Selling photos online... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

darich

Tabby_Kitten wrote: »

Has anyone on here used piture.com?

It's a scam site and i'd advise you not to touch it.

You upload an image and they'll tell you it's either won some competition or reached the semi final stage. They then inform you that your image will be in print in their next book (last one i heard was called "Endless Journeys"). You're offered the book at a reduced price at around $80 instead of $100 or so.
Many people jump at the thought of their image being published but if the book is ever printed, it's a book of thumbnails since they only use the image you uploaded to the net ie small resolution.
The book is occasionally printed and when it is it's a large book full of thumbnails.
Check this link

I believe poetry.com is along the same lines.

Tabby_Kitten_2

darich wrote: »

It's a scam site and i'd advise you not to touch it.

You upload an image and they'll tell you it's either won some competition or reached the semi final stage. They then inform you that your image will be in print in their next book (last one i heard was called "Endless Journeys"). You're offered the book at a reduced price at around $80 instead of $100 or so.
Many people jump at the thought of their image being published but if the book is ever printed, it's a book of thumbnails since they only use the image you uploaded to the net ie small resolution.
The book is occasionally printed and when it is it's a large book full of thumbnails.
Check this link

I believe poetry.com is along the same lines.

Shame, thanks for letting me know

darich

Tabby_Kitten wrote: »

Shame, thanks for letting me know

No problem

Apart from the link i sent, i entered their competition.
I received a letter and thumbnail of my image along with a completed order form allowing my to buy the book for the reduced price.

I immediately smelt a rat because i knew that the image i had submitted for the competition was only suitable for web pages and not for printing - so i knew any print in their book would either be very small or larger but very poor quality.

A quick search for the book title and i found several forums like the link i posted.

There are plenty of genuine sites running competitions and sponsored by large companies. If you google something like photo competitions you'll find a few - sometimes with fantastic prizes.

Wiggynut

darich wrote: »

It's a scam site and i'd advise you not to touch it.

You upload an image and they'll tell you it's either won some competition or reached the semi final stage. They then inform you that your image will be in print in their next book (last one i heard was called "Endless Journeys"). You're offered the book at a reduced price at around $80 instead of $100 or so.
Many people jump at the thought of their image being published but if the book is ever printed, it's a book of thumbnails since they only use the image you uploaded to the net ie small resolution.
The book is occasionally printed and when it is it's a large book full of thumbnails.
Check this link

I believe poetry.com is along the same lines.

so basically the person who submitted their picture then pays £80, which is how they make their profits!!
how much do you get for them to print the picture in their book... I bet it's not £80... it would be cheaper to print up your own pictures in an album.. costs about between £15-20 for about 40 pages of large images!!!
sounds like it's only the contributors who see each others images!
There's so many sites like this and it makes you fearful of any that could actually be honest!

darich

Wiggynut wrote: »

so basically the person who submitted their picture then pays £80, which is how they make their profits!!
how much do you get for them to print the picture in their book... I bet it's not £80... it would be cheaper to print up your own pictures in an album.. costs about between £15-20 for about 40 pages of large images!!!
sounds like it's only the contributors who see each others images!
There's so many sites like this and it makes you fearful of any that could actually be honest!

Wiggy - you don't get anything at all from them for your image appearing in their book. That's part of the scam. They try to hype it up because so many people never have the chance to see their pictures printed properly in a book.

Basically they're trying to get people to buy the book so that they can go to print knowing they're guaranteed to sell a certain amount. Many people don't realise that they'll print the image you used to enter the competition - in my case the image was around 160kb at around 1024x768 pixels. That's good enough to print at something like 3.5inches x 2.5inches.

From reading the other forum i posted the link to, it seems they eventually do print the book and your image is indeed included but it's the size of a large stamp!!!

Everyone - steer well clear!!
:beer:

Stassy1001

Does anyone have any advice on property releases. I love taking photos of buildings and unusual structures and some of them I would consider putting on some of the sites mentioned across this thread however, how would I know if I should have got a property release before I could legally sell an image?

darich

Stassy1001 wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on property releases. I love taking photos of buildings and unusual structures and some of them I would consider putting on some of the sites mentioned across this thread however, how would I know if I should have got a property release before I could legally sell an image?

You could take abstract images or pick out details of buildings. That way the building won't be recognisable. In that case, you won't need a property release. That doesn't mean you don't need permission though.

To be safe, i'd always ask or even send an email to the company and see what they say.

Another, slightly more problematic approach is to only take images from public ground, eg footpaths, bridges etc. Nothing prevents you from doing that but you may then antagonise the front desk or owner if they find out you've done it without even having the courtesy of asking.

amyparr

Hi everyone,

I'm currently training to be a solicitor and thought I'd pass on some advice in relation to legal issues and photography. I do some volunteer work for this organisation:

http://www.own-it.org/

They offer FREE advice to any budding artists etc (anything in the creative industries) in relation to copyright, trademarks, patents etc. You email them your query and they email you back with an answer. My law school works in partnership with them providing the manpower to answer all of the questions they get sent, and then all of the answers are checked by IP (Intellectual Property) law specialists in London.

They are a great organisation and I would definitely recommend visiting their site for advice before you sell any of your photos!

In relation to the query above about buildings, this is the answer on Own-It's website:

Q. I am a photographer/film maker and I take a photograph/make a film that includes a public sculpture in one of my photographs: do I have any defences to infringing copyright?
A. Assuming that the photograph does infringe copyright (see above Q&A) then you may be able to rely upon two main defences.
First, if the work you have recorded is a work of sculpture or a building on permanent public display you are within the law. However, you should take care that the work is permanent: a temporary work, such as Marc Quinn’s sculpture of Alison Lapper (“The Sphinx”) in Trafalgar Square, London, [2005] may not be considered permanent.
Second, if the work you have recorded (and this applies to all artistic works) is incidentally included in your work you may be within the law. However, your image must not trade off the artistic work it has copied.
xx

kat81

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if i have the right to sell photographs i have taken of bands and singers at concerts?

Thanks.

darich

Kat81.

That depends on the rules of venue. If photography is not permitted (and in most cases when you buy a ticket one condition is that photography is not allowed) then you can't sell any image you've taken.

If photography is allowed then you would need model releases signed by the artists/bands permitting you to make money from images of them and probably property releases since you took the images in a place where you paid admission.

Ultimately you could, but it may be a lot of hassle and effort for not a lot of return.