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Messages - RalfLiebhold
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51
« on: December 07, 2023, 14:33 »
I really thought about whether I should write something here. But somehow I can't help myself. It looks really nice and peaceful in Russia in winter. If I were Ukrainian now, I'd find a post like this a pretty good kick in the balls. Merry Christmas to Russia then 
52
« on: December 05, 2023, 10:28 »
Nice sales for one day, Wilm. However, I see on average once a month a total solar eclipse 
53
« on: December 03, 2023, 12:20 »
Hello,
For a long time I'm doing stock photography and sometimes see that my photo is using in some kind of sensitive content.
I want to discuss here what is OK and what is too much.
I read legal agreement on big stocks like Adobe, Shutter, Getty, they all have similar things that not all types of photo usage is allowed. For example not allowed political agitation and some offensive content.
Some days ago I found my photo and my model on sex toy package in a shop. For many people this looks too much, but others can say that it's just a product, specific product. So does anyone have experience in this, may be someone talked with stock support about it? What is "too much" and offensive content in their license meaning? Is sex toy fits this category?
I am certainly not a proven expert in this field and do not have a complete overview of the market. But first of all, I see it as a completely normal product. Here in Germany, it is advertised discreetly in the normal media. There are also special Advent calendars before Christmas - and there's no chocolate in them. I would see this unusual use with a sense of humor. These products are certainly politically correct and I do not see the content offensive in any way.
54
« on: November 30, 2023, 13:41 »
My favorite bit of advise and I know a small number of us have hammered this since the start: Focus on finding content gaps. Create what isn't there, but should be. And when in doubt make something stupid that isn't needed or anywhere on site, it might sell? But either of those are better than duplicating most popular or hundreds of similar new variations of something that's already on the site, by the thousands.
Pete, well summarized and that is ultimately my motto too. That's why I don't photograph Christmas baubles every year, my seasonal bestseller every year looks like this:
55
« on: November 30, 2023, 11:42 »
Strangely, even though I have images from many remote countries such as Namibia, Nepal, Burma, etc., my best-sellers are all from my hometown, Quebec City, or Montreal or the Quebec province.
Of course, I can only speak for myself, but I have exactly the same experience. Pictures from my surroundings work much better than my long-distance travel pictures from exotic places. On the one hand, I put this down to the fact that the competition is much smaller here, where demand is obviously high. I also think that I deliver better quality on location, only take pictures in good weather conditions and can offer different seasons. Burma hasn't worked for me at all since 2021. And congratulations on your sale, triple digits on Shutterstock is not that common.
56
« on: November 29, 2023, 14:24 »
thus trademarks appear not because these are copied from a particular image but because many images contain those TM, the TM becomes part of its knowledge of what a computer looks like. it extracts info & stores it in a different format so after training it doesn't know anything about the original images.
Steve, now we're getting more into the philosophical level For example, if the AI regularly displays the Apple logo in a realistic form, then it is a copy. Apparently, AI is not capable of creating its own Apple logo. If I now have a rare, unrivaled landscape image or an object in my portfolio, the AI has no choice but to copy it too 
57
« on: November 28, 2023, 16:22 »
I can't confirm this for myself, my income situation was relatively constant in this period.
However, I have to admit that with over 1000 uploads I would have expected an increase over the year, especially as the new pictures are doing quite well.
same here, 3 mo running average stable over last 3 years. RPD $.6 to .8
and still 2-3x AS income
Can confirm that too. Same RPD range, same relation to Adobe income.
58
« on: November 28, 2023, 15:25 »
I can't confirm this for myself, my income situation was relatively constant in this period.
However, I have to admit that with over 1000 uploads I would have expected an increase over the year, especially as the new pictures are doing quite well.
59
« on: November 28, 2023, 15:07 »
The topic here is: "I will never use AI".
To all the pro-AIs who sell their faith and prostration on this thread: Why not open a topic "I pray I will get eternal AI" for the simple sake of consistency and intellectual respect? 
[Edit]:I know that most AI critics tend to leave this forum, and that's unfortunately really understandable.
Should everyone here just give the same monologues? A discussion thrives on different opinions. Your opinion seems to be set in stone. Not mine, I like to learn and listen to other opinions. I think everyone has hit the topic perfectly.
60
« on: November 26, 2023, 14:22 »
eta
Anyone taking any bets how long it will take OP and others to fully embrace ai??
It will start with - oh I am just denoising my high iso images...there is no harm in that...
...then...I am just expanding the image a bit, just a simple nature shot that was too close up, so the customer has more options...I am just adding a little more grass and sky...
...then I am just adjusting the clothes a bit, changing out the sky, removing the glasses, changing the hairstyle...
...my clients asked me to change this image/design with the help of ai and I obliged because it was a client request...
...my clients asked me to help them with prompting, so I did it as a service...
...* it... EVERYONE is using ai and I must feed my family and ...
IT SAVES ME SO MUCH TIME...happy prompting noises in the background...
I already miss the times when we used to discuss image design and composition and post-processing or something similar. AI is not my thing, but I understand very well that others here are getting fully involved for some of the reasons you mentioned. What I find less good is that a critical view of AI is simply dismissed out of hand, along the lines of, AI is here now, period. In my view, the whole development cannot be compared with the transition from camera to cell phone photography. Many aspects have not yet been clarified from a legal point of view and somehow this is the technical Wild West. ChatGPT is even worse here. Because the development is completely uncontrolled, there is also considerable collateral damage here, in addition to the benefits that certainly cannot be denied. You say it saves time, and that can't be denied either. Now you don't have to leave your desk at all and just create the world from home. You're from Cologne. Out of 130,000 hits, I have 6-9 bestsellers for Kln on page one of Shutterstock. That was work. I spent several hours walking through the city, followed by intensive post-editing with the removal of logos etc. The success somehow makes me proud, especially as I'm not a professional photographer. I was active on Midjourney for 2 months and I think I produced over 1000 pictures. I didn't submit any of them, I somehow can't identify with that stuff. I don't want to live in a fake world and prefer to continue walking around cities. it's also somehow healthier
61
« on: November 15, 2023, 15:53 »
Some of my new pictures go on sale quite quickly, just as old pictures are suddenly sold. So I can't confirm the supposed general trend.
62
« on: November 09, 2023, 13:41 »
Most important: do something that doesn't exist.
but I want to upload flowers photos!
Why not, today alone 3 flower sales
63
« on: November 08, 2023, 13:27 »
I have no doubt that at the rate artificial intelligence is advancing, stock photography has a maximum of two years left to live. Right now the smart thing to do is to sell all the lenses, equipment and cameras on ebay before it is too late and they become worthless junk.
I don't think it will be quite that bad. Cameras won't die out. Hardly anyone will have their travel or wedding pictures recreated with AI, for example . But it will of course hit some photographers hard. For example, I wonder whether real food photography still makes sense with all the effort involved. As my portfolio mainly consists of real locations and editorials, I don't see myself at risk here for the time being and will keep my camera.
64
« on: November 08, 2023, 13:15 »
A few thoughts on keyword tools. I myself do this mainly by hand. I click on suitable suggestions in Shutter and then think about what else I can add here. I often use google or wikipedia for research (sometimes I get lost in a topic, so it's also good for general education  . At least with the agencies that allow conclusions to be drawn about keyword searches by buyers, I know that my approach has led to sales that I wouldn't otherwise have had. For example, I have been regularly selling pears on a tree at all agencies for years (the reason for this remains my trade secret, but I have read and learned a lot about pears ). So if everyone edits their banal images using the same keyword tool (e.g. pears on a tree or a beach with palm trees), all users would have to be suggested the same keywords, which is of course not conducive to sales at the end of the day.
65
« on: November 02, 2023, 15:01 »
aprott, I really feel a bit sorry about the useless comments here for you.
Therefore my appeal (I hope others will follow, we are somehow a community here in the forum):
Mat, aprott seems to be a loyal, likeable contributor of many years who has expressed his cooperation and at least has not maliciously made some silly mistake.
Can you please ensure that the examination is accelerated ?
66
« on: October 17, 2023, 11:44 »
I left EyeEm in January 2021 but thought I'd check to see if my portfolio was still deleted after I read your post - and it is. It was $0.21 royalties from the Getty collection that made me leave.
My portfolio URL doesn't exist (404 error) and my old account login doesn't work. I did a couple of searches for photos that I have sales records for to be sure they weren't online, and there's nothing.
I don't know when you deleted your account, but if the difference isn't based on exit date, I wonder what it is?
It was 2-3 years ago (in any case long before the insolvency), unfortunately I no longer have the correspondence. I finally received a mail informing me that my pictures are now also deleted from the partner agencies. Today I received a rather general mail on my request, whether despite "the excting news" I would like still delete my account. On my deletion so far years ago one did not come at all.
67
« on: October 17, 2023, 02:37 »
I had cancelled my Eyeem account years ago because of the outrageously low payment for Adobe sales. The cancellation was confirmed to me in writing, the amount was paid out and then I could no longer log in. Topic done. Today I receive an email about a 25 cent sale via Adobe. Suddenly I can log in again and my portfolio is completely online again 
68
« on: October 16, 2023, 12:16 »
I would like to add to Pete's contribution that for about 10 years, at least in Germany, sales of vinyl records and players have been growing steadily. Jazz goes for me only on vinyl and that seems to be the trend Not everything is lost. 
69
« on: October 12, 2023, 12:26 »
Today again rejected 5 images for the same reason, this time I took AI out of the file names. Again written to the support and received the answer after a few hours. Even though this is annoying and not a permanent condition for me, I have to praise the Shutterstock support at this point. They responded to my questions and the answer came very quickly. With Adobe I had a specific question about a problem with editorials and after 2 - 3 weeks they referred me to the FAQ page. This time the explanation goes more in the direction of Michaeal's technical text wall "....Thanks for keeping us updated regarding this matter with your submissions and for sharing your feedback. The review process is based on strict guidelines which all our reviewers comply with, but also, it's a subjective process done by humans in which errors can be made. That being said, please resubmit your recent assets rejected following the same instructions previously shared and including the Case Number ... On the other hand, we noticed the images were oversaturated which might be causing the AI rejection; please avoid the overuse of filter effects for all future submissions. ...." I love oversaturated images and here so far no problems with the review and now this stupid AI gets in my way.
70
« on: October 11, 2023, 13:08 »
Just got the reply from Shutterstock, the problem seems to have been the use of Topaz:
"..... After checking the Topaz Sharpen AI and Topaz Gigapixel software that was designed to remove noise of images and after confirming that you are the copyright owner of the content that was rejected on suspicion of being AI-generated, allow me to provide the follow steps:...."
I am now to resubmit the image with a case number.
Somehow everything is getting more and more complicated.
one of the early 'experts' said i should add "not AI generated" when submitting images! i escalated & got an intelligent person who set up a case file & the false positive were accepted
Yes great, titles will have to look like this in the future: Beach - the image is not AI generated and I own all rights to the image (proof attached), focus on the sixth parasol from the left
71
« on: October 11, 2023, 06:48 »
Thank you for the warning.
Content for istock, deposit etc I still process all that with an old photoshop elements version.
Content worked on with modern photoshop only goes to Adobe.
I will share this thread in a few places, things have truly become more complicated.
Just briefly to clarify, that obviously didn't come across right. My concern at first was also that you are no longer allowed to use Topaz and Photoshop. These tools may still be used for Shutterstock. The problem in my case was that I had visibly used Sharpen AI for the reviewer, he probably didn't know this tool and put my image in the Gernerative AI box. At least that's how I interpreted their answer. The image has now come through the review unchanged.
72
« on: October 10, 2023, 15:31 »
The error is uploading to shutterstock in the first place. 10 cts sales are ridiculous.
Somehow I expected such a stupid comment on this topic ,which is not really helpful. Shutterstock is the strongest agency for me in terms of revenue. If that doesn't work for you, I'm sorry for you. But please vent your frustration on topics where it belongs. This was not the topic here and it annoys me.
73
« on: October 10, 2023, 13:49 »
Just got the reply from Shutterstock, the problem seems to have been the use of Topaz:
"..... After checking the Topaz Sharpen AI and Topaz Gigapixel software that was designed to remove noise of images and after confirming that you are the copyright owner of the content that was rejected on suspicion of being AI-generated, allow me to provide the follow steps:...."
I am now to resubmit the image with a case number.
Somehow everything is getting more and more complicated.
74
« on: October 10, 2023, 13:33 »
my concern is we might get suspended because of false positives
Steve, that is my concern as well. Another rejection of this kind nowadays can quickly lead to an account block.
75
« on: October 10, 2023, 12:59 »
Thank you, Jo Ann. I couldn't find anything noticeable in the metadata.
The only thing is the filename,which looks like this after using these tools:
053_drage-SharpenAI-motion-gigapixel-hq-scale-2_00x copy.jpg.
I would imagine that this could be a problem. However, only since today, because I use these programs regularly.
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