30 July 2012

Dropping Getty

After two years or more as a Getty contributor (via Flickr), I have cancelled my contract with Getty Images.  While they licensed several of my images early on for reasonable fees, there seemed to be a definite downward trend in fees for my work.  Of course, I am not alone as lowball pricing is endemic in the stock image industry.  I guess the last straw was when Getty licensed one of my rights managed images via their Beijing portal for use on mobile phone covers for the princely sum of $1.19, of which I received 36 cents.  This was a renewal of a license fee for usage last year ($4.19) and which I questioned Getty about before the renewal.  Of course, I received no response.   My most recent sale via Getty was also a renewal but at 50% of the original license fee.  At this rate, photographers will soon be paying buyers to license their work!  Due to their exclusivity, it was just not economic for me to license work for 36 cents.  What the most astounding comment from Getty when they eventually (after a month or so of nagging) commented on the license by the Beijing portal was that they had no control of third party pricing.  Astonishing to say the least.  If that is true, then someone in Getty's legal department stuffed up big time if this was written into the three year contract with the Chinese company.

I was never entirely happy having Getty license my work.  Their appalling commission (they keep 70-80% of fees, depending on RM or RF), the exclusivity which means that I cannot license my work which appears on Getty anywhere else (even directly to clients) and the inability to choose the license (RM or RF).  All that said, my RPI (revenue per image) was very good with Getty but it was probably their attitude of "lump it or like it" bothered me.  Getty is now uploading photographers images to Fine Art America print site, competing directly with photographers who have had their images on FAA for years.  They are undercutting them to such an extent that its not worthwhile to keep images on this site.  Thankfully, none of my images are being uploaded by Getty and they won't now because Getty removed my images from their own site within days of me cancelling my contract.  What a lot of Getty photographers don't realise,especially those on Flickr, is that RF images can be downloaded by clients for a low amount and then the images can be on-sold as prints by the client without reference or any further payment to the photographer.  When this was brought up on the Getty/Flickr forum, it was never answered or acknowledged by Getty.

I have 19th October 2012 circled on my calendar as the "free of Getty" day!


6 comments:

  1. Thank you for the post Sheila. I've posted your blog post to our group page American Photographers Against Unfair Stock Agreements. Please join us here! https://www.facebook.com/groups/100998026660849/

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  2. Good for you Sheila.It would be a great day in the photo world if all photogs wised up like you! 80% and no compete.I am surpsied the government has not looked into these sweat shop practices!
    Pete

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  3. Yes, Getty love to throw their weight around. Glad to hear that you decided to stand up to them Sheila - if only a majority of their photographers would have the backbone to do the same....

    But Getty's 'frog in the pot' tactic of steadily turning up the heat seems to work well for them.... not so good for the photographers of course.

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  4. Courageous of you, and I am joining you with dropping Getty. Yes, they're the elephant in the room, but that doesn't mean we have to stay in the room. I'm doing just fine at Alamy and with my own efforts, I don't need or want to play their game any longer.

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  5. Sheila,
    What steps did you take to cancel your contract? I am trying to do the same and have started with an e-mail stating my intentions. Would like to hear what you did!

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  6. That's all I did, Blake. Sent them an email which Jeremy Caulkin acknowledged. I have known some photographers not to get an acknowledgement from Getty and they have sent follow up emails and still got no response.

    ReplyDelete


After Topaz

Using Topaz Spicify, the image has been enhanced in both colour and "pop". This may be a tad OTT but when printed out, it looks rather good (even if I say so myself!!).

Elderly gents

Image enhancing filters

I have recently been experimenting with different filters for post processing images. Topaz has been one of them. Using the adjust filter, one can change rather dramatically an image which may (or may not) need enhancing. Purists argue that one should not enhance or change an image but in this era, we are bombarded with enhanced movies so it seems a natural progression to enhance still images. The pic directly above is the original image (shot RAW and converted using Adobe Camera RAW).

Rather boring shot of Sydney Harbour

I am going to show how a somewhat boring shot of Sydney Harbour (if there ever could be one!) can be turned into something a little more spectacular. Below is the original shot (shot in RAW format with my Canon 5D) and taken off the back of the Manly ferry.

Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour
Rather boring shot of Sydney Harbour

Conversion

Using Adobe Camera Raw ("ACR"), I converted the raw image with parameters: Blacks 7, brightness +31, Contrast +61, Clarity +77, Vibrance +7, Saturation 72 and a bit of Curves which brought me to the below image.

Harbour

Harbour

Flood filter conversion

I then produced a "reflection" using Flaming Pear flood filter. For those unfamiliar with this filter, it gives the image a perception of a reflection (poetical!) and I see it often in publications and I find myself examining ALL images with reflections to see if the photographer had used this very handy filter. I have details of the conversion if anyone is interested but to post it would be a tad boring. Flaming pair flood filters can be found here

Reflection

Reflection
Sydney Harbour reflection using flood filter

Sea of Hats

I was on my lunch hour when I was strolling around The Rocks area of Sydney when I saw a group of private schoolgirls on an excursion. As soon as I saw their hats, I knew that there was a good opportunity to get a good snap. As luck would have it, they started to cross the street to where I was standing. I knew in my head the image I was looking for and I had to be above them. With an enormous amount of good fortune, a ramp up to a shop in this old area of Sydney was a few metres away. I raced up the ramp and shot this image. It was taken with my Canon 70-200 f/4L at f/5.6 which gave me a shallow depth of field leaving the centre hat in sharp focus and the rest of the hats out of focus. I submitted this image in late 2005 to the Black and White Spider Awards and it won Outstanding Achievement - People and also won me the Photographer of the Year 2005 - amateur. It really is nice to get recognition of one's work and even though I am now a professional, it still gives me a warm feeling when I look at my certificate!

Sulphur crested cockatoo in flight

This is an image on which I have added a "flood" filter. It is quite effective and quite a nice shot in any event. Flood filters can be found here and they are worth every cent. There is always a debate regarding "Photoshopping" images but as long as one is honest about the origin and digital changes to the image, I think its legimate. The original image, taken in our garden, of the cockatoo actually landing on the lawn, had a piece of its left hand side wing missing so I "replaced" it in Photoshop CS4. Cockatoos actually dislike water and when they start attacking the timber balustrades on our verandah, all I have to do is get out the spray bottle and walk towards them. They are endearing creatures, very intelligent but are enormously destructive. They are very long lived (up to 80 years) so don't even think of buying one unless you plan to outlive it and put up with the high decibels of squawking! I really hate seeing them in cages and they must long to be free when they see a large flock passing by.

Surfing the storm

Late one afternoon, I was snapping at Avalon Beach, Sydney, when a storm approached. This did not stop a late surfer. This image is available as a print via my RedBubble site. Click on image which will take you to the print site.

Sydney Opera House abstract

An abstract look at the famous icon. It is very difficult to take any pics of the Opera House as everyone and their brother has done it before. For this particular image, I used Optikvervlabs filter.

Leopard seal

I took this shot of a leopard seal exhaling bubbles at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. This is, apparently, one of the few leopard seals in captivity. Apparently it was found injured awhile back and is happy in its huge enclosure at the Zoo along with its mate. Through a stock library, this image is to appear as a full page in a textbook.



Alice

Alice
A portrait of an elderly lady
This is one of my favourite images of Alice, an elderly aboriginal lady who sadly is now deceased. I would occasionally see her at Circular Quay in Sydney and she would often smile at me. I used a Dragan filter to bring out more texture to the image. I am often asked if I have ever been challenged when photographing candid subjects. Only on one occasion, I was asked not to take a photograph of a female street performer which was odd as that is where they often make their money. So, of course, I acceded to her wishes. Many buskers or street performers expect payment for taking their photograph and its something I always do as its their living, as taking photographs is mine. One of my most popular galleries on my website is one of Sydney Aborigines and I have many kind comments on my work. I did have one person, a Sydney academic, who actually called me a thief as she was under the erroneous impression that I was selling images of these colourful folk without payment which in fact is not true. I have model releases from many and I have made subsequent payments to them.




The smoker

The smoker
An elderly man puffs on a cigarette

Mudda Mudda

Mudda Mudda
My favourite subject
Mudda Mudda (aka Cedric) is an aboriginal busker who is often found at Circular Quay, in Sydney, accompanying other aboriginal buskers. He has such a great face and this image won me a UK award last year for traditional portraiture here