MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => New Sites - General => Topic started by: BrokenPhotographer on January 09, 2009, 12:07
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I've just been pointed at this site http://www.picturenation.co.uk/ (http://www.picturenation.co.uk/), I've never seen it before and I thought I'd sign up and check it out. But being a little new still I thought I'd ask opinions as the T&C confuses me.
This part
By submitting the photograph to picturenation, being the sole author of the photograph, waive absolutely your moral rights arising under Chapter 4 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and, so far as is legally possible, any broadly equivalent rights you may have in any territory of the world. (this refers to picturenation using your member name to publicise your photo)
confuses me as I'm not 100% sure of all the act and despite further down it states that you retain copyright.
I'm just a little blonde and unsure of some of the parts that look a little suspicious so I'll be grateful for the opinions of people here who know much more than me and can save me signing up somewhere that isn't going to be good for myself.
Thanks in advance.
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Moral rights under the CDPA include the right to be attributed as creator of the work, the right to object to derogatory treatment of your work and the right not to have someone else's work falsely attributed to you.
The first two would not be consistent with selling images as RF stock, hence the waiver. The copyright remains with you, however.
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Quote from the website:
# You can have 5 images live on the picturenation site for no charge.
# If you have 5 images live on the site, you can upgrade to a PN Pro Account for just £10 annually, and upload as many images as you like. Images still have to be approved by the picturenation team.
Pay to have pictures online in a new agency without track record?
No, thanks. >:(
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Ok so the moral rights bit isn't as scary as I thought. I know it's only five images but I figured that having a few there would let me get a foot in with a few ok shots and see how it goes, with todays market I doubt they can afford to keep it with fees for long.
The site does have a lot of flaws though after more investigation, huge amounts of properties including a pizza hut and no sign of a property release, with the T&C too it looks like they would throw the photographer to the dogs if they got caught out. I haven't checked the model release side of things yet.
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Ok so the moral rights bit isn't as scary as I thought. I know it's only five images but I figured that having a few there would let me get a foot in with a few ok shots and see how it goes, with todays market I doubt they can afford to keep it with fees for long.
The site does have a lot of flaws though after more investigation, huge amounts of properties including a pizza hut and no sign of a property release, with the T&C too it looks like they would throw the photographer to the dogs if they got caught out. I haven't checked the model release side of things yet.
Picture Nation is now two years old. Not a "new" site! I have 1000 photos there and have made some good sales. Comission is 40%and you get £30 for a high res sale (they are not microstock). The flaws you refer to are not. They accept editorial photos such as high street shops, famous celebrities etc which do not require property or model releases. Their customers include newspaper groups and the BBC! The £10 fee is in fact new and most of us have paid it as it is a good site. I am just amazed it hasn't been mentioned on this site before. Totally recommend them. Hope this helps. Regards, David
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PN offers subscription sales, which pay photographers 40p, sounds pretty micro to me. Single sales start at 2 pounds earnings. To anyone who is interested I suggest you read their forum a bit. A lot of people seem not so happy with their sales.
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Ok so the moral rights bit isn't as scary as I thought. I know it's only five images but I figured that having a few there would let me get a foot in with a few ok shots and see how it goes, with todays market I doubt they can afford to keep it with fees for long.
The site does have a lot of flaws though after more investigation, huge amounts of properties including a pizza hut and no sign of a property release, with the T&C too it looks like they would throw the photographer to the dogs if they got caught out. I haven't checked the model release side of things yet.
Picture Nation is now two years old. Not a "new" site! I have 1000 photos there and have made some good sales. Comission is 40%and you get £30 for a high res sale (they are not microstock). The flaws you refer to are not. They accept editorial photos such as high street shops, famous celebrities etc which do not require property or model releases. Their customers include newspaper groups and the BBC! The £10 fee is in fact new and most of us have paid it as it is a good site. I am just amazed it hasn't been mentioned on this site before. Totally recommend them. Hope this helps. Regards, David
Welcome representative of Picture Nation. You're doing a fine job. Now, can we can have the real truth and nothing but the truth from someone else please.
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Welcome representative of Picture Nation.
Don't think so. He seems quite genuine on his blog and PN forum. Of course, pay to upload on a low-income microstock site is out of the question.
Update. Second thoughts, I'll sign up after reading this note (http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.3118) by the founder, former BBC news director and journalist, Jane-Louise Green. It’s probably one of those niche players beyond the world of seasoned stock buyers like panthermedia.de, and where you can be successful or not, depending on your port and karma.
They don't have FTP, hmm...
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Welcome representative of Picture Nation. You're doing a fine job. Now, can we can have the real truth and nothing but the truth from someone else please.
That seems very harsh just based on what the poster said - that PN is not new, that it accepts images for editorial use as well as RF stock and that he has good sales there.
I am not a "representative" of Picture Nation either. I do know the founder, Jane-Louise Green and I have sometimes contributed bits of legal advice. I also have a small portfolio there. NewsFocus1 is correct. The site has been active for more than two years, and it was a considerable time in preparation and planning before that. It is not brand new and the payment has only just been introduced - it isn't some kind of scam. There is an open discussion, including complaints, about the introduction of the annual fee on the PN forums. People who already have a portfolio there will only be required to pay the fee if they upload more images, so no-one is being forced to pay. And no, I am not successful there. I have a relatively small number of images and my earnings are next to nothing, but clearly some contributors are doing very well. I hope the site weathers the current economic storms because I know how hard the founder and her team have worked, not because I am earning loads of money there, or have any financial interest in its success.
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Ok so the moral rights bit isn't as scary as I thought. I know it's only five images but I figured that having a few there would let me get a foot in with a few ok shots and see how it goes, with todays market I doubt they can afford to keep it with fees for long.
The site does have a lot of flaws though after more investigation, huge amounts of properties including a pizza hut and no sign of a property release, with the T&C too it looks like they would throw the photographer to the dogs if they got caught out. I haven't checked the model release side of things yet.
Picture Nation is now two years old. Not a "new" site! I have 1000 photos there and have made some good sales. Comission is 40%and you get £30 for a high res sale (they are not microstock). The flaws you refer to are not. They accept editorial photos such as high street shops, famous celebrities etc which do not require property or model releases. Their customers include newspaper groups and the BBC! The £10 fee is in fact new and most of us have paid it as it is a good site. I am just amazed it hasn't been mentioned on this site before. Totally recommend them. Hope this helps. Regards, David
Welcome representative of Picture Nation. You're doing a fine job. Now, can we can have the real truth and nothing but the truth from someone else please.
There's a thought Iriz. Maybe I could phone them and ask them for some money for posting nice things about them ;) Seriously, I am just a contributor and have had good experiences with them. Hope the information helped. Flemishdreams, many thanks for actually reading my blog. You are one of a select few so far ;D But it is very new. Regards, David (not in the pay of Picturenation -except my commission)
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Moral rights under the CDPA include the right to be attributed as creator of the work, the right to object to derogatory treatment of your work and the right not to have someone else's work falsely attributed to you.
The first two would not be consistent with selling images as RF stock, hence the waiver. The copyright remains with you, however.
Yes, and for those interested here is the law itself: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/ukpga_19880048_en_4
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I think I'll test it out with a few pictures and see what kind of viewing they get etc, if it's positive then I'll see how the fee goes and let you all know my experiences with them. It can't really do me any harm and my personal circumstances right now need me to take any opportunities that could help support my family.
As always thank you for all the advice and comments folks, I always appreciate the information I gain from you all as you are much further into the stock side of photography than me and I feel a lot more confident with good advice on my side.
:-*
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There is an open discussion, including complaints, about the introduction of the annual fee on the PN forums.
A parking fee is quite unusual in microstock. On the other hand, it would prevent a massive sign-up of beginners with glorified snapshots. Anybody having done review work knows what I mean by that. It would only attract people that are confident about their port.
PN looks like a niche site for travel/editorial. I have no idea whether the "traditional" recent stock imagery with isolated models and staged scenes/emotions would be successful there. PN is certainly not for illustrations and vectors.
The site is a bit intriguing and I had a look at the images. View counts are decent. Content, well, there is room for improvement certainly. Perhaps Jane-Louise Green could pass by here and explain what kind of pictures PN is looking for, with its customer base in mind.
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As mentioned above, the picture quality in the database is iffy for sure.
Makes you think how many contributors have opted to pay for space.
However, the site looks promising enough and pretty well laid out.
It would be nice to see a UK site break through into the big league.
You know what I think is really important for us contributors.
To be able to see what is selling, views (which we can see), what is most popular etc.
If you see something like that it gives you incentive to take part, specially if you are going to pay for storage of your work.
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PN looks like a niche site for travel/editorial.
Ah, it seems I should go take a look there!
Regards,
Adelaide
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PN looks like a niche site for travel/editorial. I have no idea whether the "traditional" recent stock imagery with isolated models and staged scenes/emotions would be successful there.
Certainly most of my sales have been from editorial. Cannot say that for my travel ones. The trouble is the site is (obviously) just reflecting the work of those who have submitted so far. Check out their "sellers pack" section for "pictures we need" and they are looking for emotions, business people, lifestyle photos. Just the sort of stock imagery so many of you guys do so well. Regards, David