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Questions about the Stock panel in Publisher


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The Stock panel looks like it could be very useful but I have some questions about its use:
1. Are all of the images presented totally free to use without any restrictions? For example, images with identifiable people may need extra permission to use legally but there is no mention of this in the Stock panel for the specific images where it might apply. How can someone be sure whether the image is usable for their purposes without going to the relevant page on the website - which undermines the usefulness of the Stock panel? (The Help mentions “Commercial” and “Model Released” but I can’t see these anywhere on-screen.)
2. Is there a way to find out the dimensions/orientation of the image before I drag it out of stock? Since all of the thumbnails are square I can’t see if the image is portrait or landscape, which is often useful to know.
3. Is there a way to restrict/choose the size of the image before I drag it to a document? If I am editing a document for web/screen-use it might be useful to be able specify a lower resolution/size rather than always automatically getting the largest possible image.
4. How does Publisher calculate the size of an image file it gets from Stock? For example, downloading an image https://pixabay.com/photos/fantasy-beautiful-dawn-sunset-sky-3077928/ from Pixabay itself gives me a 1.83MB file (see first attached image) whereas when I import the same image from the Stock panel, Publisher is reporting that the image is 41.09MB (see second attached image), which is a very big difference.
As I said earlier, the Stock panel looks like it could be useful but, if I don’t know what I’m getting from it, it becomes less useful and, potentially, problematic when it comes to things like licences.

pixabay-size.png

publisher-size.png

Edited by GarryP
Added missing images.
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Normally I wouldn’t gratuitously bump one of my posts up the list (especially so close to the original posting date) but I think that the potential legal ramifications which I mentioned in Question 1, at least, are worth getting an official line on. I don’t think it would be good if users started getting sued because of issues they weren’t aware of (or thought didn’t apply).

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1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Normally I wouldn’t gratuitously bump one of my posts up the list (especially so close to the original posting date) but I think that the potential legal ramifications which I mentioned in Question 1, at least, are worth getting an official line on. I don’t think it would be good if users started getting sued because of issues they weren’t aware of (or thought didn’t apply).

Have you gone to the Stock photo sites and read their terms? There's a link at the bottom of the panel for each service. 

UnSplash Terms

Quote

Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash, but this license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service.

1

Pexels Terms

Pixabay Terms

Summarily when someone uploads images to these sites, they agree to transfering the copyrights, and the sharing sites grant others the rights to use them personally and even commercially. If the creators of the images want to retain some rights, that's ok, and is described with their works.  Some ask to be credited, however is not required. I would not worry about images that are of people. If the photographer(s) did not want such images distributed freely, they would not upload them. Now with that said, it is the responsibility of those downloading these images, not use them in ways that would go against their terms of use.

Here's what they Do Not Allow

Quote

What is not allowed?

Respect the hard work of our contributors and keep these restrictions in mind.

  • Identifiable people may not appear in a bad light or in a way that is offensive.
  • Don't sell unaltered copies of a photo, e.g. don't sell it as a stock photo, poster, print or on a physical product without adding any value.
  • Don't imply endorsement of your product by people or brands on the image.
  • Don't redistribute or sell the photos on other stock photo or wallpaper platforms.

 

Affinity Photo 2.5..; Affinity Designer 2.5..; Affinity Publisher 2.5..; Affinity2 Beta versions. Affinity Photo,Designer 1.10.6.1605 Win10 Home Version:21H2, Build: 19044.1766: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3301 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s);32GB Ram, Nvidia GTX 3070, 3-Internal HDD (1 Crucial MX5000 1TB, 1-Crucial MX5000 500GB, 1-WD 1 TB), 4 External HDD

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I have read some of the T&Cs and some things that were of interest to me were, from Pixabay:

“However, it is still your responsibility, to make sure the depicted content (persons, logos, private property, etc.) is suitable for your application and does not infringe any rights.”, and:

“Please be aware that while all Images and Videos on Pixabay are free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes, depicted items in the Images or Videos, such as identifiable people, logos, brands, etc. may be subject to additional copyrights, property rights, privacy rights, trademarks etc. and may require the consent of a third party or the license of these rights - particularly for commercial applications.”

In other words, it is your responsibility to check if you can use the image legally. If you have to go to the website every time you want to use an image in the Stock panel – a double-click on the image is a nice shortcut that exists – it could have a limited use at the moment.

Unless the Stock panel explicitly tells you how and when you can use a particular image, can you be absolutely sure you can use it?

It’s a great idea but it doesn’t have the functionality it needs to be properly useful just yet.

If I could click on an image and get information such as: Commercial use: No; Non-commercial use: Tick; etc. that would make it better.

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20 hours ago, GarryP said:

In other words, it is your responsibility to check if you can use the image legally. If you have to go to the website every time you want to use an image in the Stock panel – a double-click on the image is a nice shortcut that exists – it could have a limited use at the moment.

You don't have to go to the web site every time. Once is enough to get to the T&C, which will tell you all the usage rights & restrictions (if any) info the site has to offer.

There is nothing Serif can do about that. AFAIK, the Affinity apps are just using the SDK's provided by the site owners to power the Stock panel's site options.

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20 hours ago, GarryP said:

I have read some of the T&Cs and some things that were of interest to me were, from Pixabay:

“However, it is still your responsibility, to make sure the depicted content (persons, logos, private property, etc.) is suitable for your application and does not infringe any rights.”, and:

“Please be aware that while all Images and Videos on Pixabay are free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes, depicted items in the Images or Videos, such as identifiable people, logos, brands, etc. may be subject to additional copyrights, property rights, privacy rights, trademarks etc. and may require the consent of a third party or the license of these rights - particularly for commercial applications.”

In other words, it is your responsibility to check if you can use the image legally. If you have to go to the website every time you want to use an image in the Stock panel – a double-click on the image is a nice shortcut that exists – it could have a limited use at the moment.

Unless the Stock panel explicitly tells you how and when you can use a particular image, can you be absolutely sure you can use it?

It’s a great idea but it doesn’t have the functionality it needs to be properly useful just yet.

If I could click on an image and get information such as: Commercial use: No; Non-commercial use: Tick; etc. that would make it better.

Yes, in any and all cases it is our responsibility, so this is nothing new. Any time you wish to grab an image posted anywhere on the internet, you need to ensure that you do not violate any copyrights, and do not use them in ways that could be harmful.

You mentioned releases in your first post. Those people (models) should have signed releases with the photographers, which should have plainly described how those images were to be used. In the case of sharing on such sites as Pixabay, Pexels, UnSplash, ect, the releases would have covered that, and the models signing the release authorized it. That protects the photographers. Now if someone downloads an image with models in it, and chooses to use it in ways that are demeaning, that is not the sites liability or the photographers, if releases were obtained. Now if the photographer did not obtain releases, that's not our issue, and falls squarely on the photographer's shoulders. If we, violate the T&C of these sites, then yes we can be held liable.

With that said, there are some photo sharing sites that obtain images illegally, and when they're caught wind up paying enormous fines and settlements. We have no way of knowing if any of these three mentioned sites have legally obtained the images. If you're real concerned or worried about this, simply don't use them.

Does Serif's apps have the functionality it needs? Yes it does. The T&C is posted/linked in the apps tab/dialog. Serif is not responsible for how we use them. Serif relies on good faith we will not abuse or violate the T&C.

Affinity Photo 2.5..; Affinity Designer 2.5..; Affinity Publisher 2.5..; Affinity2 Beta versions. Affinity Photo,Designer 1.10.6.1605 Win10 Home Version:21H2, Build: 19044.1766: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3301 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s);32GB Ram, Nvidia GTX 3070, 3-Internal HDD (1 Crucial MX5000 1TB, 1-Crucial MX5000 500GB, 1-WD 1 TB), 4 External HDD

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I just thought it might be nice to get more information directly in the application rather than having to go elsewhere is all.

R C-R, in Pixabay I definitely remember seeing some images that have a slightly different wording in the “Pixabay License” box than most of the others (but, typically, I don’t remember which ones and a random pick reveals nothing usable as an example). I’m pretty sure some are different as the license allows for a difference between what images authors can upload and how users should use the images.

Ron P, that’s not the sort of functionality I was talking about. I was wondering where the “Commercial” and “Model Released” information mentioned in the Help was. Also, I was wondering about the other functionality I asked about in my other three questions.

On 6/21/2019 at 12:27 PM, GarryP said:

2. Is there a way to find out the dimensions/orientation of the image before I drag it out of stock? Since all of the thumbnails are square I can’t see if the image is portrait or landscape, which is often useful to know.
3. Is there a way to restrict/choose the size of the image before I drag it to a document? If I am editing a document for web/screen-use it might be useful to be able specify a lower resolution/size rather than always automatically getting the largest possible image.
4. How does Publisher calculate the size of an image file it gets from Stock? For example, downloading an image https://pixabay.com/photos/fantasy-beautiful-dawn-sunset-sky-3077928/ from Pixabay itself gives me a 1.83MB file (see first attached image) whereas when I import the same image from the Stock panel, Publisher is reporting that the image is 41.09MB (see second attached image), which is a very big difference.

 

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2 hours ago, GarryP said:

I just thought it might be nice to get more information directly in the application rather than having to go elsewhere is all.

Yes, it would be nice, but see my reply below for why that isn't feasible:

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

R C-R, in Pixabay I definitely remember seeing some images that have a slightly different wording in the “Pixabay License” box than most of the others (but, typically, I don’t remember which ones and a random pick reveals nothing usable as an example). I’m pretty sure some are different as the license allows for a difference between what images authors can upload and how users should use the images.

You may be thinking of something related to the info about property & model releases in https://pixabay.com/blog/posts/pixabay-license-what-is-allowed-and-what-is-not--4/. As discussed there, there is a difference between editorial & commercial use, & what is considered to be identifiable content. That applies to content from all the stock sites, not just Pixabay. Obviously I hope, there is no way for anyone, not Serif or Pixabay or any of the others, to collect or maintain an accurate database for every image that covers every use, or even what is & is not considered identifiable content.

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I think I probably was thinking about something to do with releases, it’s just a shame I can’t remember which images I saw that were different to the norm in that respect. I’m happy to let that particular line of enquiry drop now but it would still be nice to get answers to my other questions.:
Question 2 about orientation isn’t particularly important but being able to know in advance of use might be handy;
Question 3 about image sizes isn’t any kind of deal-breaker but such functionality might be nice to have, especially given…;
Question 4 which is related to large file sizes which seems to have been a general Affinity issue for quite a while now.

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