I would ask every gas station I went into. And that's the problem. So many photographers say yes that people think it's normal to approach any photographer and ask for free usage.
So I had a thought. What if more photographers were turned into sellers so the answer to vultures would always be no. It would increase competition. Would it also decrease vultures and effectively increase buyers?
I think the answers here to free photo requests, have all been good. If someone wants a free photo, I want some of their service or product free in return. I'll put a compliment on my website and give them credit. I'm sure that they will accept in fair trade, the exposure I give them for the exposure my name on a photo they use will get me. Funny how that usually ends the conversation and they go away.
The answers here on MSG are good. But what about the other gazillion photographers outside of MSG/Stock on Facebook, Instagram, etc who are happily giving stuff away. When you tell the vulture no they move on looking for their next victim. If there were no more victims the vultures would either need to do without or pay up.
It's the glass half-empty/glass half-full nature of digital photography and the internet.
We have benefitted massively from being able to sell images thanks to web-based stock firms.
At the same time, the supply of gullible photographers and their images who will share for credit has also massively increased.
I don't think there's much we can do about it. I never share for free, but as you said, you can't blame people for trying.
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Flickr has been around for ages with amazing content given away for attribution only. These are hobbyists, well, thats how it started I think, they have no business in selling photos. So you are preaching to the wrong choir.
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Flickr has been around for ages with amazing content given away for attribution only. These are hobbyists, well, thats how it started I think, they have no business in selling photos. So you are preaching to the wrong choir.
Maybe I'm not getting my point across clearly. There are some hobbyists on Flickr who have some fantastic highly sellable work. A lot of them could probably easily license a photo for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for a single use license. But they give photos away through creative commons or just give them away. Buyers are now used to getting amazing photos for free. If those photographers were taught to sell their work there would be fewer free images available. Essentially people would get used to the fact that there are no more free images and would need to pay for them.
As an example, I remember back in the early 2000's there were a bunch of companies offering free dialup internet. The catch was you would need to watch a banner advertisement while the dialup took a minute to grind though the connection process. I saved myself a lot of money per month doing this. That company stopped offering free dialup but I found another. And another. After a while there were no more free ISPs and I had no choice but to pay for internet. Point being, if people are aware there are free options they won't pay. If there are no more free options they have no choice but to pay. Turn hobbyists into sellers.
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Got contacted by yet another vulture asking for free images in trade for name credit. You can't blame them for trying. If I walked into a gas station and said "LOVE your gas. It's amazing. Could I fill up my tank and in exchange I'll put your company logo in my car window?" and almost all gas stations said yes, I would ask every gas station I went into.
Good analogy except these image parasites don't actually give your name any exposure - even if that were worth something. They're basically panhandlers. Hey buddy would you help us out? Tryin' ta start a business here....