SXC, Stock.XCHNG: Free stock photography
Posted in Reviews by dub
For those who are looking for quality stock photography and do not have a budget, Stock Xchng is for you. While I have enjoyed the site and it’s services quite a bit, and have come to rely heavily on the site for much of my day to day work, there is one thing in particular that troubles me about some of the site’s users.
The site has a very noble purpose, indeed. To do what they do I believe they pull it off quite nicely. The foundation of the site is to offer free, quality stock photographs to the public. What I cannot figure out is the need for certain members to place additional requirements on the use of their photos at such a site. The standard restrictions, which are fine by me, make sense, but the additional stipulations from members truly puzzle me.
One such example is this disclaimer: “standard restrictions apply and [member name] must be notified and credited when using the photo for any public work” or this “standard restrictions apply and [member name] must be notified when using the photo for any public work“.
Right, because I want an email anytime someone decides to use a photograph that I uploaded to a free stock photography site. If these members are that worried about the use of their work, why upload it to such a site to begin with? I think they should pursue other methods for distributing their stock. It just runs counter to what the purpose of the site seems to be.
Other than this little nit-pick, I love the site and those members who contribute freely without restrictions.
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Denise says:
Amen!
I use SXC all the time, too – it’s the greatest thing! But I won’t use images where it’s required to give a credit. How am I supposed to do that, when I’m integrating a part of the image into a multi-layered design that’ll be used in the design of a website?
I guess I could put some statement, somewhere on the site to the effect of, “the subtle texture that was applied to the edge image of the piece of wood that forms a small piece of the header at the top of each page on this site comes from a fragment of a photo of an old door, which was taken by Joe Doe.” But why would I do that?
cheers ~
Denise
Simon says:
A wonderful site!
As a designer having access to such a wonderful resource is a joy. I think that many people opt for being notified because they want to see their work spread around the globe. However, I do agree that receiving an email for every use could get very tiring.
Thanks,
Simon