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Photocentra – taking a look at another photo sharing platform

The photo-sharing platform Photocentra has been around a few years. A few weeks back, they reached out to me and asked if I could have a look, scout the platform and provide some feedback. They told me that they worked hard to improve the platform in order to reach a wider audience, so I said yes.  Their hope is to make Photocentra into an interesting alternative for those who are frustrated with the likes of 500px and Flickr.

I have used the platform daily lately. The images I upload look very nice on the site. It is even possible to enlarge them so that they cover the entire screen. I find that the platform is very fast and responsive. The layout is also very pleasing to the eyes.

Photocentra offers many pages where your images can be discovered and viewed. Your image starts out in All Photos. After the image has received a few ‘Recommendations’ it is also displayed in the Recommended section. If your work receives a sum total of fifty or more ‘Recommendations’ the image is considered Popular.

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You may get sued big time if you aren’t careful with what you upload to Unsplash

Unsplash has in a short time become a major player in the photo-sharing industry. 174,000 photographers have uploaded images to the site. The platform this month boasts 5,000 views and 27 downloads per second. (PER SECOND!) People download images for blogs, classes, and other purposes, but also for commercial use. There is a big debate in the industry asking if Unsplash is good or bad, but it is not what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about the legal risks you face when you upload work to Unsplash. Not as the end-user, but as the photographer.

Photographers use Unsplash for exposure because of the enormous traffic the site generates. A company may hire a photographer for commercial assignments or simply want to license a high-resolution version of an image it found on Unsplash.

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Why I have stopped selling images with 500px

I just received three emails from 500px this evening. I was informed that three of my images were sold.

In other words, I can expect a payment of $2.55. In all honesty, it feels like a mockery.

When 500px launched Marketplace in 2014 we photographers could receive a 70% commission if 500px was our sole licensing agent for a particular image. Back then it was actually possible to get a decent payment if you sold a few images.

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500px’s latest change of terms sparks outrage among photographers

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It looks like 500px never lacks new reasons to make photographers angry. Users have recently received a notice that the website is changing its Terms of Service. The updated agreement has sparked some outrage among photographers, making them delete their accounts.

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500px threatens to ban an artist after featuring him as “Photoshop Master” on its own blog

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500px has caused some outrage within the community a couple of times over the past year or so. One of the platforms popular users Michal Karcz was recently threatened to get banned because he’s been posting photo manipulations, which is against the website’s policy. All that wouldn’t be strange if 500px itself hasn’t previously featured him on its own blog, praising his skills in digital art.

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500px demands users reset their passwords after data breach

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This morning, I received an email from 500px requiring that I change my password after they became aware of a “security issue” on the site on Friday 8th February. This might sound like 500px is jumping on the issue quickly, however, the breach actually happened way back on July 5th, 2018.

After detecting the breach, 500px says that they “immediately launched a comprehensive review of our systems” to figure out exactly what happened and what the impact was. They say that have been working with third-party security experts and are coordinating with law enforcement authorities.

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Photographer banned from 500px because 500px don’t know what light painting is

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Light painting photographer Tim Gamble is known for mind-blowing, surreal photos. However, despite his work being created entirely or almost entirely in-camera, 500px recently deleted his account for “posting non-photographic content.” It was done without any prior warning, without the possibility of recovering his account. We chatted with Tim to learn what happened, and he shared some details about the whole situation with DIYP.

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Starting today, 500px no longer have a Creative Commons license option

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Remember that a month ago image sharing platform 500px announced that they will shut their marketplace down? A closer look at the announcement by Redditor Ricky_Lee_Hasselhoff reveals that 500px are also killing their Creative Commons licensing option.

If you are unfamiliar with Creative Commons, you can read about it here, but in a nutshell, it’s a licensing scheme that allows others to use your photos without monetary compensation. Here is the nice thing about creative commons: it allows putting restrictions on usage. Things like an obligation to credit the artist or restricting from commercial use. Basically Creative Commons is a licensing platform that encourages sharing.

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500px Marketplace shuts down, Getty Images will soon take over

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Getty Images has announced an exclusive distribution partnership with 500px. Starting from late June 2018, 500px Marketplace will quit direct sales and e-commerce. Instead, Getty Images customers will be able to access royalty-free content from 500px, along with over 300 million images already available on Getty.

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