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Messages - bennu99
26
« on: January 09, 2025, 10:32 »
You can report that to Shutterstock. However to see less of this we need to wait for Getty to clean Shutterstock house. Hopefully from top to bottom.
27
« on: January 08, 2025, 09:18 »
Interesting take on the Getty/Shutterstock news from the Millwaukee Independent
https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/explainers/big-photo-getty-images-shutterstock-merge-3-7b-deal-form-new-visual-content-powerhouse/
So customers feel their situation was sidelined by the happy-talk from the two CEOs at yesterday's conference call:
"Representatives of Shutterstock have begun to offer reassurances to its subscribers, specifically telling the Milwaukee Independent that in the near term, nothing would change in how Shutterstock customers license images, videos, and other media. A company spokesperson also explained that there would be no immediate impact on how Shutterstock subscribers sourced, purchased, or managed content.
The merger is expected to offer customers more options to license content, as a benefit from the combined libraries. But despite belated efforts to reassure existing clients, the manner in which Getty Images and Shutterstock unveiled their deal has left some uneasy.
In many creative and editorial circles, the announcement sparked initial concern from businesses that rely on Shutterstock images. The fear is that the more expensive and stricter licensing by Getty Images would dictate massive changes.
Such apprehension was magnified by what critics say was an overly celebratory tone from the merging corporations by highlighting the revenue from their stocks, yet offering minimal public-facing information about the benefits to their customers.
Both companies put all their energy into celebrating the new massive value and stock revenue windfall, while completely omitting any message or information to their extensive customer base, said a consultant for a small nonprofit that relies heavily on stock photography via Reddit. That only escalates the fear that policies and pricing structures could shift with little warning. Its left people feeling anxious about how the transformation might jeopardize budgets or access to content.
More to read:
https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/1hvq4np/getty_images_and_shutterstock_to_merge/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/getty-images-merger-shutterstock-1236103000/
https://www.fastcompany.com/91256130/getty-images-shutterstock-merge-3-7-billion-deal
The above article mentions competition from genAI images; both CEOs dismissed any impact on their licensing from genAI in the Q&A section of yesterday's conference call. Either they were just spouting the party line, or possibly that isn't really a major factor in deciding to merge?
"The merger comes at a time when companies that use still images are facing increased competition from images generated by artificial intelligence. The companies said Tuesday that they have complementary portfolios and that a merger will provide customers with a broader array still imagery, video, music, 3D, and other media."
There's a lot of overlap in the collections.
This looks more like a take over than the presented "merger". Basically Shutterstock brings itself, Turbosquid, Pond5 and Envato on the Getty's plate.
28
« on: January 06, 2025, 10:03 »
What happens if you do all the AI you want, flatten the image, save it as a JPG, open up an unrelated raw file (with no AI, no adjustments), drag the jpg onto that unrelated raw file and flatten it. Save it as whatever file name logic you use. Wouldn't that effectively strip out any evidence of AI in the exif data?
With tools like ExifTool, metadata records actions like flattening, saving, or combining files. Even if you remove metadata to hide these traces, that can make the file appear suspicious, as stripped metadata is often a red flag.
29
« on: January 04, 2025, 01:39 »
A desperate move from shortsighted managements to keep their hungry investors happy... but for how long? Reality will set in after a quarter or two, and then what? Its almost ironic that Getty would choose Shutterstock as a partner. From an imagery perspective, Getty offers so much more in terms of quality and variety. Now theyre looking to merge with a library thats heavily diluted with AI content. How long before the vultures realize the bottomless pit theyre diving into?
31
« on: January 02, 2025, 03:15 »
Maybe its time to revive the Stock Coalition. The FB group already has nearly 6,000 members, which is a solid starting point. Theres also a small community of Motion Array artists and another of Envato artists on Discord who would hopefully join in as well. Some of them have even expressed a willingness to take care of the website and its maintenance. We just need the most capable among us to step up and help get this initiative back on track, like before.
32
« on: January 02, 2025, 03:01 »
The problem is that ai income is a hype trend and the ss ai tool is low quality.
They can sell the library for dataset training for how long? Another two years?
Their library is being poisoned with ai content, so how long before clients prefer to license from Adobe or istock?
Anything they try to do Adobe can do better.
And now quality exclusive content is moving to adobe. And with the content will be more client contracts.
They still have a good editorial library and only compete with getty on that.
But ss is already being attacked by shortsellers because when you analyse their public data, things dont look good.
Their share price has been dropping for quite a while now.
We will see what happens, but they have lost the brilliance that made them great.
They spend 600? mio dollars buying up agencies and still have less revenue than before.
This is extremely unusual.
I do want them to survive and do well. It is not good for us if the market is more concentrated.
The situation at Shutterstock feels like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.
33
« on: December 31, 2024, 23:05 »
2025 Goals
Focus on 3D simulations and animationspush myself to create better, more marketable work.
Do more film photography and video shootsat least one real-world project a month.
Explore niches with high potential and stick to what works commercially.
Keep learning and stay inspired.
Heres to a creative and successful year for all of us. Lets make it happen! 🎥✨
34
« on: December 24, 2024, 00:59 »
What about VEO 2 from google? Is it as bad as Sora or better?
There's currently a waiting list for Veo 2. I'm still on it myself, and from the rumors and what I've seen on their page, it looks like it should be better.
35
« on: December 23, 2024, 13:32 »
Exactly, Sora still feels more like hype and potential than something truly professional or usable right now. Maybe in a year or two, it could improve, but for now, its just not there. Real videos remain my priority too, though I also enjoy 3D simulations.
AI might have a place as a creative editing toolexpanding clips, tweaking details, or enhancing camera videosbut its not quite ready for real-world use.
Wishing you and the entire microstock community a very Merry Christmas! Lets keep pushing towards our goals!
36
« on: December 23, 2024, 08:56 »
37
« on: December 23, 2024, 08:21 »
I tried runway and pika but found the workflow not very satisfying and the results poor, too many videos are unusable.
It is much easier to do normal videos.
I will look at them again end of the year or maybe next year.
Perhaps when sora comes out, it will have a level of competency to be usable for stock.
There is so much that can go wrong and you cannot selectively edit a region or problem. The clip either works or it doesn't. I mean ai still has huge problems with image creation, especially hands, mouth, faces...I don't see how ai video can be ready soon.
I just gave Sora a try, and honestly, Im not impressed. During the promo, they showcased carefully selected clips, but the actual experience doesnt live up to that hype.
38
« on: December 16, 2024, 14:43 »
I wouldnt be surprised if, not too far down the line, a name change occursthats what Ponzi schemes typically do to circumvent further downfall. Once a liar, always a liar.
39
« on: December 15, 2024, 07:10 »
Not to sound cynical, but Id be really curious to see what they actually achieve with this "high-quality video library." If theyre including Envatos video assets as part of their dataset, they should be transparent about it. As far as I remember, Envato allowed users to incorporate AI into their work, as long as the final product wasnt just a direct output from AI. That policy may have changed (I havent kept up since I never used it that way), but I know there are plenty of assets in Envatos library that might not disclose whether AI played a role, especially during the time it was permitted.
40
« on: December 11, 2024, 14:11 »
Pond5 (aka Shutterstock) is so proud of its Trustpilot record that it displays it every time you open their page. Now, let's see how quickly they will hide it when the tables turn after today's exciting news.
41
« on: December 09, 2024, 08:06 »
Good points, but there's a big problem with the data feeding AIit's drying up, and worse, it's getting polluted with AI-generated content. Real, high-quality data takes decades to build, and were running out of fresh, untouched sources.
Sure, AI is useful, but the idea of generating real-time AI images or videos in 3-5 years feels like an overestimation. There isnt even an AI yet that can produce high-quality 3D models with proper topology, let alone handle physics-based simulations like volcano eruptions accurately. Those still rely on real CPU-heavy mathematics, not AI magic.
The tech is moving fast, but its not that fast.
Yes, it's true that AI image models have likely exhausted the market-leading stock agencies for model training.
However, there are still terabytes of unused image material available. Just think of photo communities like Flickr. Then there are social networks like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
There are libraries with historical photos.
You can also extract images from videos.
And there are very powerful LLMs (Large Language Models) for generating image descriptions, which are necessary for training image models.
Regarding performance, I can only refer to the Flux Fast model.
Even now, the model can generate images almost in real-time, I think 0.1 to 0.2 seconds with 4 steps.
Yes, Flux Developer or Flux Ultra takes a bit longer (on high-performance servers, around 6 to 10 seconds with 28 steps and 2K resolution).
But you can see where the development is headed. With new chip technology for AI models, you could also generate Flux Ultra with 4K resolution in under 1 second. And that's almost realtime.
This still feels like a bubble or a vicious circle to me because: a) While its true that there are still some untapped data sources, most of the high-quality, profitable data has already been mined. What remains is often lower quality, AI-contaminated, or lacks the depth needed for true advancements. b) Even with more capable models now than a year ago, we still see fundamental issues like six-fingered hands or, in videos, unnatural zoom effects and uncontrollable movement. These flaws highlight that AI, while useful, has serious limitations. I believe the AI craze will start to fade as people realize it cant fully replace real mathematics or deterministic systems. GPUs, by design, are non-deterministic, which is why AI will probably never truly understand physics or consistently generate anatomically accurate results like proper hands. Its incredibly useful in many areas, but were far from it living up to the current hype.
42
« on: December 09, 2024, 07:07 »
Good points, but there's a big problem with the data feeding AIit's drying up, and worse, it's getting polluted with AI-generated content. Real, high-quality data takes decades to build, and were running out of fresh, untouched sources.
Sure, AI is useful, but the idea of generating real-time AI images or videos in 3-5 years feels like an overestimation. There isnt even an AI yet that can produce high-quality 3D models with proper topology, let alone handle physics-based simulations like volcano eruptions accurately. Those still rely on real CPU-heavy mathematics, not AI magic.
The tech is moving fast, but its not that fast.
43
« on: November 05, 2024, 08:25 »
Its surprising NVIDIA trusts Shutterstocks "real photos" for training their models, considering how much AI content has taken over the platform.
44
« on: October 29, 2024, 16:15 »
Its a shame they managed to ruin what was once a great agency. Now, theyre dragging down as many as they can acquire along with them
45
« on: October 01, 2024, 06:17 »
47
« on: September 08, 2024, 23:29 »
I guess setting our price is no longer viable.
To those who will tell me that it depends on the country of purchase: Well I dont think that this is the case here.
48
« on: September 08, 2024, 23:23 »
Price was set to $139. No comment.
49
« on: August 11, 2024, 23:57 »
50
« on: August 06, 2024, 01:40 »
You are pretty much safe from those thieves if you don't sell on unlimited download sites. I'm 100% Pond5 exclusive. So, I don't worry about thieves.
Maybe, but then you depend solely on the mood, decisions, and sanity of one person (as in the case of Shutterstock's famous decisions so far). It's just not worth the risk for me, especially when they try to test the waters on Pond5, and there are no other large money pies around to keep the investors happy.
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