Google is helpful .... Search ' how to remove watermark photo ' and you come up with plenty of results and there are even software for this thieving. Knowledge of  Photoshop tools isn't necessary.
There are sites that sell stolen images. Check out Fiverr."I will give you x amount of stock photos for 5$.

Google is helpful .... Search ' how to remove watermark photo ' and you come up with plenty of results and there are even software for this thieving. Knowledge of  Photoshop tools isn't necessary.
There are sites that sell stolen images. Check out Fiverr."I will give you x amount of stock photos for 5$.

while googling for a certain photos of an actress, i actually found more fake nudes of her than the dressed photos of her. she's never done nude, not even in a bikini.
but there are lots of her nude. one site even has a series of "his photo session" of her nude.
amazing , isn't it. this one blog called it his "series" and even has his copyright on the nude poses she "did" with him.

i guess we are not the only ones with problems of infringement .

...DT has a good solution but low sales..

What solution is that? DT offers the same size (1300 pixels on the long edge) as 123rf and that's not a lot smaller than SS's 1500 pixels. DT's watermark is decent, but still fails on isolated images in many cases.

I agree about DT sales though - have dropped off a lot and I'm not assuming a connection with the previews.

Quote from: angelawaye on November 12, 2015, 10:02

...DT has a good solution but low sales..

What solution is that? DT offers the same size (1300 pixels on the long edge) as 123rf and that's not a lot smaller than SS's 1500 pixels. DT's watermark is decent, but still fails on isolated images in many cases.

I agree about DT sales though - have dropped off a lot and I'm not assuming a connection with the previews.

awhile ago, or more , when i first started microstock, i spoke to myfriends' grand-dad who was a retired business man. when i told him how much we get paid per download, he thought 25 dollars, not 25 cents. his prophesy to me was , if you let them keep going like this, they will give your work away for free.  if i run my shop like you do, i won't be sitting here comfortable and retired.
you don't give away your merchandise for free...
when you do, your customers will go elsewhere because they feel your products no longer have any value.

I don't like large previews with weak watermarks because they are pretty easy to steal but if I were into stealing images I am guessing that many can be found in similar or larger resolutions without the watermark in other ways and people set against buying images are unlikely to buy much. The serious thieves have sub accounts or fake credit cards or just get images from other sources.

I wonder if the real issue and reason that sites are going this way is because now users can just grab the watermarked previews and no longer need to even get subs for their previews. Especially with the push towards pseudo sub plans where every use costs this could be a way to attract buyers with our content without having to pay us for their use (at least at first). Once the project gets the go ahead we get a few sales but perhaps in the past we would have more sales with multiple previews. I suppose it also serves as site advertising (without paying us) if the comp images are seen widely.

Quote from: angelawaye on November 12, 2015, 10:49

Oh goodness you are right! I didn't even see the comp image preview download. I like the zoom in feature on the image. Why is that not good enough for them?

This is upsetting too...

Yes, I like that too. Wonder why they all don't just use that?

yes, as they say ...if it's not broken, what eff-arround with it???
the magnifying glass allows you to check for noise, fringe, etc at close range. why do you need to give away our work large enough to print a 5 by 7???

boycott is the only way to go... continue to stop uploading until they remove that

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on November 14, 2015, 10:57

Quote from: cathyslife on November 12, 2015, 16:15

Quote from: angelawaye on November 12, 2015, 10:49

Oh goodness you are right! I didn't even see the comp image preview download. I like the zoom in feature on the image. Why is that not good enough for them?

This is upsetting too...

Yes, I like that too. Wonder why they all don't just use that?

yes, as they say ...if it's not broken, what eff-arround with it???
the magnifying glass allows you to check for noise, fringe, etc at close range. why do you need to give away our work large enough to print a 5 by 7???

boycott is the only way to go... continue to stop uploading until they remove that

How is it a boycott when you still have images there, and you are still taking money from them, and making money for them?

why? you expect me to give up my money and listen to you to delete my port LMAO

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on November 14, 2015, 20:23

Quote from: cathyslife on November 14, 2015, 19:37

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on November 14, 2015, 10:57

Quote from: cathyslife on November 12, 2015, 16:15

Quote from: angelawaye on November 12, 2015, 10:49

Oh goodness you are right! I didn't even see the comp image preview download. I like the zoom in feature on the image. Why is that not good enough for them?

This is upsetting too...

Yes, I like that too. Wonder why they all don't just use that?

yes, as they say ...if it's not broken, what eff-arround with it???
the magnifying glass allows you to check for noise, fringe, etc at close range. why do you need to give away our work large enough to print a 5 by 7???

boycott is the only way to go... continue to stop uploading until they remove that

How is it a boycott when you still have images there, and you are still taking money from them, and making money for them?

why? you expect me to give up my money and listen to you to delete my port LMAO

You are misusing the word boycott. Boycott means you wouldnt have anything to do with them. But you do. Not uploading is just a convenient thing for you to do, to pretend like you are making a difference, but you aren't. 


And no, i dont expect you to do anything...which is exactly what you are doing.

lol anger damages your spleen. anger-management is overdue for you .
nitpicking what i say is pretty petty of you 

from what i see in the past pages
Reply #386 on: November 09, 2015, 12:51 �  with marthamarks,
you seem to have a case with anyone who says anything regarding this matter.

i am not even say where you are going with this nitpicking with marthamarks,
and now me. are you for or against us speaking out re the issue...
or is nitpicking what we say personally just a side-line for you here on this forum???
i won't go any further with you, as you obviously woke up from the wrong side of the bed

I have not uploaded in weeks but it would be insane to delete my entire portfolio - all the images are in the wild anyway. I'm hoping my new images will find a nice home somewhere...

I have not uploaded in weeks but it would be insane to delete my entire portfolio - all the images are in the wild anyway. I'm hoping my new images will find a nice home somewhere...

Agree. I haven't uploaded anything either and I will not upload, if they'll keep insane preview & save feature.

I work hard for my images and the free download 1500X1100 with that pathetic watermark makes me feel sick.

Like if they care...

Like if they care...

Well, no, they don't care. But I do! 

I just checked the one in my port that hadnt changed last time I checked, and now it's changed. I checked a few others, and they are changed to v2, so maybe they have slogged through a good portion of them.