While looking at my own images on Shutterstock, I noticed the Shutterstock algorithm was suggesting my photos as “similar” images. I thought it was a bug on the Shutterstock website until I noticed that others had downloaded my photos from other sites then uploaded them to Shutterstock. Shutterstock’s similar photos algorithm then noticed this and suggested the stolen photos along with my photos.
I should start off by saying that I am not a big contributor to stock photography agencies. I did take the plunge into agencies like Shutterstock and Getty Images when I was moving into digital 10 or so years ago, but I found my niche elsewhere.
Fyre Festival was a "luxury music festival" that failed spectacularly back in 2017 after attracting a huge amount of interest with a viral photo and video marketing blitz. Shutterstock has released this 30-second video to show how the wildly expensive Fyre Festival promo video could have been created at a tiny fraction of the cost.
Heads up: if you sell your photos as microstock, companies can use your work in big ways for a very, very small payment. A photographer just found that out the hard way after he found one of his photos featured on a number of products in Walmart.
This line of hand mixers was spotted in Poland in a Biedronka store (the largest discount supermarket chain). Instead of properly using licensed Shutterstock stock photos that come without watermarks, the graphic designers used watermark versions. And apparently, no one noticed (or cared).
Here's a 6-minute educational video by Shutterstock in which filmmaker Todd Blankenship discusses the basics of diffusing light and introduces three cheap options for doing so... including a $5 shower curtain.
Shutterstock has banned all unnatural photos of apes and monkeys. The move by the world's largest subscription-based stock-photo agency comes in response to an appeal by the animal rights organization PETA.
The stock photo service Shutterstock has announced a new powerful photo search tool called Composition Aware Search. It uses advanced deep learning technology to let you search for photos containing certain objects in certain locations.
Google recently published a paper showing how easy it is for a computer to detect an identical watermark from a large collection of photos and then cleanly remove that watermark from each photo. Shutterstock has responded to Google's AI by developing a new randomized watermark that counters it.
Up until just recently I always scoffed at selling my work as stock photography. Let's call it youthful arrogance. I always felt my work was worth more and should be used for more important purposes. The problem was I wasn't good at selling my work independently either.
In a feat of creative "appropriation" on-par with the whole Instagram/Snapchat Stories release, Shutterstock is stepping all over Adobe Stock's toes by releasing a powerful Photoshop plugin that does the exact same thing.
What are the most common cameras used by stock photographers? While we don't have the data across all stock services, Shutterstock has provided us with some numbers that may be somewhat representative for the industry.
Stock photography giant Shutterstock announced today that it has agreed to acquire the UK-based press photo agency Rex Features for $33 million in a mostly cash deal.
In an attempt to potentially flip the imaging licensing market on its head, Pixels.com has launched a new platform that puts the photographers in control for a change. By allowing image creators to manage every aspect of the process -- from prices, to what the license entails -- they're hoping to completely change who holds the power in the image licensing marketplace.
It's rather obvious that money is to be made in the stock photo industry. Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer is finding tremendous success with his 55 percent stake his the company. Since filing for an IPO and selling its shares publicly last October, Shutterstock's stock value has more than tripled. In the process, Oringer has become Silicon Alley's first billionaire.
This past Monday, stock photography behemoth Shutterstock filed documents with the SEC to have an IPO and list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The process requires Shutterstock to reveal its financial details, so the document provides an interesting look at how the company ticks and the state of the stock photography industry.