Flickr is announcing a collaboration with Getty Images. The idea is so obvious and simple and it's great news for both parties and their respective users. Flickr has an insane amount of images and getty gets to pick and choose. Picturebuyers get a larger selection and the flickrphotographers get some cash. Everyone wins. Unless your business is rightsmanaged or even royalty free stockphotography. Then you might think, “Oh no, not yet another blow at my business. Will it never end”. That – at least – was what I thought when I got the news.
I don't shoot for stock and I've only just started uploading my large backcatalog of photography to Digital Railroad, so I'm not threatened by the new competition as many others would be, but still I had to take a closer look at what this could mean to my business.
I compared the image request I get from Digital Railroad about once a day and tried to find some of the images on flickr
One image request reads:
Detailed Image Description: for a jewelry client
close up of a diamond stud earing on a woman ages 20 to 40 years old.
No brides or fancy make-up or hair. Want this to look like an everyday shot not special event
do not want to see the woman's face but can crop in if image fits. Really prefers close-up
can be a couple hugging tight crop.
Feel of Campaign is very artistic- photojournalistic
Will be running as Black & White
I searched “woman diamond earring” on flickr and got 552 images and out of these where one that might possibly, perhaps, with a slight chance if the hand is photoshoped away, be usable.
Maybe I searched the wrong words so I tried “female diamond earring” which turned up even fewer photos and none usable. I thought the one with a diamond earring would be easy, so I picked a new image request. This time with a lot more luck.
Detailed Image Description: Looking for images of pomegranates in the Greek islands (Naxos and Crete are preferred, but any are ok).
Search: “Pomegranetes Greece” and bingo. 115 hits and many usable.
OK. So the score so far is Flickr/Getty 1 point and the rest of us 1 point. Lets test some more. Hmm, here is a good one:
Detailed Image Description: I'm looking for an engaging image of a mother and child or children, something that reads quickly and is not too heavy. I'm not necessarily looking for anything too saccharin, either. This is a photo book, not many words, and is marketed to be a Mother's Day gift book.
IMPORTANT: anyone recognizable has to be model released but silhouettes and the like are okay without a release.
A search for “mother child” gives 72,849 results, so lets see if we can refine it. “mother child love” brings us down to 10,305 results results. I don't see any superduper shots but some are usable if stressed (I only went about 10 pages deep).
Ok. Let's try another one. Something easier to search.
Detailed Image Description: Who has recent images of the Appalachian Crafts along the Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trail and at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea? Could also use Boone Tavern, Snug Hollow Farm B&B.
“Appalachian crafts kentucky” gives us 17 results none usable. Lets try “Kentucky Artisan Center“. Nope. Well one, but it's crap. Ehr, what about “Boone Tavern“. Bingo. 71 results and several usable.
I know this is not the most scientific approach but my guess is that if Flickr and Getty are to have any success they better hire truckloads of photoeditors – and some good ones at that – to wade through the trillions of private photo-of-friends-friend-with-other-friends-friend imagery. And maybe more importantly it reminds us to always do our best. You never know what the next move is. Flickr har annonceret at de vil samarbejde med Getty Images. Ideen er så åbenlys og simpel og det er godt nyt for begge parter og deres respektive brugere. Flickr har en sindsygt stor mængde fotos og Getty kan vælge og vrage. Billedkøberne får et større udvalg og flickr-fotograferne får penge. Alle vinder. Med mindre dit forretningsgrundlag er at lave rightsmanaged eller endda royalty free fotos til billedarkiver. Så tænker du nok. “h nej, ikke endnu en bredside imod mit forretningsgrundlag. Vil det det ingen ende tage”. Det var i hvert fald det jeg tænkte da jeg fik nyheden.
Meget lidt af det jeg laver er ren arkivfoto. og jeg er kun lige begyndt at lægge mit eget efterhånden omfangsrige fotoarkiv på Digital Railroad. Derfor er jeg ikke så truet af de ny konkurrenter som andre måske er, men jeg vil alligevel kaste et undersøgende blik på hvad dette kan betyde for min forretning.
Så jeg har sammenlignet de foto-forespørgelser fra Digital Railroad som jeg får næsten dagligt og ser om jeg kan finde billederne på flickr.
En foto-forespørgsel lyder:
Detailed Image Description: for a jewelry client
close up of a diamond stud earing on a woman ages 20 to 40 years old.
No brides or fancy make-up or hair. Want this to look like an everyday shot not special event
do not want to see the woman's face but can crop in if image fits. Really prefers close-up
can be a couple hugging tight crop.
Feel of Campaign is very artistic- photojournalistic
Will be running as Black & White
Så på flickr søger jeg efter: “woman diamond earring” og får 552 fotos og ud af disse var der et der måske, hvis alt går vil og om gud vil, har en chance, hvis ellers hånden photoshoppes væk og håret ser naturligt ud.
Måske jeg brugte de forkerte ord i min søgning, så jeg prøver: “female diamond earring“, men der er endnu færre hits og ingen brugbare. Jeg havde regnet med, at et billede af en diamant ørering vil være et let valg, så jeg prøver et nyt image request. Denne gang med lidt mere held.
Detailed Image Description: Looking for images of pomegranates in the Greek islands (Naxos and Crete are preferred, but any are ok).
Søgning: “Pomegranetes Greece” og Bingo. 115 hits og mange brugbare.
Okay. Indtil videre står den Flickr/Getty imod Os-Andre: 1-1. Lad os test lidt mere. Hmmm, her er en god en:
Detailed Image Description: I'm looking for an engaging image of a mother and child or children, something that reads quickly and is not too heavy. I'm not necessarily looking for anything too saccharin (dansk: sukkersødt), either. This is a photo book, not many words, and is marketed to be a Mother's Day gift book.
IMPORTANT: anyone recognizable has to be model released but silhouettes and the like are okay without a release.
En søgning efter: “mother child” giver mig 72.849 resultater, så lad os se om ikke jeg kan finjustere søgningen: “mother child love” som bringer os ned på 10.305 hits. Der var ingen supergode skud imellem men et par enkelte hvis man virkelig var presset kunne gå an (Jeg stoppede efter 10 siders søgeresultater).
Lad os prøve en sidste. Denne burde være en del lettere at søge på; et sted mange turister besøger.
Detailed Image Description: Who has recent images of the Appalachian Crafts along the Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trail and at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea? Could also use Boone Tavern, Snug Hollow Farm B&B.
“Appalachian crafts kentucky” smider 17 resultater på bordet men ingen brugbare. Lad os prøve: “Kentucky Artisan Center“. Nix. Ingen, mjo, altså et foto, men det er røv og nøgler. Åh, hvad med: “Boone Tavern“. Ta-da. 71 resultater og adskillige der kan bruges.
Jeg ved godt, at dette ikke er den mest videnskabelige tilgang, men mit gæt er, at hvis Flickr og Getty skal have bare den mindste success af deres samarbejde, så skal de ansætte rigtig mange og rigtig dygtige billedredaktører, der kan luge ud i den kraftige underskov af hurtigtvoksene foto-ukrudt. Men måske endnu vigtigere, så minder det os om, at vi altid skal gøre vores bedste, for man ved aldrig hvad der venter rundt om hjørnet.