5 ms·

Show HN: Curated Stock Photos in your Inbox every week (royalty free)

14 points by onassar 12y ago

heyimwill 12y ago
How long did the design take?
- onassar 12y ago
  Hey will; took about 2 days to get the site designed
  - heyimwill 12y ago
    Ah, is it a pre designed theme?
    - onassar 12y ago
      It's one we'd used before that needed some updates
      - heyimwill 12y ago
        Okay, but is it designed by you and your team or did you buy it off Themeforest/Wrapboostrap?
        onassar 12y ago
        Will speak with my design partner and get back to you
        shareasimage 12y ago
        It was from a little while back, probably Themeforest or Creative Market
kineticac 12y ago
Very interesting! As an avid photographer and advisor to a stock photo company, this is a great concept. Where are you sourcing the photos from? And what do you believe your target audience would be? Getting emails from CreativeMarket, for example, is not only a source of inspiration every day but also makes me think about redesigning the blog for the site, or maybe even swapping out icons or fonts. I don't pay for the newsletter, but I can pay for the creative assets if I'm interested. Have you thought of sending just teasers for free on a regular basis? Then if the user wants the photos they can pay the fee? I'd use it if it was like that.
- onassar 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback kineticac If you scroll to the bottom of http://weeklysnaps.com/ http://weeklysnaps.com/ you'll see some of our sources (little visuals, unsplash, pixabay, new old stock, etc) That's a great idea around sending just teasers and then creating a marketplace if the receiver is interested in the photo. Will add it to our list :)
joshkaufman 12y ago
This looks useful - I'm inclined to sign up. Two things: 1. You may want to look at the CSS on your T&C page: http://weeklysnaps.com/terms http://weeklysnaps.com/terms. I'm seeing very light text on a light background, and it's difficult to read. 2. Are you capturing and keeping track of the original license for each photo in a way that's visible to your customers? Your T&C says "[Photos have] been curated from other sites which claim CC0 or Public Domain status of the photo files." Photo licensing is very important for commercial projects, and if the status of a photo changes later, it's important to have timestamped documentation of the license status. Since there's no mention that you're indemnifying your clients against future claims the photos are licensed, it's probably in your best interest to include documentation of the photo's stated license (screenshots, source links, etc) with each download pack in case any disputes arise. That'd protect both you and your clients in the event a big photo licensor (Getty, etc) starts sending nastygrams claiming the photos are licensed. Based on past experience, the probability of an issue like this is high, so it's best to cover your bases from the beginning. Hope this helps!
- onassar 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback josh 1) Will increase the contrast between the text and background colours 2) Great insights here. We plan on including documentation with each download pack to make clear where the licensing documentation can be found that establishes the CC0/Public Domain details. Will look into cataloging screenshots of photo licenses and date/times
  - joshkaufman 12y ago
    Great - you have a new customer. Thanks for putting this together!
    - onassar 12y ago
      Great to hear josh. Saw the register. Hope you enjoyed the first pack :)
sasalek 12y ago
Looks good. How do you get the photos in the first place? Do you buy them with a reseller's licence?
- onassar 12y ago
  Hi sasalek. We curate from a pool of about 10,000+ the best ones we can that have a flexible license that are royalty free, and permit usage of any kind (also called a CC0 license)
antonwinter 12y ago
i already follow the places that you get these photos from ( unsplash and the others you have listed on your site ). Of course they provide them absolutely free without any restrictions. It would be cool if you can add more value as the middleman to compel me to subscribe. not sure what that might be of course seeing as the images are essentially already curated by others on their sites. Perhaps some original content as well would make a difference.
- onassar 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback Anton We're actually working with some photographers directly to release their photos under the same CC0 license Our goal is to have the process be as easy as possible: every week, you get emailed 20 high quality, royalty free photos, so that you don't need to surf around to all the different sites In the first year, this will result in just over 1,000 photos delivered right to you (zip file each week) If you have any other thoughts on giving more value, would love to hear them: oliver@shareasimage.com

14 points by onassar 12y ago

heyimwill 12y ago

How long did the design take?

onassar 12y ago
Hey will; took about 2 days to get the site designed
- heyimwill 12y ago
  Ah, is it a pre designed theme?
  - onassar 12y ago
    It's one we'd used before that needed some updates
    - heyimwill 12y ago
      Okay, but is it designed by you and your team or did you buy it off Themeforest/Wrapboostrap?
      - onassar 12y ago
        Will speak with my design partner and get back to you
      - shareasimage 12y ago
        It was from a little while back, probably Themeforest or Creative Market

kineticac 12y ago

Very interesting! As an avid photographer and advisor to a stock photo company, this is a great concept. Where are you sourcing the photos from? And what do you believe your target audience would be? Getting emails from CreativeMarket, for example, is not only a source of inspiration every day but also makes me think about redesigning the blog for the site, or maybe even swapping out icons or fonts. I don't pay for the newsletter, but I can pay for the creative assets if I'm interested. Have you thought of sending just teasers for free on a regular basis? Then if the user wants the photos they can pay the fee? I'd use it if it was like that.

onassar 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback kineticac If you scroll to the bottom of http://weeklysnaps.com/ http://weeklysnaps.com/ you'll see some of our sources (little visuals, unsplash, pixabay, new old stock, etc) That's a great idea around sending just teasers and then creating a marketplace if the receiver is interested in the photo. Will add it to our list :)

joshkaufman 12y ago

This looks useful - I'm inclined to sign up. Two things: 1. You may want to look at the CSS on your T&C page: http://weeklysnaps.com/terms http://weeklysnaps.com/terms. I'm seeing very light text on a light background, and it's difficult to read. 2. Are you capturing and keeping track of the original license for each photo in a way that's visible to your customers? Your T&C says "[Photos have] been curated from other sites which claim CC0 or Public Domain status of the photo files." Photo licensing is very important for commercial projects, and if the status of a photo changes later, it's important to have timestamped documentation of the license status. Since there's no mention that you're indemnifying your clients against future claims the photos are licensed, it's probably in your best interest to include documentation of the photo's stated license (screenshots, source links, etc) with each download pack in case any disputes arise. That'd protect both you and your clients in the event a big photo licensor (Getty, etc) starts sending nastygrams claiming the photos are licensed. Based on past experience, the probability of an issue like this is high, so it's best to cover your bases from the beginning. Hope this helps!

onassar 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback josh 1) Will increase the contrast between the text and background colours 2) Great insights here. We plan on including documentation with each download pack to make clear where the licensing documentation can be found that establishes the CC0/Public Domain details. Will look into cataloging screenshots of photo licenses and date/times
- joshkaufman 12y ago
  Great - you have a new customer. Thanks for putting this together!
  - onassar 12y ago
    Great to hear josh. Saw the register. Hope you enjoyed the first pack :)

sasalek 12y ago

Looks good. How do you get the photos in the first place? Do you buy them with a reseller's licence?

onassar 12y ago
Hi sasalek. We curate from a pool of about 10,000+ the best ones we can that have a flexible license that are royalty free, and permit usage of any kind (also called a CC0 license)

antonwinter 12y ago

i already follow the places that you get these photos from ( unsplash and the others you have listed on your site ). Of course they provide them absolutely free without any restrictions. It would be cool if you can add more value as the middleman to compel me to subscribe. not sure what that might be of course seeing as the images are essentially already curated by others on their sites. Perhaps some original content as well would make a difference.

onassar 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback Anton We're actually working with some photographers directly to release their photos under the same CC0 license Our goal is to have the process be as easy as possible: every week, you get emailed 20 high quality, royalty free photos, so that you don't need to surf around to all the different sites In the first year, this will result in just over 1,000 photos delivered right to you (zip file each week) If you have any other thoughts on giving more value, would love to hear them: oliver@shareasimage.com