Quote from: wds on July 11, 2019, 16:43

Quote from: leaf on July 11, 2019, 15:07
I received the 'Shutting down' email today as well. Sad to see the site go down.  I was hoping they would succeed.  I still think blockchain could hold potential in this industry but perhaps we'll have to wait for it to mature another 5 years.

I know very little about blockchain, but in what way do you see it providing a benefit to stock photography/video etc.

Hopefully Leaf won't mind me jumping in here...one immediate and more or less mature application would be as a way of tracking online copyright infringement and image theft. With an open and accessible accounting blockchain registry of all licenses issued we would be easily able to track where our content is being used correctly or not. Enforcement is another issue though.

Plus paper clips, stationary, ink jet refills and of course a liquid lunch. 

I know Sean's reply was tongue in cheek but he has a good point. It would probably take an entire legal team to handle just the participants of this forum alone.

Quote from: jonbull on July 09, 2019, 13:15

Quote from: Dennis Radeke on July 09, 2019, 11:51
Hi there Rasika,

I think a support case came through that is probably yours.  I have responded to Adobe support and they will no doubt get back in touch with you but let me try to provide some guidelines for the future here as well.

in general, we want to provide you the contributor as much opportunity and creative expression as possible and provide the creative customer with a large and high quality library where they can easily find the perfect clip to add to their project.

As the content lead for motion, I have provided our moderation team guidelines for accepting similar clips.  In general, I have loosened those guidelines because a different take, magnification/zoom/focal length or other factors can result in a clip that a customer wants.  It's tricky though - there are always going to be grey areas and opinions on what constitutes a unique clip or not.

However, it doesn't make sense for us to have both an ungraded file and a graded file of the same clip.  Especially if the files are 8bit color where the idea of "raw" isn't really applicable.  Once you get to 10bit color or greater with cameras such as a RED, ARRI and some others, then the idea of a RAW version may be very appealing to some.  As Adobe Stock develops, we may be able to offer a customer a choice of a raw clip versus a graded one.  The team here certainly have discussed many ideas and we hope to bring them to our users in the future! 

Today, I like to suggest to contributors is to submit a lightly graded version of your clip.  This means that it isn't flat like a clip shot in log might be and it brings out the luma range (black to white) and lightly touch the color (based on your preference).  The end goal is that the novice buyer will see a beautiful clip and the experienced editor/buyer will see a clip that fits and provides enough latitude for them to push the color to whatever the need is.

I hope that this provides some guidance and if you (or others) have any questions please feel free to hit me up with them here.  Please note that I'm technically on holiday so my response to answer may be a bit slower than normal.

Thanks and happy shooting!
Dennis

Even 8bit file non graded are much easier to color matches inside a timeline compared to
Graded files.

Very true. I'd almost say that a log version might even be more important for 8 bit vs 10 or 12. Even light grading with 8 bit in the wrong hands can quickly destroy any hope of recovery. Also, I don't think Dennis's compromise of grading lightly would work out too well in terms of sales. I could be wrong, but it seems to me the vast majority of buyers in that category are attracted to the finished product. Period. If there are two similar clips side by side and one is bright, vibrant and pops while mine might be technically better but is comparatively flat and muddy looking I am pretty sure I know where the sale is going.

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 22:11

Quote from: DavidK on July 08, 2019, 21:56
Dlog is DJI's flat log profile for thier drones etc. I agree with Jimbo and have often wondered myself why submitting both flat profile AND graded versions of videos is not actively encouraged by all the agencies. I think they are leaving money on the table by not offering this option for pro level studios who can easily drop it into their timeline and grade match to the rest of their footage. Next to impossible with pre-graded clips.

My ungraded portfolio sells almost as good as the graded one. It gets less downloads, but most of them are 4k. It is about 2/5 of my revenue.

I can understand why too. Like I said, it has never made sense to me leaving the well heeled buyers without the choice. It would be such an easy option to implement and it could even be charged at a premium. I suspect we would all see an increase in 4K sales, after all, right now who really needs 4K other than the pros?

Dlog is DJI's flat log profile for thier drones etc. I agree with Jimbo and have often wondered myself why submitting both flat profile AND graded versions of videos is not actively encouraged by all the agencies. I think they are leaving money on the table by not offering this option for pro level studios who can easily drop it into their timeline and grade match to the rest of their footage. Next to impossible with pre-graded clips.

Quote from: Tenebroso on June 16, 2019, 19:40
If there are portfolios with fraudulent files, if it is better generalized, the more channels exist, the problem is solved first. If two channels are closed, that 200 new portfolios appear is the best way for the problem to go away.

I put myself in the client's place, and I think that the fear of accessing something that may not be valid, only gives me the possibility of accessing new markets with a guarantee that what I acquire is valid. We must not do the work or solve the problems of the agencies, they, the agencies know what they have to do, they will do it. In addition, they must communicate to customers, by obligation, that they have acquired fraudulent licenses. They can not look the other way.

It is a very serious problem for the agencies that must solve and they will do it in case there are stolen and copyrighted files.

All very natural assumptions to make, but unfortunately not necessarily the case. You have to remember that ultimately buyers are licensing these files in "good faith"  from an agency that has agreed to represent these files in "good faith" from contributors who have contractually sworn to the fact that they either own or legally represent the copyright for these files. In other words in the event of litigation it could be successfully argued that neither the buyer nor the agency have acted inappropriately and therefore the only accountable party is the fraudulent contributor. Fraudulent contributors incidentally who overwhelmingly hail from countries which do not have reciprocal IP treaties with the US and who would be incredibly difficult and costly to prosecute.

I am confident by now that SS have done their risk assessments and cost benefit analysis to the nth degree and have settled on a formula which leaves them maximum profit at minimum legal exposure. So yes,  I do think it is our problem since the only ones this really affects are the little guys like David Slater who by his own admission doesn't  have two sticks to rub together let alone the resources to take on a multi-national  corporation.

Quote from: Noedelhap on June 16, 2019, 17:18

Quote from: DavidK on June 16, 2019, 14:00
It is abundantly clear to me now that SS no longer has the best interests of contributors or even the industry as a whole in mind;

Obviously contributors no longer matter nor do the rights of content creators outside of their platform,

They never had our interests in mind. It's a big multi-million dollar corporation with clockwork monkeys with no authority, responsibility or care about the industry as a whole. The only thing that matters is the bottom line, i.e. shareholders' revenue.

I get what you are saying but to be fair I can recall a time when even the hint of copyright infringement was taken very seriously by SS. With entire portfolios subject to immediate suspension while a thorough investigation was initiated. Those days are gone. Part of my point was that there was a time when the interests of both agencies and contributors were much more in line - with their success tied directly to ours and vice versa. Now it is just a crap show where even fundamental concepts like copyright are ignored with impunity.

Quote from: Brasilnut on June 16, 2019, 10:13
They did take down that Ansel Adam's iconic shot after I shamed them on social media. They will make exceptions.

My level of apathy towards this issue has reached a new all-time low. If they don't care, why should I?

Nevertheless, just tweeted this to both SS and Oringer. I was going to @ the copyright owner of the monkey-selfie, @davidjslater but opted against it. Who knows, they might shoot the messenger!

Not long ago I did just that with  an account on SS that was selling stills from Dustin Farrell time lapses. Contacted Dustin and let him know what was going on. I felt he had an absolute right to know. He was extremely appreciative (as would I be if the shoe were on the other foot).

I understand your apathy but I think the only way SS will ever put an end to this once and for all is if enough external pressure as possible is applied. One way to accomplish this is by letting well known copyright holders in particular know about infringements taking place on the site. After all, they are the ones in the best position to affect change - with the resources and influence to bring this issue to light in a more public way.

It is abundantly clear to me now that SS no longer has the best interests of contributors or even the industry as a whole in mind; clearly evidenced by their refusal to remove accounts known to contain demonstrably infringing content. Opting instead to straddle the thin legal line of DMCA language which allows them to conveniently ignore illegal content unless notified by the copyright holder exclusively. Shameful.

Obviously contributors no longer matter nor do the rights of content creators outside of their platform, but I am willing to bet that buyers still matter. And the more buyers that can be made aware of Shutterstock's rapid decline into the Pirate Bay of microstock the better in my opinion.

Quote from: 2checkingout on June 11, 2019, 14:59
Hi Marthamarks, do you believe that iMovie is an ok starting point for a newbie? All I do is trim any movies down to 10 seconds, lose the audio and maybe a slight colour balance check, then export in 1080p.. What would Final Cut or Premiere offer that iMovie can't for very simple edits

Instead of that why don't you just use DaVinci Resolve. If you are only exporting 1080p then the software is absolutely free. Work on simple edits etc. for now while you learn the ins and outs of full blown editing and colour grading software and move up to the studio version later if you decide you need  4K capability. Lots of tutorials online and once you get a grasp of the basics it's pretty intuitive. Very similar to PP actually.

I can also vouch for the a7iii. Very happy with it. Even the kit lens isn't too bad but I also bought a cheapie adapter for my Nikon glass. No autofocus with the Nikon glass however which is a downside because the AF with native Sony glass is outstanding. I have to admit though I have my eye on the Fuji X-T3. The video specs look pretty amazing with 4K 30p at 400mbs and 60p at 200mbs. The Sony doesn't do 60p in 4K at all which is a definite negative for me.

I've been wearing that tinfoil hat for a while now too. The beauty of a good conspiracy theory is that it explains the otherwise inexplicable.

Quote from: HalfFull on April 30, 2019, 15:24

Quote from: DavidK on April 30, 2019, 14:59

Quote from: HalfFull on April 30, 2019, 14:25

Quote from: DavidK on April 30, 2019, 14:12
Funny how things change as you get older. I used to be a huge fan of hypercars and supercars. Now I really like the idea of an understated sleeper like a Golf R with an APR stage 3 tune. After the warranty is up of course. The Trackhawk looks like a great deal of fun too for straight line pulls.

+1

I still have my 16yr old Fabia VRS... been tinkered with a little. Custom road map, larger turbo, Large FMIC, Miltech Sports Exhaust, Uprated clutch for the 400lb foot torque... rear ARB, big brakes, Coilovers, big air intake and last year... treated it to a fresh coat of paint (all over). It doesn't get driven a lot but it is great fun to drive on twisty /single track roads in Northumberland & Scotland.

Sounds like you've been tinkering more than just a little! 400 lb-ft - have you had it dyno'ed? BHP? Big question, what did you do other than the coilovers up front? How is the hop and understeer? Genuinely curious even though we have not had Skodas here in Canada since 1989.

It was up on a rolling road for stats, 220bhp when it was decated but that has been put back on now to pass the MoT. There's a strut brace + uprated Front ARB. The bushes are all Polyurethane... it's not the most comfortable car to drive, a little on the firm side but it does corner like a go-cart  To be honest, I was thinking of taking the strut brace off as I think the new coilovers work better without it.

Most of the control/braking was sorted out before Jabba Sports done the engine tweaks. The next clutch that goes (only had 2 throughout the life of the car) will result in the dual mass flywheel being replaced with a single and a LSD put on. You have to be progressive with the accelerator otherwise wheel spinning is an issue... up to 3rd gear. It's been one off the cars that has been great fun to own and work on. Do most of my own work/repairs. The original clutch lasted 6 months as they held the torque back to 320lb and then lifted it right up when the paddle clutch went it.

A VW Golf R would be another great car to play with without it being two obvious on the road... especially if it's de-badged 

Edit- Yeah it hops a little round roundabouts but never leaves you feeling it will lose control, just lands planted and pulls away again. I think the car is probably far more capable of speeds into corners than I have balls to test 

Thanks for the additional information. Sounds like it's a hoot to drive!

Seriously considering the R now for about six months. Currently daily driving a Wrangler which is pretty much a necessity where I am, but not exactly a fun or spirited vehicle to drive anywhere but off road. Last payment coming up in a couple of months so looking for a second vehicle. The only question is whether to buy an older one and throw some aftermarket money at it right away or hold off and see if the rumors of a 400hp version for 2020 have any merit.

Quote from: HalfFull on April 30, 2019, 14:25

Quote from: DavidK on April 30, 2019, 14:12
Funny how things change as you get older. I used to be a huge fan of hypercars and supercars. Now I really like the idea of an understated sleeper like a Golf R with an APR stage 3 tune. After the warranty is up of course. The Trackhawk looks like a great deal of fun too for straight line pulls.

+1

I still have my 16yr old Fabia VRS... been tinkered with a little. Custom road map, larger turbo, Large FMIC, Miltech Sports Exhaust, Uprated clutch for the 400lb foot torque... rear ARB, big brakes, Coilovers, big air intake and last year... treated it to a fresh coat of paint (all over). It doesn't get driven a lot but it is great fun to drive on twisty /single track roads in Northumberland & Scotland.

Sounds like you've been tinkering more than just a little! 400 lb-ft - have you had it dyno'ed? BHP? Big question, what did you do other than the coilovers up front? How is the hop and understeer? Genuinely curious even though we have not had Skodas here in Canada since 1989.

Funny how things change as you get older. I used to be a huge fan of hypercars and supercars. Now I really like the idea of an understated sleeper like a Golf R with an APR stage 3 tune. After the warranty is up of course. The Trackhawk looks like a great deal of fun too for straight line pulls.

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 20, 2019, 20:16
Glad to report that SS have recently wacked 77 out of 111 remaining moles!

And now it seems they've publicly warned you not to do it on the forum anymore. Looks like you've touched a nerve. Really starting to resent SS in an actionable way.

Quote from: Shelma1 on February 20, 2019, 17:43
The whole thing is disturbing, but what's really disturbing is the complete lack of detail about pricing, usage and royalty rate...it's all purposely vague. Not that it matters to me any more.

...and this comes on the heels of them introducing a new, higher-priced tier for a very few selected video producers who completely took over the search a few weeks ago...remember? Once you get investors involved it all goes to shite.

Yes, the 399 club. By the time I can justify a Phantom Flex 4K or even a Red there will be another "great opportunity" announcement for rarely sold 4K files.

Quote from: cathyslife on February 20, 2019, 17:55

Quote from: DavidK on February 20, 2019, 15:43
Factor in economic disparity. Factor out race. Period.

I don't see where race was mentioned, only locations.

Nor do I. Just commenting on the comments.

Factor in economic disparity. Factor out race. Period.

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on February 17, 2019, 20:29

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 17, 2019, 18:17
All-time summary:

Total moles identified to date: 448

Total moles wacked: 337

Summary for week ending Feb 17:

Moles wacked (by SS) from Feb 3 - Feb 17: TWO (2)

Moles pending: 111

This is my last week doing this as it's apparent that SS don't give a fk about this project with only two wacked moles after 2 weeks. I and others helping out obviously have way more important things to do with our time. If anybody else wants to pursue this apparently fruitless task further, please be my guest.

Perhaps I'll re-continue if I see SS pull their weight. Meanwhile the number of thieves keeps growing...

https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96484-thieves-thread-update-week-ending-feb-17-448-so-far-flagged/

Its the culture in these organisations ~ a manager comes round says "we have a problem" they work furiously on it for a week or two then the manager stops checking and they go back to their laissez faire attitude.

You are right they don't give a f.u.c.k and the only thing that would make them give one is for a major law suit or government legislation

I think SS has been straddling a very thin line for a very long time now. I also think it's only a matter of time before a major law suit does materialize due to Brasilnut's very public exposure of the problem. All it might take is for a well known photographer finding that their work has been stolen and offered up for sale. From there all it would take is their lawyer discovering the true extent of the problem during their research and realizing that there are many many more potential clients involved beyond just one. Class action.

It wouldn't take a team of paralegals very long to scour the forum archives for evidence showing not only SS's complete awareness of the issue, but also its failure to act quickly in addressing it - if at all. Of course their entirely defensible position will be that they are merely a global platform for people to sell their work, and can not be expected to research every image accepted into their database for possible copyright infringement. They will point to their contributor agreement to show that every contributor warrants that the copyright is their own and that any wrongdoing or misrepresentation is therefore the sole responsibility of the contributor. Honestly, fair enough. What I think they would have a very hard time defending at this point is what is they have been allowing for so long within their own database.

There will be some potentially embarrassing questions asked including exactly how many infringing images are in the database, why existing technology wasn't enabled which could easily ferret out these images, as well as perhaps the most embarrassing one - where did the sales revenue from these stolen images actually go? Was any effort ever made after the discovery of suspect images and deleted accounts to identify and contact the original copyright owners and at the very least turn over any sales revenue? Depending on the findings it  could answer the question many of us are naturally asking ourselves - is Shutterstock actually complicit at this point or not?

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 13, 2019, 15:21

Quote from: DavidK on February 13, 2019, 15:12

Quote from: ShadySue on January 31, 2019, 16:57

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 31, 2019, 16:07
I have not read the details, but crypto-payments aside, are they planning to use the block-chain technology to keep track of the way images sold through them are being used, thus enforcing their copyright?
If yes, this can be a break-through worth paying attention to.

It won't necessarily make any difference. Thieves will steal, international law is prohibitively expensive, and block chain won't make one iota of difference to that. How is blockchain any better than having your copyright in meta (where it's still in the thief's use?).

Wemark aside, one distinct advantage I can see is that a blockchain ledger can quickly and easily provide dispute resolution in the case of a copyright infringement claim. For example, instead of going through hoops proving to a site like SS that you are actually the legitimate copyright holder of a stolen or suspect work - which can take a lot of time during which your account will likely be suspended - you can simply point to the original copyright registration and that is that.  Same goes for DMCA takedown notices or even threatening letters from your own lawyer.

If I have filed for a copyright, I have the proof, why do I need Wemark? How is blockchain different from now for disputes?

You don't. That's why I prefaced with "Wemark aside..." I am not talking about Wemark but rather standalone blockchain copyright registration services.

If you are already formally registering your copyright elsewhere non-digitally, then that's a different story and I don't necessarily see any advantage for you. Other than perhaps the ease and costs associated with proving your ownership elsewhere. For me the ease and cost (free) of using a blockchain ledger to register my stuff makes a lot of sense; and long before someone else rips it off and registers it as their own.

Quote from: ShadySue on January 31, 2019, 16:57

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 31, 2019, 16:07
I have not read the details, but crypto-payments aside, are they planning to use the block-chain technology to keep track of the way images sold through them are being used, thus enforcing their copyright?
If yes, this can be a break-through worth paying attention to.

It won't necessarily make any difference. Thieves will steal, international law is prohibitively expensive, and block chain won't make one iota of difference to that. How is blockchain any better than having your copyright in meta (where it's still in the thief's use?).

Wemark aside, one distinct advantage I can see is that a blockchain ledger can quickly and easily provide dispute resolution in the case of a copyright infringement claim. For example, instead of going through hoops proving to a site like SS that you are actually the legitimate copyright holder of a stolen or suspect work - which can take a lot of time during which your account will likely be suspended - you can simply point to the original copyright registration and that is that.  Same goes for DMCA takedown notices or even threatening letters from your own lawyer.

I live in Halifax so I got this from a local directory. It's outdated so you should double check for yourself.

1096 Queen Street
Suite 166
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
B3H 2R9

Quote from: Minsc on January 28, 2019, 22:05

Quote from: DavidK on January 28, 2019, 21:56

Quote from: Minsc on January 28, 2019, 19:44
This is one thing that SS is dropping the ball on. I've flagged so many infringers over the years and it's starting to make me numb. People were straight up stealing or tracing my work. It unbelievable how many people out there think it's okay to do this kind of thing. And they all come from the same few countries.

SS need to implement some kind of machine learning into their approval process to automatically flag similars before they get approved. They should ban any contributor who attempts to upload infringing work so that we don't have to deal with this nonsense. For a company with so much money, they have the resources to do this.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the tech is already implemented. All the major sites have a search visually similar images or footage option. When SS lists similars I don't believe they use a keyword or tag based metadata function. I think it is image recognition. If it's not robust enough maybe they should look at something we are looking at implementing from TinEye. If you don't know who TinEye is you really should.

https://services.tineye.com/MatchEngine

As some have alluded to in another forum, the real question is how so many of these are making it past the review process.

Something else many of you might be interested in is https://binded.com. I dare say a fusion of these technologies (plus others) on a single platform is not far off and is exactly what the microstock industry needs right now.

You're right, it is implemented... on the search side.

I don't know the inner workings of the approval side, but if that tool was available during the approval process, a lot of these thieves would have caught before they had their first approval. Coming from working in a tech company, we have lousy internal tools and there isn't a lot of resources dedicate to it.

Good points. I don't pretend to know anything about the SS review process either, but it seems to me that they used to reject on the basis of similar not all that long ago. Maybe I assume too much but if the tech is still there on the search side then why on earth has it been disabled/not implemented on the review side. Too slow perhaps for the sheer volume of images they want to push through now? Too many DB queries for a poorly scaled infrastructure? Who knows, but something is definitely not right. SS is a giant in the industry with arguably the most resources to tackle an issue they were aware of for quite some time now. Ripping off CC licensed images from wallpaper sites or UnSplash etc. is one thing, but uploading content which already exists in their database over and over again is inexcusable.

Quote from: Minsc on January 28, 2019, 19:44
This is one thing that SS is dropping the ball on. I've flagged so many infringers over the years and it's starting to make me numb. People were straight up stealing or tracing my work. It unbelievable how many people out there think it's okay to do this kind of thing. And they all come from the same few countries.

SS need to implement some kind of machine learning into their approval process to automatically flag similars before they get approved. They should ban any contributor who attempts to upload infringing work so that we don't have to deal with this nonsense. For a company with so much money, they have the resources to do this.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the tech is already implemented. All the major sites have a search visually similar images or footage option. When SS lists similars I don't believe they use a keyword or tag based metadata function. I think it is image recognition. If it's not robust enough maybe they should look at something we are looking at implementing from TinEye. If you don't know who TinEye is you really should.

https://services.tineye.com/MatchEngine

As some have alluded to in another forum, the real question is how so many of these are making it past the review process.

Something else many of you might be interested in is https://binded.com. I dare say a fusion of these technologies (plus others) on a single platform is not far off and is exactly what the microstock industry needs right now.

Absolutely spot on. With Alexandre' s initiative and the hard work of all those involved SS has been effectively  manoeuvred into a position where they can no longer simply  ostrich the problem. I think it has also exposed for all to see an embarrassing hole in their infrastructure which if left unchecked would undoubtedly leave them highly exposed in terms of litigation. One glaring  example that comes to mind is the "berries" shot in one of the threads over there. A shot which returns nothing but the same image multiple times in the "similars" grid in search results. Unbelievable how tenuous their platform really is. Either that or the extent of collusion at some level.