Author Topic: Donating Free Images (Poll) (Read 6126 times)

takestock · « **on:** July 07, 2009, 17:34 »

For those who have donated free images to sites - have you thought it to be beneficial to your sales or a negative move by giving away your work for free.
Let's have you vote!

melastmohican · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2009, 17:36 »

Neither positive nor negative :-) I would say it's bogus marketing trick.

gbcimages · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2009, 17:39 »

no good for me,didn't help whatsoever.

m@m · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2009, 18:20 »

Great for freeloaders and cheap buyers...No so hot for contributors

puravida · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2009, 18:25 »

Quote from: m@m on July 07, 2009, 18:20

Great for freeloaders and cheap buyers...No so hot for contributors

agree! scavengers ! all ! filthy scavengers!

Phil · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2009, 20:49 »

I still feel that our images are absolute bargain prices without giving them away.

I wish the sites that have largish collections of free images would actually show some figures as to how many new people actually come to the site because of the free images and how many actually turn into paying customers.

Similarly how much does it mean in sales on average. We here regularly increase portfolio exposure, I dont care about how much my portfolio is looked at by people who aren't going to buy.

rene · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2009, 21:02 »

Once, when I was young, I donate few of my images for free. It was very stupid think. Don't trust sites moderators that's good for you.

willie · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2009, 21:51 »

Quote from: rene on July 07, 2009, 21:02

Once, when I was young, I donate few of my images for free. It was very stupid think. Don't trust sites moderators that's good for you.

that's cute, rene!

:D

willie · « **Reply #8 on:** July 07, 2009, 21:52 »

Like rene! I was once young and stupid and thought it was sooo cooool to see my images given away for free so my friends all think I was a prooofessional.
Now I am not sooo young, and not quite sooo stupid. Like rene, I also stop trusting site moderators. Oh I also stopped believing in the tooth fairy

fotografer · « **Reply #9 on:** July 08, 2009, 00:32 »

I had an IS FIOTW once and a free image of the day at DT. In both cases sales went up and in the case of IS the image still went on to get a flame so it didn't even seem to hurt sales on that image.
I wouldnt give a free image that is just getting put into a collection with other free images, it would have to have a front page slot to bring attention to just my portfolio. The only other one that I would consider is the SS free image of the week.
I didn't vote because although my experiences were positive I don't want to make it look as though giving free images in general is a positive thing.

Phil · « **Reply #10 on:** July 08, 2009, 03:47 »

Quote from: rene on July 07, 2009, 21:02

Once, when I was young, I donate few of my images for free. It was very stupid think. Don't trust sites moderators that's good for you.

rofl

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #11 on:** July 08, 2009, 05:49 »

Why buy images if you can get thousands for free?

? Giving images away is stupid in my humble opinion.

Free tank of gas at this gas station and $4.00 a gallon down the street .... where would you fill the gas tank?

-Larry

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #12 on:** July 08, 2009, 06:45 »

I read on a designers forum where one of the moderators posted a list of free stock sites and asked everyone else to add to it. Some of the designers said they try to use free sites exclusively and will only buy if they can't find what they need.

The bottom line is the more free images you put out there the less designers need to buy. If there were zero free images they would have no choice but to buy.

I see no benefit for contributors in offering files for free. I doubt designers give their services away for free. This isn't a charity it's a business. If you feel like being kind donate your time or money to a charity or religious organization.

Phil · « **Reply #13 on:** July 08, 2009, 07:52 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on July 08, 2009, 06:45

I read on a designers forum where one of the moderators posted a list of free stock sites and asked everyone else to add to it. Some of the designers said they try to use free sites exclusively and will only buy if they can't find what they need.

The bottom line is the more free images you put out there the less designers need to buy. If there were zero free images they would have no choice but to buy.

I see no benefit for contributors in offering files for free. I doubt designers give their services away for free. This isn't a charity it's a business. If you feel like being kind donate your time or money to a charity or religious organization.

I've come across a few people that buying the image is the last resort. go through grab the new free images each day so that they very rarely buy.
a few images from tens of thousands of artists is a huge collection

graficallyminded · « **Reply #14 on:** July 08, 2009, 15:40 »

As a designer that was forced to use "free-only" stock sites (working for stingy companies back in the day), I have to say that you don't have too many options when you search the freebie sites. The images are usually 4-8mp at best, almost always noisy or slightly out of focus. They have issues, and they have to be doctored up. You basically have to do the post processing, whereas when you buy an image from a stock site that has already been reviewed, you're getting a final product. You get what you pay for. Times are tough, and I'm sure a lot of companies rely on these free sites. It's too bad they think they're getting the same thing. Sure, once in a while you'll get an image that is of excellent quality, perfectly exposued, shot at ISO 100 and in perfect focus - great for either print or web - but it's not as easy to find those. It will take a lot of digging, which takes more time, and in turn you would have been better spending the money. Time is money. You realize that early on in life.

Donating free images? Waste of freaking time. Freeloaders load up. It might get your name (brand) out there a little more, but most of these people that freeload only have accounts to grab the free images of the day/week/month. I know, I used to be one of them. I donated a couple in the past, got nothing from it. Let the noobs do it from now on. Better them than me.

If only the people dumping their images on sites like stockxchange knew how much their images and graphics were worth, before they sold themselves so short. If only they knew how much they could be making from their talent.

madelaide · « **Reply #15 on:** July 08, 2009, 16:22 »

I wonder if free image sites allow commercial use of images? In the stock agencies you may have a free images section where it's ok to use them as in a purchased image (I think at least one, FP or 123RF, required that the photographer and agency were credited), but I suppose most free image sites would be for personal use only? Like webshots (I think) from where a friend often download images for his desktop.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #16 on:** July 08, 2009, 21:47 »

So if Getty owns Jupiter was Stock.XCHNG part of the deal? If so, I hope they shut it down or convert it to fee based.

graficallyminded · « **Reply #17 on:** July 10, 2009, 08:40 »

Quote from: madelaide on July 08, 2009, 16:22

I wonder if free image sites allow commercial use of images? In the stock agencies you may have a free images section where it's ok to use them as in a purchased image (I think at least one, FP or 123RF, required that the photographer and agency were credited), but I suppose most free image sites would be for personal use only? Like webshots (I think) from where a friend often download images for his desktop.

It ranges from image to image, depending on what the author of the image specifies. Most of them give you full commercial rights - except resale and enhanced (reprint) licensing, I would think...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's the deal about sxc.hu - they were around longer than stockxpert as far as I know. Someone over there in Hungary thought up the great idea to include stockxpert results in with the stockxchange search results. This is why they've been such a hit. Many people can't find what they're looking for, or they see something better at stockxpert in the same results - then they go over there and buy it. Now that Getty has bought stockxpert, who knows what will happen to sxc. If they are two seperate companies/entities, then they should be fine. I wouldn't see how it would be in Getty's best interest to keep stockxchange running, if in fact they are in a conglomeration with stockxpert.

loop · « **Reply #18 on:** July 10, 2009, 10:00 »

I don't donate images, I would never use yhem as a designer, with the excepcion of those which came from established agencies. "Free-images" pages are like an inverse lottery, you can easily grab a robbed image, an image without appropiate releases etc. And if that causes a problem, go then and try to explain it to your employer or customer.

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #19 on:** July 12, 2009, 16:11 »

Dont donate anything to the sites...

However.... as a company, I will print and donate images to the likes of Ronald McDonald House Children's Charities and similar organizations for auction and have received great free publicity and future business. But give IS or any of the others a freebie? Yeah, .....when they start given back to me.

=tom

lurkertwo · « **Reply #20 on:** July 13, 2009, 00:50 »

I'm regularly looking at freebies at Microstock and I used to stockpile them for later use. I never looked who made the shot, I just harvest. A few times I couldn't find what I wanted, I bought it at Dreamstime by a fresh search, but never (unless by coincidence perhaps) in the portfolio of the Mother Theresas that are so naive to give away their shots for free on Microstock.

Of course it doesn't help.

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Author Topic: Donating Free Images (Poll) (Read 6126 times)

takestock

melastmohican

gbcimages

m@m

puravida

Phil

rene

willie

willie

fotografer

Phil

Lcjtripod

PaulieWalnuts

Phil

graficallyminded

madelaide

PaulieWalnuts

graficallyminded

loop

a.k.a.-tom

lurkertwo

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