Payback Time! - Consider Submitting Images to Free Image Sites

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   eugbugposted 7 years ago

   Usually I try to use my own photos and graphics on hubs, but some photos are impractical to take, simply because the subject matter is unavailable. So I often download them from Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay or FreeDigitalPhotos. If you're good at taking photos, consider submitting them as public domain images or with an alternate Creative Commons licence to sites such as Pixabay.com. I've submitted 21 so far and had 6000 downloads. I probably feel a little bit begrudging about not getting donations to PayPal from downloaders (just a measly 56 cents!), but it can be interesting and flattering to see where and how photos are used online.

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      Bedbugabscondposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Bravo. I have thought about doing that, but never got around to it. I think its a great way to build reputation. Keep us posted with what you learn from it!

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I am the world's worst photographer...but I have a question.  What do you think is the best, easiest to use, small digital camera out there that allows you to transfer photos to your computer and does not require a sim card.  Any ideas?  Mine is shot...which may be why my photos suck lol!

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         eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         If you use a cheap smartphone, it can take wonderful photos. However you do need an SD card to store images. The SIM card stores phone numbers and allows you to connect to a network. It has nothing to do with storing photos, but is unnecessary in the phone in order to take photos. The photo below (right click and then click "view image" to see full res image) was taken with a Nokia Lumia 520 smartphone which is/was a budget smartphone and cost me €79 (about $86). The other cheapest option is a compact digital camera. Go for something with at least a 1 to 3 optical zoom. Digital zooming is useless. It basicaly just interpolates or "joins the dots" between pixels and stuffs extra ones into the file.
         
         

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Don't have a smart phone...still at the stupid phone stage!  Just looking for a relatively inexpensive digital camera I can use to take vacation photos that I can then store on a flash drive after editing them on my computer.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Buying a new phone could be the cheapest way to do it.   My husband has a LG smartphone with a 5 megapixel camera - which is low compared to some of the newer smartphones - yet his photos are good enough quality to use here.  As eugbug says, the zoom function on smartphones (and really cheap cameras) is useless, but if you don't need a zoom, the smartphone does the lot.

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                  Bedbugabscondposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Have you guys tried smartphone zoom camera attachments yet? I haven't, but I am wondering if its with the time and money to try.

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                     eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     I haven't tried, so I can't comment on quality. I guess though these attachments won't give results as good as a true zoom lens would produce and the images are likely to suffer from distortion, chromatic aberration etc.

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                  eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  The smartphone I mentioned, the Lumia 520, only has a 5MP camera, but as you can see, the image quality is perfectly adequate for web use, even when the image is displayed full size and fills the screen. The Lumia 520 is a Windows phone and while it is a perfectly good at doing everything, not all apps are available for it. Windows phones never really took off and many developers didn't put their resources into developing apps for phones which have a small market share compared to Android.

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               eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               If you Google "best pocket compact camera", you should come up with some reviews of what's the best choice of cameras. The Techradar, PCMag and Whatdigitalcamera websites have some good reviews. If you use a smartphone for photos, because of its wide angle lens, it can stretch perspective. So taking close shots of subjects can distort them. E.g. this box looks trapezoidal
               

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I bought a Samsung Galaxy 3 at Walmart today just for taking photos. Am charging it now and am anxious to see how the photos will come out.  I can transfer them to my computer via a USB connector, but the phone has no sim card.  However, it  has an 8 gig internal memory.  Very scant on directions but I at least figured out how to charge it.
            
            If it works, I'll be thrilled...would like to know though, how many photos it can hold.  I researched digital cameras and could not come up with anything I thought would hold up or take good photos for the price I wanted to pay.
            
            I can add a sim card to this phone but are you saying that will allow me to save more photos?  I'm a bit confused.
            
            If this works out, it will be the perfect answer because it's a prepaid phone...so I don't need to pay for a monthly plan or anything.  Don't need the phone or internet part...just the camera.  Great idea...thanks!

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               eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               I think that model number should be SIII or S3? Anyway according to the specs, it has an 8MP camera and either 16,32 or 64 GB of internal memory. You can store images on the phone's internal memory or alternatively add a micro SD external storage card with a capacity of upto 64GB for storage. I've stored about 2000 photos, equivalent to about 8 GB of data so far on the 16GB card of my old smartphone. Images on my phone are 5MP, so even if you're photos are 8MP resolution, you should be able to store over 1000 photos on 8GB of memory. If you download lots of apps, they'll take up space on the phone's memory, reducing space for photos, so it's a good idea to add a micro SD card. Change the settings so that the camera always takes the highest resolution pictures. You can always reduce resolution and compress images later if necessary when they're downloaded.
               The SIM card is only for connecting to a cell network plus you can optionally store your phone contacts on it. I'm not sure what the situation is in the States, but if as you say the phone is prepaid, it's probably tied to a network so it either comes with a new SIM card and number, or you can use an older SIM card from the same network in the phone. Alternatively it may be SIM free and not tied to a network. Usually a phone tied to a network is less expensive and subsidised, but you can only use it on their network and another network's SIM card won't work in it. Some, but not all smartphones tend now to use the phone's memory for contact storage. If you have a really old standard sized SIM with an existing telephone number you would like to use, you may need to get a micro or nano type SIM card as a replacement. Just make sure your contacts are copied to the newer SIM before the old SIM becomes disabled by the network provider.

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                  TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Remember that I am only using this for the camera!  I don't want it for the cell phone, although I think I can use it for WIFI if I'm in a public area where it is provided without tying into a network.  This is an ATT phone that I bought at Walmart.  Takes photos AND videos AND has sound AND allows me to transfer photos to my computer.  It says I can add a sim card for up to 128 gb but it already has 8, so I may not need more.  This is mostly for vacation pics.  I'm wondering, though, if I can also transfer videos to my computer as well?  Having SO much fun!

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                     eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes, you can use it on WIFI. Using the Skype or Whatsapp apps, you can also make free calls to contacts who also have those apps installed and are connected to WIFI or have their mobilie data connection turned on.
                     You can also transfer videos to your computer.
                     Some, but not all Samsung devices support the "USB On-The-Go" specification, allowing attachment of a mouse, flash drive, keyboard, web camera or other peripheral to the phone or tablet. You simply plug a special cable with a male micro USB plug on one end into your device (into the socket where the charger cable goes). The other end of the cable has a female, USB "A" connector (the large style socket like you have on a computer or notebook). This gives you a standard sized socket for plugging in peripherals. You can also get flash memory sticks where all this technology is built into a single device. These have a micro USB plug and the device is useful for example for storing data or transferring data between a smartphone and tablet.
                     For some reason, smartphone manufacturers insist on building the clear filter over the lens almost flush with the body of the phone. I can't understand why they don't incorporate some form of sliding cover. So the result is the filter can get covered with crap when the phone is laid down on a surface. Dust and grime on the lens will result in blurry smudges on images. So it's wise to get an "Otterbox" or folio type phone case which will recess the lens and give it some protection.

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                        TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                        If all of this is true, then why do people need to buy data plans unless they also want internet access?  If you can get free internet access via WIFI, why would you need all of that and if you already have another phone you use, why would you need it?
                        
                        I was able to upload photos and videos, but was unable to open the videos.  Also, how much memory does a video take up on a phone and how long of a video can you take?  If I can figure out how to transfer video to my computer and then to a flash drive for storage, that would be great!  I don't think I'm going to need a sim card...the space for it is SO tiny, I think I'd drop it!
                        
                        I will need a holder of some sort to make it easier to hold and I believe there's a thin plastic cover you can use over the screen to protect it...will have to look into that.
                        
                        I know I'm a dinosaur when it comes to smart phones but have to say that this is an amazing device.

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                           eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                           Glad you're enjoying your device! Smartphones are great and can do so much. However it's still a dilemna for me whether to bring my smartphone with me when I'm out and about. The trend originally was for phones to get smaller and more compact. Now with the bigger screens they are more cumbersome. I like the way I can slip my older phone into a trousers pocket. It's easier for some of you ladies who carry a handbag or whatever for storing all your gear!
                           Anyway as regards WIFI, you can either use that for Internet access in your home or connect to a public WIFI service (typically available in stores, public buildings, restaurants etc). If you're out of range of WIFI, you can start making use of the quota of mobile data allocated to you in your plan. Just like voice calls, this data is received from the local cell tranceiver (which could be on a mast, tall building, in an advertising sign etc). Again I don't know what the situation is in the US, but here, fibre broadband packages usually allow unlimitless data download per month, whereas mobile (cell) phone plans only allow 1 to 5 GB of data download per month. This is fine for light Internet use, but looking at lots of YouTube videos would quickly use up data!
                           A 2 minute video at 720p (720 line) can use up to 150MB of storage space, so if you intend to store lots of these and don't have much space on your computer, an external hard drive would be a good idea. I'm not sure how long videos can be (will search and find out), but probably at least ten minutes. Individual video files can be stitched together in a movie making package.
                           What is the extension of the video files? You may need to download and install a CODEC on your computer. This is a piece of software which can code/decode various video files, allowing e.g. Picasa or Windows Media Player to play the files. Alternative you can install a player such as VLC Media Player which includes its own CODECS.

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                              TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                              Thanks so much

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                                 eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                                 You're welcome! Hope all the gobbledegook above made sense!

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                                    TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                                    I'll be referring back to all of your comments about this...it's a lot to digest for a 74 year old grandmother, but I'm getting it.  Am ever grateful for your help.  Had no idea you could use a smart phone this way.

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      NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I've thought about it, it's a great idea, and I took a lot of photos when I first started writing here on HP; some really good ones too, original images for Hubs.

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   OldRosesposted 7 years ago

   I don't need to submit photos to a free site.  Too many of mine have been stolen already.

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   Diana Majorsposted 7 years ago

   What a great idea!  Do you get to see the websites they are used on?  It would be cool to be able to see your own photo in use on someone's site!

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      eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, if you do a Google image search, it shows all the sites on which the image is used. It would be nice if Pixabay would allow us to put our names/branding on images, but they want users of images if possible to attribute Pixabay. This sounds a bit mean since we don't get anything out of it (although the user of an image can make a PayPal donation to our account), however the site does have to be paid for in order that it can continue to be a source of public domain images.

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         Bedbugabscondposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Unfortunately, Pixibay is seen as one of the more spammy photo sites by the algoritm. It is also one of the younger ones.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I didn't know that -  if you do an image search on Google, you get a lot of results from Pixabay so it can't be too bad?
            
            I generally don't link to Pixabay when I use a photo from there, if they are seen as spammy then maybe that's just as well.

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   chasmacposted 7 years ago

   I submit photos to several paid stock photo sites and also to two free Stock photo sites that allow Adsense ( freerangestock.com and stockvault.net). I earn more with Freerangestock than with any of the other stock sites.
   
   Freerangestock is also a good source of high quality free-to-use photos that can be used commercially under a Royalty-Free licence - so they're fine for use on HP. Stockvault doesn't allow commercial use, so traffic (and Adsense earnings) is much smaller.
   
   I have a Hub on submitting to Freerangestock if anyone cares to look for it in my profile.

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      NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      good info. i might give freerange stock  a try.

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      eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I haven't had much success with users downloading my images from microstock, royalty free, image sites. Also a lot of images were rejected due to noise in images (camera was 2001 vintage), so my new fancy Nikon SLR might have a better CCD and give better results. I'll take a look at those sites you mention.

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   Will Apseposted 7 years ago

   You have stirred enough guilt to make me feel I should  do something like this, given how many CC images I consume, lol.

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   SweetiePieposted 7 years ago

   I just forego the picture and write text about the subject if one is not available. Since I love reading books, I do not need every blog post to have photos.  Also, when writing on my own blog I might include a link to a book on Amazon, since that is another way to illustrate a subject if you do not have  photo taken by yourself.

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      Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      On this site, using Amazon ads purely for the images that they provide can get your page unfeatured.
      
      Amazon ads need to be entirely related to the subject matter and used on pages where people have  a clear desire to buy.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Just to clarify, using an Amazon image as an image in your Hub is not "illegal".  Amazon allows you to use the photo from a product if you are linking to it.   HubPages won't penalise you for it either.
         
         I find this useful - for instance, on a Hub about flamenco shoes, I used a large photo of a shoe on Amazon, and added text with arrows pointing out the good features of the shoe.  Then I added a link to the shoe on Amazon in the text.
         
         It should go without saying that you MUST choose an Amazon product very carefully, so it's relevant and useful to the person reading your Hub, of course.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Lately I've been having problems saving product images from Amazon.  I've had to search the net for them and when I find the same product, use its photo instead of theirs.  This is something new, and I don't know why it's happening.  Much more work.  Image does not come up on desktop from Amazon even when I click "save image as" or Picmonkey won't allow me to edit it.

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         SweetiePieposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I was referring more to my blog. I do not even update much here, but if you read my post, you will see I am very photo driven. Also, I take all of my own pictures for my hubs, and believe in this a lot.

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   SweetiePieposted 7 years ago

   Also, once I finally purchased my mid-range camera, I noticed I wanted to take even more photographs than ever. These are around the three hundred dollar range, but comes in handy when I make my YouTube videos as well. The zoom is amazing, and I have captured some lovely images of the moon.

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   Sustainable Sueposted 7 years ago

   I use an Olympus Stylus 500, but I bought it about 10 years ago. I don't know what Olympus is selling now. It uses a rechargeable battery and a "picture card," both of which the camera comes with. I bought an extra of each.
   
   The extra battery I use when I'm out photographing and I run out of juice. I just quickly replace it wherever I am and then charge up the dead one when I get home. The smaller picture card that came with the camera (256 mgb) I keep on hand for long photo shoots, when I run out of space on the larger one (2 gb). That seldom happens, because I erase all photos from the card when I upload to my computer. I really like this camera and use it all the time.

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   SweetiePieposted 7 years ago

   I do still have some hubs where the only photo is of the Amazon product because these were book reviews. I have some hubs with no pictures at all because these are text driven.

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