Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic

drskn08 · Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 383

I feel that in shutterstock rules and regulations for releases/ rejections due to any copyright potential are very much and complicated. By this way new contributors will have to face more difficulty in passing their test.

pipedreamer · Joined: 28 Dec 2011 Posts: 90 Location: New Zealand

After seeing regular contributors tell newbies not to submit various photos due to copyright issues, I'm more confused than ever.
Their usual advice is: If a designer can recognise the item as their own you can't use it.

But what about run-of-the-mill items that don't differ much?

Recent examples include some rag dolls and an old-fashioned coffee grinder. Both products have been around for a long time and in many incarnations and are surely not copyrighted. Would the manufacturer recognise their particular colour scheme or curvature etc.? Yes. So where does that leave the photographer? Admissible or not?

What about traditional handcrafts sold in marketplaces in third-world countries? Are they ok to photograph?

If I take an interior shot, do I need to get releases for every bit of furniture or ornament in it?

I guess I'm really struggling with where the line is drawn between regular, everyday items and those that are deemed to have copyright issues.

What about clothing and shoes?
Public buildings?
Help!

peter77 · Joined: 07 Aug 2009 Posts: 301 Location: Sweden

I think, at it depends of contributor status, also.
Last time I submitted few pictures from tropical resorts hotel exteriors on Lanzarote, Canary Islands. Pictures contains: swimming pool area - day and night landscapes, outdoor jacuzzi, hotel architecture details etc. On this volcanic islands you can find 1000 very simillar places like on the images I submitted.
... all get rejection two times...- missing PR.
But at the same time other contributors submitted photos from his tropical vacation in Asia, Africa and America. Subject - tropical resort swimming pool area with typical hotel architecture details..., all get accepted without PR.
Are there different rules for diferent world tropical resort places?

... I don't want at "other submitters" will lose the photos from theirs gallery. I just need to know at I'm as important as others on this stock, when it comes to rules.
Have a nice day :)

danomyte · Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 1

biketourist · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 172 Location: Central California

I realize that the property release issue is in flux and subject to change and modification. None-the-less, SS should attempt real communications and keep us apprised of the latest thinking. Particularly, the problem of from whom to get the release — owner, designer, engineer, public relations?

What would clarify and simplify this knotty situation is to modify what constitutes and editorial image. SS has insisted that editorial submissions be "newsworthy". Newsworthiness is an extreme variable subject to the whim of the involved viewer. The great traditions of photojournalism and documentary photography produced powerful commentary and interesting illustrations that were not newsworthy yet served their purposes.

Why is it not possible to return to the original "FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY" ? If this were done then the issue of property releases would be moot.

warrenprice · Joined: 15 Dec 2009 Posts: 419 Location: Central Texas

csikidam · Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 97 Location: Calgary

Great, I just got some of my photos rejected with my dog in it. Or was it the forest behind it? Anyways, "property release required". I wonder when Monsanto kicks in for trade marks on grass and trees? Unfortunately SS does not have a "resubmit" button as others do to rectify these kind of things.

aynia · Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:36 pm

conde · Joined: 14 Jan 2009 Posts: 26

It is simply amazing. It is the death of photography.

silverwebs · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:10 am

It's the death of stock photography...not photography in general.

I just got a "property release required" on cast molded, mass produced, "sculptures". There is no real artist, I've seen pieces identical made 50 years ago and made last week. They're more or less a "traditional" handicraft not art. In the meantime, there are other pieces in the database by other photographers.

I stated on my submission as much. So, what to do? Resubmit? Point out the existing files (without property release) on resubmit? Forget about it and the time I (apparently) wasted on producing the images? Ugh.

triceratops · Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 7864 Location: The other Nevada

pietopper · Joined: 09 Feb 2011 Posts: 1