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On May 30, 2019, controversial free stock photo site Unsplash announced that it crossed the 1 million images uploaded mark.
That had much of the photo blogosphere up in arms.
Many photographers hate Unsplash because it encourages people to give away their pictures for nothing — not even credit.
But, I’m going to argue that Unsplash’s 1 million photo milestone is no big deal — outside of stock photography, at least.
There are some annoying sentences that photographers, filmmakers, and other creatives hear way too often. And among them, there are plenty of excuses people will use to ask them to work for free. In this amusing video, comedian Tanya Hennessy acts them out in a pretty hilarious way. It’s funny enough not to make you blow your top when you hear them for who knows which time in your life.
My name is Terryis. You could call me a photographer.
Allow me, if you will, to regale you with a tale from my past. I once worked at a liquor store. In fact, it’s where I discovered my penchant for photography, for you see, both of my managers very enthused about the matter at the time. I decided to pick up my own camera, a very tiny Canon Rebel XS. This is where it all began.
We recently featured an article by photographer Samuel Zeller touting the virtues of giving away photography on Unsplash for free: I’ve Been Sharing My Photography For Free On Unsplash for the Past 4 Years, Here’s What I Found.
I have to admit, I was really confused – why would any legit photographer ever consider giving away their work for free – or as Unsplash puts it:
Download free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos.
I am also very confused why any designer would risk significant legal liability by using an image from Unsplash without a model release, property release or trade mark release.
So I decided to check out Unsplash for myself – here is what I found…
What is Unsplash?
It’s a website where photographers can share high resolution images, make them publicly available for everyone for free even for commercial use. It was created in May 2013 by Stephanie Liverani, Mikael Cho and Luke Chesser in Montreal, Canada.
Four months after creation they hit one million total downloads, and a year after they had more than a million downloads per month.
Now there’s 400’000+ high resolution images hosted on Unsplash which are shared by 65’000+ photographers from all around the world.
Last month 2400 photographers joined Unsplash and shared 25’000 new images (not just snapshots, some really good photography).
Here’s a few examples below:
A gift for photographers comes from DxO Labs. In cooperation with Digital Camera UK, they are giving away a free license for DxO OpticsPro 9, for a limited time. All you need to do is submit your email address and do it by the 28th of February – and it’s all yours.
Fuji’s line of X cameras are well known for their great colour. They’re ability to simulate classic films like Velvia and Provia gives photographers what they want straight out of the camera. As such, there’s little to really do to them in post. Some photographers, though, still want to have a little more flexibility.
Fujfilm X-Photographer Samuel Zeller is one such photographer. He’s shot X-mount cameras for several years and developed a number of Lightroom presets along the way. These help him complete his look to give him exactly what he needs. Now, he’s released 10 of them to the public, completely free.
Nik Software, now owned by Google, has announced today that their entire Nik Collection is available for free, to everyone.
Late last year, drone manufacturer DJI stepped out of their comfort zone and introduced to the world the DJI Osmo, a handheld, gyro-stabilized 4K camera.
While it wowed testers everywhere and seemed to perform great in bumpy situations, there was one area where it did not impress. Audio. So much so that we actually shared a tip on how to improve the audio of your Osmo.
It appears DJI has had its ears open though, as they have announced the DJI Osmo FlexiMic, an attachable microphone that will be available to all Osmo owners free of charge.
I’m feeling very Christmasy today – shopping is done, gifts are wrapped, projects are mostly complete for the year and I’m looking forward to a little time off before re-booting in the New Year.
I thought that it would be fun to kill two birds with one stone – I have a nice Christmas present for our loyal DIYP readers, and you have the chance to learn something new for the New Year – so here are a bunch of FREE enrollment links to all of my seven Skillshare photography classes.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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