MicrostockGroup

Microstock Photography Forum - General => Off Topic => Topic started by: S. on February 11, 2008, 16:54

Title: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on February 11, 2008, 16:54
I'm planning to create a (very)small website to let download live music photos for free (with a creative commons license).
I'm know some basic php and mysql, but i'm far from create something like that from scratch, so i'm looking into some cms (like Gallery2, Zenphoto, Coppermina or similar) to put my hands on. :)

have you got any experience in that?
any suggestion?

I'm looking into a cms with (hopefully all) these features:
- 3 level registration ("designer" who can only download images, "photographer" who also can upload and the "holy reviewer") (any photographer and reviewer must have an admin activation)
- images reviewing system
- comments and ratings
- auto thumbnail generation
- only registered users can download full-res images
- unregistered users can only see watermarked low-res images (so to download an image you have to signin and accept a CC license)
- ftp support
- exif/iptc support
- fancy stuff like: picture of the week, most downloaded, most viewed, top rated, editor's pick

Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: GeoPappas on February 11, 2008, 17:05
I'm planning to create a (very)small website to let download live music photos for free (with a creative commons license).

What are "live music photos"?
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on February 11, 2008, 17:09
umm something like this one: http://copiousnotes.typepad.com/weblog/images/2007/07/12/the_police_live_2.jpg  ;D

shots taken during live music gigs ;)
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: null on February 11, 2008, 17:30
I'm planning to create a (very)small website to let download live music photos for free (with a creative commons license).

Coppermine is what you are looking for, and there are free shopping cart plugins for designers if you want to do direct sales. It has commenting and rating plus private albums. I don't know if you can find a hoster with php and mysql for free though.
What's more, no free site will allow the hundreds of megabytes that a photo- and mediastore needs.
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on February 11, 2008, 17:38
thanks... now i'll tray to take a look at it!

i'm planning to let download full-res images for free (only a free registration is required), so i don't need a shopping chart but only to allow full-rex to registered users


and surely I wont use a free hosting ;) maybe at the beginning I can use a decent shared hosting and if the website works well I can think about a dedicated server
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: hospitalera on February 11, 2008, 17:49
I second coppermine and for a good host I recommend hostgator, lowest plan has 350GB storage and 3GB bandwith, I am hosting a high traffic site with them (+some low traffic ones) and it works like a dream, highly recommended! SY

My Hostgator Referral link in case somebody wants to use it (http://secure.hostgator.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=syates07)
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on February 12, 2008, 05:11
thanks, i'll noticed that Hostgator give 350gb storage and 3000gb bandwidth.
but it's true or it's overselling? (usually nobody will use 3000gb/month, but if you go near this quota they will stop your account?)
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: hospitalera on February 12, 2008, 06:06
No idea, my max was around 6GB/ month bandwidth usage and that is for a site that gets several hundred hits per day, so I don't know if you ever would need so much? SY
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: epixx on February 12, 2008, 06:09
Why do you want to give away the photos for free? If they are godd enough, why don't you upload them as editorial at existing agencies/
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on February 12, 2008, 11:30
Why do you want to give away the photos for free? If they are godd enough, why don't you upload them as editorial at existing agencies/

often during live music gig the lighting is not so good, so you have to use at least iso 800 or even 1600 with a result of noisy pictures. every stock agency will reject such noisy images...

and also tons of concert pics are published for free on flickr, deviantart, picasa, & co. i want to create an archive for them :)
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: Peter on February 12, 2008, 11:44
how about creating "noisyimages.com" and alow people to upload all kind of junk....  ;D ;D ;D

or "junkstockphoto.com" lol!

"We accept what others throw away!"


LOL!
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on February 12, 2008, 11:49
 :-\

almost everything is noisy for any stock agency ;)
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: epixx on February 12, 2008, 12:47
Why do you want to give away the photos for free? If they are godd enough, why don't you upload them as editorial at existing agencies/

often during live music gig the lighting is not so good, so you have to use at least iso 800 or even 1600 with a result of noisy pictures. every stock agency will reject such noisy images...

and also tons of concert pics are published for free on flickr, deviantart, picasa, & co. i want to create an archive for them :)

Editorial photos shouldn't be a problem at ISO 800 if you have a halfway decent camera. Try Alamy or Featurepics. I haven't tried editorials at DT yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they accept them. The fact that others are publishing for free doesn't force you to do it.
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: microstockinsider on April 15, 2008, 04:16
hey stepunk did you ever get your site up and going? what's the url?

I agree with the recommendation about coppermine, i've been toying about with cr103.com for a couple of years running coppermine, it's got all the features you specified, the only downsides i have found with it are there is no easy way to stop spammers signing up (like using captcha etc, there might be a plugin for that...)

so I just have to review all new contributors who sign up, it's lacking a few features that would make it easier to organise images. but i cant complain it's free!
 
- it would be good if it had better control of page titles and keywords to get better ranking in google too.

unless you found something better?
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on April 15, 2008, 04:24
hi! thanks for your advice! ;)

the site is not online yet (actually i didn't stat to work seriously on it)
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: Bateleur on April 15, 2008, 04:56

I second coppermine ...


Do you use Coppermine? Or can anyone point me to a site that uses it? I'm interested but I'd like to see some results.
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: S. on April 15, 2008, 04:59
take a look here: http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php/topic,22690.0.html
;)
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: Bateleur on April 15, 2008, 05:18
Thanks! A great selection.
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: cascoly on April 15, 2008, 13:58
i set up a gallery site, hosted thru 1and1.com for $5/mo w great bandwidth and storage.    http://pix-now.com/main.php

i'd never done php - in fact i had to get a new site, since all my previous work was on MS SQL & ASP & vbscript

i had the site running in a day or so, and smoothed out shortly afterwards.  the support forums are excellent - both in what's already available, and in the detailed assistance users will supply.  i've got some additional refinements to do but have gotten sidetracked by an online game - googlemaps project

it'll do all the things OP asked about -- i've only used a small amount -- still playing with watermarks, i show 2 reduced sizes in addition to thumbnails, and provide the full sized version onl;y after download.  gallery also has cart software and ability to have people order prints, puzzles, t shirts directly.

if installing a site is too much for you right now, i'm offering free space in a separate album to any stock photographers wanting to experiment -- email me at [email protected] for details.

steve
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: microstockinsider on April 16, 2008, 18:12

Do you use Coppermine? Or can anyone point me to a site that uses it? I'm interested but I'd like to see some results.


I have coppermine at cr103.com (http://cr103.com) (actually the home page is not coppermine, but once you click on 'image index' at the top then that is all done with coppermine.

i'd add the caveat that it's fully themeable and very configurable (so it won't look like the above site out of the box, but the functionality will be the same, it takes a fair amount of learning!)

what makes coppermine good is that it supports IPTC and there are a couple of solutions to allow bulk uploading of your images/galleries so you don't have to upload them individually, you NEED this if you have lots of images.

I've spent quite a lot of time researching it for another site i'm working on, they almost, almost have a solution to allow you to sell downloadable images with a module called "photo shop" but its not quite complete (at the moment it only sells prints and CDs which you can post). i'm waiting with baited breath for it to support paypal IPN and allow users to automatically download an image.... i'll post back here if I find anything more, it think it will be a few months
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: .shock on April 23, 2008, 01:57
why you don't try www.pixaria.com it is more profesional and if you wish copy write me mail on [email protected]

regards,
BA
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: leaf on April 23, 2008, 02:27
why you don't try www.pixaria.com it is more profesional and if you wish copy write me mail on [email protected]

regards,
BA


yeah, that looks like a nice program!
Title: Re: Create a small free stock website (like www.sxc.hu)
Post by: .shock on April 23, 2008, 02:33
p.s. I have ver. 1.5